Current News

CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, today released its November Home Price Index (HPI) which shows that home prices in the US declined for the fourth month in a row. According to the CoreLogic HPI, national home prices, including distressed sales, declined by 5.07 percent in November 2010 compared to November 2009 and declined by 3.35 percent* in October 2010 compared to October 2009. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 2.21 percent in November 2010 compared to November 2009 and declined by 2.24* in October 2010 compared to October 2009. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

Spartan Death Race in Pittsfield, Vermont, has thrown down the gauntlet to 20 winners of the reality television game show "Survivor."
Any "Survivor" winner who enters and by chance wins Spartan Death Race www.youmaydie.com, a multiple-hurdles and challenges-driven mental and physical test of pain thresholds and wills, will walk with $100,000 for enduring up to 72 hours of what previous competitors call "hell."
Another $100,000 wad on this year's Spartan Death Race table goes to anyone winning six different Peak Races (including Spartan Death Race) www.peakraces.com. Peak Races www.peakraces.com includes, among others, a 100-mile snowshoe race in March and a 500-mile ultra run.

On Wednesday, January 12th at 9 am in Room 27 of the Statehouse the Senate economic development committee (SEDHGA) will hold a hearing on a Committee draft bill to change the method by which FairPoint is regulated in Vermont. Following the hearing, the Committee will hold a press briefing at 10:30 am in the Cedar Creek Room, Statehouse.
The legislation says it would allow FairPoint to compete on a level playing field for business with cable companies, regional and independent phone companies and wireless providers. Those other companies can quote prices immediately, while FairPoint must have price changes approved by regulators ‘ often tacking on delays of one to seven weeks.
The proposed legislation, which has been drafted by Senator Vince Illuzzi, chair of the SEDHGA, would have FairPoint Communications regulated under the same rules that presently apply to most other telephone companies.

Across New England, single family home sales dropped an average of -5.0% in 2010, the 2011 Housing Market Outlook and Forecast from RE/MAX of New England states. Some New England states, like Vermont, bucked the trend however, and were not hit as hard as other states by the continued housing market woes this year.
As anticipated, the overall home sales in 2010 were down, despite a stronger showing in the first two quarters of the year, thanks to a federal tax credit extension and an uptick in seasonal buying. For the second half of the year, despite mortgage interest rates hitting historic lows, home sales stalled. Jay Hummer, RE/MAX of New England Executive Vice President and Regional Director, believes this to be because of lower consumer confidence in the face of a struggling job market.

The City of Burlington announced today that Moody’s Investors Services has downgraded the City’s general obligation credit rating from A2 to A3. Under the Moody’s analysis, the City’s outlook remains ‘negative.’ The analysis factors in Burlington Telecom’s outstanding debit to pooled cash, as well as Burlington’s economic strength, manageable debt profile, and stable general fund operations. Moody’s cites the City’s stable general fund performance as a mitigating factor with respect to the uncertainty around Burlington Telecom.
According to Moody’s:

Former Administration Secretary Neale F Lunderville will join Green Mountain Power in February as Leader of Enterprise Innovation, GMP President and CEO Mary G. Powell announced Monday.
"I am thrilled that Neale, a proven highly-effective state leader, is joining Green Mountain's management team to help us drive new strategic initiatives to serve our customers with low cost, low carbon and highly reliable service.
"Neale's record of accomplishment in managing large and complex state government organizations is precisely the kind of experienced leadership utilities of the future require," Powell said.
In his first assignment as Leader of Enterprise Innovation, Lunderville will provide leadership in GMP's implementation of its aggressive Smart Grid program over the next few years as well as other key innovation initiatives.

TruexCullins Architecture and Interior Design has been awarded the 2010 AIA VT "People's Choice" Award for Excellence in Architecture Design for the Maltex Building renovation on Pine Street in Burlington. The "People's Choice" Award is given to the recipient of the most votes from a two-week period in November when the general public was invited to choose their favorite project among all of the entries for the AIA VT design awards.
Built in 1900, the Maltex Building was the factory headquarters of the Malted Cereal Company, later known as Maltex, which produced cereal and other malted products through the early 1970s. The company was famous for its maple-flavored cereal called Maypo. Later, Maltex was acquired by another company and the building became home to other industries. The 4-story brick masonry structure is now listed on the Vermont State Register of Historic Places.

Median family income in Vermont fell in 2009 for the second consecutive year and now stands at $64,900, according to The Vermont Economy Newsletter’s annual analysis of just-released Vermont Tax Department data. After adjusting for inflation, the income earned by the median family (half of all families earn more and half earn less than the median) fell by $1,275 or 1.9% in 2009.
‘The decline in median income shows the extent to which the recession has affected the average Vermont family,’ said Art Woolf, co-author of the study and editor of The Vermont Economy Newsletter. ‘Moreover, it comes on the heels of a 2.7% decline in 2008. From 2007 to 2009, median family in Vermont income has fallen by $3,100 and is now back to where it was in 2001.’

Wyndham Vacation Ownership (WVO), the world’s largest vacation ownership company and a member of the Wyndham Worldwide family of companies (NYSE:WYN), has announced it has entered into an exclusive sales and marketing agreement with Smugglers’ Notch Management Company, Ltd. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
WVO is expected to become the exclusive sales and marketing agent for the sale of vacation ownership
interests at Smugglers’ Notch Vermont Resort; sales are anticipated to begin in the second quarter of
2011. Through this arrangement, it is anticipated that all unsold interests will become part of the
company’s flexible, club-based CLUBWYNDHAM Access product. Completion of the transaction is
subject to customary closing conditions.
‘This is another significant step in executing our fee-for-service timeshare sales model while bringing a

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to decide the constitutionality of a Vermont law that requires doctors’ consent before their identifying information in prescription records can be sold or used for marketing prescription drugs. The law was challenged on First Amendment grounds by data mining companies and by PhRMA, a trade organization for the pharmaceutical industry. The federal district court in Vermont upheld the law after trial, but a divided panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision in November 2010. The Vermont Attorney General’s Office filed a petition seeking Supreme Court review on December 13, 2010.
Attorney General Sorrell praised the Court’s decision to hear the case. ‘Vermont doctors pressed for this law because of their concerns about privacy and because they view this data mining practice as an intrusion into the way doctors practice medicine. We look forward to defending this important law in the Supreme Court.’

Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott, Senate President Pro Tempore John Campbell, and Senator Dick Mazza, members of the Senate Committee on Committees, announced the Senate committee assignments for the 2011-2012 legislative session.
Those committee assignments are:
Agriculture
Sen. Sara Kittell (D-Franklin), Chair
Sen. Harold Giard (D-Addison), Vice Chair
Sen. Philip Baruth (D-Chittenden), Clerk
Sen. Bobby Starr (D-Essex-Orleans)
Sen. John Campbell (D-Windsor)
Appropriations
Sen. Jane Kitchel (D-Caledonia), Chair
Sen. Dick Sears (D-Bennington), Vice Chair
Sen. Bobby Starr (D-Essex-Orleans), Clerk
Sen. Diane Snelling (R-Chittenden)
Sen. Vincent Illuzzi (R-Essex-Orleans)
Sen. Alice Nitka (D-Windsor)
Sen. Hinda Miller (D-Chittenden)
Economic Development
Sen. Vincent Illuzzi (R-Essex-Orleans), Chair
Sen. Timothy Ashe (D/P-Chittenden), Vice Chair

National Life Group of Montpelier continues to show remarkable resiliency through the economic downturn as it once again shows revenue growth in 2010, as revealed in Vermont Business Magazine’s annual Vermont 100+ ranking of the largest Vermont-based companies.
VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH WCAX TV
Meanwhile, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters of Waterbury joined National Life as the state’s second billion dollar company, as listed in VBM’s January 2011 issue. GMCR showed remarkable growth, most notably through its recent acquisitions of coffee companies on the West Coast and in Canada.