Current News

Mayor Bob Kiss, CEDO Director Larry Kupferman, Local Motion Director Chapin Spencer, Kelly Devine, Executive Director of the Burlington Business Association and others will officially welcome Liz Robert’s new business, Terry Precision Bicycles, to the Queen City, with a bike tour of the City tomorrow, May 18. The event coincides with Way 2 Go Week, and kicks off with a press conference at 11AM inside the first floor gallery at the JDK Building, 47 Maple Street. At the news conference Mayor Kiss and Kupferman will present Robert with a brand new ‘They Chose Burlington’ poster, one of a series of cobranded images CEDO has developed to acknowledge several exceptional Burlington companies and their commitment to the local economy. The Mayor will also issue an official proclamation declaring a Day of Recognition of Terry Precision Bicycles.

The early burst of warm weather brought sunny skies and Spring skiing and riding conditions to Stratton, but it also meant great things for golfers as well. Thanks to Mother Nature s glow, Stratton s 27-hole championship golf course opened on Monday morning, five days earlier than expected, a rare feat for an elevated mountain course.
Stratton has had a long tradition as a hotbed for summer golf. Designed by Geoffrey Cornish, the resort was a six-time stop on the LPGA Tour. Three different layouts (Mountain, Lake and Forest) will challenge golfers of all abilities, with picturesque views of Southern Vermont s highest peak. The fifth hole of the Mountain course is the longest Par 5 in Vermont at 621 yards from the blue tees. Stratton is one of only two public access courses in the state with more than 18 holes. Cedar Knoll in Hinesburg also has 27 holes.

The members of Vermont’s Congressional Delegation -- US Senator Patrick Leahy (D), US Senator Bernie Sanders (I) and US Representative Peter Welch (D) -- are urging the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Department of Commerce (DOC) to invest in Vermont’s broadband infrastructure. The lawmakers wrote to the agencies this week in support of the more than $219 million in broadband infrastructure applications submitted by Vermont companies and nonprofit organizations seeking Vermont’s share of $7.2 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act broadband infrastructure grants.“Each week our offices receive multiple pleas from Vermonters desperate for access to affordable, high-speed internet access,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter to USDA Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Administrator Jonathan Adelstein and DOC National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Assistant Secretary Lawrence Strickling. “These constituents are disadvantaged compared to m

Entergy Vermont Yankee announced Friday that it had completed refueling of the nuclear power plant in Vernon. During the refueling the plant does not produce electricity. The refueling and maintenance outage began April 28. Vermont Yankee reports the plant is now in a state called demobilization, in which scaffolding and other equipment related to the completed work is being removed. Vermont Yankee states that much of the work has involved upgrades to improve the plant’s long-term reliability, such as the replacement of a reactor feed pump motor, sleeving the plant’s condenser tubes, and completing the third (and final) phase of the cooling tower upgrades, including the safety-related section of the west tower.

Governor Jim Douglas today announced the appointment of Sarah Clark as Commissioner of the Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation (FPR) in the Agency of Natural Resource. Clark, who has served as the Financial Manager for FPR for the past two years, replaces outgoing Commissioner Jason Gibbs.
Sarah will do an excellent job leading FPR at an exciting time for the Department, said Governor Douglas. I am confident that her experience will be a tremendous asset as we work to increase utilization of our parks and continue to responsibly manage state lands.
I am honored by the Governor s confidence in me and for the opportunity to serve as the Commissioner of Forests, Parks and Recreation, said Clark. I am excited to lead the Department and its dedicated employees.

Okemo Mountain Resort is this year’s recipient of the Vermont Governor’s Award for Outstanding Workplace Safety in the Service Sector. This is the sixth year of the Workplace Safety Award that recognizes Vermont employers for outstanding achievement in workplace safety and health.
“Workplace safety is crucial for the health and well-being of our workforce and for the vitality and productivity of our businesses,” Governor Douglas said. “With changes in technology and business practices, employers are constantly challenged to keep their workplace safe. We are pleased to recognize employers who are committed to safety.”
Okemo’s management staff works hard to increase safety awareness and decrease workplace accidents by building a strong and sustainable safety culture. The resort’s philosophy on workplace safety begins with its first corporate Value - Safety.

Montpelier. 5.14.2010. The Vermont Speaker of the House, Shap Smith, offers his view on the legislative session that ended Wednesday night.
"Vermonters can be proud of the work the legislature did this year under very difficult circumstances. The legislature, working with the administration, put in place policies that will create new jobs and restore our state’s fiscal health while avoiding devastating cuts and new broad-based taxes.
To guide our decisions, we followed the long-held Vermont values that allow our state to remain the safest, greenest and healthiest state, known for being a great place to raise a family. Despite the worst economy in a lifetime, the legislature refused to compromise on the investments that make Vermont a place we are proud to call home.

A dozen rural communities across the state will receive digital tools and in-depth training as the initial participants in the new e-Vermont Community Broadband Project. The twelve will benefit from the expertise and resources of e-Vermont’s statewide partners as the local groups develop ways to take full advantage of the Internet for job creation, school innovation, providing social services, and increasing civic involvement. e-Vermont is a new, $3.8 million initiative to help rural Vermont towns take full advantage of the Internet and advance a wide variety of local needs including economic development, school innovation, job creation, downtown marketing, community engagement, and e-commerce.
The 2010 communities (selected from over 40 applicants) are Brighton, Bristol, Canaan, Cambridge, Grand Isle County, Ludlow, Middlesex, Newport, Poultney, Pownal, Sunderland, and West Rutland. [1]

Tough economic times require business and government leaders to rethink public policy and not only change the ways in which we deliver public services, but to build capacity for future success. According to Bill Stritzler, Managing Partner with Smugglers’ Notch Resort, and chair of the Vermont Business Roundtable, “Investments in education should be our first economic development strategy.”

Are we a nation at the mercy of a food system that has co-opted common sense with the lure of endless and ever-available combinations of fat, salt and sugar? David Kessler, M.D., Food and Drug Administration commissioner under Presidents Clinton and Bush and author of the 2009 The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, thinks we are. Giant corporations and restaurant chains, he argues, feed on our biological drive for foods that lead to obesity and disease. Kessler will be at UVM to talk about this "conditioned hypereating" and how America can take control on Monday, June 7 at 5:15 p.m. in Ira Allen Chapel. The lecture, followed by a book signing, is free and open to the public.

The Vermont Clean Energy Development Board will award grants and low-interest loans supporting fifteen projects for a total of over $3 million from the Clean Energy Development Fund (CEDF) to renewable energy projects throughout the state.
The awards will be made public at a press conference held on Friday May 14th at 1:30 at the Dynapower factory in South Burlington. Speaking at the event to announce the awards will be US Senator Patrick Leahy, Governor James Douglas, Robert Dostis, for the Clean Energy Development Board, and two grantees: Aaron Pollak from Dynapower Corp and Nancy Kane from Kane s Scenic River Farms.
The Clean Energy Development Board is pleased to award $3.37 million for solar, wind, farm methane, and biomass energy projects throughout Vermont, said CED Board co-Chair Robert Dostis.

In the spirit of cooperation, Copley Hospital and the United Nurses and Allied Professionals Local 5109 have renegotiated its contract. The newly extended three year contract will create a savings of nearly $300,000. A tentative agreement on the contract was reached on Tuesday, May 11, and confirmation made on Wednesday, May 12. The original contract was supposed to run through 2011.
“I am very impressed with the members of UNAP,” says Mel Patashnick, President of Copley Hospital. “In approving this contract, they demonstrated their understanding of how Copley is affected by the difficult economy. Their care for the long-term well-being of Copley is apparent in the tough decision they made at a time it needed to be made.”