Current News

According to a report filed yesterday by the Vermont Department of Health, temporary modifications for the two hydrogen recombiner steam trap drain lines are in progress at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon. The modification will eliminate the failed piping in the Advanced Off-Gas (AOG) pipe tunnel that has been draining directly into the tunnel and to the AOG pit sump through the floor drain, and will provide a direct path from the steam trap drain lines to the AOG drain tank. A more substantial enclosure over the AOG pipe tunnel excavation is also being constructed. This is necessary because the excavation will be open until the scheduled April and May 2010 refueling outage. During the outage, workers will more thoroughly clean out the AOG pipe tunnel to prevent the tunnel's floor drain from getting clogged with debris still left in the pipe tunnel.

Burton announced Tuesday that it will shift premium snowboard production from its small, Vermont-based Burton Manufacturing Center (BMC) to Austria, where the company has been building snowboards for over 25 years. Product design and development will still be home-grown in Vermont, where the company will relocate its snowboard prototyping resources from BMC into a new, purely R&D-driven prototype facility at its global headquarters in Burlington. Burton said 43 jobs will be lost, leaving 377 in Vermont and 900 worldwide.
BMC, located in South Burlington, Vermont is slated to close in June of this year. Burton's premium factory in Austria already has the high-end technology and capacity to increase its production. Forty-three employees will be affected by BMC's closure, and Burton is working closely with the Vermont Department of Labor's Rapid Response program to assist these employees with unemployment and re-employment resources.

Tim Burke, of White + Burke Real Estate Investment Advisors Inc. in Burlington, is pleased to announce the signing of a long-term lease with Hannaford Bros. Co. for the former P&C supermarket building in Bradford, Vermont. Hannaford will temporarily operate the current store while it submits plans to construct a new store at the same location. Hannaford Supermarkets, established in 1883, has 171 stores in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont and employs more than 26,000 associates.
Burke represented the Tenant, Hannaford Bros. Co. in the lease transaction. Yves Bradley of Pomerleau Real Estate represented the landlord, Centurion Properties, Inc.
White + Burke Real Estate Investment Advisors specializes in commercial real estate consulting,
permitting, development, and brokerage.
Source: Burlington, VT (3/9/10) - Tim Burke, of White + Burke Real Estate Investment Advisors Inc

Rock of Ages Corporation (NASDAQ:ROAC) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and 2009, highlighted by a return to profitability for the quarter and year versus losses for the prior year periods, an increase in cash generated from operations to approximately $10,800,000 for 2009 compared to about $2,300,000 for 2008, and the reduction of total debt by an additional $7,500,000 in 2009 following the $8,000,000 debt reduction achieved in 2008.
We are optimistic that we can grow both our quarry and manufacturing segments in 2010, even as we maintain our tight control over operating costs and continue deleveraging our balance sheet

Vermont Yankee reports that engineers and technicians continue their investigation into the source of tritium in the plant’s groundwater and have commenced soil and groundwater remediation planning. Tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen associated with nuclear fission, was first identified in a test well at the nuclear power plant in Vernon in January.

The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) honored Champlain College President David F Finney, Vermont State Rep. Martha P. Heath and the Quantum Leap program at Bennington College at its 2010 New England Higher Education Excellence Awards earlier this month.
Each year, NEBHE presents Regional Excellence Awards to individuals and organizations that have shown exceptional leadership on behalf of higher education and the advancement of educational opportunity. The organization also presents State Merit Awards to honor the innovative work of organizations, institutions or individuals in each New England state. The awards were presented March 5 at The New England Higher Education Excellence Awards dinner at Boston’s Longwharf Marriott Hotel.

The Vermont Troopers Association (VTA) announced today that its members have ratified its first collective bargaining agreement with the State of Vermont. The VTA separated from the Vermont State Employees Association in the fall and formed its own organization made up exclusively of state police officers.
“From the outset we knew we were negotiating our first contract in the face of some enormous challenges,” said Michael O’Neil, VTA President. Such challenges included a difficult economic outlook and pressure to follow the course set by VSEA in its own negotiations.

Renewable Energy Vermont (REV), a Montpelier-based nonprofit representing more than 300 energy companies, banks, law firms, colleges and others working in the growing sustainable energy field, announced Tuesday the hiring of longtime journalist Susan Allen as executive director."We are thrilled to have Sue join us at this juncture. Her reputation and connections as well her spirit will continue and expand our efforts to bring renewable energy to the fore," said Lawrence Mott, chairman of the REV Board of Directors.Allen is well known in Vermont after serving as press secretary to Gov. Howard Dean for six years, and as host of the live television program "Call the Governor" with Gov. James Douglas on Vermont Public Television.Allen started her journalism career at the then-fledgling USA TODAY in Arlington, Va., in 1982.

The Vermont Retail Association and the Vermont Grocers Association have been working intensively with the Vermont legislature to draft and enact into law a new bill that will prohibit current abusive practices by credit card companies. The opponents call the proposed legislation, among other things, unworkable, a "sweetheart deal" for so-called big box stores, require consumers to always carry cash while opening them up to bait-and-switch schemes.
Key elements of the new bill:
· Prohibit the card companies (Visa & MasterCard) from centrally fixing the prices of interchange fees.
· Prohibit card companies from fining or penalizing merchants for their pricing displays.
· End the “honor-all-cards” rule which requires merchants to accept every type of card the companies issue, regardless of the cost to the merchant.
· Allow merchants to set minimum and/or maximum transaction amounts without being fined or penalized by the companies.

State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding announced today that Vermont successfully sold $20 million of Vermont Citizen bonds and another $38.83 million of general obligation refunding bonds on February 25. The sale was planned as a two-day process; however, the bonds sold out entirely by the middle of the first day.
“We are extremely pleased by the response to our bond offering,” said State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding. “We received approximately $90 million of orders for the almost $60 million in bonds that were available. The strong response indicates Vermont investors and brokers are eager to invest in the State and support badly needed capital projects.”

On March 10, 2010, the Vermont Department of Education released the list of Vermont s ten persistently low-achieving schools as required by the US Department of Education (USED). Due to a calculation error at the Vermont department, that list was incorrect. Two schools that were classified have been removed, and two schools that were not on the March 10 list have now been added.
A federal regulation from USED requires states to rank all schools identified for not making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) who received Title I funds in 2008 and all secondary schools eligible for but not receiving Title I funds in 2008. Once ranked, the lowest-achieving five schools in each category are eligible to receive federal funding as part of the Statewide Fiscal Stabilization Fund allocations under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The Vermont Public Service Board has reversed its ruling from 2005 that required SuperMedia LLC to separate the FairPoint Yellow Pages and the FairPoint White Pages directories in Vermont. The directories will be combined into a single telephone directory beginning with distribution of new books in May.
“Consumers have been asking us to switch back for years,” said Todd Sanislow, regional vice president at SuperMedia. “It has long been our position that requiring us to publish separate White Pages and Yellow Pages directories was not the best solution, as it is less environmentally friendly and also put us at an unfair disadvantage with our competition. We are pleased to provide the convenience of having both Yellow Pages and White Pages listings in the same directory once again, and the additional enhancements of the SuperGuarantee program and a larger font size.”