Current News

Vermont showed surprisingly positive results in January in both construction employment and construction contracts. Thirty-six states lost construction jobs between January 2010 and 2011, even as more states added construction jobs than lost them between December and January, the Associated General Contractors of America reported in an analysis of state employment data released today by the Labor Department. Association officials cautioned that despite the increase in monthly employment, the construction industry is still facing severe economic headwinds.
‘It is encouraging to see more states adding jobs instead of losing them between December and January,’ said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. ‘Yet despite those monthly gains, we’re still a long way from seeing the kind of construction employment figures states experienced in 2006 and 2007.’

US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) today introduced The Emergency Deficit Reduction Act that would establish a surtax on millionaires and eliminate tax breaks for big oil and gas companies.
Sanders, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, said any proposal to fund the government for the rest of this fiscal year must pair additional revenue from those who can afford it the most with spending cuts.
‘The American people get it. They understand you can't move toward deficit reduction just by cutting programs that working families, the middle class, low-income people desperately need in order to survive in the midst of this terrible recession. They understand that serious, responsible deficit reduction requires shared sacrifice,’ Sanders said in a Senate floor speech.
Under Sanders’ legislation, a 5.4 percent tax on income of more than $1 million a year would yield up to $50 billion annually for the U.S. Treasury.

The Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Southern Vermont has announced the winners of their 12th Annual Excellence in Housing Awards. These awards recognize the outstanding artistry and craftsmanship of members. They were presented at a banquet held at Franklin Conference Center in Rutland on February 23, 2011.
Awards presented:
Single Family Home ‘ under 2,000 square feet sponsored by Vermont Housing Finance Agency--Stafford Technical Center of Rutland;
Single Family Home ‘ 2,001 to 3,000 square feet sponsored by Gilmore Home Center--Aspen Construction Services of Bondville;
Single Family Home - over 3,000 square feet sponsored by LaValley Building Supply--The McKernon Group of Brandon;
Residential Addition-Renovation--Roaring Brook Constructors of Killington;
Best Kitchen--Roaring Brook Constructors of Killington;
Best Feature--Aspen Construction Services of Bondville;

Green Mountain Power is reporting today that its Searsburg wind power facility had its most productive year on record in 2010, thanks to weather conditions and strong operating performance.
"In its 13 years of continuous operation, the Searsburg facility has demonstrated that wind power works in Vermont," said Mary Powell, president and CEO of Green Mountain Power.
Above average wind speed contributed to record annual energy production of 14.7 million kilowatt hours in 2010, enough to supply more than 2,000 Vermont homes, well above the 11.8 million kwh 13-year average. In addition, there was less icing than usual in January, February and March 2010, which allowed more electricity to be produced in the coldest months when electricity market prices tend to be high.

Vermont will receive approximately $1.4 million as part of a settlement with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, LP, and AstraZeneca LP, Attorney General William H. Sorrell announced today. The total settlement of $68.5 million, paid to thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia, is the largest payment ever for a multistate drug consumer protection settlement.
‘Pharmaceutical companies must accept that they can only promote drugs for FDA-approved uses,’ said Attorney General Sorrell, ‘to do otherwise puts some of the most vulnerable Vermonters at risk, including children, the elderly, and those suffering from mental illness.’

The Vermont Department of Labor announced today the seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate for January 2011 was 5.7 percent. This reported level resumes the downward trend established through much of 2010. It is a decrease of one tenth of a percentage point from December 2010 and a decrease of a full percentage point from January 2010.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX), the world’s premier roaster, marketer and retailer of specialty coffees, and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc (NasdaqGS: GMCR ), a leader in specialty coffee and single-serve brewing systems, today announced a strategic relationship for the manufacturing, marketing, distribution and sale of Starbucks and Tazo tea branded K-Cup portion packs for use in GMCR’s Keurig Single-Cup brewing system. The $2 billion single cup systems together account for the growth in the coffee industry last year. The deal also was the brightest spot on what has been a miserable day so far on Wall Street. While the NYSE and NASDAQ are both down about 1.5 percent, GMCR' stock increased more than 17 points, or 39 percent. GMCR reported 2010 revenues of $1.4 billion. Its market cap is $8.6 billion. STOCK ANALYSIS

A new fund, organized by Pete’s Greens and the Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE), aimed to help Vermont agricultural organizations, is on the fast track to becoming a reality. Pete Johnson, owner of Pete’s Greens, and Monty Fischer, Executive Director of CAE met recently to outline the details to create the Vermont Farm Fund. Plans include the creation of an advisory board by the end of March and focusing the funding towards innovative and progressive agricultural efforts by Vermont farms, including support for farm-to-school initiatives, emergency farm relief and exploring the establishment of small farm loan funds.

A team from the International Rhino Foundation tends to a black rhino in Zimbabwe. The IRF is one of four recipients of an Orvis Commitment to Protect Nature Grant for 2011. The Orvis CompanyThe Orvis Company announced today the winners of its Commitment to Protect Nature Grants for 2011. Every year, Orvis reviews projects submitted from around the world. From those submissions Orvis chooses the best ones to share with their customers in matching grant campaigns in their catalogs and online. This year's projects reach around the globe and include: Protection of both the endangered black rhino of Zimbabwe and the Coral Triangle fishery at the intersection of the Indian and Pacific Oceans; as well as restoration of Montana's famous Upper Clark Fork River and of the dwindling Florida panther populations.

Two thirds of states have cut mental health care in the last three years’even though need has increased because of the nation's economic distress and troops returning home from war, according to a report released today by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
Seventeen states managed to increase mental health budgets during the same three years. For 10 of them, the increases totaled four percent or less.
"State mental health cuts are a national crisis," said NAMI Executive Director Michael J. Fitzpatrick. "Some states are trying to hold the line or make progress, but most are cutting deep. This stands in contrast to the intense national concern about the mental health care system following the Arizonatragedy two months ago."
State Lists and Data

DuBois & King, Inc., consulting engineers announced the opening of their new Springfield, Vermont office. The firm also provides professional engineering services from offices in Williston and Randolph, Vermont and Bedford, New Hampshire.

General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products was awarded an $11.2 million contract modification by the U.S. Navy for the continued production of MK82 directors and MK200 director controllers for Aegis Combat System illuminators. General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products is a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD).
The MK 82 and MK 200 are critical components of the Aegis missile fire-control system's illuminator. The Aegis Combat System is the most advanced tactical radar defense and fire-control system fielded by the Navy.
This award modifies a contract issued in September 2010 by the Naval Sea Systems Command. That contract was valued at $11.5 million, with a total potential value of $29.5 million if all options are exercised. Under these contracts, the MK82 directors and MK200 director controllers will be installed aboard ships built under the restart of the DDG 51 shipbuilding program.