Current News

KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) has announced that Chairman of the Board and CEO Henry L. Meyer III, 60, will retire effective May 1, 2011, and will be succeeded by Beth E. Mooney, currently Vice Chair of KeyCorp and leader of Key’s Community Banking business. In the interim, the Board elected Mooney as President and COO and a member of the KeyCorp Board of Directors.
Source: CLEVELAND, November 18, 2010 /PRNewswire/ ‘ KeyCor

During 2010 Northfield Savings Bank will donate more than $165,000 to fight hunger in Vermont. To help Vermonters who need short-term emergency food relief, Northfield Savings Bank donates to the Vermont Foodbank, Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, and several other food pantries. To help build long-term solutions for a hunger-free Vermont, the NSB Foundation continues its partnership with the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger.

Gary Scudder Recognized For His Ability to Engage Students in Global Learning(Burlington, VT. Nov. 18, 2010) ‘ Gary Scudder, assistant dean for Global Engagement at Champlain College has been named the 2010 Vermont Professor of the Year by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. He was selected from more than 300 top professors nominated by their colleges and universities across the United States. The award was presented at a special ceremony held in Washington, D.C. This is the first time that a Champlain College professor has been selected for this national honor.
The US Professors of the Year program salutes the most outstanding undergraduate instructors in the country’those who excel as teachers and influence the lives and careers of their students. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious awards honoring undergraduate teaching.

The Ethan Allen Institute, in cooperation with the University of Vermont and St Michael’s College is bringing Tom Palmer, PhD to the Burlington area on December 1 and 2 to speak with students at UVM and St Michael’s and at a public event at St Michael’s College McCarthy Arts Center in the evening of December 1.
Palmer presently serves as General Director of the Atlas Global Initiative for Free Trade, Peace and Prosperity; is a Senior Fellow at CATO and also serves as Vice President for International Programs, Atlas Economic Research Foundation based in Washington, DC.
Tom Palmer, Oxford University PhD, is an internationally known advocate for the advancement of liberty and free markets throughout the world. Seen on national television programs, read in prestigious journals, and sought after around the world as a speaker, Palmer is among the most knowledgeable experts on classical liberal thought, Constitutional history, globalization, and economic studies.

Boralex Inc. and Gaz Métro à ole Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gaz Metro Limited Partnership, announce the acquisition of the rights on a wind power project having an installed capacity of 69 megawatts. Kruger à nergie Bas-St-Laurent SEC, with the consent of Hydro-Québec, has transferred to the Consortium the electricity supply agreement concluded with Hydro-Québec in 2008 following the call for tenders for 2,000 MW of wind energy generated launched by Hydro-Québec in 2005. Gaz Metro is the parent company of Green Mountain Power, the state's second largest electric utility, and Vermont Gas, the largest natural gas company in the state.

At the annual staff meeting held yesterday after the close of business, President and Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D Gibbons announced the results of the Board of Directors’ search for his successor as President of Union Bank (the ‘Bank’) and Union Bankshares, Inc. David S Silverman, 49, a Senior Vice President of the Bank and Vice President of the Company, was unanimously selected by the Boards of both companies at a joint meeting on November 3. Silverman was also appointed a director of the Bank by the Bankshares Board, as of November 17.

Attorney General William H Sorrell announced today that Christopher Gaudette, age 37, has plead guilty to one charge of aggravated cruelty to animals in connection with his employment at Bushway Packing, Inc.
Gaudette entered the plea today in Grand Isle County pursuant to a plea agreement with the State. Under the terms of the agreement, Gaudette will receive a sentence of one to three years all suspended except for a thirty day sentence on pre-approved furlough to the State work crews. In addition, the court entered an order that Mr. Gaudette forfeit all future rights to participate in any animal husbandry or slaughterhouse activity involving live animals.

The US Department of Labor has announced initial funding allocations for Trade Adjustment Assistance for states to assist workers who lose their jobs due to outsourcing and foreign trade. Vermont will get nearly $14 million to cover jobs lost to foreign competition.
This announcement includes two funding levels for states under the program: one under the current, expanded level of authorized funding, and one at a reduced level that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2011, if Congress fails to renew the expanded TAA program authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. If the expanded program is not renewed, states stand to lose approximately $267 million in initial allocations, and thousands of workers could be excluded from the program. Additional reserve funding would be lost as well.

The retirement of the 76 million-member baby boom generation ‘ who begin turning 65 on January 1 ‘ will influence the US workforce for years to come. According to David Reville, Communications Director of AARP Vermont, the state, with one of the oldest populations in the nation, will feel the impact of retiring baby boomers more dramatically than elsewhere. A new poll highlights this effect on the workforce and suggests some ways in which employers will address the changes.
To help organizations meet this challenge, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and AARP are teaming up to provide resources and strategies.
In a national poll released by SHRM and AARP, a majority of organizations described the loss of boomers and their highly valued talent from the workforce as a potential or serious problem. The impact in Vermont, with some 15 percent of its population already over age 65, will be more dramatic as those number grow each year.

The US wind industry, which just experienced its slowest quarter since 2007, is in the midst of a three-day Wind Energy Fall Symposium in Phoenix, Ariz., and today will hear from General Colin L. Powell, U.S.A. (Ret.) in a keynote speech (open to attendees and trade press only).
Organized each year by the American Wind Energy Association, the Fall Symposium convenes members to share successes and lessons learned over the past year and provides the backdrop for members to build networks and relationships crucial to business success. That theme will be echoed in Powell’s speech, entitled ‘Diplomacy: Persuasion, Trust and Values.’

To continue to stay ahead of rising demand for wireless voice, 3G multimedia and Internet access in Lamoille County, Vermont, Verizon Wireless has expanded its local network to the Jeffersonville area. Earlier this year the company earned recognition from J.D. Power and Associates for ‘Highest Call Quality Performance among Wireless Cell Phone Users in the Northeast’ *.
‘People across Vermont are increasingly relying on smartphones and 3G apps to manage their busy lives and stay connected at home or on-the-go’
Consumer Advantages
New cell site provides increased wireless voice and 3G data along Route 15, Route 100, Route 108 and Route 109 in Jeffersonville, Johnson and Waterville, as well as to parts of Belvidere and along Route 104 near Cambridge and the surrounding areas
Expanded 3G data capacity in Jeffersonville lets more customers using notebook computers or smartphones:

Fitch Ratings assigns an 'AA' rating to the following 2010 Vermont Municipal Bond Bank bonds, issued under the 1988 General Resolution:
--$24,280,000 (federally taxable recovery zone economic development bonds) series 5.
The bonds are expected to sell via negotiation during the week of Nov. 15, 2010.
In addition, Fitch downgrades $536,855,000 in outstanding general resolution bonds to 'AA' from 'AAA'.
The Rating Outlook is Stable.
RATING RATIONALE:
--The rating downgrade is due to the program cash flows failure to pass Fitch's 'AAA' stress test.
--The program's pledged reserves and loan repayments, excluding federal subsidies, allow the bonds to withstand borrower defaults of up to 20.3% for four years without causing an interruption in bond payments. This is consistent with Fitch's criteria for assigning an 'AA' rating given the loan pool's borrowers' credit quality, size and diversification.