Current News

tourism officials are expecting an excellent summer travel season and will launch an aggressive marketing campaign in major metropolitan markets to draw more visitors to the state. Commissioner Bruce Hyde pointed to the continued steady performance of the Rooms and Meals tax as one of the positive indicators of the strength of Vermont’s tourism industry, despite the current economic climate. Rooms and Meals tax revenues to date for fiscal year 2009 are down by only 3 percent compared with the same period in 2008, a year that had the largest increase in those revenues in a decade. Hyde said Vermont continues to outperform national travel statistics.
Vermont is also expected to experience a boost in visitor travel this summer during the 2009 Lake Champlain Quadricentennial, which marks the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s exploration of the region. More than 100 events, exhibits and programs are scheduled for the Quadricentennial around the state.

The Legislature has included in the state budget language intended to keep open the prison in St Johnsbury. Among the Douglas Administration's budget reduction proposals was closing the Northeast Regional Correctional Facility and laying off most of the employees. The inmates likely would be sent to prisons out of state. It costs the state less to pay another state to house inmates than to incarcerate them in Vermont. The House and Senate Appropriations Conference Committee included language that would require the governor to get legislative approval before he could close the prison.

The Department of Labor announced today that it will begin paying Federal-State extended unemployment compensation program benefits (EB) next week. EB provides an additional 13 weeks of unemployment compensation to eligible unemployed workers. Vermont is joining 26 other states that have triggered on the EB program. As part of the federal stimulus package, the federal government will pick up all of the EB costs.
Currently Vermont’s three month average unemployment rate is 7.03 percent. An EB period exists in a state when the three month average unemployment rate exceeds 6.5 percent or the percentage of insured workers receiving benefits. While Vermont triggered into an EB period on March 22, 2009, payment of EB was delayed as Governor Douglas elected to continue paying Federal emergency unemployment to those that qualify for the additional benefits.

The US Army Contracting Command in Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, has awarded General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products an order of approximately $37 million to produce reactive armor tile sets for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Deliveries are expected to begin in December 2009. General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products is a business unit of General Dynamics. The program will be managed from General Dynamics' Burlington Technology Center in Vermont.
The order is an extension of a contract awarded in 2006. Work will be performed at the General Dynamics' facility in McHenry, Miss. Deliveries begin later this year and are expected to be completed in early 2010. As a strategic partner, RAFAEL Armament Development Authority Ltd., Ordnance Systems Division, will share the production workload in Haifa, Israel.

The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) has announced it has been awarded a $10,000 challenge grant from the Castanea Foundation.
Castanea s grant will help support the launch of the VSJF s flexible capital which will provide flexible risk capital to growth companies in Vermont s natural resource and renewable energy sectors.

Yesterday, on a voice vote, the Vermont Senate passed legislation that studies alternatives to chloramine in drinking water. The bill, a revised version of H. 80, outlines an engineering study of disinfection methods that the Champlain Water District (CWD) and other water districts in the state could use instead of processes that rely on chloramine as a secondary disinfectant. House concurrence is expected later this week. The study would be supported by funding from the EPA, secured through efforts by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. An EPA contractor would perform the study.
The legislation passed after months of work in the State House by People Concerned About Chloramine (PCAC), and Vermonters for a Clean Environment (VCE). Its passage comes during national Drinking Water Week, and highlights the serious issues facing water systems around the country.

Southern Vermont College has announced the award of a prestigious grant from the Davis Educational Foundation in the amount of $200,000. The grant will provide funding for curriculum innovation.
Southern Vermont College will conduct a three-year transition to a curriculum featuring four courses per semester, in place of its current five-course model, ultimately enabling students to probe subjects in greater depth. This structural change will allow for important pedagogical re-visioning as well. The college will distinguish its approach by significantly enhancing experiential learning across all fields of study, an approach aligned to engaged, collaborative, laboratory learning.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) today announced that 30 schools will receive a total of $170,000 in Planning and Program Development grants through the Agency s Safe Routes to School program. Competition for funding was solid, as VTrans received 13 applications representing 35 schools for a total request of $225,000.
The grants will be used by schools to help them form travel plans that will identify the barriers (both cultural and physical) that prevent students from walking and bicycling to school.
Sixty schools across the state have participated in the program since 2006. This most recent round of funding focuses on adding new schools to the program, as well as supports schools that have an ongoing program but need additional funds to help change the culture in their community.

On the morning of Wednesday, May 13, an estimated 20,000 T riders in Boston will be rewarded for their environmentally-friendly decision to use public transportation with the help of two Vermont companies. Volunteers from TransFair USA, the non-profit that certifies Fair Trade Certified ¢ products in the United States, will distribute free coupons to be redeemed for hot or iced Fair Trade Certified ¢ Green Mountain Coffee® at Bruegger s Bakery-Cafés, plus a coupon worth $2.50 off a package of Green Mountain Coffee at local grocery stores.
Commuters can find the volunteers from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. at seven T stations including: South Station, Kenmore, Porter Square, Longwood, Downtown Crossing, Government Center and Back Bay.

On May 5, 2009, the board of directors of Central Vermont Public Service (NYSE: CV) declared a quarterly dividend of 23 cents per share on the issued and outstanding shares of common stock, $6 par value, payable Aug. 14, 2009 to stockholders of record at the close of business Aug. 4, 2009. The board of directors also declared dividends on the outstanding preferred stock, $100 par value, of $1.04 per share on the 4.15% dividend series; $1.17 per share on the 4.65% dividend series; $1.19 per share on the 4.75% dividend series; $1.34375 per share on the 5.375% dividend series; and $2.075 per share on the 8.30% dividend series, payable July 1, 2009 to stockholders of record at the close of business June 19, 2009.
CVPS is Vermont's largest electric utility, serving approximately 159,000 customers statewide. The company's non-regulated subsidiary, Catamount Resources Corporation, sells and rents electric water heaters through a subsidiary, SmartEnergy Water Heating Services.

Northern Power Systems, Inc. (www.northernpower.com), a next-generation wind energy company and leading manufacturer of community wind turbines in Barre, today unveiled a Wind for Schools package that will help more schools produce their own wind power and engage their students and communities in realizing the benefits of renewable energy. Announced at WINDPOWER 2009, the package outfits educational institutions with a Northwind 100 wind turbine, standards-based K-12 curriculum that is customized and linked to real-time turbine data and web-based access for students and community members.

NBT Bank, NA, of Norwich, NY, is planning to open a commercial lending office on Bank Street in Burlington. The office will be located in the former Vermont National Bank building, which more recently was used by Chittenden Bank. The bank's parent company, NBT Bancorp, announced it was moving into Vermont yesterday during its annual shareholders' meeting. The Binghamton (NY) Press & Sun-Bulletin quoted CEO Martin Dietrich as saying the office would open in either the second or third quarter of this year and could expand further into Vermont eventually. NBT Bancorp Inc is a $5.3 billion holding company operating under two nameplates, one in New York (NBT Bank) and another in Pennsylvania (Pennstar Bank), as well as providing other financial services. As of late Wednesday, shares of NBT were up 77 cents or 3.28 percent.