Current News

The governors and the Congressional delegations of both Vermont and New Hampshire today joined together to urge the U.S. Department of Labor to move quickly to provide assistance to workers recently laid off at the Ethan Allen furniture plant in Beecher Falls, Vt.
Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas and New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch; Vermont Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders; Vermont Rep. Peter Welch; New Hampshire Sens. Judd Gregg and Jeanne Shaheen; and New Hampshire Reps. Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter issued the following statement:

As part of a shift in its donation policy, Vermont Coffee Company conducted two local fundraisers for area homeless shelters over the past week. We are directing our resources towards helping our neighbors, said Paul Ralston, owner of the company. Over back-to-back weekends, a total of $667 was raised for the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS) and the John Graham Emergency Shelter. Ralston topped up that amount to an even $1,000.
Staff from Vermont Coffee Company traveled to events at Burlington s City Hall Park and Castleton College and served iced-coffee shakes to attendees. Donations were collected in these Shaking for Shelter promotions. According to Deborah Bouton, Community Service Director at COTS, even small donations are important. For as little as $15, we can provide a night of emergency shelter for an adult or pay for a credit report that may help a family get an apartment, she said.

Building on Recovery Act provisions implemented earlier this year, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced today it can now provide surety bond guarantees on federal contracts valued at up to $10 million, if the contracting officer certifies that the guarantee is in the best interests of the government. An Interim Final Rule is available for public inspection at The Federal Register.
Currently, under a related provision of the Recovery Act that was implemented in March, SBA can provide bond guarantees up to $5 million through September 2010 on all public and private contracts and subcontracts. SBA partners with the surety industry to help small businesses that would otherwise be unable to obtain bonding in the traditional commercial marketplace. Under the partnership, SBA provides a guarantee to the participating surety company of between 70 and 90 percent of the bond amount.

Governor Jim Douglas on Thursday announced $161,000 in Historic Preservation Barn Grants for 19 farms to help preserve their barns for future generations. In a ceremony at the Elm Brook Farm in East Ryegate, which received $10,000 to repair its cow and horse barns, the governor noted that the program aided two of Vermont s most important industries, agriculture and tourism. The grant program, administered by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, provides owners of agricultural buildings with matching funding of up to $10,000 for a variety of capital repairs. Eligible projects include repairs to roofs, foundations, walls, sills and overall stabilization.
In making decisions on funding, the Vermont Advisory Council on Historic Preservation prioritizes projects, giving particular emphasis on working barns to keep them in service and significant agricultural buildings in critical need of repair.

Vermont Secretary of Administration Neale F Lunderville announced today that Vermont s final fiscal year revenue figures were above projections for the General and Transportation funds, but below target for the Education Fund. The fiscal year ended June 30. General Fund revenues exceeded the target for the month as compared to the consensus revenue target, last revised in April 2009. The General Fund revenues of $100.23 million (+$3.66 million, +3.79%) for the month of June 2009 were above target against the recently revised forecast of $96.57 million. For FY 2009 end-of-year, General Fund revenues of $1,104.01 million (+$14.47 million, +1.33%) were slightly above the full year target.

In 1881, the optimistic Irish economist Francis Edgeworth imagined a strange device called a "hedonimeter" that would be capable of "continually registering the height of pleasure experienced by an individual." In other words, a happiness sensor.
His was just a daydream. In practice, for decades, social scientists have had a devilish headache in trying to measure happiness. Surveys have revealed some useful information, but these are plagued by the unpleasant fact that people misreport and misremember their feelings when confronted by the guy with the clipboard. Ditto for studies where volunteers call in their feelings via PDA or cell phone. People get squirrely when they know they re being studied.
But what if you had a remote-sensing mechanism that could record how millions of people around the world were feeling on any particular day--without their knowing?
Large-Scale Happiness

The only way to properly honor Silent Cal Coolidge is with a party. The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation will host Plymouth Old Home Day at the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site on Saturday August 1, 10:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m.

KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) today announced a second quarternet loss from continuing operations attributable to Key of $236 million, or $.69 per common share. Per share results for the current quarter are after cash and deemed preferred stock dividends of $164 million, or $.28 per common share. These dividends include a noncash deemed dividend of $114 million related to the exchange of Key common shares for Key s Series A Preferred Stock as part of the company s efforts to raise an additional $1.8 billion of Tier 1 common equity, and a cash dividend payment of $31 million made to the U.S. Treasury Department under the Capital Purchase Program. Results for the current quarter compare to a net loss from continuing operations of $1.128 billion, or $2.71 per common share, for the second quarter of 2008.

Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin sent a letter to the Department of Health today urging the immediate release of the Vermont Yankee off-site radiation calculations for 2008. In addition, the Senator sent a letter to the Public Service Board (PSB) requesting that they delay the schedule of review for docket #7530, which relates to a request by Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee to move their perimeter fence outward toward the Vernon School.
I am concerned that the Vermont Department of Health has failed to release the off-site radiological calculations for 2008, said Senator Shumlin. Vermonters are understandably anxious about the off-site dosage and have a right to know the calculations.

National Life Group has announced today that it has received a Silver Certification in Leadership in the Energy and Environmental Design, Existing Building (LEED-EB) program, sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council. National Life is both the largest and the oldest building in Vermont to receive LEED certification of any kind is the second existing commercial building in Vermont to receive a silver LEED-EB certification.
Located in Montpelier, Vermont, the three-building campus was certified LEED-EB Silver based upon a review of documented best practices that met and exceeded high-performance and environmental requirements. Across the nation, LEED-EB is a benchmark for environmentally responsible, energy efficient operations and maintenance in existing buildings. The LEED Green Building Rating System is consensus-based standard for the development of high-performance buildings, and is fully voluntary.

BioTek Instruments and their Green Team have been recognized by the Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD) as winners of the 2009 Waste Reduction Award. This annual award was presented to BioTek for their company-wide efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle including:

Reuse of shipping materials when shipping parts to vendors and repaired units to customers.
Purchasing nearly 100% post-consumer recycled content paper for office paper supplies.
Reducing waste through a composting program for paper goods and food scraps.

Efficiency Vermont has officially launched a new Refrigerator/Freezer Recycling Program today. Through the program, Efficiency Vermont offers $30 incentive payments to Vermont electric utility customers in exchange for their old refrigerators and freezers. Efficiency Vermont will also haul away the old units for free.
According to a survey prepared by the Vermont Department of Public Service, Vermont would experience a healthy decrease in energy consumption if residents agreed to recycle their old refrigerators and freezers. Many Vermont homes still contain units manufactured before 1990, which consume three times more electricity than newer appliances. By removing an old, inefficient refrigerator, home owners could save up to $150 a year on their electric bills.