Current News

by Anne Galloway, www.vtdigger.org May 7, 2011 The gavel fell late Friday afternoon ‘ a week ahead of schedule ‘ on what Governor Peter Shumlin called ‘the most successful session that I have witnessed.’
With much bonhomie, the House and Senate adjourned thier business for the first half of the biennium. Leadership congratulated their members on finishing a week earlier than scheduled. It was the first Friday adjournment in memory; typically sessions drag past the 16-week deadline and the gavel falls into the wee hours of a Saturday.
This year, however, was different. In lots of ways.

The Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration is warning Vermonters to watch out for fraudulent companies and individuals claiming to be health insurers or agents of health insurers who take the money of unwary consumers but do not pay claims.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: BHLB) held its annual meeting of shareholders on May 5 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. President and CEO Michael P Daly reported on Berkshire's recent accomplishments and outlook. He discussed Berkshire's plans to increase core earnings per share by 40-50% in 2011, and noted a 25% increase in core earnings in the most recent quarter. He reviewed the Company's strong capital, liquidity, and asset quality. Daly reported on the progress towards completing the pending merger with Legacy Bancorp in the third quarter of 2011 and summarized Berkshire's financial goals, including achieving a$2.00 core earnings per share run rate by the end of 2012. He also reported that Berkshire's stock produced a 10.5% total return to shareholders in 2010, maintaining a five year total stock return above the industry average.
Shareholders approved all proposals which were presented at the meeting. These were:

Central Vermont Public Service Corporation (NYSE: CV) reported May 5 that its consolidated earnings for the first three months of 2011 were $8.4 million, or 62 cents per diluted share of common stock. This compares to consolidated earnings of $4.2 million, or 35 cents per diluted share of common stock for the first three months of 2010. It attributed the earnings increase mostly to higher operating revenues.
It announced on Wednesday preferred stock dividends. Meanwhile, common stock dividends remain at $.46 per share.

Four Vermont public schools will join more than a dozen schools located throughout New England to test a new financial fluency program that teaches financial concepts within a math-based curriculum. The aim is to help educators develop new approaches to offering students instruction in personal finance.
Teachers at Bellows Falls Union High School, St. Albans City School, Twinfield Union High School and U32 High School started testing a six-lesson curriculum in late April. The lessons focus on budgeting, including ratios and proportions, and the power of compounding interest as applied to credit cards and investments. Case studies in the final lessons challenge students to apply what they have learned to individuals in financial trouble or who have poor personal finance habits.

Vermont Attorney General William H. Sorrell and 49 other state attorneys general have settled allegations of unfair debt collection practices involving consumer accounts at the now-bankrupt Movie Gallery, Inc., also known as Hollywood Video, a video rental chain that once had six outlets and over 27,000 members in Vermont.
When Movie Gallery filed for bankruptcy in Virginia in 2010, its accounts receivable were assigned to a debt collection firm called National Credit Solutions (NCS). Consumers around the country began to complain that NCS was reporting negative credit information to credit bureaus without giving them an opportunity to challenge the debt, double-charging them for video replacements and late fees, and seeking to collect amounts that were not owed, among other practices.
Under the settlement, the Trustee in the Movie Gallery bankruptcy will:

Representative Peter Welch, along with Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.), introduced legislation this week to help dairy farmers meet their labor needs. The H-2A Improvement Act of 2011 (H.R. 1720) would allow dairy farmers access to the H-2A visa program, which other sectors of agriculture currently use to hire foreign workers.
‘Vermont’s dairy farmers are hanging on by their fingernails,’ Welch said. ‘Every day they struggle with multiple challenges to survival, including high energy costs, unstable milk prices and a shortage of workers. This legislation will help take one challenge off their plates by ensuring they have an adequate labor supply. I look forward to working with Rep. Owens and Sen. Leahy to pass this bill into law.’

Vermont economic development leader and good friend Al Moulton died last Sunday. He was famous to many of us for his helping hand in job creation and politics. For those of us who called him friend and really hardly knew him beyond a professional relationship, he embodied what we all hope to do: leave the world a better place than we found it.
The lesson we can learn from Al is one of being collaborative, being strategic and being good humored. Among his most lasting achievements is the captive insurance industry. He did not conceive of making Vermont an important domicile for captive insurance companies, but he used his management and political skill to get Governor Snelling and the Legislature to see the opportunity, seize it and then actually get it done. Vermont is now the third largest location for captives in the world and by far the largest in the United States.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today invited agricultural producers and rural small businesses to apply for loans and grants to implement renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency improvements. In addition, the program also provides funding to complete feasibility studies for renewable energy generation systems and energy efficiency improvements. For information on how to apply for assistance, contact Donna Montgomery in the Montpelier, Vermont office at 802-828-6031. The deadlines for submitting completed REAP applications are June 15 and June 30, depending on the type of project to be funded.

A New Life for Laundry Caps: Seventh Generation Partners With Preserve's 'Gimme 5' Program to Create New Post-Consumer Packaging From #5 Plastic
From the ingredients in its products to the packaging, Seventh Generation is always evaluating how to reduce its environmental impact, increase product performance and safety and create a more sustainable supply chain. That's why the company is proud to announce a partnership with Preserve's "Gimme 5" program, allowing customers to recycle #5 plastic right where they shop.
"We're always trying to increase the post-consumer content in our packaging," said Peter Swaine, director of global strategic sourcing at Seventh Generation. "Now we're fully closing the loop on our #5 plastic, making it easy for our customers to recycle their laundry caps so in turn we can create more sustainable packaging for the products they love."

Copley Hospital has been honored for healthcare marketing excellence in the 2011 Aster Awards Competition. The hospital received a SILVER recognition in this year’s competition for their Copley Birthing Center newspaper advertising series ‘â ¦you’re family now.’
The Aster Awards, one of the largest national competitions of its kind, is hosted by Marketing Healthcare Today Magazine and Creative Images, Inc. This elite program recognizes outstanding healthcare professionals for excellence in their advertising/marketing efforts for the calendar year 2010.
The 2011 Aster Awards received approximately 3,000 entries from across the United States as well as Canada and South America. Participant's entries competed against similar-sized organizations in their category. Entries must score at least in the top 16% to receive an award. Judging criteria includes creativity, layout and design, functionality, message effectiveness, production quality and overall appeal.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) Thursday announced that it has priced its public offering of an aggregate of 8,189,544 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $71.00 per share. Certain stockholders are also offering an aggregate of 410,456 shares of common stock in the offering at the same price to the public.
The Company also has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 1,290,000 additional shares of common stock to cover overallotments, if any, at the price to the public less the underwriting discount. Subject to customary conditions, the offering is expected to close on or about May 11, 2011. The net proceeds to the Company, after deducting the underwriting discount and other estimated offering expenses, are expected to be approximately $559.1 million (exclusive of the underwriters' overallotment option).