Current News

Union Bankshares,Inc (Nasdaq:UNB) today announced Net Income for the fourth quarter of 2009 was $1.28 million or $0.29 per share compared to $1.34 million or $0.30 per share for 2008. Net income for the year ended December 31, 2009 was $5.23 million or $1.17 per share compared to $5.11 million or $1.14 per share for the same period in 2008. Results for 2009 reflect a year to year increase in net interest income of $379 thousand or 2.2% and in net income of $143 thousand or 2.8%. The refinancing of loans by customers and the sale of the majority of those qualified residential loans into the secondary market to mitigate interest rate risk drove the increase in noninterest income of $1.2 million or 27.5%. The increase in FDIC insurance costs from $87 thousand to $684 thousand from 2008 to 2009 was a major factor in noninterest expenses rising to$16.4 million for 2009 from $15.4 million in 2008, or a 9.24% increase.

Earth Turbines, Inc, Vermont's only manufacturer of small scale grid-connected wind and solar tracking systems, announces a corporate name change to AllEarth Renewables, Inc.
"Our company is dedicated to developing new wind and solar technologies," says David Blittersdorf, CEO and president of AllEarth Renewables. "We want to be sure that our corporate name reflects this larger focus for the future." Since founding Earth Turbines in 2005, Blittersdorf has lead a team of engineers dedicated to designing rugged and reliable grid-connected renewable energy systems that help homeowners and businesses realize the dream of generating electricity with local, renewable energy. Much of what was learned while testing and refining the Earth Turbine 2500 informed the development of the AllSun Tracker dual-axis solar system, which was introduced in May of 2009.

Vermont Business Roundtable chair, Bill Stritzler, Managing Director of Smugglers’ Notch Resort, has announced the election of three Vermont CEOs to three-year terms on the Board of Directors. The new directors assumed their roles during the Roundtable’s Annual Membership meeting on January 14, 2010. The new directors include: Leon Berthiaume, General Manager, St. Albans Cooperative Creamery, Inc. (St. Albans); Dave Finney, President, Champlain College (Burlington); and Rob Simpson, President and CEO, Brattleboro Retreat (Brattleboro).

Weekly unemployment claims fell for the third two consecutive weeks, reversing a trend indicated at the end of 2009. This also follows an end-of-the-year spike in new claims. Initial claims are still higher than last summer, but are now tracking lower than a year ago, both in initial claims and overall claims for unemployment benefits. For the week of January 16, 2010, there were 1,266 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance last week, a decrease of 163 from the week before. Altogether 15,052 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 733 from a week ago and 1,358 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 5,006 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 64 more than a week ago. In addition, there were 3,168 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is an increase of 137 from the week before.

Champlain College, Saint Michael’s College and Burlington College have entered into a consortium agreement which will allow students at each institution to register for courses at any of the three colleges for no additional charge.
Over recent months, Vermont colleges have been exploring opportunities for developing consortiums through the Association of Vermont Independent Colleges (AVIC). Champlain College President David F. Finney, Saint Michael’s College President Jack J. Neuhauser, and Burlington College President Jane O’Meara Sanders, had been collaborating on this broader question and decided to start with this new program as a first step.
Champlain College President Finney said he believes the expanded program will benefit all three institutions and could serve as a model for other Vermont colleges and universities to work more closely together through AVIC.

Vermont’s long-time State Archeologist has been named State Historic Preservation Officer and Director of the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation. Giovanna Peebles will assume the post immediately, according to Kevin Dorn, Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development.
“Giovanna Peebles has served the people of Vermont as State Archeologist since 1976. Her long experience in this field and in historic preservation overall, as well as her passion for our state’s extraordinary heritage, makes her well-qualified to take over as State Historic Preservation Officer for Vermont.”
As State Historic Preservation Officer, or SHPO, Peebles, is responsible for administering the state’s historic preservation program under the federal National Historic Preservation Act and under the Vermont Historic Preservation Act.

WCAX-TV has won a prestigious DuPont Journalism Award from the Journalism School at Columbia University in New York City. The award was for the station’s series “Foreigners on the Farm” reported by Senior Reporter Kristin Carlson. The in-depth three part series focused on Vermont’s reliance on immigrant farm workers.
Carlson and the Channel 3 news team detailed how many dairy farmers rely on immigrant farm workers to keep their businesses afloat. Farmers admitted some of those workers may be here illegally. In announcing the award, Dupont wrote “The exemplary reports neither advocate nor condemn the hiring practice but instead inform the audience about what’s going on in the barn next door.”
Carlson will receive the award Thursday night at a special awards ceremony hosted by Columbia University in New York. Joe Carroll was the photographer on the series and Kristin Kelly was the producer. Marselis Parsons was the News Director.

A 30-year veteran of public policy, communications and advocacy with a long history of civic involvement, Teresa Rhodes Rosenberger has been named New Hampshire State President for FairPoint Communications. In her new role, Rosenberger will be responsible for regulatory matters, governmental relations, and economic development for FairPoint Communications in the Granite State.

Average retail gasoline prices in Vermont moved just in the past week, averaging $2.82/gallon today. This compares with the national average that has stayed relatively flat, moving just 1.8 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.72/g, according to gasoline price website VermontGasPrices.com. Including the rise in gas prices in Vermont during the past week, prices today are $1.01/g higher than the same day one year ago and are 15.1 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has increased 14.7 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 90.7 cents per gallon higher than this day a year ago.
New Hampshire is at $2.71 today, Massachusetts is $2.736 and New York state is $2.93.
About VermontGasPrices.com
GasBuddy.com operates over 200 live gasoline price-tracking websites, including VermontGasPrices.com. GasBuddy.com was named one of Time magazine's 50 best websites and to PC World's 100 most useful websites of 2008.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act enhancements to U.S. Small Business Administration loan programs have led to a significant rebound in Vermont of SBA-backed loans for small businesses and greater access to much-needed capital. SBA lending in Vermont dramatically increased in the first quarter of the federal government’s 2010 fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2009. Compared to the first quarter of FY2009, the total number of SBA loans increased 94 percent from 49 to 95 and the dollar volume of lending increased 85 percent from $10,854 million to $20,049 million.
Signed into law on Feb. 17, 2009, the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provided broad-reaching assistance to small businesses, including an increase in the guarantee on all loans up to 90 percent from 75-85 percent and the elimination of guaranty fees, resulting in substantial savings for small business borrowers.

In his annual and now last Budget Address before the Legislature, Vermont Governor Douglas laid out a broad curriculum on how the state must respond to an impending state budget crisis. Citing estimates that the state's budget might run a $150 million deficit in the coming fiscal year and upwards of $250 million over the next two years, the governor warned that raising taxes would further damage the state's economy and lead to even worse budget results and that the only fiscally sound way to address the situation is for state government to cut spending.

The man brought back to help Vermont Yankee win a license extension has said he was at fault for letting regulators believe that underground pipes at the Vernon nuclear power plant did not carry radioactive material. Vice president for operations Jay Thayer said he told the Public Service Board last May that he believed the underground pipes did not carry radioactive material, but that he would check and get back to the PSB. He admits now that he neglected to follow up and that his statement was not correct.