Current News

Governor-elect Peter Shumlin on Wednesday appointed Patrick Berry, Vermont Law School’s director of Governmental Affairs and Environmental Advancement, to be commissioner of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. Kim Royer will be the Deputy Commissioner.
‘Pat Berry is a dedicated hunter and angler and possesses a broad background and expertise in Fish and Wildlife issues,’ said Shumlin. ‘Pat’s skills combined with Kim’s expertise of the department and wildlife biology will make them an amazing team. I thank them both for their service’

Governor-elect Peter Shumlin today said that local school boards and communities are best left to make their own budget decisions and he will not ask the Legislature to enforce the voluntary education spending cuts recommended under Challenges for Change. At the same time, he said that local school districts will still receive $23.2 million less from the state this year. While much of that should be made up with the nearly $19 million in federal education stimulus money that the state received earlier this fall, the $19 million is a one-time allocation of funds and school districts should continue to develop fiscally sound budgets so as not to result in increased property taxes.
He makes this announcement following last week’s report that school districts were unable to meet the $23.2 million voluntary reduction targets set earlier this year.

Vermont's population grew a modest 2.8 percent to 625,741 from 2000 in the recently completed census. The US Census Bureau also announced yesterday that the 2010 Census showed the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2010, was 308,745,538.
The resident population represented an increase of 9.7 percent over the
2000 US resident population of 281,421,906. Commerce Secretary Gary
Locke, Acting Commerce Deputy Secretary Rebecca Blank and Census Bureau
Director Robert Groves unveiled the official counts at the National Press
Club in Washington, D.C.
‘A big thanks to the American public for its overwhelming response to
the 2010 Census,’ U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said. ‘The result was
a successful count that came in on time and well under budget, with a final
2010 Census savings of $1.87 billion.’
Rebecca Blank, now Acting Deputy Secretary of Commerce who has overseen

Central Vermont Public Service (NYSE-CV) and the Vermont Department of Public Service have agreed to a rate settlement that will reduce a November rate request.
Driven by reliability and transmission improvements and increasing power costs, in November CVPS asked the Vermont Public Service Board to authorize an 8.34 percent rate increase under the company’s alternative regulation plan. CVPS and the DPS have agreed to reduce the increase, which is expected to take effect Jan. 1, to 7.67 percent. The agreement also amends and extends the company’s alternative regulation plan.
Under the settlement, which must be approved by the PSB, the company’s allowed return on equity would remain at the current level of 9.59 percent. CVPS agreed to reduce its return on equity request and make an additional $13 million investment in the Vermont Electric Power Company by the end of the year, changes that reduced the size of the rate increase.

Displaying a spirit and commitment greater than communities 30 times its size, the greater Rutland area turned out in force Tuesday and reclaimed the New England single-day blood drive record at the Gift-of-Life Marathon.
‘After last year, we knew just about anything was possible, but this is absolutely amazing,’ said CVPS spokesman Steve Costello, one of the organizers. ‘Rutland County should be enormously proud. We beat Boston, and we beat Boston handily!’
Boston, which held the record of 772 pints until Rutland collected 856 in 2008 and 1,024 in 2009, collected 1,177 pints Sept. 11 at Fenway Park, retaking the record from Rutland. GOLM organizers immediately vowed to reclaim the record, and local residents did just that ‘ collecting 1,393 pints on Tuesday.

Dr John Bramley, President and CEO of the Windham Foundation, Vermont’s largest private foundation whose mission is to promote Vermont’s rural communities, today announced his pending retirement on May 31, 2011.

Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz presented the 2010 Democracy Awards to seven Vermont citizens and organizations at a ceremony at the Vermont Statehouse on December 21.
‘These awards honor people who have promoted the tenets of democracy in Vermont. Each of this year’s recipients is a shining example of leadership in the democratic process,’ says Markowitz.
The National Association of Secretaries of State Medallion Award will be presented to Frank Bryan, University of Vermont professor and author; the Burlington Free Press; and John Cushing, Milton Town Clerk/Treasurer.
Receiving the Vermont Secretary of State’s Enduring Democracy Award are student interns Ellie Beckett, Katie Levasseur, and Courtney Mattison who helped usher through Proposition 5; and Susan Clark, Middlesex town moderator and author.

The Town of Hinesburg, Vermont and AllEarth Renewables, Inc. of Williston, Vermont have partnered to install 31 AllSun Trackers on Lagoon Road, south of the town’s wastewater treatment plant. Over the course of a year, the 141 kilowatt photovoltaic array is expected to produce 200,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electrical energy which will provide over 45 percent of the electricity used by town-owned meters.
Hinesburg is quickly becoming the solar capital of Vermont. According to the Renewable Energy Atlas of Vermont, this project is the largest municipal solar installation in the state. When combined with other solar electric projects installed by Hinesburg residents and businesses, Hinesburg leads Vermont towns with over 500 kilowatts of solar photovoltaic capacity which produces enough electricity for over 75 homes.

By Kevin Kelley, Vermont Business Magazine. Burlington Telecom appears to have little chance of surviving its debt crisis as a city-owned utility. But some financial experts say it’s possible BT could work a deal leaving the city with at least a minority stake in a reconfigured, non-profit ownership arrangement.
Such a set-up would keep the advanced fiber-optic network in place as a local alternative to Comcast and other private, for-profit telecom businesses. And that’s an outcome many Burlington politicians ‘ not just Progressives ‘ say they favor.

The e-Vermont Community Broadband Project will bring digital tools and in-depth Internet training to 12 additional rural communities in 2011. The twelve, announced today, will benefit from the expertise and resources of e-Vermont’s statewide partners as the local groups develop ways to take full advantage of the Internet for creating jobs and innovative schools, providing social services, and increasing community connection. These towns join the first 12 pilot e-communities, selected in spring 2010.
The 2011 e-Vermont communities will be Bridgewater, Calais, Castleton, Dover, Fairfield, Hardwick, Jay/Westfield, Middletown Springs, Moretown, Morristown, Richford, and Vergennes.

The Senate today approved an additional $10.8 million for home heating assistance for about 27,000 Vermont households, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced.
The Senate this afternoon voted 79 to 16 for the funding, which is included in a bill to keep the federal government running until March 4. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said a final House vote could occur this evening.
Vermont and other states had faced the prospect of a 40 percent cut in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps senior citizens on fixed incomes, families with children and the disabled.

Vermont has sued American Express, Visa, and MasterCard to stop them from restricting merchants from offering consumers discounts, rewards, and information about card costs. Attorney General William Sorrell joined the US Department of Justice and nineteen states in filing an amended complaint late yesterday challenging the credit card companies’ rules which ultimately result in greater costs to consumers and merchants. Vermont also joined a proposed settlement with two of the companies. Although Visa and MasterCard have agreed to settle the case, American Express continues to fight the allegations.
‘Vermont has been a leader in taking on the credit card industry for practices that stifle competition ‘ first through legislation and now through litigation. In these tough economic times it’s more important than ever to protect our businesses and consumers from unfair fees and costs,’ said Attorney General Sorrell.