Current News

Vermont students posted a strong showing on the 2010 College Board Advanced Placement (AP) exams and Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT), as well as the 2010 ACT exams, ranking fifth in the nation, the Department of Education announced today.
The AP program offers high school students college-level courses in a variety of subject areas. In all, 3,677 Vermont students participated in the AP program (up 5.2 percent from 2009) and took 6,057 AP exams (up 5.3 percent from last year). According to the College Board, Vermont continues to increase the number of students taking AP courses even as student enrollment is declining overall.
AP exams are scored on a scale of one (lowest score) to five (highest score). Sixty-two percent of Vermont exams were scored at three or higher. A score of three or above is considered demonstrating college-level mastery of the content.

Organizers of Rutland’s annual Gift-of-Life Marathon congratulated the city of Boston today for beating its New England-record for a one-day blood drive ‘ and vowed to regain the record at the eighth annual event in December.
Boston, which held the record of 772 until Rutland collected 856 in 2008 and 1,024 in 2009, collected 1,177 pints Saturday at Fenway Park. Boston’s annual 9/11 blood drive is held to honor victims of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
‘Blood supplies have been low, and this will give us an enormous challenge as we plan the 2010 Gift-of-Life Marathon,’ said CVPS spokesman Steve Costello, one of the organizers of the annual Rutland event. ‘Game on! We won’t set our official goal until early November, but we already have our sights set on reclaiming the New England record.’

Results from the recount of the Democratic gubernatorial primary, which was completed today ahead of schedule, show that state Senator Peter Shumlin won by 203 votes. The official count just after the August 24 primary indicated he beat state Senator Doug Racine by 197 votes. Racine requested the recount because of the closeness of the initial tabulation.
‘Each of my opponents brought something special to this race and their participation in this process has strengthened our state,’ said Shumlin. ‘I would like to thank them for engaging in a respectful campaign that elevated the political discourse in Vermont and articulated a shared vision for getting Vermonters back to work.’
Racine conceded the race shortly after noon in Burlington.
‘I remain respectful of Doug’s decision to call for a recount,’ said Shumlin. ‘It is incredibly important that every vote be counted and I am pleased that we can now move forward together.’

The Addison County Chamber of Commerce recognized local businesses, organizations, and individuals with its annual awards during the Chamber’s annual meeting held on September 8th at Basin Harbor Club. Four awards were presented in front of a crowd of 135 attendees which included Governor Douglas, Chamber members and other local dignitaries. In addition to the award presentations, the Chamber membership voted on a new board of directors.

In the run-up to the primary, state Senator Peter Shumlin issued the following economic plan. Now the Democratic nominee, his "Vision for Vermont" can be found here.

www.shumlinforgovernor.com

US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has released a report showing that low-wage jobs will provide the biggest share of Vermont employment growth through 2018.
‘Unfortunately, many of the new jobs being projected for Vermont and America are low-paying jobs. We can and must do better,’ said Sanders, a member of the Senate labor committee.
As the state and nation struggle through the worst recession since the 1930s, Vermont’s 6 percent unemployment rate and the 9.6 percent national jobless figure overshadow a decline in manufacturing jobs and other occupations that once supported middle-class families.
The employment structure in Vermont reflects a national trend.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Thursday participated in the grand opening of a new community health clinic for Northeast Kingdom veterans.
The clinic housed at Newport’s North Country Hospital will be the sixth operated by the White River Junction VA Medical Center. The other clinics serving Vermonters are in Bennington, Brattleboro, Colchester, Rutland, and Littleton, N.H. The Brattleboro clinic opened in June of this year.
The clinics provide access for veterans to primary care physicians, laboratory tests, medications, mental health services, and preventative services such as flu shots.
‘We have heard over the years from many veterans in the Northeast Kingdom that it has been hard to access care,’ said Sanders, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. ‘The Newport clinic should save them a lot of time and trouble traveling to White River Junction to get the care they deserve.’

Nine years after entering into a court order to settle claims of consumer fraud, Publishers Clearing House (PCH) has once again had to enter into a legal settlement with the VermontAttorney General’s Office, 31 other states and the District of Columbia. This latest development follows allegations that PCH’s mailings in recent years violated the earlier order and deceptivelyimplied that consumers had a better chance of winning a big-money sweepstakes if they bought merchandise from PCH’in effect, that you had to ‘pay to play.’ ‘This company just doesn’t get it,’ said Vermont Attorney General William H. Sorrell, ‘so as often as we need to take legal action to protect our citizens, we’ll do so.’

The Vermont Democratic Party has filed a campaign finance violation complaint with the Vermont Attorney General's office against Brian Dubie and the Republican Governor's Association (RGA) based on reports that Dubie and the RGA coordinated the filming of the most recent RGA purchase on Dubie's behalf in violation of the law. Lieutenant Governor Dubie issued a strongly worded rebuttal saying it was a "cheap shot" by the "most ethically challenged member of the Legislature" who is "desperate to divert attention from his record."
Dubie is running for governor against Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin. At this point Shumlin is still only the presumptive nominee as the Democratic primary is going through a recount.

For the week of September 4, 2010, there were 628 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance, an increase of 12 from the week before. Altogether 8,102 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 641 from a week ago and 2,535 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 2,749 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 29 fewer than a week ago. In addition, there were 1,370 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is a decrease of 48 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

The so-called "French nuclear miracle" embraced by some US policymakers as a model for this nation is a misconception masking a pattern of fast-rising nuclear reactor construction costs and a "crowding out" of investments in renewable energy, such as wind, solar and hydro-electric power, according to a new study by Vermont Law School's Institute for Energy and the Environment.

With Labor Day figures showing the nation’s unemployment rate stuck at 9.6 percent, the Burlington area’s employment figures continue to be well below the national and state average. With an unemployment rate of 5 percent (July), the Burlington/South Burlington Metropolitan Statistical Area (which includes all of Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle Counties) has the lowest rates of any MSAs east of the Mississippi, and is 7th lowest in the nation out of 372 MSAs. The state rate was 6 percent.
‘Mayor Kiss is pleased that employment numbers in Burlington and the area are not only healthy, but among the lowest in the nation during this difficult time,’ said Joe Reinert, Assistant to and spokesman for Mayor Bob Kiss. ‘As we have continued to unroll a major infrastructure investment in the City’s roads this summer, these numbers are a positive indication for business and people in Burlington.’