Current News

Vermont has had the second highest success in the nation in creating new jobs with federal stimulus funds. It also ranks 12th in stimulus-related funding per capita. Meanwhile, in a new analysis conducted by Onvia, the leader in gBusiness solutions and the creator of Recovery.org, reveals that the "Recovery Summer" being promoted by the White House is poised to usher in a wave of new jobs in the second half of this year.
For a complete look at the heat map visit:
http://promotions.onvia.com/documents/map_arra_private_sector_jobs_impac...
To date, only one-third of the Recovery Act's $275 billion that is allocated for projects to create private sector jobs on Main Street has been awarded. The remaining $218 billion represents a substantial amount of new projects that are about to get under way across the U.S.
Top line findings:

The Vermont Chamber’s Aerospace and Aviation Association (VAAA) will hold an Open House event at the Rutland Southern Vermont Regional Airport in North Clarendon on Thursday, August 19, 2010 from 3 - 5 p.m.
Join us for this high-profile event, sponsored by GE Aviation of Rutland, that will feature greening aviation and the important and growing role that GE Aviation Rutland plays in the production of the GEnx engine, which will be used to power the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the 747-8 with greater gains in fuel efficiency and performance. This event will also celebrate the Rutland Southern Vermont Regional Airport and the work to upgrade the facilities by Senator Leahy, Congressman Welch and the Rutland Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The lineup of speakers includes:
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy
Brent Raymond, Office of Vermont Congressman Peter Welch
Vermont Lt. Governor and VAAA Chair and ASA National Chair Brian Dubie

Flanked by law enforcement officials at the Vermont Department of Public Safety headquarters, Sen. Bernie Sanders today announced $500,000 in federal funding for Vermont law enforcement agencies.
‘The brave men and women in law enforcement are on the front lines every day protecting our people and our communities,’ Sanders said. ‘We are all grateful for the work that they do.’
Sanders secured the federal funds for programs providing police officers for public schools, technology upgrades for police training facilities, and digital cameras for county sheriffs. In addition, Sanders and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) secured funds for special investigations units.

Saint Michael’s College earned the rank of 93rd amongst National Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2011 edition of Best Colleges by U.S. News Media Group. U.S. News, the original rankings program, covers various categories of national and regional colleges and universities. The rankings are available today at www.usnews.com/colleges, and will also be published in the September issue of U.S. News & World Report, on newsstands starting August 31.
Saint Michael’s shares the 93rd position with Allegheny (PA), Birmingham-Southern (AL), Millsaps (MS), St. Mary’s (IN), and Washington (MD) Colleges. Last year Saint Michael’s ranked 105th in the national liberal arts category, and before that Saint Michael’s ranked in the top 15 of the North Regional Master’s Universities for 17 years. Saint Michael’s was switched last year to the liberal arts category in the U.S. News arena as a result of a change in Carnegie classifications.

This week the Lake Champlain Basin Program released several requests for proposals, seeking to award up to $840,000 in local pollution prevention, aquatic invasive species spread prevention, and education grants. Funding for the grants comes through the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency. The amount of the grant awards for pollution prevention and aquatic invasive species grants has increased to $25,000 this year and education grants will be capped at $7,500.
Small organizational support grants for local watershed groups also are included in this grant round. The deadline to submit proposals is October 7, 2010. For further information, log onto http://www.lcbp.org/grants.htm.

In a motion filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the southern district of New York, FairPoint Communications, Inc. (the Company) is seeking approval of the appointment of Paul H. Sunu as Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Sunu will replace David L. Hauser as CEO. Hauser will remain a consultant to the Company until its emergence from Chapter 11. Provided the U.S. Bankruptcy Court approves both Hauser's consulting agreement and Sunu's proposed employment agreement, Hauser will resign and Sunu will commence his duties as CEO.
Provided the U.S. Bankruptcy Court approves the various agreements, J. Bonnie Newman, lead director of the Company's board of directors, will become chairperson of the board of directors. Newman, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has served as lead director since October 2007. Sunu will also be appointed to the Company's board of directors.

Sierra magazine has recognized Green Mountain College for its innovative efforts in sustainability, ranking GMC as the greenest college in the nation in its annual "Coolest Schools" feature. The cover story in the magazine's September/October issue cites GMC for its commitment to sustainability in several categories including energy efficiency, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management, administration, and financial investments.
"Green Mountain College excels in most categories, and it's the MVP when it comes to creativity. The campus gets power and heat from biomass and biogas (a.k.a. cow power)," the magazine said, referring to GMC's new combined heat and power biomass plant and the College's participation in Central Vermont Public Service's Cow Power program, which converts cow manure on Vermont farms to methane gas, a renewable source of energy. No school scored a perfect 100 in the assessment; GMC came closest at 88.6.

A new study released by Bankrate, Inc. reveals that the costs associated with buying a home are on the rise. Bankrate's 2010 Closing Costs Survey reveals that the average origination and title fees on a $200,000 mortgage this year totaled $3,741, up from $2,732 in 2009. New York state was highest at $5,623; Vermont was 40th at $3,372.
In the study's geographical breakdown, with New York leading the nation Texas, Utah, San Francisco, and Los Angeles roundg out the top five. Arkansas is the least expensive area with an average fee of $3,007, replacing Nevada, now number 34, at the bottom of the list.

Governor Jim Douglas has announced the allocation of $1.8 million in tax credits for 19 Vermont communities to assist in the renovation or repair of buildings in downtowns and village centers. At a ceremony at the fire-damaged Aldrich Block in Barre, the Governor announced the projects approved by the Downtown Development Board for Downtown and Village Center State Tax Credits.
‘These tax credits not only help invigorate Vermont’s economy, they help prevent devastating fires in our downtowns,’ Governor Douglas said. ‘In addition to supporting the redevelopment of older and historic buildings, these credits encourage the installation of sprinklers, elevators and other safety upgrades.’
The state tax credit program is available to older and historic buildings in designated downtowns and village centers, and is designed to work with the federal tax credit program to leverage a combined state-federal credit valued between 30 and 40 percent of eligible expenses.

Governor Jim Douglas today released the list of appointments made in May, June and July, 2010.

Access Board
Kim Morrow, Barre

Board of Public Accountancy
Thomas Shortle, Rutland

Act 264 Advisory Board
Theodore Tighe, Middlebury

Alcohol & Drug Abuse Council
Lisa Anne Atwood, Northfield

Vermont Aviation Advisory Council
George Coy, Swanton
Roger Damon, Saint Johnsbury
Robert Flint, Springfield
William Gillam, Rutland
Jeffrey Mast, Bennington
John McNerney, New Haven
Gregory Parke, Rutland
Mary Paull, Newport
Edward Peet, Cornwall
William Rozensky, Fair Haven
Brian Searles, Burlington
Douglas Smith, Grand Isle

The Vermont Agriculture Innovation Center (AIC) was created in 2009 when Senator Patrick Leahy secured $469,000 in funding through the USDA’s Agriculture Innovation Demonstration Center program. The goals of the Innovation Center program are to fund state-based Agriculture Innovation programs that provide technical, marketing and organizational development services to value-added agricultural businesses. ‘Value-added’ businesses include farms that do some level of processing for raw products, alternative production (e.g. organic), diversified farming, or local foods marketing.
The Vermont Housing Conservation Board, South Hero Land Trust, and Vermont Agriculture and Culinary Tourism Council, were recently awarded funding to provide professional development training to enhance value added agriculture in the state of Vermont. Proposals were reviewed and selected by a review committee and put forward for approval by the Agriculture Innovation Center Board.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) is alerting motorists who use the temporary ferry at the Lake Champlain Bridge in Addison to expect delays on Thursday and Friday afternoons through foliage.
For the past few weeks, traffic boarding the ferry service has experienced delays on Thursdays and Fridays between 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The delays are not unexpected as historic traffic volumes using the bridge peak between August and October. The delays are a result of traffic volumes exceeding the capacity of the two ferries during these hours.