Current News

The Rutland Region Chamber of Commerce held their 112th Annual Meeting on November 1st. Dan DiBattista, Plant Manager, Rutland GE-Aviation and his employees were named the 2010 Business Persons of the Year. In his remarks Executive Vice President Tom Donahue noted ‘GE Rutland recently added a 27,000 (square) foot expansion to Plant 2 and have invested $60 million into this plant within the last four years,’ Donahue said, ‘and will be investing another $10 million in the next year with a substantial portion of that total investment in machinery and equipment.’ Donahue also highlighted the benefits of having GE-Aviation in Rutland, GE's commitment to the region, contributions to the community and the superior leadership of Dan DiBattista.

Driven by reliability and transmission improvements and increasing power costs, Central Vermont Public Service has asked the Vermont Public Service Board to authorize an 8.34 percent rate increase under the company’s alternative regulation plan. The change would leave the company’s rates among the lowest of the major utilities in New England. It would take effect with bills rendered starting Jan. 1, 2011.
The bill for a residential customer who uses 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month would rise from $78.11 to $84.54, a difference of $6.43. By comparison, the same customer would pay as much as $121.80 elsewhere in New England, according to the Edison Electric Institute.

Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie called Senate President Peter Shumlin this morning to concede and to congratulate him on his election as Vermont’s next Governor. The race was decided by only two percentage points, according to the latest figures.
‘I am so grateful to the thousands of Vermonters who supported this campaign,’ Dubie said. ‘We had a tremendous outpouring of support in every corner of this state and hundreds of volunteers who worked tirelessly to share my vision of creating more opportunities for Vermonters. I want to encourage all of them to continue to be active participants in our democracy and work toward making this great state of ours an even better state. This was an extremely close race. Voters have made their choice, and it is now time for all of us to unite as Vermonters and work together to move forward.’

Northwestern Medical Center (NMC) successfully went live with its new fully integrated electronic medical record and enterprise-wide computer system on October 1, 2010 in conjunction with the start of the hospital’s new fiscal year.
According to Kelly Barland, NMC’s Chief Information Officer, the Meditech implementation has been on an aggressive nine month implementation schedule. The project earned final approval by the State of Vermont in December of 2009.

Thanks to cold temperatures, the power of the world’s most extensive snowmaking system and a dedicated mountain operations staff, Killington Resort kicked off the 2010-11 ski and snowboard season today (Tuesday) at 10 am.
Killington will offer upper-mountain skiing on four trails in the North Ridge area from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The K-1 Gondola will provide uploading/downloading, while access back to the top of the K-1 Gondola from the North Ridge area will be via a 5-10 minute walk on the new Peak Walkway.
‘The new Peak Walkway accomplishes our goal of utilizing our upper mountain snowmaking resources to build early-season momentum, offer our season pass holders and dedicated guests an outstanding experience on deep base depths and remain open for the season, conditions permitting," said Chris Nyberg, Killington president and general manager.

Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS), an international communications and information technology company, was awarded a $14 million contract by the State of Vermont to deploy a statewide radio system for public safety first responders and state agencies. The system meets Vermont's specific requirements for regional and cross-border communications - connecting local, state and federal agencies within the state, and providing interoperability with agencies in neighboring states and Canada.
"Vermont's vision for our public safety communications is clearly addressed by the Harris P25 solution, which also allows us to leverage our existing infrastructure," said Chief J. Paul Duquette, Chair, Vermont Communications (VCOMM). "When completed, the VCOMM system will be a modern and reliable system for Vermont public safety agencies that meets federal mandates and will support Vermont's growing public safety communications needs well into the future."

In Vermont USDA Rural Development is investing over $228.8 million, of which $106.4 million is funding small businesses, water and wastewater infrastructure, community facilities like libraries and community centers, and housing. An additional $ 122.4 million has been awarded for broadband infrastructure to bring better service to rural communities.
USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager issued a report on October 20 about how the agency’s distribution of loan and grant funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery) has helped rural residents throughout the nation. Rural Development has awarded $21.2 billion in Recovery funds through 95,000 loans and 2,500 grants. The report estimates that millions of business owners, agricultural producers, Internet users, and thousands of homeowners will benefit, and over 300,000 jobs are being created or saved.

Vermont-SBE, Inc of Barre and Vermont HITEC have announced they will start recruitment for a new training program on November 1st, with the launch of their job recruitment website. Through a partnership with Vermont HITEC, the Vermont Department of Labor, and Central Vermont Community Action Council, SBE is now enrolling applicants into a newly developed program that provides free education and on-site training at the company’s facility in Barre, Vermont. Successful completion of the program will lead directly to full-time Process Technician positions at SBE.

Online advertised vacancies rose 113,700 in October to 4,409,800, following an increase of 59,900 in September, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLineâ ¢ (HWOL) Data Series released today. The nation's Supply/Demand rate stood at 3.44 unemployed for every advertised vacancy in September (the last available unemployment data), a figure that is down from a peak of 4.73 in October 2009. Nationally, there are 10.5 million more unemployed than advertised vacancies.
In Vermont, there is slow economic growth that mirrors that of the country. As a result of increased labor demand as a whole, the state's unemployment rate dropped slightly from 6.0 percent in August to 5.8 percent in September. The following are some more national statistics:
-- The economy has continued its moderate upward trend in labor demand with online vacancies by 1.1 million since the official end of the recession (June 2009).

The emergency sirens in Vermont Yankee’s emergency planning zone will be sounded longer than usual (three minutes) during their normal monthly testing in the first week in November in the following order:

The Vermont Agency of Transportation this morning closed Route 108 through Smugglers Notch for the season. VTrans each fall closes this narrow roadway through a high-altitude natural area, and then reopens it in the spring when weather conditions permit. The current cold snap has brought snow and ice to the Notch region, making the roadway impassible. The long-term forecast indicates no break in the cold, snowy weather, so VTrans closed the roadway for the season. All commuters should make alternate travel plans until spring.
Source: VTrans. 10.30.2010

Rock of Ages Corporation (NASDAQ: ROAC) announced today that net income for the third quarter of 2010 was $2,200,000, or $0.30 per share, which included costs and expenses associated with the exploration of strategic options and the shareholder lawsuit totaling $358,000, or $0.05 per share. For the third quarter of 2009, net income was $1,534,000, or $0.21 per share. Revenue for this year's third quarter increased 22% to $15,756,000 compared to $12,881,000 for the third quarter of 2009.
Rock of Ages has filed documents to merge into Swenson Granite of New Hampshire. The date for a shareholders meeting to approval the merger has not been set. A preliminary proxy statement is available HERE. A story about the proposed merger to its former owner can be found HERE. Most of the voting shares are closely held by Swenson representatives, including family members.