Current News

Vermont Humanities Council grant awards will make a humanities impact throughout Vermont this year. In all, VHC made nine awards to nonprofits for humanities programming, totaling $19,100.
The Vermont Folklife Center has received a $5,000 grant from the Vermont Humanities Council for its online resource project, “New Vermonters from the Balkans.” The grant is one of nine awards given by VHC to Vermont organizations during its spring 2010 grant cycle.“New Vermonters from the Balkans” will make the Vermont Folklife Center’s research, photographs, and videos available via a new Web site to raise awareness of the refugee resettlement experience in Vermont. The project parallels VHC’s Vermont Reads 2010 program, which focuses on Katherine Paterson’s book, The Day of the Pelican, a novel about a family from Kosovo and its flight from Serbian aggression to refuge in Vermont.

by James Dwinell, Vermont Business Magazine -- Topnotch Resort and Spa in Stowe has a new management team. According to Arthur Kreizel, a longtime adviser to Topnotch and a former owner with the Cummings family of Stowe and Montreal, This is a done deal. The Capital Source Bank of Delaware took possession of Topnotch as a gift from the Cummings family and the Terra Resort Group of Jackson, Wyoming, has taken over management duties.
According to a hotel management executive in Boston, The bank lost confidence in the management of the Cummings family s management. They decided to take possession of Topnotch and go in a different direction.
Kreizel concurred saying, Topnotch had made a number of significant investments in facilities recently which, in today s resort environment, were not working out. They invested $60 million just before the recession in a new condominium development which just didn t sell profitably.

The Boston Society of Landscape Architects (BSLA) 2010 Awards Jury presented a Merit Award for Residential and Garden Design to the H. Keith Wagner Partnership (HKWP) for the North Cove Residence located in Shelburne, Vermont. HKWP, a landscape architecture firm located in Burlington, Vermont, collaborated with TruexCullins Architecture and Interior Design on this project, which consists of a two-unit home for a multi-generational family.
The Jury noted, "This elegant and well detailed project has accomplished the program of accommodating a multi-generational family through a restrained and positive simplicity of forms without being rigid. The architecture and landscape have been so well integrated that the boundaries between the disciplines are seamless. The spatial organization, including the siting of the swimming pool and the layout of the boardwalk to the lake, is very successful."

Entergy Corporation today announced that a recently completed root cause analysis of a tritium leak at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant determined that the leak was primarily caused by an earlier design deficiency and inadequate inspection of an underground area of the plant that could not be accessed.
Tonight (June 22, 2010), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will host an open house (4 pm to 6 pm) and public meeting (6 pm to 9 pm) on June 22 at Brattleboro Union High School. NRC staff will discuss the NRC Demand for Information and Groundwater Protection reports, an annual assessment of Vermont Yankee, and other information about the Vermont Yankee tritium investigation and groundwater protection efforts.

The Grafton Village Historic District has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service.
The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation; the Vermont Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; and the Grafton Historical Society, will hold a celebration to recognize this special honor at 1 pm on June 23 in front of the Grafton History Museum at 147 Main Street.
"The Grafton Village Historic District is one of the most well-preserved rural villages in Vermont, said Giovanna Peebles, State Historic Preservation officer and head of the division. This is a really great example of how historic preservation can be a benefit to our tourism industry.

In a dramatic move to make the Causeway Bike Ferry financially sustainable while also expanding service, Local Motion will be implementing the following big changes this season:
¢ More service: Weather permitting, the Bike Ferry will run 10am to 6pm every weekend and holiday from July 3 to Labor Day September 6 - a total of 22 days, up from the 8-13 days of service in past 7 years.
¢ Higher fares: We are suggesting a $10 donation per round trip. A reduced donation of $6 is suggested for Colchester & South Hero residents, Local Motion members, children 12 and under, and one-way riders.
¢ More volunteers: To minimize costs, we will be reducing our on-site staff and depending more on volunteers. We need to fill over 200 volunteer shifts! Email Bob to sign up: [email protected].

The Vermont Agency of Transportation today reopened the Waterbury Park and Ride, which had been closed for expansion and modernization since April 12. The new park and ride has 70 spaces, while the old one had 60 spaces, but since those spaces were not delineated fewer cars may have comfortably fit at times.
The old facility had a recycled asphalt and gravel surface, which is why there were no marked parking stalls. The new facility is not only paved and line striped, but the facility’s lighting is greatly improved. The Green Mountain Transit Agency (GMTA), which suspended service to the park and ride during construction, will once again be picking up commuters near the entrance to the facility, where VTrans installed a newly constructed bus shelter.

Vermont Attorney General William H. Sorrell announced today that his office has sent letters to owners of forty-four rental properties in downtown Barre requesting that they demonstrate compliance with the Vermont lead law at the properties. The landlords have been given 90 days to respond to his office.
“Vermont has one of the oldest housing stocks in the nation and Barre, in particular, has some of the oldest in the state,” said Attorney General Sorrell. “Landlords need to take steps to make their properties safe for their tenants. These letters represent a chance for the landlords to work with us toward that goal.”

Average retail gasoline prices in Vermont have fallen 2.5 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.77/g yesterday. This compares with the national average that has increased 3.7 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.73/g, according to gasoline price website VermontGasPrices.com.
Including the change in gas prices in Vermont during the past week, prices yesterday were 13.4 cents per gallon higher than the same day one year ago and are 10.5 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has decreased 9.0 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 7.2 cents per gallon higher than this day a year ago.
Source: VermontGasPrices.com 6.21.2010

For more than 40 years, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce has recognized an outstanding citizen with this prestigious award. Nomination material will be collected through July 30, and a special selection committee will meet soon thereafter to select this year’s recipient.
Nominees are judged on three criteria: This award is presented to a Vermonter who has made major contributions to the progress and betterment of the Green Mountain State; has been distinguished through outstanding service to his or her community and region; and in the judgment of the selection committee, typifies the true spirit of service and self-sacrifice in representing the finest ideals of Vermont citizenship.

The State of Vermont will receive over $60,000 under a settlement with an international group of vitamin manufacturers. Attorney General William H. Sorrell, along with 22 states and class action plaintiffs, alleged that vitamin manufacturers engaged in a price-fixing conspiracy contrary to state and federal antitrust laws. Under the agreement approved today, the majority of Vermont s share will go toward improving the nutrition and health of Vermont residents. The Vermont Foodbank will receive nearly $50,000 and the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation will receive $10,000 for the creation of a new multi-use trail in Sharon. The remaining funds, approximately $6,500, will go to the general fund for the State s costs. A separate fund has been created to compensate affected businesses.

The Teamsters Union supports efforts by the US Senate to crack down on businesses that illegally classify their employees as independent contractors, an egregious practice that companies use to avoid paying millions in state and federal taxes. The Teamsters referenced a new law in Vermont in this regard that requires coverage of workers with workers' compensation insurance.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing today to discuss efforts to crack down on the growing problem of misclassification. More than 40 states are currently looking into ways to punish bad-acting employers who misclassify workers, and 15 states have said that collectively, misclassification costs them $3.2 billion annually.