Current News

Rock of Ages Corporation (NASDAQ:ROAC) announced today that net income for the second quarter of 2010 increased 9% to $1,561,000, or $.21 per share, which included costs associated with the exploration of strategic options and shareholder lawsuit expenses of $493,000, or $0.07 per share. For the second quarter of 2009, net income was $1,433,000, or $.19 per share. Revenue for this year's second quarter increased 2% to $14,663,000 compared to $14,424,000 for the second quarter of 2009. Divisional operating income increased 26% to $3,200,000 compared to $2,536,000 last year, and unallocated corporate overhead decreased to $669,000 from $692,000.

At Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH), energy efficiency supports NVRH’s mission to provide high quality healthcare services that are focused on community needs at the lowest cost consistent with excellent care. To increase savings and comfort for both patients and staff, NVRH and its team of design engineers collaborated with Efficiency Vermont on its latest project, a large-scale expansion and renovation that enhances 33,000 square feet of the facility.
Located in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, NVRH is a community, nonprofit, acute care, and critical access hospital. NVRH has long recognized the role energy efficiency can play in helping achieve the patient care mission.

For Lamoille Community Connections (LCC), formerly known as Lamoille County Mental Health, energy saved is money saved ‘ a welcome benefit for a non-profit organization providing high-quality developmental and mental health services to area residents. The Morrisville-based agency, which employs 200 and serves more than 800 clients, decided to optimize energy efficiency when it consolidated its four office locations into one new office space in an historic building in Lamoille County.
Lamoille Community Connections partnered with Wayne’s Electric, a local family-owned business, and Efficiency Vermont to improve lighting quality for its staff and clients. LCC had Wayne’s Electric install energy-efficient lights throughout the 30,000 square feet of the new space, formerly a nursing home which sat vacant for two years before LCC decided to move in from around the corner.

Vermont’s two largest utilities and HQ Energy Services (US), a subsidiary of Hydro-Québec, signed today a 26-year contract that will provide renewable low-emission energy. The contract, announced at a news conference attended by Vermont Governor Jim Douglas and Québec Premier Jean Charest, was hailed by utilities and officials from both governments.
‘Our strong relationship with our friends in Québec is vital to the economic well-being of Vermont. This agreement will help ensure a clean competitively priced energy future for Vermonters,’ Douglas said. ‘It will provide stable renewable power at a competitive price for 26 years, starting in 2012, and will help Vermont’s power supply remain arguably the nation’s cleanest. Green Mountain Power (GMP) and Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS) have negotiated an agreement that will benefit customers well beyond their service territories, for which I am most grateful.’

During a visit today to Applied Research Associates Vertek Division in Randolph, US Sen. Patrick Leahy announced the firm has been awarded two separate contracts totaling $10.6 million from the U.S. Army to continue developing demining vehicles and to manufacture a next generation ground sensor.
Leahy told a group of gathered ARA employees that he had secured a $4.72 million contract for ARA to continue work with the U.S. Army on a landmine and unexploded ordnance detection platform called the Nemesis SCOUT. The platform, developed for the Army and mounted on a trailer, uses technology ARA developed with the help of previous Leahy-secured contracts to produce a remote-controlled tractor capable of locating and deactivating unexploded ordnance.

Donnell Collins, Executive Chef and co-owner of Leunig's Bistro and Cafe in Burlington was named Top Chef of the Champlain Valley at CVAA's benefit to support Meals on Wheels. Collins went head to head against Sam Palmisano of Pulcinella's (2008 & 2009 Top Chef winner) and David Fonte of 156 Bistro. The winning dish was a cornmeal crusted quail with cherry sauce.
Nearly $30,000 was raised to support Meals on Wheels at the Top Chef of the Champlain Valley. Over 220,000 Meals on Wheels are delivered each year in the Champlain Valley to homebound seniors. Over 400 people packed the Maple Ballroom at UVM's Davis Center to watch Collins be named the new Top Chef.
The panel of judges included Mark Timms, Executive Chef of the TopNotch Resort & Spa in Stowe, Suzanne Podhaizer, food critic for Seven Days, and Tim Elliott, Executive Chef and Owner of Stone Soup in Burlington. According to Elliott anyone ordering this dish in a restaurant "would be thrilled."

MONTPELIER’States, including Vermont, have long viewed economic development and funding for public services as competing interests. That’s a false dichotomy. Indeed, rebuilding neglected infrastructure and improving education will reap economic benefits in Vermont far surpassing those achieved by tax credits and other business giveaways.
Those are the conclusions of a new study released today by economist Jeffrey Thompson of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Thompson’s paper is based on his extensive analysis of research on what works and doesn’t work to create jobs and strengthen state and regional economies. It suggests a better approach to economic development for the New England states as they dig out from the Great Recession that began in late 2007.

WATERBURY, Vt., and TORINO, Italy, August 10, 2010 ‘ Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR) (NASDAQ: GMCR) and Luigi Lavazza S.p.A (Lavazza) announced the companies have entered into a $250 million common stock purchase agreement. Under terms of the agreement, Lavazza has agreed to purchase $250 million in aggregate purchase price of newly issued shares of GMCR’s $0.10 par value Common Stock, or approximately 7% of GMCR’s current outstanding shares, at a price per share equal to the 60 day volume weighted average price (’VWAP’) at closing minus 7.5%. This investment requires approval under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and is expected to close in September 2010.

August 10, 2010 ‘ Burlington, VT. The City of Burlington announced today that Burlington Telecom’s general manager, Chris Burns, will be leaving the City to take another job out of state. Mr. Burns has worked for Burlington Telecom since its inception in 2002. He started with BT as the project manager, overseeing BT’s phased buildout ‘ from initially serving the school department and City offices to establishing a municipally-run fiber-to-the-home network for residences and businesses throughout Burlington. In November of 2007 Mr. Burns became BT’s general manager, managing all aspects of the municipal telecom enterprise.

MONTPELIER, VT ‘ The State of Vermont has issued its 900th captive insurance company license to Lincoln Financial Group, according to the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration (BISHCA).
With assets under management of $140 billion, Lincoln Financial offers annuities; life, group life and disability insurance; 401(k) and 403(b) plans; savings plans; and comprehensive financial planning and advisory services. Vermont’s 900th license means the state has issued more than four times as many captive licenses than its next closest domestic competitor.
‘This benchmark gives Vermonters a strong sense of pride and achievement that our commitment to this industry for nearly 30 years has been heard loud and clear,’ said Governor Jim Douglas. ‘Vermont will continue to offer a stable regulatory environment, governmental officials that are accessible, and world-class professional support services.’

WASHINGTON, DC ‘ Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) is working to notify Vermont non-profits of a filing requirement with the IRS that may affect their status as tax-exempt organizations.
According to the IRS, close to 1,000 Vermont non-profits are at-risk of losing their tax-exempt status because of a failure to file the appropriate paperwork. The confusion stems from a 2006 law that requires small tax-exempt organizations to file an annual return with the IRS, something they were previously not required to do. According to the law, any tax-exempt organization that fails to file this yearly return for three consecutive years automatically loses its federal tax-exempt status.

by Roger Allbee. I am a student of Vermont agricultural history. I have been studying the old yearbooks of agriculture that go back to the 1800s and other related documents. What I have discovered is that many of the forces of change are similar today even as Vermont has evolved from a largely subsistence farming state before railroads in the 1850s, to the commercial agriculture that continues today.
So what do these forces of change illustrate? They illustrate the many changes that took place as Vermont went from the major sheep raising state in the early to mid 1800s, to being the butter producing capital of the world in the late 1800s. In the 1900s Vermont’s dairy production was the leading agriculture industry and that continues today.