Current News

Governor Jim Douglas and Secretary of Administration Neale Lunderville today announced the appointment of Caroline S. Earle as Commissioner of Human Resources. Ms. Earle currently serves as Chief of the Civil Litigation Division in the Office of the Attorney General.
“We are very excited to have Caroline join the team,” said Governor Douglas. “She brings a strong intellect, tremendous energy and enormous capacity to this important role. She is the right fit for the department at this critical time.”
“Caroline is a proven leader with the ideal mix of experience, smarts and tenacity,” said Lunderville. “She will be integral to our efforts to build a strong workforce while addressing difficult budget challenges.”
“It has been a privilege to serve in the Attorney General’s Office working on a range of important and complex cases,” said Ms. Earle. “I’m looking forward to working with Governor Douglas and his team on this new and exciting challenge.”

Workforce training programs from basic computer skills to customized curriculum for individual businesses will now be available via mobile computer lab to residents and businesses in the Champlain Islands, thanks to a USDA Rural Development Rural Business Enterprise Grant awarded in the spring of 2009. The mobile lab courses will be made possible thanks to a partnership among the Lake Champlain Islands Chamber of Commerce, the Northwest Technical Center, the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation and CyberCottage Computer and Internet Training. The USDA grant will fund the equipment, and course staffing and marketing for up to two years. Training will be delivered at the CyberCottage classroom in Grand Isle, the Lake Champlain Islands Chamber of Commerce meeting room in North Hero and the Alburgh Welcome Center. Classes can also be offered at other locations, and curriculum can be customized for businesses and non-profits in the region.

As Vermont students returned to campus this week, Rep. Peter Welch held a roundtable Wednesday morning to discuss college affordability and gather input about pending legislation that could revamp the nation’s financial aid system.
Welch was joined at the roundtable, which was held at Vermont Technical College in Randolph, by students and higher education officials from throughout Vermont. The group focused its discussion on the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (H.R. 3221), which passed the House Education and Labor Committee this summer and which is expected to come to a vote in the House this fall.

This week, Vermont will host the Foreign Agricultural Attaches and USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan for a tour of the diverse agriculture operations in Vermont. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced a tour that will take foreign agricultural officials representing 23 countries to Vermont September 2 - 4, 2009, as part of an annual orientation tour sponsored by USDA s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).
Each year, these tours help showcase U.S. farm and food products from one area of the country, said FAS Administrator Michael Michener. Foreign officials will get a first-hand look at the quality and variety of products from New Hampshire and Vermont the best these states have to offer.

As of Today, Clifford of Vermont is now Power & Tel Enterprise, taking the name of its parent company. A national stocking distributor of wire, cable and related supplies for more than 60 years, Clifford of Vermont, in Bethel, was purchased in 2003 by Power & Tel, allowing it to offer an expanded product selection, technical resources and more distribution centers throughout North America. [email protected]; www.ptsupply.com/enterprise.
Source: Power & Tel Enterprise. 9/1/09

Thanks to a $99,000 USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG), small businesses in eightcounties of Vermont will soon have access to technical assistance grants to start or grow theirbusiness. Community Capital of Vermont, a micro and small business lender in Vermont,received the grant to expand its Management Assistance Program (MAP), which is currentlyonly available to Community Capital borrowers. Now, any business that is eligible, qualified,and is located in Addison, Caledonia, Essex, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Orange orWashington counties can apply for a MAP grant.

Rep. Peter Welch announced today that he has joined the Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus, at the request of the Vermont Chamber Hospitality Council, to help promote the importance of the travel and tourism industry as a strong contributor to the overall economy.
Vermont s tourism sector is a critical component of our state s economy and an essential source of jobs, said Rep. Welch, a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. With its bipartisan focus on expanding economic opportunities in the industry, the Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus will be a valuable ally for Vermont businesses and employees in the tourism sector.

Governor Jim Douglas and Vermont Agriculture Secretary Roger Allbee will visit France in early September as guests of the French government and at the request of the French Embassy. The purpose of the visit is to investigate potential markets, export/import opportunities and resource exchange for Vermont agricultural producers.
Building on a long history of shared agricultural practices and methodology, this study tour will facilitate an exchange of ideas and systems that can mutually benefit both countries.
“France has a system in place based on geographic indicators supporting its agriculture industry and that fosters economic development. Vermont is in a unique position to move forward with a similar model,” said Governor Douglas. “Through this system of “terrior” or taste of place, France has been able to better isolate themselves from commodity pricing in food production – similar to what many Vermont producers are trying to accomplish here.”

FairPoint Communications has filed a letter with the Vermont Public Service Board denying allegations made in an anonymous e-mail sent to the Board. The e-mail purportedly relates to the testing and presentations conducted by FairPoint for the Liberty Consulting Group regarding the status of the cutover systems. The outside attorneys hired by FairPoint have interviewed all of the parties named in the e-mail plus others and have discovered no evidence to support the allegations made in the e-mail.
Despite the inherent difficulty in responding to anonymous allegations, FairPoint takes these allegations very seriously, and engaged outside attorneys to conduct an investigation, said David Hauser, CEO of FairPoint. The outside attorneys have found no evidence to support the allegations of a fraudulent or fabricated testing process or that FairPoint misled Liberty about the testing results.

The Vermont Department of Libraries announced today that they have submitted an application for $601,753 in federal grant funds from the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act Broadband Opportunities Program for Public Computing Centers. The proposal was designed through a partnership with the Vermont State Colleges.
The Department of Libraries say that they would use the grant money to enhance public computing centers in the public libraries of Brattleboro, Lyndon, and Rutland, and provide free computer classes at VSC and public library locations across the state. The money would also fund the deployment of mobile laptop labs in four rural counties to be used by 61 public libraries for computer training courses and public access.

Shelburne Museum has received two major federal grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Museum Director Stephan Jost announced. The museum has been awarded IMLS grants totaling over $210,000, to underwrite new educational programs for school-age children and to conserve a group of 19 American paintings in the museum s permanent collection.
The IMLS grants support us in our mission to better connect with the community through educational programming and conservation projects that enrich the arts experience for our visitors, Jost said.
The educational programs funding is part of an IMLS grant program called Museums for America. Shelburne Museum was among 167 museums in 46 states and Puerto Rico selected from a pool of 433 applicants vying to receive MFA grants. A total of $19,176,000 in MFA grants was awarded in 2009. The grants recognize excellence in museum programming, said Anne-Imelda Radice, Director of IMLS.

The National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) has awarded $1.5 million in research grants to two research groups based in the University of Vermont s College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (CEMS) to study topics that are NASA research priorities. Each research group has been awarded $750,000 over three-years beginning September 1, 2009. Prof. William D. Lakin of CEMS, Project Director for Vermont s NASA EPSCoR Program and Director of the Vermont Space Grant Consortium (VTSGC), is the Principal Investigator for both awards. CEMS is the Home Unit for both VT-NASA EPSCoR and the VTSGC.
The University of Vermont is proud to have NASA grant support for these exciting research endeavors, which represent incredible innovation on the part of our faculty in CEMS, says Interim Dean, Bernard Chip Cole. These research collaborations will not only advance our abilities in space, but they will improve life here on Earth as well.