Current News
by tim
BURLINGTON, Vt.--Hal Colston, the founder and former director of the Good News Garage, is an adjunct professor at Champlain College, where he teaches community service courses. But now through a new, multifaceted project with the College, he has also become a client of several student and faculty teams who are helping him get his next big idea off the ground.
Champlain students are doing marketing research, surveys, feasibility studies, Web development, electronic game development and video work for Colstons NeighborKeepers project. Colstons goal is to create a nonprofit organization that provides a circle of support to impoverished single mothers and their families. One of the goals, said Colston, is to show these families how to live in the middle class, when all theyve known is poverty.
by tim
Smith Street Design is Open for Business
SHOREHAM, VT - Smith Street Design is a woman-owned business begun by Liz Whitaker-Freitas in 2005. Smith Street Design is a team of experienced designers, marketers, photographers, programmers and writers offering broad-spectrum marketing services. Their goal is to help businesses with all aspects of their marketing needs.
by tim
by Joyce Marcel, Vermont Business Magazine It was the week of Town Meeting, and the last thing Vermont National Guard Adjutant General Martha Rainville expected was to be in the eye of a media hurricane.
But a resolution questioning the war in Iraq - one-third of Vermont's Guard is deployed in Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia - was on the warning in 58 towns, and the discussions attracted international attention. The Los Angeles Times covered Bethel's Town Meeting, and The New York Times and the Asahi Shimbun of Tokyo covered Dummerston's. Everyone wanted a comment from Rainville.
Official Vermont National Guard portait of Adjutant General Martha Rainville.
by tim
New President & CEO Appointed to Run BMH
Barry G. Beeman has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and Southern Vermont Health Services Corporation. He will be coming to Brattleboro this summer. Beeman has roots in New England, and he and his wife, a nurse, are very happy to be coming to Vermont, where they have family.
Beeman comes to BMH with a total of twenty-three years of healthcare administrative experience including as President and Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Director of Human Resources at three previous hospitals.
by tim
VEDA BOARD APPROVES $1.8 MILLION
IN PROJECT FINANCING ASSISTANCE
Montpelier, VT - Business real estate purchase and expansion projects totaling
$3.34 million will receive $1.8 million in financing assistance from the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA).
Were very pleased to be able to contribute to the growth of these Vermont businesses, said VEDA Chief Executive Officer Jo Bradley. VEDAs mission is to help eligible businesses create jobs, and these projects stand to produce 35 new job opportunities in the next three years. Thats good news for Vermont.
Projects approved for financing assistance by the VEDA Board are:
by tim
BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD OF VERMONT FILES JOINT APPLICATION TO ADMINISTER MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFIT
Berlin, VT, Together with several of its sister Blue Plans, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont has filed an application to become a Medicare prescription drug plan sponsor. The Plan will co-sponsor the program with other Blue plans in the region designated by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to serve Vermont. Region 2 includes Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, in addition to Vermont, so BCBSVT has teamed with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Connecticut, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI). The organizations expect to hear from CMS by June of this year if the application is approved, and will announce the details of the plan when CMS completes its review.
by tim
CTC Communications and Lightship Telecom to Merge
Deal creates leading CLEC in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic
Waltham, MA and Bedford, NH (March 24, 2005) CTC Communications and Lightship Telecom, two of the leading facilities-based telecommunication providers in the New England area, have announced an agreement to merge the two companies. The newly merged company, which will operate as CTC Communications, will be the pre-eminent competitive local exchange carrier headquartered in New England, with its corporate offices located in Waltham, MA.
CTC has provided telecommunication services to business customers throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions for more than 20 years, with customer service and support provided through 15 regional offices. Lightship Telecom, founded in 1998, serves business customers in New England from its operational headquarters in Bedford, NH and 6 regional offices.
by tim
PRESS ADVISORY
Contact Kathryn
Mathieson: 802-828-2148
For Immediate Release: March 22, 2005
by tim
BURLINGTON, VT-Two members of Vermont Federal Credit Unions board of directors were re-elected in its 52nd annual meeting, held during the $140 million asset credit unions annual meeting on Saturday, February 26th, 2005, at the Clarion Hotel in South Burlington.
Re-elected to three year terms were:
" Curran Spike Robinson-Former representative to the state legislature from Richmond.
" Gilbert Tabor- director of the Vermont Service Center of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in St. Albans.
Immediately following the annual meeting, the board elected the following officers for the coming year:
" Chairman-Curran Spike Robinson
" Vice Chairman-Gilbert Tabor
" Treasurer-Joseph Finnigan, President/CEO
" Secretary-Jean Isham
Other members of the board include:
" Joan B. Wilson
" Jeffrey McDonough
by tim
Unemployment rate dips in January
Vermont Labor Force Statistics (Seasonally Adjusted)
January 2005 December 2004 January 2004
Total Labor Force 353,100 354,700 353,100
Employment 340,800 342,000 338,000
Unemployment 12,400 12,700 15,100
Rate (%) 3.5 3.6 4.3
Montpelier - The Department of Employment and Training has announced that the
seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January was 3.5 percent, down one tenth of a
percentage point from the revised December estimate. The change in the rate from last
month, however, was not considered statistically significant. Vermont's unemployment
rate remained below the national unemployment rate of 5.2 percent.
Unemployment rates for Vermont's 17 labor market areas ranged from 1.7 percent in Hartford,
by tim
Enzes, Inc. unveils Enhanced Performance" a preventative maintenance program for small and medium businesses that does more than just provide blocks of support hours. Enhanced Performance" is a program of specific maintenance items customized to fit the specific needs of the individual customer.
Enhanced Performance is the result of responding and reacting to our customers needs and realizing that was not the most cost effective solution for todays businesses said Enzes, Inc. founder and president Eric Smith. We developed Enhanced Performance to be proactive in nature and customized to fit each network individually. That way we actually save our customers money and help them become more efficient.
by tim
Dim Job Market Expected for Burlington
March 15, 2005 -- Burlington area employers expect to hire at a sluggish pace during the second quarter of 2005, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey. Among survey participants, the Burlington area employment outlook is one of the weakest in the nation.
From April to June, 14% of the companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while 28% expect to reduce their payrolls, according to Manpower spokesperson Tom Winner. Another 44% expect to maintain their current staff levels and 14% are not certain of their hiring plans.
Burlington area employers have weaker hiring intentions than in the first quarter when 20% of the companies interviewed intended to add staff, and 17% planned to reduce headcount," said Winner. "Employers are much less positive about hiring than they were a year ago when 20% of companies surveyed thought employment increases were likely and 7% intended to cut back."