Current News

The Vermont Downtown Development Board today announced that the City of Montpelier has been awarded Growth Center Designation. In action taken Monday by the Vermont Downtown Development Board, the designation comes after several months of discussion between Montpelier, the Downtown Board and its advisory group. Growth Centers were enabled by the legislature in 2005 to encourage communities to plan for denser and mixed use development in areas surrounding the state s downtowns and village centers.
I am very pleased that Montpelier has received this designation, which will help support the City in its planning efforts, Governor Jim Douglas. This is why I signed the Growth Center bill, to encourage communities to create more compact and dense mixed use development in appropriate areas.

Congressman Peter Welch on Tuesday introduced legislation to protect dairy farmers by closing a trade loophole that allows for the unlimited importation of a form of dried milk product. Welch s bill, the Milk Import Tariff Equity Act, will update existing trade regulations to include milk protein concentrate (MPC) and treat it like all other imported dairy products. In the past decade, MPC imports have more than doubled, undermining the market for domestic powdered milk and driving down the price Vermont s dairy farmers are paid for their milk.
As international dairy producers have flooded the American market with milk protein concentrate, Vermont s dairy farmers have paid the price. By circumventing trade agreements, these producers have contributed to the plummeting price of milk and caused many Vermont farmers to go out of business, Welch said. This legislation will simply level the playing field and ensure that all dairy producers play by the same rules.

Foliage is reaching peak color this week in sections of the Northeast Kingdom and Lamoille County, and most areas of the state will be displaying multiple stages of colorful foliage over the next several days. State foresters say most sections of Essex, Orleans, Caledonia and Lamoille counties in northeastern and north central Vermont are showing vibrant fall colors that are near or at peak.
“At this point we are now seeing – and will see this weekend – peak colors in many areas of the Northeast Kingdom and Lamoille County,” said Orleans and Lamoille County Forester Raymond Toolan. “Good color will be found on pretty much any road from Stowe to Quebec.”
With cooler temperatures in the forecast, the foliage progression will continue to accelerate around Vermont over the next several days. Higher elevations across the state offer excellent opportunities for foliage viewing, and the hillsides are showing brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow.

US Senator Patrick Leahy and the Preservation Trust of Vermont announced that five historic downtown buildings will receive federal funds to help spur village redevelopment. Historic buildings in Putney, Readsboro, Poultney, Richmond and Shoreham will get restoration work using a $425,000 federal grant Leahy secured for the Preservation Trust of Vermont s Village Revitalization Initiative.
These historic buildings are at the very heart of the identity and economy of our communities, said Leahy. These grants do more than ensure the stability and aesthetics of a building, they also open these buildings to the public and help to keep our villages healthy.

Vermont State Colleges, Community Capital of Vermont, Inc., and Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation (CVEDC) representatives celebrated with community leaders and small businesses at the Shops at Millstone Hill in Websterville (Barre Town), VT, today. Rhonda Shippee, Acting State Director for USDA Rural Development along with Congressional Representatives, presented each recipient with a ceremonial check to celebrate the 2009 Rural Business Grant Enterprise and Opportunity Grant awards totaling $422,725.
These grants will spur business growth and strengthen existing businesses throughout most of the state. said Shippee. The business development services these organizations will provide to over 100 small businesses will help create and sustain jobs, which is critical as we strive towards economic recovery.

The Addison County Chamber of Commerce awarded Monument Farms Dairy, located in Weybridge, Vermont, its Business of the Year award which was presented at the Chamber s Annual Meeting held on September 10th. Recipient for the Chamber s Citizen of the Year award, Buster Brush, was also named at the dinner held at the Inn at Middlebury College s Bread Loaf campus.
The Business of the Year award is given to a business located in Addison County that has shown a significant improvement in the development of their business, positively impacting the economy on a local, regional or international level. According to Andy Mayer, Chamber President, Monument Farms Dairy is a local business that Addison County can be proud of and they well-represent the local dairy community. Their milk products are outstanding and their impact on the environment is limited because they grow the corn locally, employ local workers, and produce and distribute their products locally.

FairPoint Communications, Inc (NYSE: FRP) announced today that it is in discussions with certain of the lenders under its bank credit facility regarding a permanent debt restructuring. The Company also announced that as part of those discussions, it has entered into a forbearance agreement with lenders that collectively hold more than 50 percent of the loans and commitments outstanding under the credit facility. The forbearance agreement contemplates that the Company may forgo principal and interest payments under its credit facility as well as payments under its interest rate swap agreements, totaling approximately $42.0 million, due on September 30, 2009, and is likely to fail to comply with the interest coverage ratio and leverage ratio covenants contained in the credit facility for the period ending September 30, 2009.

More than half of federal transportation spending in fiscal year (FY) 2008 was directed to programs that contain subsidies, according to Subsidyscope, an initiative of Pew's Economic Policy Group. The analysis comes from a new comprehensive online database on all spending on subsidy programs in the transportation sector. While Vermont received the lowest total amount, it ranked seventh in per capita funding, which was the highest in the Northeast.
The project collected and aggregated data from USAspending.gov and other sources and built a searchable database of federal transportation spending; users can query by grant recipient, state, government program and many other parameters. The database includes information from 2000-2008.

The Vermont Chamber of Commerce, the state’s largest not-for-profit business organization, is pleased to support the fourth annual Best Places to Work in Vermont program, dedicated to identifying and recognizing Vermont’s best employers. Businesses will not want to miss out on this great opportunity. The award is co-presented by Vermont Business Magazine.
Apply online at www.BestPlacesToWorkVT.com by November 6, 2009. All participants will be put through a two-part assessment including an employer survey and an employee survey. The data will be analyzed and used to determine who makes the list.
All participants will receive the Best Companies Group (BCG) Employee Feedback Report summarizing and detailing the results of their employee survey, including Vermont Benchmark information. Even if a company does not make the list, this report is a tremendous management tool and a great reason to participate.

The Vermont Aerospace and Aviation Association (VAAA), a division of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce will hold an Open House on Thursday, October 1, 2009 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Goodrich Sensors and Integrated Systems Facility in Vergennes. Hear from business leaders in the aerospace and aviation industry. Guest speakers will include Lt. Governor Brian Dubie, Gary Lownsdale, Plasan Carbon Composites; Tom Cooley, Plasan North America; Bill Berg, Vermont Composites, Mike Allocca, Allocca Enterprises; and Linda Rossi, Vermont Small Business Development Center.

Online advertised vacancies declined by 101,800 to 3,363,000 in September, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series (HWOL)(TM) released today. September losses partially offset the larger August gains (+169,000), leaving labor demand up by 67,000 over the past two months. Since the low point in April 2009, labor demand is up by 201,000, showing a modest upward trend following a five-month period of steep losses.
"While the trend has been modestly upward and averaged 40,000 per month over the last five months, the labor market continues to have a hard time gaining momentum," said Gad Levanon, Senior Economist at The Conference Board. "The Conference Board Employment Trends Index, which has been basically flat for three straight months, also helps highlight the difficulty the labor market is facing. With a growing consensus of a weak recovery, businesses seem to be slow to boost advertising for vacant or new positions."

The state of Vermont will get over $400,000 as part of the US Department of Labor's announcement today it will provide $164.5 million to 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to make technology upgrades that will improve the operation and security of unemployment insurance systems.
"Unemployment insurance programs play a key role in supporting dislocated workers," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "I am pleased that these grants will help states improve their technology infrastructure and better serve those in need. Making sure that claims and benefits are processed and paid in a timely, consistent and secure manner is critical to providing workers with the income security needed to actively seek re-employment."