Current News

According to a Form 8-K report to the Securities & Exchange Commission Tuesday, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc completed a sale of 8,566,649 shares of its common stock, par value $0.10 per share, to Luigi Lavazza S.p.A., an Italian corporation, for an aggregate purchase price of $250 million. The Waterbury company employs 1,010 in Vermont and more than 2,000 system-wide. It has been in a buying spree lately on the West Coast and in Canada as its stock price has climbed and sales of Keurig-brand single cup serving systems has taken off.

Two Vermont projects will receive a total of $375,000 in federal funds to support jobs and economic development in the Northeast Kingdom through the Northern Border Regional Commission (NRBC). Governor Jim Douglas joined Senator Patrick Leahy, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Peter Welch in announcing $234,000 has been awarded for the Northern Vermont Fiber Optic Connection project and $141,150 has been awarded to the Northern Forest Canoe Trail.
Vermont’s federal delegation ‘ Senator Leahy, Senator Sanders and Representative Welch ‘ were instrumental in creating the NBRC, including authorization of the commission in the 2008 Farm Bill. They secured an initial round of funding for the NBRC in the fiscal year 2011 budget. This $1.5 million appropriation supported the establishment of the commission and funded the grants announced today.

The Vermont Chamber of Commerce today released their 2009-2010 Vermont Chamber Legislative Report Card. The Report Card assesses legislators’ support of economic development and business issues important to the Vermont economy. ‘This Report Card informs members and the public on legislative support of key business issues’ explained Betsy Bishop, Vermont Chamber President. ‘This year’s Report Card illustrates that business issues faired well in the 2010 Legislature specifically increasing funding for tourism promotion, workforce training and a reduction in the capital gains tax,’ added Bishop.
The biennial assessment looks at roll call votes on amendments and bills important to the Vermont Chamber membership. This year’s collection of roll call votes includes the vote to override Governor Douglas’s budget veto in 2009, the capital gains and estate tax votes in both 2009 and 2010 and votes addressing the Unemployment Trust Fund crisis.

Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today welcomed the release of $50 million in federal stimulus funds for the ‘Vermonter’ rail line from St. Albans to Vernon, Vt.
The high-speed rail project will be the second in the nation to break ground using funds that Congress approved in last year’s economic recovery act. (Maine’s ‘Downeaster’ line was first.)
The grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration using economic stimulus money set aside for the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail program.
The upgrades to this 190-mile stretch of track will allow trains to travel up to 59 mph ‘ and even 79 mph in some sections ‘ cutting valuable time off the route between St. Albans and Washington, D.C. The improvements could cut an hour off of the trip through Vermont and Massachusetts.

A joint investigation by the Vermont Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, has resulted in a caregiver and his employer being charged with billing Vermont Medicaid for services that were never provided. Attorney General William H. Sorrell announced today that Donald Crawford, age 48, of Bellows Falls, Vermont, and Jessica Kingsbury, 33, were each arraigned on September 28, 2010, in Vermont Superior Court, Criminal Division, Windsor County, on one felony count of Medicaid Fraud.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont today announced a new collaboration with Choice Care Card of Waterbury, Vermont to offer employer-funded medical reimbursement arrangements used to cover out-of-pocket health care-related expenses.
The collaboration with Choice Care Card will allow Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont’s group customers to integrate their Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) with their health plan, according to company officials.

Highline Financial recently released its quarterly bank performance report. Northfield Savings Bank was rated a ‘Best Performing Institution.’
The Highline Rating is calculated on a quarterly basis using four key ratios (capital adequacy, asset quality, earnings strength and liquidity) and encompasses both current and historical data. It compares banks on a national and regional basis, and by asset size. In addition to rating banks, Highland ranks the states in terms of the overall quality of the banks domiciled in each state. Vermont was ranked as one of the top four states nationally, along with Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Nebraska.

To continue to stay ahead of rising demand for wireless voice, 3G multimedia and Internet access in Caledonia County, Vermont, Verizon Wireless has expanded its local network. 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."
New cell site provides increased wireless voice and 3G data coverage in St. Johnsbury, along I-93 and I-91, as well as the surrounding area.
Source: ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-Verizon Wireless. 9.28.2010

Dr Richard Kujawa, Saint Michael's College professor of geography, earned the top Saint Michael’s teaching award, the Joanne Rathgeb Teaching Award, for 2010, as selected by his faculty colleagues and presented at the Academic Convocation September 24 in the McCarthy Arts Center on the college campus.
In presenting the award, last year’s recipient, Dr. Lorrie Smith, said, “The teaching award at Saint Michaels College is presented annually to a faculty member in memory of Joanne Rathgeb, professor of fine arts. Joanne had a passion for teaching, unwavering fidelity to high standards and creativity, a quirky sense of humor, and a willingness to go any distance to ensure that all students learn, which are all principles embraced by this year’s recipient of the teaching award, Dr. Richard Kujawa.”

A new 50-state analysis of state income taxes by Public Assets Institute shows that Vermont ranks in the middle of states compared to the rest of the country. While much has been made of Vermont’s high tax rates, the amount taxpayers actually pay in Vermont is lower than in many other states because of deductions and other adjustments and the state’s progressive rate structure. This analysis looked at the total income taxes paid in each state in 2008 and divided it by the total adjusted gross income (AGI) - that is, income before deductions and other adjustments.

Using this ‘effective tax rate’ measure, Vermont was 23rd among states when they were ranked highest to lowest. Forty-three states levy a personal income tax; seven do not. Vermont also ranked 23rd in per capita income.

US Representative Peter Welch and Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Roger Allbee on Tuesday reacted to an announcement by Pinnacle Foods that the company has agreed to remove caramel color from its Log Cabin ‘All Natural Syrup.’
Welch and Allbee wrote the Food and Drug Administration earlier this month, calling on the FDA to investigate whether the brand violates its guidelines by marketing as ‘natural’ a product containing added colors, flavors or artificial substances.
In a statement released to the media, Pinnacle Foods announced that it was changing its ingredients in an effort to comply with FDA guidelines.
Welch and Allbee called the move a step in the right direction, but said that Pinnacle’s labeling does not make clear that the table syrup product is not, in fact, all-natural maple syrup.

US Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced today that HUD will provide $58,568 to the Vermont State Housing Authority to provide permanent housing for 10 homeless veterans in the state. The funding is provided through The Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH), a coordinated effort by HUD, the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and local housing authorities to provide permanent supportive housing for veterans experiencing homelessness.
‘Our veterans deserve something better than a life on the streets,’ said Richard A. Walega, HUD New England Regional Administrator. ‘President Obama has given us very clear marching orders that, as a nation, we must end the curse of homelessness especially for those who answered their country’s call to serve.’