Current News

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans), the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and the New York State Emergency Management Office (SEMO) are warning people that the ice surrounding the Lake Champlain Bridge and near Ticonderoga, NY will not be the same as in years’ past, and that recreational activities in the area should be conducted with extreme caution.

Related Company: Central Vermont Public Service CorpEntergy Vermont Yankee today sent a letter to the Vermont Public Service Board saying it will submit a new power purchase agreement in early January 2010. The new, 20-year contract offer will provide 115 megawatts of power from 628 megawatt plant at $61 per megawatt hour starting in 2012. The Vermont utilities are paying $42 per megawatt hour now. All parties were expecting the price to go up. The Vermont utilities have said that were also planning to diversify their portfolios going forward and buy less from Vermont Yankee, but not as little as Entergy is proposing, which is about half of what it is selling in Vermont currently.

Jay Peak Vermont officially opened the new Tram Haus Lodge today at 11 a.m, amidst a large crowd and bright sun reflecting off the freshly fallen snow. Jay Peak President Bill Stenger officiated a ribbon cutting ceremony and gave a short address at the Tower Bar inside the Tram Haus Lodge, followed by a Q&A session, light refreshments and tours of the new facilities. Also attending were state and local officials Kevin Dorn, Vermont Secretary of Commerce, and Chuck Ross, Senator Leahy’s Chief of Staff.

The Association of Vermont Recyclers and the Northeast Resource Recovery Association announce joint operations effective immediately, with the overwhelming support of both Governing Boards. NRRA will provide financial and administrative support for AVR programming in Vermont, and expand AVR’s public school recycling program offerings to NRRA communities throughout the Northeast.
“This partnership is the culmination of nearly a year of collaborative effort between both NRRA’s and AVR’s staff” says Staunton. “The benefits to both organizations and, more importantly, to the members and citizens we serve, are tremendous. This partnership is an important step towards a bright future for recycling in the Northeast.”

Transportation officials in New York and Vermont have announced that the Champlain Bridge, closed to all traffic since October 16, will be imploded on Wednesday, December 23, as long as conditions allow. The demolition is scheduled for 10 am. Public viewing areas will be set up. More information on the event will be released before Wednesday.
Dealing with the closed and irreparable Champlain Bridge has been something of a race to the crossing. The Ticonderoga ferry was shut down yesterday because of icy conditions and will run only as the weather allows. The Charlotte ferry will continue to operate.

The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November 2009 was 6.4 percent, down one-tenth of a point from the revised October rate and up 1.1 points from a year ago.
“Our unemployment rate continued to fall slightly in November, but unlike the last few months we also saw a sizable jump in the number of employed Vermonters” said Patricia Moulton Powden, Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Labor. “However, we're still seeing mixed signals in the labor market. Other indicators measuring the Vermont job market do not support such strong employment growth. We continue to be cautious whether or not these numbers are signals of recovery here in Vermont.”
Seasonal Job Growth

Hampton Direct of Williston gave $20,000 to local charities last Friday. Employees decided which local charities were to receive donations.
A reporter sent to cover the event was late. It was cold and the front door was locked. There was no receptionist at the desk. No one was in the front offices. Eventually, a young man with an infant joined the reporter. The intercom button was pushed several times to no avail. Finally, Miss Vermont let them in.
The reporter said, ‘You’re Miss Vermont.’ Ashley Wheeler said, ‘I’m the old Miss Vermont.’ The reporter said, ‘You’re not old.’ Her hair was perfect. She happened to be at Hampton Direct as a model to do a product shoot.

BioTek Instruments recently announced the expansion of its world headquarters in Winooski, Vermont, USA. The company added 8,000 square feet; effectively increasing the size of its Service department by 50% and housing a new applications laboratory. Additionally, existing space will be repurposed to manufacturing; providing space for the company’s new product lines introduced in the coming year and beyond.

Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin and Speaker Shap Smith today announced that the upcoming legislative session will be focused on job creation and balancing the budget. The legislative leaders emphasized job creation as being critical to the state’s economic recovery. The leaders will hold a jobs forum during the first few weeks of the session to allow all legislators to hear from employers about the challenges and opportunities that they face as they do business in Vermont. The forum will help legislators craft an economic development bill that partners state government with our employers and workforce trainers in order to create better job opportunities for Vermonters.

A majority of school superintendents say they could be participating in more shared services, said State Auditor Tom Salmon, CPA, today in reporting the results of his statewide, voluntary survey of school supervisory unions in Vermont.
“Our survey showed that schools are sharing many kinds of services, from transportation and food service to purchasing, office space, computer specialists, language teachers and special education staff,” Salmon said. “However, more than 55 percent of respondents said they could be doing more sharing of services; about 33 percent said they were at the right level of sharing; and no one reported they were doing too much sharing,” Salmon noted.
Forty-nine of 60 superintendents contacted, or 81.7 percent, responded to the 32-question online survey which was conducted from October 7 through November 6.

The Ticonderoga Ferry is temporarily closed and will remain so through the rest of Thursday, December 17, due to ice forming in Lake Champlain. The ferry plans to restart service Friday morning assuming lake conditions allow. For updates on the Ti ferry, go to http://www.middlebury.net/tiferry/

A series of print and television ads featuring Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant employees will begin running in state-wide media outlets this week. In the ads, VY employees discuss the safety of the nuclear plant, and the need in Vermont for the jobs and the economic benefits that the electricity generated at VY provides the state of Vermont.