Current News

Line crews worked tirelessly through the night last night after a three-pronged wave of thunderstorms swept through the state yesterday, knocking out power to about 12,500 CVPS customers at the height of the storm around 10 pm. About 750 customers in Rutland, Orange, and Windsor counties remain without power this morning, with some scattered outages across the state.
“We began mobilizing crews from our other districts in the early evening yesterday,” said Storm Manager Scott Massie. “But this storm really came in three waves. The first wave hit the St. Albans area yesterday afternoon, and then the next wave hit central Vermont, and then Rutland County took a beating last night. It was next to impossible to know where these storms cells were going to hit; they just popped up everywhere without notice.”
Storm damage was localized to specific areas.

The Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections testified today before a Senate panel chaired by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). The hearing focused on state and local efforts to help inmates successfully and effectively reintegrate into their communities upon release.
The Second Chance Act was first passed in 2008, and authorized federal grants for state and local governments and organizations to help provide literacy classes, job training, education programs, and substance abuse and rehabilitation programs for inmates. The act is also intended to promote safety and improve communities by ensuring that people will become productive members of society, rather than returning to a life of crime, when they are released from prison. The hearing Wednesday focused on the success of the grant programs authorized by the Second Chance Act.

Governor Jim Douglas was in Iraq today with a delegation of governors to meet with troops and receive a first-hand update about the situation in Iraq.
The Governor departed from Andrews Air Force Base yesterday after meeting with Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn and visiting Walter Read Army Medical Center during the day. He arrived at Baghdad International Airport this morning and had an opportunity to meet with soldiers, including Vermonters, at Camp Victory and Al Faw Palace. During the day he also received a briefing from Lt. General Kenneth Hunzeker, the Deputy Commander of U.S. Forces in Iraq and the NATO Training Mission in Iraq and had a hands-on MRAP vehicle demonstration.

One of the financial building blocks for constructing the Lake Champlain Bridge was put in place yesterday. The State Treasurer’s Office successfully sold $14.4 million in Vermont special obligation transportation infrastructure bonds. A portion of the money raised by the bond sale will go toward meeting the state’s obligation for rebuilding the bridge, as well as provide funds for other needed transportation infrastructure repairs and improvements.
The bonds are backed by the state’s new Motor Fuels Transportation Infrastructure Assessment (MFTIA) passed by the Vermont Legislature in the 2009 session. The bond sale was not held until this week because the state wanted to first use available federal stimulus monies to fund identified transportation projects.

Nichols College in Dudley, MA, has told Saint Michael’s College in Colchester that it is withdrawing its masters programs that were to have begun at the Colchester campus this fall semester, Vermont Business Magazine learned today. Saint Michael’s said the dean of the program was leaving his position and that the central Massachusetts business school was re-evaluating the program. Nichols College said it will instead focus on another site in Florida.
Nichols Vermont Director of Graduate and Professional Studies, Brian Lewis, sent the following email to the Saint Michael’s administration:
‘It is with a sense of sadness that I must inform the college community that a decision has been made by Nichols College to terminate its effort to establish its graduate business programs in Vermont. The resignation of the Dean of Graduate and Professional Studies has created a void in strong leadership and this along with a desire to conserve resources forced this decision.

For the week of July 17, 2010, there were 630 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance, a decrease of 103 from the week before. Altogether 9,889 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 186 from a week ago and 3,665 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 2,122 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 355 fewer than a week ago. In addition, there were 1,238 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is a decrease of 137 from the week before. In addition, the Vermont Department of Labor announced on June 30 that it would be discontinuing extended unemployment benefits (STORY) beginning July 10 because the state's unemployment rate has fallen to 6.0 percent (STORY), which is below the 6.5 percent federal mandate for such benefits. However, Congress is in the process of restoring extended benefits.

A group of municipal, regional and statewide planning and conservation organizations joined legislative leaders today in sharply criticizing a Douglas administration move to eliminate a position with the Department of Fish & Wildlife responsible for overseeing the Department’s Community Wildlife Program.
Local officials stressed the significant value the position has brought to their communities, and lawmakers criticized the cut because it runs directly contrary to clear Legislative intent.

The State of Vermont’s captive insurance sector has had a good first half of 2010, licensing 17 new captive insurance companies as the state approaches the 900-license milestone, officials said. With 895 captive licenses, Vermont is the largest captive insurance domicile in the U.S. and the third largest in the world, with an excess of $77 billion in gross written premium in 2009. Forty-two of the companies that make up the Fortune 100 and 18 of the companies that make up the Dow 30 have Vermont captives.
The 17 new captives this year puts Vermont three ahead of last year’s pace of new formations. In 2009, Vermont licensed 39 new captives, its 6th best year in its 29-year history.

Governor Jim Douglas applauded the work of the Vermont Department of Finance and Management for receiving the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) – the organizations highest form of recognition. This is the second year in a row that the State of Vermont, through the Department of Finance and Management, has received this award for the comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR).
“The team at Finance and Management has done a tremendous job ensuring that my Administration, the Legislature and Vermonters have the best possible fiscal information,” said Governor Douglas. “Timely and accurate reporting is critical in making good decisions, providing the transparency taxpayers expect and maximizing our limited resources. Commissioner Reardon and his team deserve a great deal of credit for their sound management of taxpayer money during a very difficult time.”

Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) this week introduced legislation in the US Senate and House of Representatives allowing the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park to acquire Woodstock’s King Farm.
At the request of the Vermont Land Trust (VLT) and the Woodstock community, the Vermont delegation is seeking to expand the boundaries of the existing park to include the 154-acre King Farm. Doing so will allow VLT to transfer the property and ensure that its mission of promoting agriculture, forestry, conservation and education is met.

A 31-state consortium, including Vermont, submitted its application recently for a federal grant that would develop a student assessment system aligned to a common core of academic standards. The SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, or SBAC, formed in December 2009, hopes to receive a Race to the Top assessment grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant, which lasts four years, is worth as much as $160 million. No more than two grants will be awarded.
‘As a governing state, Vermont has an exciting opportunity to develop and implement assessment models that better reflect the progress and strength of our students, educators and their schools,’ said Vermont’s Deputy Commissioner for Transformation and Innovation Rae Ann Knopf. ‘SBAC represents a significant and necessary departure from the dependence on statewide assessments as a primary indicator of education effectiveness.’

The nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court won approval by a bipartisan majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee during a business meeting Tuesday. The Committee, chaired by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), held a confirmation hearing for Kagan’s nomination the week of June 28. The Committee vote was 13-6.
Kagan testified before the Judiciary Committee for more than 17 hours over three days, responding to more than 540 questions. She also responded to more than 200 questions submitted for the record. The American Bar Association gave her a rating of unanimously well qualified, the organization’s highest rating.
The full Senate is expected to consider the nomination before the scheduled August recess. For more information about the Kagan nomination, and to watch video from the confirmation proceedings, visit the Senate Judiciary Committee website.