Current News

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.

Crown Point, New York/Addison, Vermont ‘ January 6, 2011 ‘ The Lake Champlain Bridge Coalition announced today the formation of the Lake Champlain Bridge Community (LCB Community). The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) has entrusted the Coalition and LCB Community to create, plan and lead the public festivities that will celebrate the replacement and re-opening of the Lake Champlain Bridge. The celebration will also showcase the reunited regional communities of Addison, Vermont and Crown Point, New York.

(BENNINGTON, Vt.) ‘ The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has selected Southern Vermont College for its 2010 Community Engagement Classification designation. The Carnegie Foundation is best known for its classifications based on the curricular and research missions in colleges and universities. The Carnegie Foundation Community Engagement Classification has only recently been added--and awarded in 2006 and 2008--to include colleges and universities which meet certain criteria for having an institutional focus on community engagement.

Northwestern Medical Center (NMC) is pleased to announce the creation of ‘Northwestern Orthopaedics’ through the acquisition of Synergy Orthopaedics. Dr. Rob Beattie and his staff have joined Dr. Michael Barnum and Dr. Jeremy Hatch as employees of NMC, effective January 1st, 2011.
‘I’m delighted to be an employee of Northwestern Medical Center,’ said Dr. Beattie. ‘It’s an excellent hospital with a culture of true caring, and I’m pleased to be joining my two superb colleagues, Dr. Hatch and Dr. Barnum, as an employee of NMC.’
‘This transition helps ensure the continuity of orthopaedic care in our community,’ said Jill Berry Bowen, NMC’s Chief Executive Officer. ‘We are looking forward to expanding access to orthopaedics and are currently recruiting for a fourth orthopaedic surgeon to join the practice.’

Governor Peter Shumlin announced Friday a plan to achieve $12 million in General Fund savings in Fiscal Year 2012 without imposing pay cuts or layoffs of existing state workers.
The administration will implement an immediate hiring freeze across state government. All requests to fill vacant positions will require specific approval of the office of the Secretary of Administration.
In addition, the Governor said Administration Secretary Jeb Spaulding will work with the State Employee unions and the Legislature to enact the following savings beginning July 1:

Employees of National Life Group donated more than 2,000 books to an inner-city school in Maryland, helping to fuel the principal’s ambitious dream of bringing 10,000 books into his school.
‘I believe reading is the foundation for everything,’ says Herman Whaley, principal of the 200-student Capitol Heights Elementary School, located on the Maryland border with Washington, D.C. ‘If you are not a good reader you are going to struggle.’
The 2,000 books were presented at a school assembly in December at which students, in a format akin to a television game show, answered book-themed questions.
‘You have to celebrate reading and books the way we celebrate our athletes,’ says Whaley. ‘You have to be a cheerleader and celebrate it so it becomes contagious, like you are celebrating a sporting event like the Super Bowl.’

The Champlain Housing Trust announced today that the Citizens Bank Foundation has awarded a $10,000 grant to help create a new program that provides financial fitness counseling to applicants of its rental housing. CHT has long provided home buyer education counseling, post purchase counseling, delinquency intervention and foreclosure prevention services.
‘Thanks to the Citizens Bank Foundation, we are able to expand our services and to try a new approach,’ explained Chris Donnelly, Director of Community Relations at CHT. ‘Because of poor credit or other solvable issues, we have to turn away some rental applicants. We have found that with guidance, people can start to repair credit or set themselves on a more stable path. So instead of saying ‘No’ to these people, we want to be able to say ‘Yes, but only if you work with us.’‘

Steven Judge, President of Bob-White Systems ‘ the Vermont farmstead and micro dairy supply and equipment company, announces the addition of a farmstead cheese making supply business and names South Royalton resident, Leslie Mann, the Cheese Manager.
South Royalton’s innovative micro dairy equipment company will now offer cheese making supplies and equipment and provide farmstead and homestead micro dairy farmers with the expertise and support to produce local, artisanal cheese. From moulds, cheese cloths, and vat pasteurizers to measuring instruments, curd knives, and literature, products are available at the Bob-White Systems storefront on the green in South Royalton or online at www.bobwhitesystems.com.

Phil Scott was sworn in this morning as Vermont's 79th Lieutenant Governor. In his remarks to members of the Senate, distinguished guests, and the state of Vermont after taking the oath, Lieutenant Governor Scott focused on a theme of "open doors."
Scott urged his fellow elected officials to find ways to be more accessible to Vermonters, and to solicit participation and input from more citizens. He noted that more than 200,000 registered voters chose not to vote in the November election, and stressed the importance of encouraging everyday Vermonters to participate in the policymaking process.

Peter Shumlin was sworn in this afternoon as the state's 81st governor. His speech hit on the major themes from the long, heated campaign; a campaign in which both the primary and the general election went down to the wire. After thanking many people, including his predecessor, Jim Douglas, who received a rousing standing ovation, Governor Shumlin talked about jobs, his plan on how to get them, keep them and grow them. Among the major points were bringing broadband and cell coverage to every corner of the state by 2013; initiating a single-payer health care system to take the burden of cost off employers; and finally saying that there will not be any tax increase and even going farther by saying that Vermonters are over-burdened already by the level of taxation. He said he will endeavor to change the "patchwork" tax structure: "Our choices about taxes directly impact job growth.

The Vermont Wood Manufacturers Association (VWMA) announces the 2011 Vermont
Fine Furniture and Wood Products Design Competition. The competition is open
to woodworkers with all different skill levels in Vermont and is divided
into three sections: professional, apprentice, and student. The competition
entries will be judged separately in their respective level. The
professional competition will be further divided into submission categories:
Production Furniture, Custom or Studio Furniture, Production Woodenware,
Custom Woodenware, and Carvings/Sculptural. Students will enter as a
Beginner woodworker or an Advanced Woodworker.
The competition will be held at the Union Arena, in conjunction with the 8th
Annual Fine Furniture and Woodworking Festival on September 24-25, 2011.
Woodworkers will bring their piece(s) to the competition and the judges will