Current News

TransUnion.com released today the results of its analysis of trends in the auto lending industry for the fourth quarter of 2008. The report is part of an ongoing series of quarterly consumer lending sector analyses focusing on credit card, auto loan and mortgage data that may be found on TransUnion's Web site. Information for this analysis is culled quarterly from approximately 27 million anonymous, individual credit files, providing a real-life perspective on how U.S. consumers are managing their credit health.
Statistics
The national 60-day auto delinquency rate (the ratio of auto loan borrowers 60 or more days past due) edged upward between the third and fourth quarter of 2008 from 0.80 percent to 0.86 percent. Year-over-year the delinquency rate increased 8.86 percent in the fourth quarter.

Thomas G. Walsh and Brian P. Monaghan announce their new law partnership and practice, Walsh & Monaghan, LLP. With offices in Burlington and St. Albans, Walsh & Monaghan serves residential, commercial and public sector clients with legal representation in areas that include environmental and land use matters, government and municipal law, real estate transactions, business law, and estate planning.

Dairy Farmers Working Together (DFWT) is hosting a Northeast Dairy Summit to address the crisis facing dairy farmers in our region and across the nation. Governor Douglas will give opening remarks. Dairy farmers and leaders from across the nation, government officials and industry representatives will be in attendance.
A panel comprised of dairy and agriculture representatives including Secretary of Agriculture Roger Allbee, Ray Souza of United Dairyman, Chuck Nicholson with Cornell University, John Myer of the Holstein Association and Calvin Covington from Southwest Milk, Inc., Rob Vandenheuvel of the Milk Producers Council of California, and Bob Naerebout and Jim Stewart of the Idaho Dairymen s Association will give presentations and answer questions.
DFWT was formed three years ago to address national dairy policy issues and their impact on the volatile milk price system. This summit will be a sharing of ideas to explore options and design action steps.

The second in a series of Regional White House Forums on Health Reform took place today in Burlington, Vermont. The forum was hosted by the University of Vermont and was moderated by Governor Jim Douglas of Vermont and Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director of the White House Office of Health Reform, represented the Obama administration.
Forum participants included doctors, patients, providers, insurers, policy experts and health care advocates of all kinds both Democrats and Republicans who discussed the urgent need to provide high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans, and to curb skyrocketing health care costs that are draining our federal and state budgets, devastating families and small businesses, and undermining our long-term economic prosperity.

On a mid-summer day, the sun rises pretty early over Green Mountain College's Cerridwen Farm. That's good - because there's a lot of work to be done. During GMC's summer Farm Life Ecology Intensive May 18-August 14, students plow the fields, milk the cows, and plant the crops while taking classes and conducting research on topics like organic agriculture and farm systems.
The 13 week-long, 12 credit summer intensive program allows students to manage all elements of the farm's operation while learning first-hand about sustainable agriculture. Four subject areas comprise the program's academic core including organic crop and animal management; management of farm systems; development of agricultural technologies with a focus on human and animal power; and the social and cultural importance of regional foods.

Vermont Pure Holdings, Ltd. (Amex: VPS) announced its financial results for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2009 and that it will file these results on Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission today.
Total sales for the three months ending January 31, 2009 decreased 5% to $15.6 million from $16.4 million for the comparable period a year ago. Gross margin also decreased 11% for the first quarter of 2009 to $8.1 million from $9.1 million in the comparable period a year earlier. Gross margin, as a percentage of sales, decreased to 52% in the first quarter of 2009 from 56% for the first quarter a year ago. Net income decreased to $95,000 for the three months ended January 31, 2009 compared to $512,000 for the comparable period last year.

The Public Oversight Panel’s report created by Act 189 of the Vermont General Assembly was released today. The panel was charged with providing information about the comprehensive vertical audit and reliability assessment of the Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee nuclear plant to the legislature as it determines whether the plant should be authorized to operate beyond the expiration of its current license. The Public Oversight Panel’s report is critical to the legislature’s decision regarding whether or not to approve the continued operation of Vermont Yankee.
The Panel has concluded that there are serious concerns that need to be addressed before an assurance of reliability can be met. The Panel found several significant areas of concern with the plant.

Dealer.com (www.dealer.com), the leading provider of online marketing solutions for the automotive industry, today announced the full-scale launch of the Enterprise Solutions Division, a specialized group devoted exclusively to meeting the needs of OEM and large dealer group clients. The development of the division began over a year and a half ago and has since grown into a unique team that provides OEMs and large dealer groups unmatched flexibility, scalability, speed to launch, network reliability and proven success. The investment in the research and development required to envision and perfect the division is an important part of the continuous development Dealer.com engages in to keep all clients, regardless of size, two to four years ahead of the competition.

Governor Jim Douglas has presented a $360,000 grant to the Town of Williston and Champlain Housing Trust to provide 1%-3% loans tohhomeowners with lower incomes for essential home repairs. The Champlain Housing Loan Fund was created in 1997 and recently expanded into Chittenden County, with the Town of Williston s support as the grant applicant. The announcement will take place at the Williston Town Hall on No. Williston Road.
Williston homeowners Amy and Mark Yandow recently borrowed a loan from the Champlain Housing Loan Fund to replace their oil furnace with a wood-fired boiler. The Yandow s explained, we were very happy with all of the help from the Champlain Loan Fund when we couldn t afford a bank loan, and we look forward to saving over $200 a month next winter. We already switched to wood and stopped burning oil last month. The Yandows house will also be weatherized by the Chittenden County Weatherization Assistance Program.

Engineering Ventures, Inc., based in Burlington, Vermont is pleased to announce the expansion of their operations into Saratoga Springs, New York. The new office, Engineering Ventures, P.C., located at 18 Division Street, will augment the services provided by the firm from their Burlington, Vermont and Lebanon, New Hampshire locations. The expansion is seen as a way to provide the same innovation and dedication to sustainable design, to New York clients from a closer location.
Engineering Ventures is an experienced, consulting engineering firm operating and licensed throughout the Northeast. Select, qualified professionals and technicians provide a broad range of civil engineering services with specialties in structural and site engineering and planning. Serving private, public, commercial, municipal and institutional clients, Engineering Ventures also offers full service from Burlington, Vermont and Lebanon, New Hampshire.

NRG Systems, of Hinesburg, a leading manufacturer of wind measurement equipment, and Leosphere, leading specialist in lidar (laser radar) for atmospheric observations, today announced the formation of a global partnership to expand the use of remote sensing with lidar in the wind energy industry. The first product of the partnership is the WINDCUBE ¢ lidar wind measurement system, a remote sensor used in site assessment and wind farm performance monitoring.
I couldn t be happier to announce this news, said Alex Sauvage, president and CEO of Leosphere. The WINDCUBE is the result of 20 years of intensive research and development it s a flexible, easy-to-use technology that has proven to reduce data uncertainty and project risks in the wind energy industry. Partnering with NRG Systems sends a signal that using lidar in wind resource assessment is an accepted part of the process.

The Office of Vermont State Auditor Tom Salmon, CPA, has upheld last year s estimate of $57 million in State spending to help about 1,000 individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), at the request of the House Committee on Human Services. The number of students with ASD increased 16.5 percent last year.