Current News

Senators from two leading dairy states – Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) – are heading a new effort to urge USDA actions to ease the dairy price crisis that continues to squeeze the nation’s dairy farmers.
Leahy, with Kohl, is leading the bipartisan effort in which 22 senators from across the country and from every region signed a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, urging him to use all existing programs and resources to help struggling dairy producers and to bolster support prices for cheese and nonfat dried milk products through the Dairy Product Price Support Program. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined in signing the letter.
In their letter to Vilsack, the senators said, “Spring planting season is upon us and quick action is needed to provide dairy farmers with critical assistance. We ask that the USDA use all existing authorities to assist our struggling dairy producers.”

(By Ed Barna, Vermont Business Magazine. 4.14.2010.) With the construction industry hit harder than most by the Great Recession and its “jobless recovery,” issues surrounding the anticipated $75 million reconstruction of the Champlain Bridge linking Vermont with New York, have had interested parties scrapping like drought-stricken animals at a waterhole. Just this week, Douglas rejected New York State's plan for a PLA, citing factors that could hurt Vermont's mostly non-unionized construction companies. In response, other politicians and labor unions said that it could save the project millions.

The Travel Channel is scheduled to cover the May 16, Williston, Vermont, kick-off of the international adventure Spartan Race Series (www.spartanrace.com) that will feed qualifiers into the now-infamous Death Race (www.peakraces.com) held annually in Pittsfield, VT.
After Burlington, the Spartan Race Series fans out to Montreal, Toronto, New York, Chicago and two locations in the UK. The US races benefit St. Jude Children’s Hospital in their battle against cancer; additional partner charities for Canada and the UK will be announced.

In honor of the original Boston Cream Pie, created in 1855 at the former Parker House Hotel in Boston, Ben & Jerry s announces its newest creation to Bostonians and pie lovers nationwide. Boston Cream Pie is a decadent mix of Boston Cream Pie ice cream with yellow cake pieces, fudge flakes and swirls of pastry cream. It s a flavor worthy of a horse ride to Lexington! (Two scoops could get you to Concord if need be...)
We decided to turn the official dessert of The Commonwealth into our newest flavor
To mark its arrival, Ben & Jerry s will be offering free scoops of the new Boston Cream Pie flavor at its Boston Scoop Shop locations on Patriots Day, April 19th to celebrate the iconic Massachusetts state holiday. Stop by 174 Newbury Street, 800 Boylston Street (Prudential Center) or 20 Park Plaza for a complimentary scoop from 10:00 am 12:00 pm while supplies last.

(Vermont Business Magazine) The State of Washington has filed suit against the federal government for dropping its plan to store highly radioactive nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The Nevada site was intended to house spent fuel from all the nuclear power plants in the United States, including Vermont Yankee. Currently, all spent fuel from every plant, including those that have been decommissioned, is still stored on-site.

Federal regulators have again denied certification to the Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury. Lawmakers, who had assumed the hospital would get its certification back this year, learned of the decision last week as they were in the final stages of approving the state budget. The development could cause a $9.7 million deficiency in the budget.
Officials cited in-patient care, patient handling, and problems with the 70-year-old hospital building as reasons for denying certification. The certification from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would allow Vermont to collect federal health care money for patients at the hospital. Without the certification, legislators will have to find other ways to come up with those funds. The state has been trying to get the hospital re-certified for over two years.
(Source: Barre-Montpelier Times Argus)

Vermont s primary election will be moved from its traditional date in the middle of September to the fourth Tuesday in August, a change which will take effect this year. This year s primary will occur on August 24. Governor Jim Douglas allowed the bill to pass into law last week without his signature.
Lawmakers initiated the change in response to a new federal regulation that requires ballots for military and overseas voters to be shipped 45 days before election day in November. Because Vermont s primary date was traditionally in September, election officials would be left without enough time to confirm primary results, print the ballots and distribute them overseas by the deadline.

The new CEO of Ben & Jerry s, Jostein Solheim, has promised to keep the company rooted in Vermont, citing the Vermont brand as an important part of marketing the product. He also pointed to the company s history, its social and environmental causes, the Vermont plants proximity to raw materials and the skills of the workers in those plants as reasons to stay put.
Solheim took the helm at Ben & Jerry s in March after former CEO Walt Freese stepped down from the position. He has been with Ben & Jerry s corporate owner Unilever for 19 years, spending 14 of those in Unilever s ice cream division, which also includes Breyers, Klondike, and Popsicle.

Central Vermont Public Service was the top scoring utility company on Forbes Magazine s The 100 Most Trustworthy Companies list last week. The companies which made the list had what Forbes called the most transparent and conservative accounting practices and most prudent management.
Companies which made the cut were divided into small, medium, and big cap categories, depending upon their market capitalization. CVPS scored third overall in the small cap category, and rated higher than other electric utilities in all categories. It joins big name companies such as Lowe s, Whirlpool, and Columbia Sportswear on the list.

FairPoint Communications will build a fiber-optic network to bring high-speed Internet access to northern Chittenden County, rather than above ground towers, according to a story in the Burlington Free Press. The company cited reliability, cost effectiveness, and timing as reasons behind the decision. FairPoint plans to make high-speed Internet accessible to 80 percent of the state by the end of 2010, and to provide service to 95 percent of its exchanges by the end of June 2011. The company had received state approval to construct three towers on privately owned land in Essex and Milton, but there was opposition to an additional tower planned to go up in Essex. The fiber-optic network will provide coverage to the same area that the towers would have.

The total number of visits to Vermont ski areas may have hit 4 million again this year. Last season, the number of visits to the 20 ski areas across the state topped out at 4,068,698. According to the Vermont Ski Areas Association, the steadily favorable temperatures in the mountains may have contributed to a high number of skiers and riders despite the lack of significant snow storms in Vermont this winter. Large amounts of snow in nearby metropolitan areas also contributed. The final number for this season will be released at the association s annual meeting at Stratton Mountain Resort in June.
(Source: The Ski Channel)

The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund has announced that grants amounting to $125,000 will be made available for their Algae Feedstock Analysis R&D Program, as part of VSJF s Vermont Biofuels Initiative. Grants will be awarded based on proposals for using microalgae as a biofuel feedstock. Any Vermont individual, organization, business, farm, or school is eligible to submit a proposal The minimum grant award is $40,000, and the maximum is $65,000. Proposals must be submitted by May 17, 2010. The RFP and application are available at www.vsjf.org/what-we-do/grants/apply.

(Source: VSJF)