Current News

Average retail gasoline prices in Vermont have fallen 1.1 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.76/g yesterday. This compares with the national average that has fallen 5.9 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.72/g, according to gasoline price website VermontGasPrices.com.

Two leadership positions have been announced for IBM in Vermont. Janette K. Bombardier has been named senior location executive and Steven A. Wildermuth has been named vice president, semiconductor manufacturing and development, for the Vermont facility. They succeed John DiToro, vice president for semiconductor manufacturing and senior location executive, who retired from IBM on July 1, 2010. As the senior location executive, Bombardier is responsible for IBM’s external relations and internal site programs for the Vermont facility. She also leads the site’s facilities operations, which includes supporting IBM's Smarter Planet initiatives as an IBM “Center of Excellence” for water and energy management.

Vermont's mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates are still well below the national average and are some of the lowest in the nation. The May Mortgage Monitor report released today by Lender Processing Services, Inc. (NYSE: LPS), a leading provider of mortgage performance data and analytics, shows a 2.3 percent month-over-month increase in the nation's home loan delinquency rate to 9.2 percent in May 2010, and that early-stage delinquencies are increasing as normal seasonal improvements taper off. This report includes data as of May 31, 2010.
According to the Mortgage Monitor report, the percentage of mortgage loans in default beyond 90 days increased slightly, while both delinquency and foreclosure rates continue to remain relatively stable at historically high levels. There are currently more than 7.3 million loans currently in some stage of delinquency or REO.

Governor Jim Douglas today announced that Deputy Chief of Staff Heidi Tringe will be stepping down at the end of the month to pursue a new opportunity in the private sector. On August 1, she will join the government relations firm of MacLean, Meehan and Rice LLC.
“Heidi has been a critical member of my team and a key advisor during these challenging economic times,” said Governor Douglas. “Her expertise, enthusiasm and commitment to Vermont will be greatly missed, and I wish her all the best in her next endeavor.”
Tringe joined the Governor's senior staff in January 2008 as Special Assistant, following 2 years as Legislative Affairs and Communications Director at the Agency of Human Services. She was appointed Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs in 2009 and assumed her current position in January, 2010.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) says a new infusion of $1.6 million in federal funding that he has secured for Norwich University’s Center for Counterterrorism and Cyber Crime will continue the Center’s work in countering threats to the nation’s cyber networks. This funding is awarded under Homeland Security National Training Program (HSNTP). Leahy has sponsored funding for ongoing research and training work at the Center since he won designation of Norwich’s program as a national counterterrorism resource center nearly a decade ago.

Ledyard National Bank announced today that it has established a $50MM fund from which it will make loans to individuals and businesses in New Hampshire and Vermont.
Kathy Underwood, President and CEO of Ledyard stated, “We are committed to doing our part to contribute to the economic recovery of our region. We have a lot of money to lend to this cause and hope to distribute the $50 million by the end of 2010. I have every expectation that we will be very busy over the next six months.”
Dan Stannard, Senior Vice President and Senior Loan Officer added, “Ledyard is about providing the financial and human resources necessary to help our communities grow and prosper. We look forward to every opportunity that helps us develop new relationships or deepen ones that we’ve had for many years.”

by Robert Smith, Vermont Business Magazine Peter D Van Oot is an attorney with the northern New England law firm of Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC specializing in land use, environmental and corporate law, primarily from the firm’s Lebanon office. A graduate of Williams College and Georgetown University Law School, and a former legislative aide to US Senator Patrick J Leahy, Van Oot has been with DRM since 1987. At DRM, he established and helped to build the firm’s Brattleboro office. He chairs the firm’s Regulated Entities Group, which includes lawyers and legal professionals working in energy law, telecommunications, public utilities, health care, land use/environmental law and government and public affairs. Van Oot has served as lead permitting counsel for projects ranging from the High Points Estates residential project, the Grafton Village Cheese manufacturing and retail store and the recently permitted Commonwealth Dairy yogurt manufacturing facility in Brattleboro to the 1,000-unit Ginn Company development in Burke and the 24-lot Rocking Stone Farm residential project in Manchester, VT. He has served as lead counsel in most of Vermont’s Superfund Sites and advises a wide range of environmental and land use clients throughout Vermont and New Hampshire.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont has received the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association 2009 FEP Plan Excellence Award for outstanding performance, company officials announced today.
The award recognizes the Vermont Plan’s contribution to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association’s Federal Employee Program (FEP), the largest privately underwritten health insurance contract in the world. Approximately half of all federal employees and retirees who receive their health care benefits through the government’s Federal Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) are members of the BCBSA program – receiving coverage through their local Blue Plans.

The Vermont Telecommunications Authority (VTA) and Sovernet Communications reported today that their public-private partnership, Vermont FiberConnect, will receive a $33.4 million grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. The grant will allow Sovernet to develop, own, maintain, and operate a 773 mile fiber-optic middle mile network in southern, central, and northeastern Vermont. The project will connect over 340 community anchor institutions in the project area, including State owned buildings, public safety towers and all public and private K-12 schools, public libraries and colleges that elect to participate in the project. Another $13.7 million will go to Vermont Telephone Company (STORY).

Brian Harwood of Waterbury, has been elected chair of the board of directors of Vermont Public Television (VPT), Vermont’s statewide public television network. One of the state’s best-known radio personalities and a Vermont Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame member, he is morning host on WCVT Classic Vermont. He was formerly chair and CEO of hmc2 advertising in Stowe. Since his retirement from the firm, he serves as chair emeritus.
Harwood succeeds James Wyant of Pointe Claire, Que., who continues on the VPT board as past chair.
Pamela Mackenzie of S. Burlington, Vt., was elected vice chair. She is the area vice president for Comcast in Vermont and western Massachusetts.
Source: VPT 7.2.2010

Federal agencies have awarded two Vermont telecommunication organizations a total of $47.1 million in federal economic recovery grants to build fiber optic networks that will help form the core of Vermont’s broadband network. The new funds will be used to wire ‘anchor institutions’ across the state and bring high-capacity, lightning-fast, affordable broadband bandwidth closer to end users.

Vermont and other New England states will face increasing pressure on pension plans as their populations get older and, consequently, they retire at an increasing rate. By 2030 in Vermont, 38 percent of the population will be 60 or older, the second highest in New England next to Maine’s 40 percent. The national average at that time will have climbed to 33 percent. Vermont and New England must come to terms financially with this phenomenon earlier than the rest of the US, according to a report released yesterday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston entitled: “Population Aging and State Pensions in New England.”