Current News

Leaders of six citizens groups from around the state joined today with VCE and others to call on Governor-elect Shumlin and the new legislature to re-examine their support for utility-scale wind on Vermont’s ridgelines.
‘We are gathered today to sound the alarm bells ‘ nothing less than the future of Vermont is at stake. The proposed ridgeline wind projects will irreparably harm our natural resources and habitats, make hundreds of Vermonters sick, and leave scars that will never heal ‘ all for little if any benefit to Vermont or the environment. There is a better way, and now is the time to change course,’ said Annette Smith, VCE Executive Director.

US Department of Housing & Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan will deliver the keynote address at tomorrow's 2010 Vermont Statewide Housing Conference. He’s scheduled to speak between 9 and 10:15 a.m. Doors open at 8 a.m. Governor-elect Peter Shumlin also will speak at tomorrow’s conference. He’s scheduled to speak for 30-minutes, beginning at 12:30 p.m., and will take questions from the audience following his address.
Sec. Donovan will be the highest ranking housing official ever to speak at the biennial event.
More than 450 people have pre-registered to attend the day-long conference, which is the state’s largest gathering of housing professionals. Pre-registrations have nearly filled the capacity of the venue, but organizers will accept walk-in registrations as space allows.
WHAT
2010 Vermont Statewide Housing Conference
WHEN
Thursday, Nov. 18, 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Sec. Donovan scheduled to speak between 9 and 10:15 a.m.

A one cent per ounce tax on sugary beverages was the center piece of a new plan to reduce obesity in Vermont. Such a tax would add 12 cents to a can of soda and 67 cents to a two-liter bottle. Joined at a Statehouse press conference by legislators, public health advocates and other interested parties, Attorney General William Sorrell today called on all Vermonters to pull together and commit to greater efforts to address the skyrocketing rates of obesity and overweight - rapidly overcoming tobacco addiction as the greatest avoidable public health problem facing our state and our nation.
‘With current trends, our kids’ generation will be less healthy than our own. Shame on us, if we let this happen,’ said Attorney General Sorrell.

FairPoint Communications has met ‘ and surpassed ‘ another key broadband milestone in Vermont.
FairPoint pledged to make broadband available to 80 percent of its customers by the end of 2010 and as of Oct. 31, the company has bested that commitment, said Michael K. Smith, FairPoint state president for Vermont.
‘We’re at 80.5 percent and we still have two months to go in 2010,’ Smith said. ‘I don’t know of any other provider in Vermont who has done more to expand broadband for Vermonters than FairPoint. We’ve increased high-speed Internet from 66 percent in 2008 to now more than 80 percent.’
In 2010, FairPoint has turned up more homes and businesses in Highgate, Thetford, Peru, Williston, Stockbridge, Westford and Marlboro, with additional communities scheduled to come online before year’s end, Smith said.

Greenpeace today flew an airship with a banner reading ‘Shut Down Vermont Yankee’ over what it calls "the risky and dangerous nuclear reactor" to send a message to Entergy, the plant’s corporate owners and potential buyers. Following Entergy’s recent announcement to sell the 38-year old reactor, as well as an unplanned shutdown after another leak of radioactive water, Greenpeace said its action drew attention to the problems facing the reactor and warned potential buyers of the risks of purchasing the plant.
‘Entergy needs to stop trying to squeeze more profit out of Vermont Yankee or dump the mess they’ve created onto someone else, and instead begin preparations to permanently shut down this old reactor,’ said Jim Riccio, Nuclear Policy Analyst for Greenpeace.

Governor Jim Douglas today said the Obama Administration has selected Vermont as one of eight states to participate in a demonstration project that is modeled after, and will strengthen, the groundbreaking Vermont Blueprint for Health.
As part of the demonstration project, the federal government will provide Medicare funding to better coordinate care, lower costs and improve health outcomes for patients, the Governor said. This is a first for the federal Medicare program. The total funding is about $21.8 million over three years. It is expected to impact 117,000 Vermonters by 2013.
‘This demonstration project, the Multi-payer Advanced Primary Care Practice, strengthens reforms already in place here as part of our Vermont Blueprint for Health and provides another example of how states can contain health care costs and improve quality,’ Governor Douglas said.

Vermont Aerospace Manufacturing, Inc, has announced that it has been sold to its employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Company owners Don and Sheryl Cota decided to create the ESOP as a way to reward employees for their years of service and to insure that the business would stay in the area. The announcement was made at a celebration at the company’s headquarters in Lyndonville on November 9th. Guests included Senator Bernard Sanders and Don Jamison of the Vermont Employee Ownership Center.
‘This year marks Vermont Aerospace’s 30th year in business, and this was accomplished because of the dedication and hard work of our employees,’ says Don Cota, president of Vermont Aerospace. ‘Sheryl and I were looking for a way to provide our employees with stability, opportunity, and a vehicle that would allow sharing of company profits.’

Community Bancorp. (OTCBB:CMTV) and Community National Bank in Derby, Vermont, has announced the planned retirement of Chairman Richard C White from their Boards of Directors, effective January 1, 2011. Formerly its CEO, White was instrumental in the growth of the bank over the last 20 years and in setting up the holding company.
White joined the Bank on January 22, 1980, as a member of the Board of Directors. While on the Bank’s Board, he helped to oversee the Bank’s transition to a bank holding company structure, and has served on the Company’s Board since its founding. In addition to his service on the Boards of the Company and Bank, White served as a Vice President of the Company and the Bank, and became President and CEO of the Bank in 1986. He assumed the additional role of President of the Company and Chairman of the Boards of the Company and Bank upon Arthur Judd’s retirement on March, 1987.

Vermont Student Assistance Corporation offers two online presentations for prospective college students and their families to view in their comfort of their own homes.
How to Write an Effective Admissions Essay, available at www.vsacworkshopsonline.org, provides a brief overview of the components that are essential to producing a strong college application essay. The site also offers a variety of downloadable handouts, including a list of books on essay writing that can be borrowed from VSAC through local libraries in Vermont.

According to an economic study conducted by Art Woolf, PhD, an economist with Northern Economic Consulting, Inc, Vermont’s sales tax has inflicted ‘significant harm’ on towns along the Connecticut River corridor. The study, released today, was funded by a consortium of Vermont organizations including the Beverage Association of Vermont; Vermont Chamber of Commerce; Vermont Grocers’ Association; Vermont Retail Association; and the Vermont Wholesale Beverage Association.
The study concluded that the sales tax has dramatically changed the pattern of retailing and the location of retail activity in the counties that border the Connecticut River, leading to a significant loss of the retail market in the Vermont border counties.
Some of the study’s key findings:
· Before 1969 (when Vermont implemented its sales tax), per capita retail sales in the two regions were identical. Today, Vermont’s per capita sales are 60% of New Hampshire’s.

Secretary of Administration Neale F Lunderville announced today that Vermont’s October revenue figures were above the General Fund target, but were below for both the Transportation and Education funds. While the vital personal income tax was virtually flat during the month and for the year-to-date, corporate income taxes well exceeded targets. Meanwhile, a general sluggishness in motor vehicle purchases and fees and diesel fuel revenues reflect a general sluggishness in the economy.
General Fund

FairPoint customers around Vermont are getting a new voice mail system, one that offers improved features on a new next-generation voice mail platform.

FairPoint began rolling out the new voice mail this month, starting with Essex Junction customers. Bennington, Brattleboro and Rutland will be added this week and the transition to the new system will continue community by community over the next three weeks.

And, for the first time, Island Pond customers will soon have voice mail availability.

‘This new IP-based voice mail platform improves current features right off the bat and allows for future ‘bells and whistles,’‘ said Mike Smith, Vermont state president for FairPoint.

FairPoint customers will receive instructions for the new voice mail system by mail, which includes a user’s guide, followed by voice mail messages as the transition date approaches.