Current News

John H. Josh Fitzhugh, president and chief executive officer of Union Mutual of Vermont Companies, announced today that Thomas H. MacLeay has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company and New England Guaranty Insurance Company, Inc.
MacLeay is the chairman of the board of National Life Group and recently retired as National Life s president and CEO after a 32-year career with the company.
Tom brings a wealth of experience and skills to our Board, said Fitzhugh. His tenure at National Life was marked by exceptional growth and a healthy effort to diversify the business. He knows insurance and he understands the unique and important role companies like Union Mutual and National Life have in our marketplace.

Montpelier, Vt. Speaker Shap Smith and Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin today announced a balanced budget framework for building a 21st Century government and asked Senate and House committees to evaluate structural changes that will enable the state to do more with less.
These are extraordinarily challenging times for Vermont families, businesses and state government, said Speaker Smith. To ensure we both weather the storm and emerge as a stronger, more vibrant state, we must pursue balanced and creative solutions to make the state more efficient, more effective and more accountable to the people.
The challenges we must confront are indeed large, but this crisis also presents incredible opportunities for Vermont, said Senator Shumlin. The American Recovery & Reinvestment Plan gives us the breathing room we need to engage with Vermonters and, together, set our state on a strategic and smart path to sustainability and prosperity.

Montpelier, VT FairPoint customers may be wondering why they have not received their monthly bill; there is an explanation and some important information for consumers. Since January 30th, when cutover from Verizon-owned systems to new systems owned and operated by FairPoint occurred, the mailing of customer bills has been delayed, with customers receiving bills several weeks later than they normally would. While a delay of some bills was anticipated by FairPoint as a result of the cutover, the commitment to ensuring accurate bills for consumers has lead to longer delays in sending out bills.

Representatives Branagan, Devereux, Haas, Hube, Manwaring, Moran, W. Stevens, and Zenie announced their introduction of legislation that will require that any bill affecting property taxes shall be accompanied by a fiscal note when it is voted out of a standing committee of the general assembly.
In times of fiscal uncertainty, when federal, state and local responsibilities are being redefined, our property owners are more vulnerable than ever to surreptitious tax shifting.
Any legislation that has an effect on state spending already must pass before the appropriate money committee for scrutiny. Why is there no equivalent protection for legislation that will have an effect on local spending?
Our legislation will correct this inequity and will bring light to bear on actions that will have an impact on our property tax payers.

MONTPELIER The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) awarded the Richmond Bridge Street Bridge improvement project to T. Buck Construction of Auburn, Maine. T. Buck plans to begin work March 9, 2009 and will close the bridge to traffic that day.
Construction activities will include the rehabilitation of the existing steel truss bridge, as well as repair of existing abutments and approaches. Crews will work seven days per week during daytime hours, but will add night work as necessary to remain on schedule.
VTrans contract with T. Buck calls for the bridge to be reopened to traffic before July 4, 2009. The company, however, has an additional few weeks to finish work that can be completed while traffic flows.
Motorists should seek alternate routes while the bridge is closed.

Eighteen Champlain College students put their best foot forward Tuesday night at the second annual Elevator Pitch Competition, presented by the Bring Your Own Business (BYOBiz) program and KeyBank.
Students, ranging from public relations to game design majors each had 90 seconds to tell their story and make a connection with a business person inside a mock elevator. The top three winners in three categories non-profit/social advocates, job/intership seekers and entrepreneurs - went home with cash prizes. Students from all of the College s major areas of academic study were represented.
Thanks to KeyBank s President Scott Carpenter, the top winners received cash prizes of $500, $300 and $100 each for the top presentations.

A multi-million-dollar substation and voltage support equipment just completed by Central Vermont Public Service is making a major contribution to electric service reliability in southern Vermont.
CVPS today announced completion of an $11.5 million Winhall facility designed to improve reliability in southern Vermont while putting off the need for miles of transmission upgrades across the southern part of the state. The project, which included the installation of two enormous synchronous condensers, is part of an alternative solution to transmission issues. Targeted energy efficiency is also being used, and CVPS is looking for host sites for new distributed generation as well.

There were 1,301 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance last week, a decrease of 209 from the week before. Altogether 17,433 new and continuing claims were filed, 392 more than a week ago and 6,663 more than a year earlier. In addition, the Department processed 1,847 claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008, the same as last week.
The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/
Previously released Unemployment Weekly Reports and other UI reports can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/lmipub.htm#uc

Montpelier, Vt. With hundreds of millions of federal stimulus dollars set to flow to Vermont, Speaker Shap Smith today called for the formation of a Vermont Oversight Panel to ensure transparency and the effective deployment of taxpayer dollars.
The Federal Stimulus package represents a huge investment in Vermont and an opportunity to ensure that Vermont families not only weather the current economic storm, but emerge stronger on the other end of this crisis, Speaker Smith said. However, with so many taxpayer dollars set to flow through our communities, it also has the potential to result in fraud and waste. It is imperative that Vermont ensures every taxpayer dollar is invested in our communities quickly and effectively.

Ed Colodny, long-time member of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra board was recently named honorary chair of the VSO Endowment Campaign. In January, the VSO governing board announced that it has launched a major campaign to raise $3.5 million, and that it had already raised $2.6 million toward that goal.
The VSO is so vital to the cultural--and economic--well-being of Vermont, Colodny says. Can you imagine the void if the VSO were not here? I am honored to serve as honorary chair of this effort, and ask all who benefit from the VSO to join in this important campaign.

On February 1st, GAW (Brattleboro, VT) acquired Power Shift of Stowe, VT, the second largest broadband Internet provider (based on coverage area) supporting northwestern, VT with service from Stowe to Morrisville and greater Lamoille County.
From its humble beginnings as a small computer services company in Montreal, Canada, Power Shift's President, Joe Allen, moved the business to Stowe, VT in 1995. Rapid demand for Internet services in the area required Power Shift to become an ISP (Internet Service Provider) enabling them to serve thousands of previously under-served area residents. Power Shift's long standing reputation and commitment to quality service is well known.
GAW's acquisition of the Power Shift wireless network means existing customers and Lamoille County residents will be well supported by Vermont's largest Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP).

Burlington Electric Department has reached agreement with First Wind on behalf of its subsidiary, Vermont Wind, LLC, to buy 40 percent of the power and the renewable energy certificates (RECs) at the 40 megawatt Sheffield Wind project for the next 10 years under a fixed-price agreement.
Barbara Grimes, general manager of BED, expressed her enthusiasm for the project. BED has a goal of being 100 percent renewable in the next four or so years. This contract will help us achieve our goal. Stably priced, clean, green and locally generated power is the way to keep our economy strong and our environment clean, she said.