Current News

Northern Power Systems, Inc, a next-generation wind turbine company and leading manufacturer of community wind direct-drive turbines, today announced the acquisition of Knight & Carver Wind Group’s community wind turbine blade manufacturing business in South Dakota. Terms were not disclosed. This acquisition, combined with Northern Power’s deep design and manufacturing experience as well as robust quality control systems, will further facilitate the high-quality domestic manufacturing and assembly of key components of the Northern Power 100. Knight & Carver has been a supplier of blades to Northern Power.

Governor Jim Douglas has appointed nine new members of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, the first step in establishing a program for state recognition of Native American tribes in Vermont.

A new law that set up the recognition process revised the makeup of the panel and increased the number of members on the commission from seven to nine, and also imposed a Vermont residency requirement for the first time.

‘These new members of the Native American Commission represent a broad cross-section of Native American communities and geography, and will bring a fresh perspective to the task at hand,’ said Giovanna Peebles, State Historic Preservation Officer and director of the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.

The Banking Insurance Securities and Health Care Administration (BISHCA) conducted their annual hospital budget reviews in Montpelier and South Burlington this week. While hospital budget reviews have been in place for 15 years, this year hospitals had to comply with additional requirements created by the Legislature last session. This new law, Act 128 of 2010, is intended to slow the rate of hospital budgets through setting targets for net revenue growth at 4.5 percent in 2011 and 4 percent in 2012. Hospitals met this target and the additional target that BISHCA established for aggregate rate requests to be no higher than 5.9 percent. The average rate request is 5.7 percent.

From a snow groomer waxing philosophic, to an apple grower explaining the art of "pie-chi," the characters starring in the new video vignettes featured on ThisIsVT.com offer viewers a glimpse into some of the personalities that are the life of Vermont's vibrant tourist industry. The short films were shot as part of a campaign for the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing that emphasizes the state’s diverse human assets.
‘Our recent research on the Vermont brand showed that vacationers are looking for ‘good value,’ ‘diverse experiences,’ ‘unspoiled landscape’ and ‘warm, friendly people,’" said deputy commissioner of tourism and marketing Steve Cook.
‘With this in mind, Spike and VT Tourism conceived and created ThisIsVT.com.’

Housing Vermont and an affiliate of the Springfield Housing Authority have partnered to redevelop Main Street’s historic Ellis Block, which was destroyed by a devastating fire on July 8, 2008. The renovated building will include a three-screen movie theatre and nine affordable apartments. During a groundbreaking ceremony at the Ellis Block in Springfield on Friday, US Senator Patrick Leahy announced he has secured a $125,000 federal appropriation to help rebuild workforce housing and a theater lost to a 2008 fire. The appropriation, finalized earlier this summer, ensured that the project could break ground.
The $3.4 million reconstruction project also includes a $1.286 million federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant made possible by another Leahy-authored provision, included in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.

At a press conference today, Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss announced that the City will be conducting a “Complete Streets” demonstration project as part of the repaving of Colchester Avenue. Mayor Kiss was joined by City Councilor Sharon Bushor of Ward 1, staff from the Department of Public Works, and Jennifer Wallace-Brodeur of AARP-VT, as well as representatives of several other organizations involved in the project.

Vermont Business Magazine New unemployment claims in Vermont returned to numbers resembling those of early May last week after a one-week jump. Claims have been going through a cycle of steady increases followed by a steep drop the last several months, climbing about 1,100 before settling back to under 600. This has been the case while the unemployment rate has kept falling. However, weekly claims have been consistently below the numbers from 2013.

For the week of May 24, 2014, there were 573 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is a decrease of 128 from the previous week's total, and 110 fewer than they were a year ago.

Republican gubernatorial candidate and current Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie released his economic development proposal on August 30.
Brian Dubie's plan is below. The full version can be found at:
http://briandubie.com/

Pure Vermont
Blueprint for Job Growth and Economic Expansion

My blueprint to grow the economy starts with an honest assessment of Vermont’s strengths and weaknesses.

State highway conditions are the best they’ve been in 19 years, according to Reason Foundation’s 19th Annual Highway Report. Unfortunately, the recession is partly responsible for the improvement in road conditions: people are driving less, which has helped slow pavement deterioration and reduced traffic congestion and fatalities.
The annual Reason Foundation study measures the condition and cost-effectiveness of state-owned roads in 11 categories, including deficient bridges, urban traffic congestion, fatality rates, pavement condition on urban and rural Interstates and on major rural roads, and the number of unsafe narrow rural lanes. National performance in all of those key areas improved in 2008, the most recent year with complete data available.
Overall, North Dakota, Montana and Kansas have the most cost-effective state highway systems. Rhode Island, Alaska,California, Hawaii and New York have the least cost-effective road systems.

USDA Rural Development Under Secretary Dallas Tonsager announced yesterday that two Vermont towns were among 61 organizations in 46 states, the Western Pacific region and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico that will benefit from funding made available under the Rural Business Enterprise Grant program (RBEG).
The town of Shoreham was selected for a $59,457 grant to conduct a feasibility study in bulk processing and quick/long-term freezing to allow more regionally produced foods to be used in local institutions. The project will include market analysis, operational design of a USDA approved facility and financial strategy to convert a former apple storage warehouse to a multipurpose regional food center.

For three weeks this month, VPR reporter Steve Zind will report from Afghanistan, where he’ll be embedded with 1,500 members of the Vermont National Guard.
Zind will be based at Bagram Airbase in Kabul, and will travel with the guard to rural outposts where Vermonters are stationed, providing a unique and local perspective on the war in Afghanistan. He’ll file stories and interviews from the field, capturing the sounds of the soldiers’ daily lives, and accompany them on patrols and training missions.
He will also keep an online journal, where he’ll post photos and share thoughts and observations about his experience. He has also asked listeners to share the questions they would like answered about the mission, or suggestions for stories he should pursue.

Governor Jim Douglas announced today that a new cheese manufacturing company will be locating in Swanton, creating up to 55 jobs over the next several years. Swan Valley Cheese will occupy the former Via Cheese facility in the Swanton Town Industrial Park. Via Cheese stopped production and laid of its workers in May.
‘I am very pleased to welcome Swan Valley Cheese to Vermont,’ Governor Douglas said. ‘This new entity will not only create jobs in Swanton, but will also use milk from Vermont farms. Swan Valley Cheese will occupy a production facility that has been vacant for some time.’
The company received assistance from the Vermont Economic Development Authority and has initial approval for $384,133 worth of Vermont Employment Growth Incentives from the Vermont Economic Progress Council.
With extensive experience in the cheese-making industry, Swan Valley will produce asiago, fontina and other artisanal cheeses, as well as mozzarella.