Current News

US Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Kit Bond (R-MO), the co-chairs of the Senate National Guard Caucus, are requesting an additional $870 million to help the National Guard and Reserves address critical equipment shortfalls. The National Guard Caucus request was sent to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Vice Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS). Bond and Leahy also are senior members of the Appropriations Committee and of its Defense Subcommittee, which handles the Senate s work in writing the annual Defense Department budget bill.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation beginning the week of June 14 will restrict a portion of Route 102 in the Town of Guildhall to one lane as crews prepare to replace a culvert. The lane restriction will last about a week, and then crews will close the road completely for a period of about three days.

Some of the work is weather dependent, so it is impossible to know exactly when the road will be closed. But if Mother Nature cooperates, the plan is to have the road closed from June 22 through June 24. During the closure, traffic will be detoured onto Route 3 in New Hampshire.
Later this summer, VTrans will pave a 10.6 mile segment of Route 102 between Guildhall and Maidstone. The culvert replacement is being conducted before the paving job commences so that the new blacktop does not need to be disturbed.
Source: VTrans

CVPS customers will see a slight decrease in their electricity bills starting with bills rendered July 1. Last year, the Vermont Public Service Board approved a 1.15 percent surcharge on bills to pay for the extraordinary costs of the 2008 ice storm, the most expensive in company history. CVPS has been collecting that surcharge as part of its alternative regulation program, but the recovery period ends June 30. As a result, the surcharge will end with bills rendered starting July 1.
Customers have also been receiving a power cost adjustment credit of $0.00206 per kilowatt-hour. The credit for the upcoming quarter will be smaller, $0.00089 per kWh. Combined with the end of the surcharge, the effect is a rate decrease of 0.24 percent starting July 1.
For a typical residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours per month, the net change will reduce the bill by 32 cents, from $77.07 to $76.75.

The Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC) will provide a full time Project Manager in Hardwick whose responsibility will be to provide area agribusinesses with technical assistance, consultation, and training programs. The VtSBDC will also assist in both expanding new businesses and selecting and recruiting new ones. A technical assistance focus will be on the new Vermont Food Venture Center in Hardwick.
The Project Manager position was made possible through a USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG) and under contract to the Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE) in Hardwick.

Anthony Pollina is running for the State Senate in Washington County as well as for the Democratic Primary.
Pollina ran for governor as an Independent two years ago, receiving almost 30 percent of the Washington County votes. Democrat Gaye Symington, who barely came in third after Pollina, only received 18 percent of the votes for Washington County.
Governor James Douglas received little under 50 percent of the Washington County vote, and won statewide with 53 percent.

The Community College of Vermont has been selected to receive grant funds from the US Department of Health and Human Services to educate information technology professionals in healthcare. CCV will receive a $580,471 grant and become a member of the Community College Consortia to Educate Health Information Technology Professionals in Health Care, established by a $16 million grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to help US health care providers nationwide invest in electronic health records systems.

Peter Raymond, a fixture in Vermont's captive insurance industry for 22 years, has announced his plans to leave his state regulatory position and take a job outside of the captive insurance sector.
Raymond, the Director of Captive Insurance for the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities & Health Care Administration (BISHCA), will be replaced by Sandy Bigglestone, a 13-year veteran with the Captive Insurance Division.
"On behalf of the people of Vermont I want to thank Peter for his service to the state, and wish him well," said Governor Jim Douglas. "Peter has been an important part of our success in the captive industry, and leaves the division well-positioned to continue that tradition."

This month, 478 Vermont National Guardsmen will receive a free pair of Darn Tough Vermont socks thanks to overwhelming community support for a promotional program created by Darn Tough Vermont and Lenny’s Shoes & Apparel.
In May, Darn Tough Vermont and Lenny’s Shoes & Apparel teamed up to raise socks for the Vermont National Guard. For every pair sold at Lenny’s stores in Williston, Barre, and Saint Albans, Darn Tough Vermont and Lenny’s donated a pair to the Guard. Their goal was to donate 300 pairs, but customers helped them far surpass that by purchasing well over 400 pairs, while many additional customers not only purchased a pair but also went ahead and donated that pair back into the program, doubling their individual donation.

The 2010 annual rankings of the Top 100 Tennis Resorts and Camps have been published at www.tennisresortsonline.com. Results are based on evaluations submitted by tennis vacationers over the past year.
Earning gold medal honors and placing third of all international tennis resorts is Topnotch Resort & Spa in Stowe, Vermont. Topnotch also placed seventh overall for best international tennis camps. As stated at Tennis Resorts Online in a feature length description of Topnotch Resort which included accolades for recent renovations,

Dealer.com (www.dealer.com) today named Rick Gibbs as its new president. Gibbs co-founded the company in 1998 and has since held the position of CTO, shaping and directing Dealer.com's technological vision, while spearheading its emergence as the global leader in online marketing solutions for the automotive industry. As President, Gibbs will help guide the company as it significantly increases employee headcount and accelerates product development and delivery volume over the years ahead.
"Rick's appointment sends a strong signal to the industry that we are first and foremost a technology company that empowers auto dealers, dealer groups and OEMs. We see a growing trend of powerful Software as a Service business models being driven by technologists," commented Mark Bonfigli, Dealer.com's CEO, who previously held the title of President as well.

The Vermont Ski Areas Association announced at its annual meeting that Vermont s ski resorts recorded 4,125,082 skier visits for the 2009-10 season. This marked a 1.4 percent increase over the prior season s tally and tracked with the 5-year average.
With below-average snowfall, below-average days of operation and an economy still struggling to pull out of a major recession, the season s numbers are a true testament to the ski industry s resiliency and its importance to Vermont s economy, remarked Parker Riehle, President of the Vermont Ski Areas Association.
The 2009-10 season was most notably marked by a late start and an early finish, with few major snowstorms in between. Still, Vermont ski areas saw strong weekend business and solid holiday bookings that brought skier visits ahead of last year, while other Northeastern states saw an overall 2.8% decline as reported by the National Ski Areas Association.

For the week of June 5, 2010, there were 662 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance, a decrease of 177 from the week before. Altogether 10,365 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 533 from a week ago and 4,574 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 3,471 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 115 fewer than a week ago. In addition, there were 2,206 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is a decrease of 60 from the week before. The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/. Previously released Unemployment Weekly Reports and other UI reports can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/lmipub.htm#uc