Current News

The former president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont, William R. Milnes Jr, retired at the end of 2008 after taking home $7.25 million in salary, bonuses, and retirement cash. Of that sum, roughly $900,000 was listed as salary and bonuses; the remainder, $6.3 million, was additional compensation commonly known as a golden parachute.
News of Milnes compensation package coincides with a back-and-forth battle in Montpelier on how to finance public health-care programs in the weak economy.
Kevin Goddard, Blue Cross Blue Shield s vice president of external affairs, said that Milnes retirement package and bonuses were part of his contact when he was hired 10 years ago. Goddard said that the most controversial aspect of executive compensation - in reference to what is happening nationally with firms such as AIG - is in the context of mismanaged companies. That is not the context here.

Excellent professional development opportunity for HR and Safety Staff. Topics include: "Incorporating Safety into Construction & Maintenance Contract Documents"; Material Handling Ergonomics Tool Demonstration; Supervisors as Safety Leaders Panel; Healthy Employees/Safer Employees: Wellness, Incentives and ROI; and the Governors Safety Awards. Sponsored by: the Partnership in Safety (Project WorkSAFE, Green Mtn. Coffee Roasters, VT Small Business Development Center and the Vermont Safety and Health Council). Platinum Sponsors: MEMIC; VELCO, Silver: Wilner-Green Assoc. Registration $75, $65 before 4/15/09 at: www.vtsbdc.org/Safety.cfm To Register at no cost for the 12:30pm Governor s Awards only please email: [email protected]. May 13, 2009, 9am 3:45 pm, DoubleTree Hotel and Conference Center, Burlington.

Two grants totaling nearly $700,000 will help preserve an historic general store and create affordable housing in Windham County, Governor Jim Douglas announced Friday.
At a ceremony at the Putney General Store, Douglas announced a $200,382 grant to the Town of Putney to assist in repairing the fire-damaged building, and a $480,000 grant to the Town of Brattleboro for an affordable housing project in West Brattleboro.
Like so many similar stores around Vermont, the Putney General Store has been a community gathering place in addition to a place of business, Douglas said. These funds will help the Putney community as it works to restore this important structure.
Heavily damaged in a May 3, 2008 fire, the Putney General Store which opened in 1799 was purchased late last year by the Putney Historical Society, which is overseeing its restoration and plans to lease it to a third party to operate as a general store again.

Representative Peter Welch announced Monday a $380,000 grant for a comprehensive economic revitalization project in downtown St. Albans.
The federal grant, which Welch secured for the city, will help St. Albans improve sidewalks, streetlights and signage and make other aesthetic upgrades to Main Street and Taylor Park. The project is intended to make downtown St. Albans safer for families and more attractive to businesses.
Downtown St. Albans is the heart of this community and the key to its future, Welch said. This grant will put federal dollars to work in St. Albans, spurring economic growth in the area and empowering residents to make decisions about how to improve their community.

Governor Jim Douglas today announced Vermont has received $756,000 in the latest round of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative auctions and that 17 energy efficiency projects across the state have received $188,000 in the first round of funding from the Vermont Community Climate Change Grant Program.
Vermont is one of 10 states in the Northeast to participate in the auction process. Power producers must buy the credits to offset their CO2 production. Vermont has been allocated 1.2 million credits a year. A Vermont Public Service Board panel will determine how the money is spent for energy efficiency programs.

From Brattleboro to Wells River and from Burlington to Poultney, the renewable energy and efficiency projects announced by the governor on Friday will reduce a combined 270 tons of carbon emissions annually, while boosting Vermont s local economy with investments and lower fuel costs.

Vermont Public Television (VPT) has received a My Source Community Impact Award for Education from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). VPT president John King accepted the award at a ceremony March 7th in Washington, DC. The ceremony was part of the CPB/PBS-hosted Council of Chief State School Officers Legislative Conference. Also attending was Vermont s commissioner of education, Armando Vilaseca.
The My Source Community Impact Awards for Education were created by CPB to recognize public television stations for their commitment to providing educational services to learners of all ages and abilities, as well as for the services the stations provide to teachers, parents and caregivers.

According to Ali Rafieymehr, dean of Champlain s Information Technology and Sciences Division (IT&S), the new equipment will help students take the skills they learn in the classroom directly to the workplace when they graduate.
CISCO DONATES EQUIPMENT TO CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE: (From left) Ali Rafieymehr, dean of the Division of Information Technology and Sciences at Champlain College; Champlain College junior Ben Actis and Jim Hoag, assistant professor and program director of Computer Networking and Information Security show off some of the state-of-the-art computer equipment donated to the college by Cisco Systems for classroom use.
Champlain College has received $88,000 in computer equipment that offers students studying computer security, information technology and web development and design a chance to learn their skills on state-of-the-art Cisco Systems equipment.

The Vermont Legislature is considering closing the capital gains loophole to help offset the state's General Fund budget deficit. Here are two opinions on that issue currently being considered by the Vermont Legislature. Legislators already have closed a loophole in the business carry forward tax loss area, where a company cannot move into Vermont anymore and recognize a state-level tax loss from previous years that was incurred elsewhere.

Building on President Barack Obama s efforts to ensure access to health care for millions of uninsured Americans, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today announced that Vermont can access an additional $551,000 authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help pay hospitals to treat their most vulnerable patients.
Millions of people rely on the care provided by their community hospitals, said Acting HHS Secretary Charles Johnson. Through the help provided by the Recovery Act, we can make sure they continue to get the care they need in those hospitals.

The State Board of Education elected officers at its March 17 meeting, the Department of Education announced today. Tom James of Essex was re-elected Board chair, and Ruth Stokes of Williston was re-elected vice-chair.
James was appointed to the Board by Governor Douglas in February 2005 after filling an unexpired term. A retired IBM executive, James has served as a member of the Essex Planning Commission, the Essex Town School Board, the Essex Town Selectboard and the Essex Rotary. His State Board term will end in 2011.

In conjunction with a report from the Public Oversight Panel conducting the comprehensive vertical audit and reliability assessment of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Facility, Brad Ferland, President of the Vermont Energy Partnership issued the following statement.
This is another thorough and exhaustive study that shows Vermont Yankee should be part of the state s energy future. The bottom line is the report states the plant is reliable and that this reliability can be maintained.
The more than 6,000 hours of work involved in this study follows approximately 20,000 hours of inspections the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has undertaken with respect to the plant s license renewal application, as well as exhaustive, regular, annual safety inspections.

A $50,000 grant from AT&T is helping the Lyndon State College Television Studies (TVS) students develop a new media, convergence e-journalism extension of the Department of Television Studies award-winning News7 operation. The result is two web-based news projects - NewsLINC and the Vermont Broadband Report, both of which can be seen at www.news7newslinc.net.
The AT&T grant has allowed Lyndon to increase the breadth of experiences the TVS Department can offer students. Expanding onto the Web is an important step. With many newspapers facing financial difficulties and many of those closing, students are eager to learn the ropes for the burgeoni