Current News

Citing personal reasons, Lyndon State College President Carol A. Moore announced her resignation
from the college, effective July 1.
‘President Moore has served Lyndon State College and the community with distinction. Over the course of the thirteen years she has been at Lyndon, she has worked through some significant challenges and sustained the mission of delivering a high quality, accessible and affordable education to its students,’ commented Vermont State College Chancellor Tim Donovan.
Moore came to Lyndon State College in 1998 from Mercy College in New York City, where she served
as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. During her time at Lyndon, Moore focused on

Statistics show that although construction in Vermont during the month of February looked to be slowing, overall contracts for future construction are above last years values. This includes residential, non-residential and nonbuilding construction.
February and year-to-date data for Vermont:

Similar statistics for the state of New Hampshire also show a significant increase in future construction contracts for the year 2011.
February and year-to-date data for New Hampshire:

Source: McGraw-Hill Construction

US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Major General Michael Dubie, the Vermont National Guard commander, broke ground today on an $8.5 million solar installation that will be one of the biggest in Vermont.
Sanders is chairman of the Senate green jobs subcommittee. He has worked with the Vermont National Guard to make its base one of the greenest in the country.
‘It is appropriate that we are here today to break ground on what will be one of the largest solar energy projects in Vermont because Vermont is one of the most environmentally conscious states in our nation. We lead the country in energy efficiency and, through projects like this, are making progress in increasing our use of sustainable energy,’ Sanders said.

The chief executives of Vermont’s leading businesses appear poised to hold steady for the spring and summer months of 2011, when compared against the previous survey period. The survey was completed between April 1 and April 15 and released today by Vermont Business Roundtable Chair Steve Voigt, CEO, King Arthur Flour and President Lisa Ventriss.

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin and utility leaders today hailed the Public Service Board’s approval of a 26-year contract with Hydro-Québec, a key element of Vermont’s energy future.
‘I am glad that the Public Service Board approved this agreement for clean, reliable, and favorably priced power for Vermonters,’ Gov. Shumlin said. ‘Hydro-Québec has been an important partner in Vermont for many years, and will continue to be a key player in Vermont’s energy future.’
The PSB order, issued late Friday, is the culmination of a more than a year-long process that began with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Central Vermont Public Service (NYSE-CV), Green Mountain Power and Hydro-Québec in March 2010. The MOU led to a contract last August, now approved by the PSB, which will benefit not only CVPS and GMP customers, but people across Vermont.

The other shoe has finally dropped. Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) announced this morning that two of its subsidiaries, Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC (ENVY) and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc (ENOI), have filed a complaint in US District Court for the District of Vermont in Burlington seeking a judgment to prevent the state of Vermont from forcing the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to cease operation on March 21, 2012.
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin and Attorney General William Sorrell said that they expected the suit, have been preparing for the legal action and will use the full powers of the state to fight it.

FairPoint Communications has announced it has embarked on an investment in its VantagePoint network that will support more high-speed wireless services and extend fiber into more communities across Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
This fiber-optic build supplies critical infrastructure known as "backhaul" for wireless traffic in the region, and will address the exploding bandwidth needs being driven by new applications for smart phones, tablets and other wireless devices. Today FairPoint supports 3G service on more than 1,600 towers in its northern New England footprint. In the transformation to 4G, FairPoint will have the capacity to provide Ethernet-over-fiber service to more than half of the towers with this initial network expansion.

IBM issued the following statement yesterday regarding conversations its executives have had with Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin and his staff concerning the administration's health care reform effort. IBM, as many large companies, is self-insured. It previously has expressed concern over the health care refomr making its way through the Legislature, in particular proposals that the plan would be funded through a payroll tax on all Vermont workers and their employees. IBM has suggested that this would constitute a kind of double insurance premium for itself and its employees.
The most recent meeting between IBM and the governor was last week. IBM issued this statement concerning the meeting:
"IBM Senior Vice President for Human Resources, Randy MacDonald, met with Governor Peter Shumlin and had a productive discussion on the Governor’s health care reform legislation. There were several outcomes.

Select Staffing has named the Mount Family Group Ltd of Burlington its Franchise Business of the Year for 2010. The company operates Westaff franchises in Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island and Remedy Intelligent Staffing franchises in Massachusetts and has revenues of approximately $26 million.
Pictured from left to right are: Irwin Much, Paul Sorensen, James Mount, Natalie Jordan, Steve Sorensen.
Mount Family Group Ltd is owned by James Mount of Colchester and Karen Mount of Williston.
James Mount added, ‘We were totally surprised. We won the award in 2009 and we did not expect to win it again this year. In many ways, this is more rewarding because Karen and I have just become the sole owners of Mount Family Group, having purchased all of the shares from David and Fran Mount in October.’

The City of Burlington announced that it will file its Act 250 permit application for the Champlain Parkway project today. Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss will accompany Department of Public Works staff to the Act 250 Regional District Office, 111 West Street in Essex Junction, to file the application. The application is expected to be filed at 2:30 pm.

The 2011-2012 winter ski and snowboard season came to a close on April 10 at Bolton Valley Resort, and the resort is reporting that skier visits, which include lift ticket and season pass sales, were up more than nine percent from the 2010-11 season. Ski and snowboard school participation also increased from the previous year, an indication that Vermonters still turn to their local mountain to either learn to ski or ride or to improve their skills.
‘It has been an incredible winter with more than 300 inches of natural snowfall, giving us consistently outstanding conditions all season long,’ said George B. Potter, president at Bolton Valley. ‘Whether folks liked to carve turns or to duck into the glades and trees, we had it all and it appeared this winter would never end. We had an amazing last weekend to one of the best seasons in a long time.’

by Timothy McQuiston ISIS, the Burlington women’s clothier that specializes in apparel for what it calls the ‘outdoor goddess,’ announced yesterday it will move its entire operation to Boulder, CO, the home of its parent company American Recreational Products. ISIS is a national, medium-end designer and marketer of women’s apparel from underwear to outerwear. It employs 14 in Burlington, where it was founded in 1998.
Its public relations representative, Scott Kaier of Pale Morning Media in Waitsfield, said that ‘the door is open’ for existing employees to apply for positions in Boulder. He added that in any case CEO Carolyn Cooke will remain with the company through the transition phase and then depart. He said the transition will not be completed until around October of this year, so as not to disrupt the winter apparel season, which is ISIS’ most important.