Current News

Vermont’s Congressional Delegation ‘ Senator Patrick Leahy (D), Senator Bernie Sanders (I) and Congressman Peter Welch (D) ‘ reported Tuesday that 18 Vermont farms and rural businesses will share $3,750,930 in grants and loans to support energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy projects. The loans and grants are being made through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).

The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant reconnected to the New England power grid at 5:18 am, Thursday morning. Operators manually shut the plant down on Sunday night to repair a leak on a 24-inch feed water pipe located in the turbine building feed pump room.
The minor leak was found to be from a weld on a one half inch metal access plug in the pipe. The access plug was used for radiography of pipe welds during the original construction of the plant. Technicians have replaced the seal weld with a more substantial weld to the plug. The minor leakage, estimated at 120 drops per minute was collected via a floor drain and returned to the reactor. There was no threat to public health or safety or to plant personnel at any time.

By James Dwinell. Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont and former chair of the Democrat National Committee traveled to Paris earlier this week to share his conclusions on the 2010 mid-term elections. Billed as Vermont’s six-term governor, Dean followed Ms Anita Dunn, former White House communications director.

Weekly unemployment claims increased last week for the third consecutive week and for the fifth time in the last six weeks. For the week of November 6, 2010, there were 1,377 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance, an increase of 296 from the week before. Altogether 8,495 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 437 from a week ago and 1,739 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 2,261 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 44 more than a week ago. In addition, there were 761 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is a decrease of 68 from the week before. The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/. Previously released Unemployment Weekly Reports and other UI reports can be found at:http://www.vtlmi.info/lmipub.htm#uc

FairPoint Communications has announced the arrival of super-fast Internet service in Tunbridge, Chelsea and parts of Thetford.
FairPoint’s VantagePoint network, a fiber core, IP-based network, is now available to more than 1,000 additional homes and businesses in Chelsea, Tunbridge and part of Thetford.
With speed options as fast as 15Mbps, downloading entire movies will take seconds. Broadband service on the VantagePoint network provides customers with the ability to smoothly stream live video, play online games at lightning speeds and upload photos and large files with ease. Always-on broadband access provides almost instant connections to information, news and entertainment.
‘VantagePoint is enabling us to expand broadband service into areas with no high-speed Internet access and provide enhanced services across the state,’ said Michael K. Smith, FairPoint state president for Vermont.

Understanding the struggles facing many businesses, TDS Telecommunications Corp. (TDS®) is introducing a new communications solution in Northfield and Ludlow, Vermont.

Known as managedIP, this hosted Internet Protocol (IP) communications solution integrates voice and data as a single communications solution. Unlike many voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services, TDS managedIP never uses the public Internet. The TDS solution is delivered over a private, secure, and dedicated network ‘hosted’ at a secure TDS facility, according to Marc Violette, market manager for TDS.

Already available to customers in parts of the northeast, TDS managedIP provides business with improved productivity and greater efficiencies.

Burlington's Community & Economic Development Office (CEDO) has published "Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice." The 50-page report examines hurdles that might prevent Burlington residents from equal access to housing opportunities and suggests potential solutions.
The report cites five primary impediments to fair housing choice in Burlington:

High rental and homeownership prices, and limited land and public resources
Policies and practices of some housing professionals that intentionally or unintentionally limit housing options
Ongoing fair housing violations left undetected and unaddressed
A limited supply of housing with features needed by people with disabilities, elders, larger families and others
Development and occupancy policies that constrain the availability of affordable housing

Governor Jim Douglas, Senator Bernie Sanders, Congressman Peter Welch and a host of national and local rail officials and advocates today drove a golden spike along the tracks outside of the St. Albans Amtrak Station to signify the beginning of a two-year, $70 million construction project that will significantly improve track speeds along the Vermonter Passenger Rail line between St. Albans and New York City, with continuing service to Washington D.C.
The project, which received $50 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, involves installing new rail, rail ties, crossing improvements including new signals, and bridge rehabilitation along the Vermonter’s 191-mile Vermont corridor. Once complete, the improvements will reduce by about 30 minutes the time it takes the Vermonter to travel through the Green Mountain State.

Officials representing the downtown associations of Coaticook, PQ and Newport City formally celebrated their new Jumelage or ‘sister downtown’ relationship at a ceremony in Montpelier Tuesday, the first of what supporters hope will be many such connections made.
‘Both of these communities have thriving downtowns, and both are working to further enhance the economic and social vitality in their downtowns,’ said Governor Jim Douglas, who attended the ceremony. ‘I hope this initiative will provide yet another opportunity for Vermont and Quebec to learn about each other’s best practices, this time in downtown revitalization, and set the stage for greater cooperation in the future.’
Officials from Quebec’s downtowns and the Fondation Rue Principal (Main Street Foundation) were in Vermont for several days visiting their Vermont Downtown Program counterparts in several of the state’s designated downtowns and village centers to learn more about their efforts.

Judge Geoffrey W Crawford of the Vermont Superior Court, Civil Division, Washington Unit, recently issued two decisions upholding the confidentiality of criminal investigation and inquest records. In two separate cases, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Rutland Herald made public records requests to the Attorney General’s Office. The Herald’s request was also directed to the Department of Public Safety. The Court found that these requests were properly denied because the records are confidential under the Public Records Act.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) approved a three-year, $590,000 project for complex systems research by the University of Vermont Complex Systems Center and IBM Research into the future reliability of the smart grid. U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy secured an initial $500,000 for the UVM program, which then attracted an additional $90,000 in resources through the UVM-IBM partnership.

Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz released the official 2010 election results today. In statewide races, state Senator Peter Shumlin was elected governor, state Senator Phil Scott was elected lieutenant governor, and state Senator Jim Condos was elected secretary of state. Because neither Shumlin nor Scott received 50 percent of the vote, the Legislature must vote to confirm their elections. This is a formality since their opponents have already conceded.
Also, US Senator Patrick Leahy, US Representative Peter Welch, Attorney General William Sorrell, Treasurer Jeb Spaulding and Auditor of Accounts Tom Salmon were all re-elected. Spaulding led all vote getters with 204,048 votes or 90 percent of the vote. A total of 243,617 votes were cast, or 54 percent of registered voters. In the 2008 general election, 72 percent of those registered voted.