Current News

Ken Gibbons, President and CEO of Union Bank, today announced the opening of a new Union Bank Loan Center at 30 Kimball Avenue in South Burlington. The office will focus on residential mortgage loans in Chittenden County initially, with expansion into other product areas planned.
Gibbons underscored the significance of the opening of this office by saying, ‘The South Burlington Loan Center will enhance our ability to meet the lending needs of customers in this area, including residential and investment property loans, construction loans, land loans, and non-conforming portfolio loans. This Loan Center signals our ongoing commitment to being an integral part of the banking community in northern Vermont and northwestern New Hampshire.’

Average retail gasoline prices in Vermont are $2.681 per gallon, as of today. This compares to the national average of $2.751/g. Burlington have fallen 2.1 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.684/g, according to gasoline price website. The Vermont site with actual gas station reports can be found at www.vermontgasprices.com. The Burlington area report can be found at www.BurlingtonGasPrices.com.
Including the change in gas prices in Burlington during the past week, prices yesterday were 2.1 cents per gallon lower than the same day one year ago and are 6.7 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has decreased 3.6 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 16.0 cents per gallon higher than this day one year ago.

Vermont
USA
Trend

For the week of September 11, 2010, there were 674 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance, an increase of 46 from the week before. Altogether 7,378 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 724 from a week ago and 2,426 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 2,681 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 68 fewer than a week ago. In addition, there were 1,385 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is an increase of 15 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

Senator Patrick Leahy (D), Senator Bernie Sanders (I), and Congressman Peter Welch (D) today announced a new report detailing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s impact on Vermont’s clean energy economy.
The report, compiled by the Department of Energy, outlines the nearly $140 million worth of ARRA projects the state has benefited from, including local energy efficiency grants, statewide implementation of smart grid technologies and investments in energy-related businesses.
‘This report shows that the Recovery Act is creating jobs in Vermont, upgrading the state’s energy infrastructure and laying the groundwork for future economic development,’ Leahy, Sanders and Welch said.
Included in the report are the formula-based and competitive grants and tax credits Vermont institutions have received, including:
· $16.8 million in Weatherization Assistance Program funds to weatherize 1,600 homes for low-income families.

The City of Burlington announced today that an election schedule for the upcoming November General Election to be held on November 2, 2010 has been posted on the City website as well as at the Clerk Treasurer’s Office in City Hall. In addition to the various State-wide offices which will be decided in the November election, voters in Ward 3 will go to the polls for a special election to choose a City Councilor to fill the remainder of the term of former Ward 3 Councilor Marissa Caldwell, who resigned from her seat as of August 1, 2010. The term for this Council seat ends in March of 2011, when it will be subject to election for a two-year term ending in March of 2013.

by Joyce Marcel, Vermont Business Magazine Spencer R Knapp may be an antidote to bad lawyer jokes. Knapp, 60, is certainly a top lawyer. He was, until recently, the managing partner of the law firm of Dinse Knapp and McAndrew in Burlington - a distinguished and enduring place with about 65 employees, including 30 lawyers. Now he is the full-time senior vice president and general counsel of Fletcher Allen Health Care.

Governor Jim Douglas celebrated the State’s ranking as one of the ten best government portals and websites in the nation by e.Republic’s Center for Digital Government. This is the second year in a row that the Vermont Information Consortium (VIC), the State’s web portal vendor, has received this recognition. The Digital Government Achievement Awards (DGAA) go to outstanding websites and web portals at the state, county and city levels.
‘In the coming years, it is important that we continue improving how state government interacts with Vermonters and visitors over the web. Through Challenges for Change and other efforts across state government we are looking to increase web utilization to both save taxpayer money and deliver services more effectively.’

Patrick Leahy (D-VT) announced Tuesday that Vermont has been awarded more than $1.47 million in federal grants to help victims of crime. The grants come from the Crime Victims Fund, the primary source of federal financial aid for crime victims, and are administered through the US Department of Justice.
“The need for victim assistance and compensation has grown over the years, and the Crime Victims Fund has been a mainstay for crime victims in states like Vermont,” said Leahy. “Programs like those supported by the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services help survivors piece their lives back together. The vital funding Vermont has received from the Crime Victims Fund will help to ensure continued support for these efforts.”

Tech Vault Inc in South Burlington has expanded its reliable, secure and energy-efficient data center. Tech Vault, a commercial data center in Vermont, is designed to provide reliable, secure data hosting and disaster recovery services for all-sized companies in an energy-efficient and sustainable environment.
Typically, data centers use significant amounts of energy to operate ‘ and to cool the massive computer servers that are needed to process the data. Working with Leading Edge Design Group (Enfield, NH) and Efficiency Vermont, Tech Vault created a secure, reliable and energy-efficient environment ‘ an attractive combination for companies with data hosting or disaster recovery computing needs who also want to reduce their carbon footprint.

The US Senate Tuesday narrowly broke a months-long Republican filibuster by voting 61-37 to advance a small business jobs bill that will boost commercial lending and provide tax relief to small businesses in Vermont and nationwide.
US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who voted in favor of the bill, expects the Senate to give final approval to the bill on Thursday.
The Small Business Job Creation Act modernizes the application process for US Small Business Administration (SBA) lending programs; it targets tax relief to America’s 27 million small businesses; and it creates a $30 billion lending fund for healthy Main Street banks to boost capital access to small firms needing an injection of funds to grow their businesses and hire new workers.

The October issue of Cooking Light (www.CookingLight.com) features the brand's first-ever Taste Test Awards ‘ "The Tasties." The editors tested 200 food products and came up with the best-tasting winners in 32 categories. Twenty-six of the categories feature grocery store products while six showcase artisanal standouts. The issue hits newsstands September 17th. Vermont's Cellars at Jasper Hill Cabot Clothbound Cheddar won in the artisanal cheese category.

The 5th annual Kelly Brush Century Ride drew 675 riders and raised $275,000 for spinal cord injury prevention and research on Saturday.
The ride, which began and ended at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, included 23 participants using hand cycles. The day was postcard perfect with clear blue skies and temperatures in the 70s.
“We are absolutely thrilled to see such strong support for the foundation and our mission,” said Charlie Brush, Kelly Brush Foundation president. “Our thanks goes to each and every rider whose participation helps the Kelly Brush Foundation make a positive difference in the lives of those with SCI and raises the bar for ski racing safety.”
The 100-mile ride raises money for improving ski racing safety, enhancing the quality of life for those with SCI through adaptive sports equipment grants, advancing scientific research on SCI and supporting the U.S. Adaptive Ski Team.