Current News

The State of Vermont is continuing its efforts to use technology to reduce the cost of government by introducing an online registry for mobile home parks.
‘Eliminating the paper involved in filing these reports makes the process faster, less costly, and less time-consuming for both the applicant and our staff.’
Commissioner of Economic, Housing and Community Development Tayt Brooks said that as of August 2, owners of mobile home parks in Vermont are now able to complete a required annual registration online.
‘This is another example of how we are using technology to be more efficient in state government,’ Brooks said. ‘Eliminating the paper involved in filing these reports makes the process faster, less costly, and less time-consuming for both the applicant and our staff.’

Strong winds pounded Bennington, Rutland and Addison Counties last night, knocking out power to some 14,000 CVPS customers at the height of the storm around midnight. As of 7:30 a.m., 4,800 remain without power, the majority in Bennington County.
Crews worked through the night last night and made great progress in Addison and Rutland counties. About 200 customers remain without power in Rutland County.
About 4,600 customers are without power in Bennington County. Arlington and Shaftsbury were two of the hardest hit towns, with outages also remaining in the towns of Bennington, Dorset, Manchester and Pownal, and scattered outages elsewhere.
‘This storm really pounded the Arlington and Shaftsbury area,’ said Storm Planning Chief Jeremy Baker. ‘But elevation really played a role in the wind damage; 400 or 500 feet really made all the difference whether you were seeing any winds or not.’

PennWell Corporation, a diversified global media and information company, announced today that it has acquired Tunbridge, Vermont-based Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment magazine and the website FireMagazine.com. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment, founded in 1996 in Tunbridge, Vermont by C. Peter and Kathryn Jorgensen under the company name Fire Apparatus, LLC, is widely recognized as the leading source of information about fire apparatus-related products. Published monthly for a North American readership of 35,000, Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment caters to fire chiefs, purchasing and finance committees, trustees, commissioners and other fire professionals who buy trucks, tools, turnout gear and firefighting equipment. They read Fire Apparatus and the monthly Fire Apparatus eNewsletter for news and insight to make well-informed buying decisions.

Construction job gains were more widespread across the country and job losses were generally less severe in July than in June, the Associated General Contractors of America reported in an analysis of state employment data released today by the Labor Department. Twenty-six states added construction jobs in July, compared to 19 in June, while six states added construction jobs over the past year and most others are losing far fewer jobs than previously, association officials noted.
“Encouraging as it is to see some modest signs of progress, it is increasingly unlikely we’ll keep seeing these kinds of gains over the next few months,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “There is little to indicate that construction will be adding workers to a significant extent any time soon.”

The Vermont Department of Labor announced today the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July 2010 was unchanged from the previous month’s report holding steady at 6.0 percent. Compared to a year ago, the July unemployment rate is lower by 1.1 percent. Compared to the US rate, Vermont is 3.5 points lower than the national average.
‘Based on the preliminary data, the Vermont unemployment rate remained unchanged in the month of July as did the national unemployment rate,’ said Valerie Rickert, Acting Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Labor. ‘The reported dip in employment from last month is related to seasonal influences and was anticipated. The overall trend of the Vermont economy remains stable. Compared to a year ago, there are 4,100 fewer Vermonters reporting being unemployed.’
Analysis of Job Changes by Industry

A spokesman for the Vermont Agency of Transportation has clarified Congress’ recent decision to rescind nearly $8.5 million in funding from the Vermont Agency of Transportation. There has been some concern among the public that this cut will have an effect on bicycle, pedestrian, trail and enhancement programs within the State of Vermont. However, John Zicconi from VTrans said in a statement that this is not true because the money simply was never budgeted.
Zicconi is the Director Planning, Outreach & Community Affairs for the agency. His statement, issued August 19, 2010, reads:

Jane C Graiko of Essex Junction, Vermont, is the winner of the 2010 Ralph Nading Hill, Jr. Literary Prize awarded annually by Green Mountain Power and Vermont Life magazine.
Graiko's winning story, titled "Heart Sounds," is a first person account of a woman in a coma, struggling to understand her situation through brief periods of perception. "My head throbs, neck aches, toes tingle. My fingers feel solid and unbending like lower branches on a 60-year-old oak. Bits and pieces of conversations float around me and I discern that I -- builder of rock walls, planter of vegetable gardens, and gatherer of winter's wood -- have for days or weeks been considered touch and go. But what did I touch and where did I go?"
The reader slowly learns what has happened through her confused memories of a car, a deer and walking in the woods, with a disastrous result.

PreLaw magazine has ranked Vermont Law School as among the top environmental law schools in the nation. In preLaw’s “Back to School” 2010 edition released Tuesday, VLS and three other law schools received the magazine’s summa cum laude ranking as the best of the best for their environmental law programs and green campus practices.
Noting that US News & World Report ranks VLS as the nation’s premier environmental law school, the preLaw article points out that VLS offers a broader and deeper selection of environmental law and policy classes than any school in the nation during both the academic year and summer session.
To read the preLaw article, go to: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cypress/prelaw_backtoschool-2010/#/10

Five agencies in Vermont will receive about $4.7 million to provide solar thermal and solar hot water technologies for Vermont families, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Peter Welch (D-VT) announced today.
The funds also may be used to promote bulk buying strategies and cooperative partnerships in buying solar technologies in order to lower the costs of materials. Community-based marketing approaches to help families save energy and money also may be funded under the grants.
The Vermont grant recipients were among 120 organizations across the country selected to receive $120 million under the U.S. Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program.
The Bennington-Rutland Opportunity Council, Inc., located in Rutland, will receive $900,000.
The Central Vermont Community Action Council, Inc., based in Barre, will receive $900,000.

The University of Maine and the University of Vermont are joining forces this fall to offer a research-based online weight management course that helps college students develop healthy eating and exercise habits.
"Vtrim Online" is a one-credit, semester-long course based on clinical research by Jean Harvey-Berino, Ph.D., R.D., a nationally recognized obesity researcher at the University of Vermont. Her concept is based on behavior changes: a systematic shaping of daily habits to help people move more and eat less.
"There is a groundswell nationwide for universities to provide preventative health programming to students," says Harvey-Berino. "It's an ideal time in their lives to learn healthy eating behaviors for long-term health and earn college credit, too."

University Mall has announced a 100 percent occupancy rate, as of September 2010, in itsr 612,000-square-foot, 75-store shopping mall located on Dorset Street in South Burlington, Vermont.
The full occupancy comes with the addition of several new stores including a 6,778 sf Rue21, opening August 26, a 585 sf Lids and a 25,500 sf Spirit Halloween, both opening in September, and the temporary relocation of Bath & Body Works while their current space undergoes renovation. Also, Things Remembered, an engraving kiosk will open next to McDonald's in September. Avenue A, a locally owned women's clothing store, has relocated to the mall's south end to accommodate Rue21.
University Mall is family-owned by Finard Properties LLC of Burlington, Massachusetts and was founded by William Finard in 1979.
Source: University Mall. 8.19.2010

Four Vermont nonprofit organizations will receive an infusion of $2.3 million in capital to make loans and provide technical assistance to small businesses, day cares, nonprofit affordable housing developers and first time home buyers.
Vermont’s congressional delegation said the US Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institution Fund (CDFI) is awarding the Vermont Community Loan Fund (VCLF) of Montpelier a $750,000 grant; Northern Community Investment Corporation (NCIC) of St. Johnsbury a $750,000 grant; Opportunities Credit Union of Burlington a $750,000 grant; and a loan fund at the Champlain Housing Trust (CHT) a $74,085 grant. The organizations are among 180 nationwide organizations receiving nearly $105 million in awards.