Current News

A new federal regulation from the U.S. Department of Education required states to identify persistently low-achieving schools in order to receive federal funding as part of the Statewide Fiscal Stabilization Fund allocations under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Vermont s long standing track record of providing a high quality education for our young people did not exempt us from the latest requirement from the U.S. Department of Education (USED) to identify our 10 persistently low-achieving schools, said Rae Ann Knopf, Deputy Commissioner at the Vermont Department of Education. Nor should it prevent us from providing those and other schools with much needed resources and supports to reach our most disadvantaged kids.

The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January 2010 was 6.7 percent, unchanged from the revised December rate and up 0.5 point from a year ago.
After our annual benchmark revision process, Vermont s unemployment rate remained unchanged and has been on the decline since May of 2009, said Patricia Moulton Powden, Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Labor. With the exception of last month, seasonally adjusted jobs have been on a very slow, but positive growth pattern since September, 2009.
Seasonal Job Growth

Governor Jim Douglas today strongly criticized the Environmental Protection Agency s (EPA) decision to reconsider its approval of the Lake Champlain clean up plan known as the Lake Champlain Total Maximum daily Load (TMDL). In papers filed in federal court yesterday, the EPA stated its intent to reconsider the approval given by EPA Region I in 2002.
Vermont s efforts to clean-up Lake Champlain are a model for how federal, state and local officials and organizations can partner to achieve a cleaner environment, said Governor Douglas. EPA s decision to reverse course is an affront to Vermont taxpayers, legislators, our Congressional Delegation and all those who have worked so hard to implement our TMDL.

Island Pond residents voted on Town Meeting Day to sell the John Boylan state airport in order to allow the opening of a log yard and wood-pellet manufacturing plant. The nonbinding vote passed 326-74.
Fran Azur of Newport plans to repurpose the defunct Ethan Allen furniture plant as a wood-pellet factory, a move which will create about 34 plant jobs plus dozens of additional logging and trucking jobs. Before the vote, Azur had stated that if he was unable to purchase the nearby airport property to use as a log yard for the new plant, he would abandon the plan and instead move the project to a site in New Hampshire.

Robert F. Cioffi, a native Vermonter from St. Albans, has been elected chair of the University of Vermont Board of Trustees.Cioffi is currently a venture partner at Alerion Partners, a private equity fund located in Rowayton, Connecticut. He lives in New Canaan, CT with his wife Meghan (UVM Class of 1991) and their three children.
Before joining Alerion, Cioffi was a Senior Vice President with GE Equity, a subsidiary of GE Capital Corporation. Upon graduating from UVM in 1990 with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Economics, Cioffi worked for the Franklin County Industrial Development Corp. In addition, Cioffi worked on the staff of former U.S. Senator James Jeffords. He later moved to New York to join the Chase Manhattan Bank. In 1998 Cioffi joined GE Equity, after receiving his M.B.A. from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

On Monday Senator Leahy met with leadership of Fletcher Allen Health Care, the University of Vermont and the Vermont National Guard to view a demonstration of new equipment at the hospital’s Simulator Training Program. At the event Leahy announced more than $1.7 million in funding he has secured in the federal budget for the project, which provides training to hospital nurses and doctors, university medical students and guard personnel on state of the art simulation equipment. The equipment offers realistic training experiences for medical conditions that range from birth to gunshot wounds and other severe trauma.

There are currently 32 American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA)-financed highway construction projects underway or completed in Vermont involving $85 million in funds, according to data released today by the Washington, D.C.-based American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). The projects underway or completed have supported or are supporting 2,366 jobs in Vermont that would otherwise not exist, says ARTBA Vice President of Economics & Research Dr. Bill Buechner.
ARRA, signed into law on February 17, 2009, provided $48 billion for transportation improvements over two years, including $27.5 billion for highway, bridge and related construction projects nationwide. The law is having significant impacts on the transportation construction industry in all 50 states.

House Health Care Committee Chairman Steve Maier, D-Middlebury, has proposed legislation to prevent hospitals from putting money towards advertising. While supporters say the move would help cut the rising cost of health care, some opponents of the proposal are questioning whether such a ban would go against the constitutional right to freedom of speech, according to a story in the Burlington Free Press.

The Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) has approved $36.4 million in economic development financing assistance for a variety of large and small business projects. The financing support will leverage additional private investment, generating a total of $104.6 million in economic activity throughout Vermont.
“VEDA is pleased to offer loan and other financing support to a number of commercial, renewable energy, small business, educational and agricultural initiatives,” said Jo Bradley, VEDA’s Chief Executive Officer. “These projects will bring jobs to Vermonters, and help stimulate Vermont’s economy.”
Utilizing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) federal stimulus funds, VEDA approved the following Recovery Zone Facility Bond issuance:

Governor Jim Douglas will be awarded the Ordre national du Québec (the National Order of Quebec) during a ceremony at the National Assembly of Québec on Thursday, March 11.
The Ordre national du Québec is the highest honor awarded by the government of Québec. Instituted in 1984, it consists of three grades – Grand Officer, Officer and Knight – and is presented to Quebecers for outstanding achievements and actions that support Québec, its language and culture. The Premier of Québec may recommend an eminent individual who is not a Québec resident to be awarded the Ordre. Governor Douglas will be awarded the Officer’s Insignia.

TransFair USA, the leading third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States, today announces that it has received a $50,000 grant from Green Mountain Coffee, and a three-year commitment of $925,000 from the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Foundation. The Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Foundation was established and is led separately from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR) by GMCR Founder and Chairman Bob Stiller. This generous funding will galvanize TransFair USA’s effort to grow the Fair Trade movement and establish hundreds of Fair Trade Towns across the United States by 2013.
Fair Trade is a multi-stakeholder effort to develop an alternative form of global trade that cultivates greater social justice and equity for farmers, workers, and artisans. It promises fair prices, safe working conditions, worker empowerment, market access and community investment. The Fair Trade Towns USA campaign is headquartered at and sponsored by TransFair USA.

Sovernet Communications, a leading provider of telecommunication services in Northern New England, announced several network infrastructure and equipment upgrades designed to better serve their customers. The changes will enhance both reliability and operational efficiencies, as well as bring new next-generation services to additional markets.