Current News

Less than seven weeks after Eagle Publications and the Twin State Valley Media Network of Claremont, NH announced they were bankrupt - instantly closing the doors of the Eagle Times daily and the weekly Message for the Week, The Connecticut Valley Spectator and The Weekly Flea - most of the staff of The Message are now involved with a new paper, The Messenger.
The Messenger s 32-page first issue hit the streets on Tuesday, August 25.

Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont, has been recognized as one of America's "Top Up-and-Coming Schools in U.S. News & World Report's newly released 2010 edition of "America's Best Colleges.
"Champlain has experienced tremendous transformation and innovation over the last decade, and these rankings recognize and reinforce our many successes," says David F. Finney, president of Champlain College. "The rankings also reflect the hard work of our faculty and staff as well as recognition by our peers for the cutting-edge approaches that have made us a national leader in professionally-focused education enhanced by a comprehensive and interdisciplinary core liberal arts curriculum."

The Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Advanced Digital Communications, Inc. for six alleged willful violations following an investigation of the company’s vehicles, equipment and safety procedures. VOSHA was notified of alleged safety hazards and sent a letter to the company with instructions to respond to the allegations and provide the corrective action taken to abate the safety hazards. Advanced Digital Communications’ response stated that the company corrected all alleged safety hazards. Further information from employees indicated that the hazards were not corrected and employees continued to be exposed to serious hazards during the workday. Based on this information VOSHA conducted an inspection of their Vermont Worksite.

Vermont students posted a strong showing on the 2009 College Board Advanced Placement (AP) exams and Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT), as well as the 2009 ACT exam, the Department of Education announced today. The results of the SAT showed that scores dropped, most notably in math, but were still well above national averages. The ACT scores rose by two points and Vermont now ranks fourth in the nation for that test.
The AP program offers high school students college-level courses in a variety of subject areas. In all, 3,495 Vermont students participated in the AP program (up 4.2 percent from 2008) and took 5,752 AP exams (up 5.2 percent from last year). According to College Board, Vermont leads the nation in the five year-increase in AP scores.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) has ranked 11th on Fortune s annual list of the 100 Fastest-Growing Companies. The Waterbury-based company was the highest-ranked consumer package goods company on the list, which includes profitable, publicly-held companies with at least $50 million in annual revenue. For the first time, the list includes global companies that trade on a U.S. exchange and file quarterly reports. Companies are judged on revenue growth rate, EPS growth rate, and three-year annualized total return to investors. Last month, GMCR reported outstanding top and bottom line growth for its third quarter results, with 61% increase in net sales and 123% increase in net income over the same quarter last year.

Nokian Tyres, a specialist in winter tires, is relocating its sales office to and concentrating its operations in Colchester, Vermont, in order to serve the winter tire markets more efficiently, according to Jari Lepisto, president of Nokian Tyres US Holdings Inc. The move from LaVergne, Tennessee, to Colchester will be finalized during spring 2010 and include six to eight employees moving with the company with another couple hired locally, he said. The Colchester facility will employee about 150 total.
"We are real experts in winter tires and northern conditions worldwide. In Vermont, we are near our key customers and can serve the area even better," Lepisto said.
"Naturally our target is to expand our operations and this should create even more job opportunities within Nokian Tyres in Vermont," he said.

Inc. magazine today recognized Dealer.com of Burlington, Vermont, with a rank of 88 among the top 100 fastest growing private advertising and marketing companies. Dealer.com, the global leader in online marketing solutions for the automotive industry, experienced a three year sales growth of 307.2% between 2005 and 2008. Overall, Dealer.com was ranked number 996 on the third annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. 2009 marks the third consecutive year that Dealer.com has been recognized in the ranking. The Inc. 5000 list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent-minded entrepreneurs.

Inc. magazine today ranked Chroma Technology No. 4615 on its third annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. According to Inc.the list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy America s independent-minded entrepreneurs.
Savvy trend spotters and those who invest in private companies know that the Inc. 5000 is the best place to find out about young companies that are achieving success through a wide variety of unprecedented business models, as well as older private companies that are still expanding at an impressive rate, said Inc. 5000 project manager Jim Melloan. That s why our list is so eagerly anticipated every year.

The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Rick Bornemann is the new President and CEO of the Ethan Allen Institute.
Rick was born and raised in Connecticut and is an economics graduate of Amherst College in Massachusetts. He returns to New England after a 25-year career in the nation s capital.
Beginning as a legislative aide to an Oregon Congressman, he served as a legislative affairs representative for what is now the Nuclear Energy Institute. He became a vice president of United Illuminating (a Connecticut public utility), and then of Kansas City Southern Industries (a Midwestern railway holding company). His most recent position was that of a strategist and lobbyist for Government Strategies Inc., a Washington government relations firm.
During his long career in Washington, Rick specialized in business, tax and regulatory issues, with a special competence in economic development, transportation and energy.

Vermont's unemployment rate fell to 6.8 percent in July from its June rate of 7.3 percent. Vermont's drop was the greatest of any state. This is also the lowest Vermont rate since January. In a cautious note of optimism, 17 states and the District of Columbia saw a drop in unemployment rates, continuing a trend of more states showing improvement in jobless rates. In June, only five states, including Vermont, saw a drop, and in May, only one state fell.
The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July 2009 was 6.8 percent, down 0.5 tenths of a point from the revised June rate and up 2.2 points from a year ago. The release of July unemployment numbers was delayed until today to ensure that Bureau of Labor Statistics correction of New England results did not affect Vermont.

Thomas S. Leavitt, Executive Vice President for Merchants Bank, announced the groundbreaking for the construction of a new office on Route 4 in Rutland. The bank currently has a small drive-up on the site at 92 Woodstock Avenue. The new full-service ADA-compliant branch at the same address will include: four lobby teller stations; two drive-up service lanes; an additional ATM drive-up lane; offices for branch management, commercial lending officers, and customer service. Completion is expected before year-end. As part of this expansion, Leavitt also announced the appointment of Deanna K. Wetherby to the position of Branch President for Woodstock Avenue.

The University of Vermont continued its steady rise in the just released US News & World Report rankings, claiming the 39th spot among the nation's top public universities, up from 40th last year and 47th in 2000. There are more than 500 public colleges and universities in the nation. UVM also rose in the magazine's national universities ranking, from 89th last year to 88th. UVM was ranked 96th in 2001. UVM was also named by Sierra Magazine as the number 4 "Coolest Schools" in the country based on its commitment to the environment.
For the US News ranking, UVM was 8th among national universities in a list of the magazine's "Top Up-and-Coming Schools," institutions that have "recently made striking improvements or innovations schools everyone should be watching," the magazine said.