Current News

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Friday announced a new $1.4 million US Navy contract with General Electric Aviation for work in Rutland on additional components of the company’s F414-GE-400 engine used in the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft and the E/A-18G Growler aircraft. The full contract, for work performed in Rutland and at several other GE plants, amounts to $28,202,039 for purchase of six full engines, four engine fan modules, 14 engine high pressure combustion modules, and five combuster modules.
Leahy, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and of its Defense Subcommittee, which handles the Senate’s work in writing the annual Defense budget bill, last week joined GE Aviation employees here to tour major enhancements of the GE Aviation Rutland facility. The F414-GE-400 is one of many military and commercial engines produced by GE Aviation. The Rutland facility primarily produces jet engine blades and vanes.

Senator Bernie Sanders will host a series of town meetings across southern Vermont this weekend. These public forums will take place in Bennington, West Dover, and Putney on Saturday, July 31 and in Westminster, Springfield and Woodstock on Sunday, August 1. Sanders will also attend a public forum on health care reform in Bellows Falls.
Sanders and local leaders will discuss a variety of issues including the economy, health care, clean energy, and protecting society’s most vulnerable citizens.
These events are free and open to the public. The public will be offered the opportunity to ask questions and make comments.

SATURDAY, JULY 31, 2010
What: Town Meeting and Brunch in Bennington

Who: Senator Bernie Sanders

When: 9 a.m. brunch, 9:30 meeting, Saturday, July 31, 2010

Where: Second Congregational Church, 115 Hillside Street, Bennington

What: Town Meeting in West Dover

Who: Senator Bernie Sanders

Senator Patrick Leahy and the Vermont Congressional Delegation ‘ Leahy (D), Senator Bernie Sanders (I) and Representative Peter Welch (D) -- announced Thursday that the Secretary of the Air Force has selected the Vermont National Guard to be the first Air Guard unit to base the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Air Force announced that Burlington is one of two preferred choices for F-35 operations, along with Hill Air Force Base in northern Utah, and that Luke Air Force Base in Arizona is the top pick for training. Final basing decisions will be made later in the ongoing selection process. Under the current production schedule, the planes could begin arriving in Vermont in the 2018 federal fiscal year.

Vermont Attorney General William H Sorrell and the attorneys general of 11 other states today urged the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to adopt a uniform nutritional label for the front of food packages, to ensure that consumers have access to easily understandable and fully transparent information on how healthy the products actually are. “Consumers should have clear information to make healthy food choices,” said Attorney General Sorrell.
The position of the Attorneys General was set out in comments filed with the FDA in connection with that agency’s proposal to establish a national front-of-package food labeling program. They are consistent with preliminary recommendations from Attorney General Sorrell’s ongoing initiative on obesity in Vermont.

Subaru Rally Team USA unveiled its new 2011 Impreza WRX STI rally cars to journalists in dramatic fashion at the Pala Raceway in Pala, California. The team, including Vermont SportsCar of Colchester, Vermont, provided full speed ride-alongs to journalists during practice for the ESPN Summer X Games 16. Travis Pastrana, Dave Mirra and new teammate, European Rallycross Champion Sverre Isachsen, demonstrated that they were ready for the SuperRally X Game competitions, being held at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday, July 31st.
"The team has worked very hard to get these vehicles ready for the X Games," said Pastrana. "The competition is going to be tough but I am confident that our STIs will be the cars to beat."

Attributing a 64 percent net sales growth by the success of the Keurig Single-Cup Brewing System, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc of Waterbury has reported strong sales and earnings growth. Net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 increased to $311.5 million as compared to $190.5 million reported in the third quarter of fiscal 2009. According to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 totaled $18.6 million, or $0.13 per fully diluted share; non-GAAP EPS of $0.19.
Excluding transaction-related expenses incurred in the quarter, and the resulting tax effect of reversing the tax benefit associated with previously incurred acquisition-related expenses, the Company’s non-GAAP net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 was $25.8 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, representing an increase of 82% from $14.1 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2009.1

A new report released this month by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) reveals that Vermont’s farmers’ markets continue to thrive, providing substantial support to the state’s vibrant agricultural economy. There are currently more than 80 farmers’ markets in Vermont, 30 of which accept EBT (food assistance benefits) and debit cards. This report comes just in time for the 10th annual National Farmers’ Market Week, July 31 through August 7, 2010. NOFA-VT will be celebrating National Farmers’ Market Week with a film contest and the second annual Pizza to the People tour, bringing wood-fired pizza to farmers’ markets across the state. These events are part of a larger national celebration, a context in which Vermont’s farmers’ markets shine.

Delhaize America has announced a new promotion where its customers have the chance to win up to $250,000 by shopping Delhaize America stores, including Hannaford supermarkets in Vermont.
Every game card distributed has the potential to be a winning card, and the card could earn customers as much as $250,000 in prizes. The company expects to award a total of more than $5 million to approximately 3 million customers during the summer promotion, with prizes ranging from $1 to $250,000 per winning card.
All Delhaize America banners are participating in the Great Grocery Giveaway, including Bottom Dollar Food, Hannaford, Sweetbay and the Food Lion family of banners - Food Lion, Bloom, Harveys and Reid's.
The Great Grocery Giveaway will reward customers who shop at any of the company's more than 1,600 stores in 16 states. Customers who shop these supermarkets will receive a scratch-and-win game card for every qualifying transaction.

Led by a $5 million challenge gift, from an anonymous boarding student parent, St. Johnsbury Academy has announced the largest campaign in the school’s history. Academy Headmaster Tom Lovett and Board of Trustees President and Campaign Chair Lee Hackett ‘57 officially announced the Embrace the Dream campaign during the school’s annual alumni banquet on June 5. During the quiet phase of the campaign, leadership gifts from trustees, faculty, alumni, parents, friends, and foundations have raised more than $12 million in cash and pledges toward the $15 million goal.
‘I am always humbled by the generosity of the Academy community,’ Lovett said. ‘To have raised so much money without publicly launching a campaign is an inspiring sign of the faith our alumni, friends, and benefactors have in our mission and our people.’

KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) today announced second quarter net income from continuing operations attributable to Key common shareholders of $56 million, or $.06 per common share. These results compare to a net loss from continuing operations attributable to Key common shareholders of $394 million, or $.68 per common share, for the second quarter of 2009, which was negatively impacted by an $823 million loan loss provision. Second quarter net income attributable to Key common shareholders was $29 million compared to a net loss attributable to Key common shareholders of $390 million for the second quarter of 2009. Net loss attributable to Key common shareholders for the six-month period ended June 30, 2010 was $67 million compared to a net loss attributable to Key common shareholders of $926 million for the same period one year ago.

The economic stimulus program that Congress passed last year to help pull the economy out of the deepest recession since the 1930s so far has provided tax relief for almost all Vermonters and created or saved some 7,000 jobs in the state, according to a report compiled for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Almost $1 billion already has been invested in Vermont job-creating programs, a figure that doesn’t count the impact of federal tax cuts included in the stimulus bill. With the tax relief factored in, the total stimulus impact for Vermont ‘would be up to at least $1.3 billion," according to Stephen Klein of the Vermont Legislative Joint Fiscal Office.
‘A lot of people are wondering what the stimulus package did. How does my family benefit? Where are the jobs? That’s why we did this study,’ said Sanders (I-Vt.). ‘The answer is that federal taxes were cut for almost all Vermonters and thousands of jobs have been created or saved.

Vermont ranks third nationally in overall child health and well-being in the 2010 KIDS COUNT Data Book, a state-by-state study on the well-being of America’s children. Vermont ranks in the top ten on eight of the ten individual indicators affecting child well-being that are reported in the Data Book. Vermont improved on five of the ten measures since 2000. New Hampshire ranked first and Minnesota was second. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi ranked the lowest.
Vermont’s success in these national rankings is not luck or magic – it is the result of forward-thinking policies and years of investment in programs and services that have helped kids and families thrive (REPORT). “Our strong showing relative to other states in the nation demonstrates how our public policies and effective support systems are making a difference in improving the lives of Vermont’s children and families,” said Carlen Finn, Executive Director of Voices for Vermont's Children.