Current News

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is slated to be named chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging. Part of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, the panel that Sanders will head is responsible for several areas that are among his top priorities, including community health centers, home heating assistance, seniors programs, pensions and dental care.
Sanders has been a champion in Congress for community health centers, securing $11 billion in last year’s health care reform law to increase the number of patients served in the next five years by 20 million. That infusion of support came on the heels of another $2 billion that he added in the 2009 stimulus bill.
The centers provide affordable primary and dental care as well as low-cost prescription drugs and mental health counseling. In Vermont, Community health Centers now serve over 100,000 Vermonters.

Champlain College's annual Spring Job Fair will play host to more than 100 area businesses and organizations and offer an array of workshops to help students and others find employment.
The annual Champlain College Job Fair will be held on Monday, March 28, from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Argosy Gymnasium at 262 South Willard St., Burlington. The event is free and open to the public.
By co-mingling students with the general public, Champlain's Career Services Office feels it provides a more realistic view of the job market and is also more attractive to area businesses. "It enables our students to understand first hand that the market is competitive and that they must be prepared and professional to get a job," explained Dolly Shaw, director of Champlain College Career Services.

The Lake Champlain Committee is joining with the EPA’s WaterSense Program to promote Fix a Leak Week. Fix a Leak Week encourages Americans to find and fix residential leaks and to help put a stop to the more than 1 trillion gallons of water wasted from household leaks each year. Leaks can also account for more than 10,000 gallons of water in an average home every year’enough water to wash nearly 10 months’ worth of laundry.
‘Conserving water saves money, saves energy, and helps reduce nutrient pollution in Lake Champlain’, notes LCC Executive Director Lori Fisher. ‘Letting a faucet run for five minutes uses about as much energy as letting a 60-watt light bulb run for 14 hours. Even a pin-hole size leak can waste 4,000 gallons a month!’
To help save water for future generations, the Lake Champlain Committee is asking consumers and businesses to take time during the coming week to improve water efficiency by finding and fixing leaks.

US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and IBM Friday celebrated the overwhelming Senate approval of patent reform legislation as one of the country’s first steps toward modernizing the USpatent system which is essential to protecting inventors, preserving American innovation leadership and generating economic growth. The bill passed this week, 95 to 5, with a tidal wave of bipartisan support. If passed by the House and signed into law by President Obama, the America Invents Act would be the first comprehensive reform to the US Patent System in nearly 60 years.
Patenting is increasingly important for protecting new innovations and helping a range of entities from entrepreneurs to large-to-medium-size companies to bring ideas to fruition and job creation.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org on March 10, 2011 What do Dominica and a Middlesex highway garage have in common? Not much, unless you happen to be tracking the whereabouts of Governor Peter Shumlin.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) and the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), in cooperation with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), are working together to identify and establish intercity passenger rail service to parts of southwestern Vermont and adjacent areas in New York that are currently underserved, and have scheduled the first public meeting to discuss the study for Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 7:00pm-9:00pm at the Bennington Fire Station, 130 River Street, Bennington, VT, 05201.
The project study area, which is generally located between Albany/Rensselaer, NY and Rutland, VT, includes Bennington and Rutland Counties in Vermont, and Rensselaer, Albany, Schenectady, Saratoga, Warren and Washington Counties in New York.

The Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council is inviting Vermonters with developmental disabilities, their families and other interested community members to talk about what is working for them and what could help.
The input will be shared with policymakers and help VTDDC write its State Plan that will guide how it spends its federal funds for the next 5 years.
Come have dinner and join a forum near you:
March 17 ~ Swanton April 4 ~ Newport
March 21 ~ Rutland April 5 ~ Brattleboro
March 24 ~ Burlington April 7 ~ White River Junction
March 29 ~ Bennington

by Anne Galloway on March 11, 2011 vtdigger.org Whether you’re talking about your household checking account or the state General Fund, the math can be boiled down to a simple subtraction problem: revenues ‘ expenses = X.
In good years X equals surpluses; for the last four years, that X has been a negative number in the many millions at the beginning of the state budgeting process. This year the figure in red represents 12 percent of the state’s budget, or about $176 million. In this legislative session, there is no Uncle Sam at the ready to bail out states with fistfuls of ready cash. In fact, the old man may have empty pockets next year and leave us with a new deficit problem caused by significant reductions in programs like the Low-Income Heating Assistance Program (that federal cut would amount to $14 million if it goes through).

Verizon Wireless recently has activated a new cell site in Jericho that expands wireless voice and 3G data coverage in Jericho and Underhill and along Route 15, as well as the surrounding areas.
The company invested in Chittenden County to continue to stay ahead of increasing demand for reliable voice and mobile Internet access. Verizon Wireless has invested more than $2.8 billion into its New England network since 2000, including more than $242 million in 2010 alone, to increase coverage and capacity on behalf of customers. Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s largest and most reliable 3G network.

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CWST), a regional solid waste, recycling, and resource management company, announced the closing of its previously announced redemption of all of its outstanding 9.75% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2013 (CUSIP Number 147448AB0) (the "Notes") pursuant to their terms (the "Redemption"). In the Redemption the Company redeemed an aggregate of $28,170,000 in principal amount of Notes at a price of $1,000 per $1,000 in principal amount plus accrued and unpaid interest through March 9, 2011.
About Casella Waste Systems, Inc.
Casella Waste Systems is an integrated solid waste and resource management company headquartered in Rutland, Vermont. For further information, investors should contact Ned Coletta, vice president of finance and investor relations at (802) 772-2239; or visit Casella's website at http://www.casella.com.
RUTLAND, VT--(Marketwire - March 10, 2011) - Casella Waste Systems, Inc.

The Vermont Department of Public Service announced Thursday the appointment of Sarah Hofmann as Deputy Commissioner and James Porter as the Director of Telecommunications. The Department serves as the ratepayer advocate for utility matters in energy, telecommunications and water, and also is the lead for the state’s energy policy.
‘I am very pleased to have Sarah and Jim as part of the department’s leadership team,’ said Elizabeth Miller, Commissioner of the Department. ‘This is an exciting time as we continue to work diligently on the state’s energy plan, and to complete the state’s broadband build out,’ Miller said.

As expected, the Nuclear Regulatry Commission this afternoon approved the application of Entergy Vermont Yankee to relicense the plant another 20 years, as it denied the last remaining objection by the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution. The official approval is expected to be handed down within the next few days.
The Vernon nuclear plant's license was to expire in March 2012. The plant must still get approval from the Vermont Legislature and the Public Service Board. It seems the legislative approval would be unlikely, given that it overwhelmingly voted against the extension one year ago. However, Entergy, based in New Orleans, has indicated it may try and circumvent the legislative approval and go to federal court. The NRC has approved every license extension that has been requested to date.
Meanwhile, reaction to the NRC's action was swift. The IBEW Local 300, the electricians' union and longtime supporter of the relicensing, issued this statement: