Current News

The US Department of Energy awarded more than $3.1 million in grants to two Vermont companies to help make solar energy more affordable and accessible. The Department of Energy awarded a $1 million grant to Faraday in Middlebury and $2.1 million to Norwich Technologies in White River Junction. These funds are part of more than $53 million awarded by the Energy Department to advance 40 research and development projects throughout the United States. The projects are designed to drive down the cost of solar energy and bring innovative ideas to the market more quickly.

Vermont’s congressional delegation – Senators Patrick Leahy (D) and Bernie Sanders (I) and Representative Peter Welch (D) – made the announcement today.

“These Vermont companies are on the forefront of reducing the cost of solar energy, a crucial element in helping transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and into renewable energies,” the delegation said in a joint statement.

Vermont Business Magazine FairPoint Communications in a statement issued a statement reiterating its commitment to providing high-quality customer service as it implements and ramps up its contingency plans during the strike by two unions that began last Friday. FairPoint said it is concerned with activities and incidents that have alarmed individuals and obstructed customer service. Meanwhile, the unions, representing more than 1,700 workers, said they are unaware of any inappropriate activity on the part of their members, which they would address if true, but that FairPoint has failed to provide specific information on its claims.

FairPoint's statement reads:

Vermont home sales were up, but median prices decreased in September from the same time last year. For New England, year-over-year sales increased by 0.6 percent according to The RE/MAX of New England September Monthly Housing Report. Pending sales were up 37.2 percent over September 2013. Month-over-month, the cooler weather has helped to contribute to a seasonally-expected decline of -15.8 percent in home sales, with pending sales up 11.3 percent. Across the region, homes are staying on the market an average of 4 additional days, while median price is down -5.3 percent on average. Across the region, every state showed year-over-year sales increases except for Massachusetts, which was down -2.9 percent over September 2013 figures.

The board of Emerge Family Advocates, Inc, has agreed to resign after ensuring that essential services would be maintained through a group of Upper Valley nonprofits, the Vermont Attorney General announced Monday. Sara Kobylenski, executive director of Upper Valley Haven, will coordinate with other local organizations, in consultation with Emerge staff, to provide court-ordered supervised visitation and supervised exchanges of children between parents until Emerge can resume operations.

“Difficult though the situation at Emerge has been,” Attorney General Bill Sorrell said, “we were able to reach this agreement in part because of the strength and commitment of the Upper Valley nonprofit community and its dedication to the services Emerge provides.”

The Vermont Superior Court, Washington Unit, issued a decision Tuesday concluding that the Republican Governors Association (RGA) violated Vermont law by accepting contributions in excess of $2,000 during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign. The RGA claimed it should be exempt from contribution limits because it qualified as an independent-expenditure-only committee. The Vermont Attorney General’s Office disagreed that RGA was an independent-expenditure-only committee and argued it must abide by the contribution limits.

Merchants Bancshares, Inc (NASDAQ: MBVT), the parent company of Merchants Bank, today announced net income of $2.81 million and $9.62 million, or diluted earnings per share of $0.44 and $1.52 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, respectively. This compares to net income of $3.67 million and $11.31 million, or diluted earnings per share of $0.58 and $1.79 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013, respectively. The return on average assets was 0.68 percent and 0.77 percent for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, respectively, compared to 0.88 percent and 0.90 percent for the same periods in 2013. The return on average equity was 9.02 percent and 10.48 percent for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, respectively, compared to 12.89 percent and 12.94 percent for the same periods in 2013.

Rebecca Haslam, a Champlain Elementary School teacher and District Social Studies and Equity Curriculum Coach for grades K-5, has been selected as the 2015 Vermont Teacher of the Year (VT-TOY), the Agency of Education announced today. In addition to team-teaching first grade, she helps develop curriculum, working with teachers in each of the Burlington School District’s six elementary schools to employ resources that are more inclusive in content, language, and practice.

Vermont Unemployment Rate Rises to 4.4 percent in September The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for September 2014 was 4.4 percent. This represents an increase of three-tenths of a percent from the revised August rate (4.1 percent). The increase was driven by both an increase in the number of unemployed and a decrease in the number of employed. The equivalent national average was 5.9 percent, which decreased by two-tenths of a percent from the previous month’s estimate. This is the fourth monthly increase to the statewide unemployment rate in Vermont in the past year. Vermont ranks seventh nationally and is no longer the lowest in New England, as New Hampshire's rate fell to 4.3 percent.

US Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) announced today that the Department of Veterans Affairs will begin accepting applications for college scholarships for surviving spouses of service members who died in the line of duty. Sanders worked hard to get the provision in the recently-passed veterans bill. He urged all eligible spouses to take advantage of it.

Until the law was changed this summer, the Post 9/11 GI Bill had offered scholarships to children of those who died in the line of duty but not their widows or widowers. Now, eligible spouses may be entitled to full tuition for up to 36 months plus a stipend to cover the cost of housing, books and supplies.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org Until the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is contained there will be some risk of a patient with the virus coming in contact with Vermont’s health care system, but that risk is “very small,” according to state health officials.

The recent cases in Dallas illustrate Ebola can reach the U.S., and state officials are taking precautions seriously despite the low likelihood of an outbreak.

Condé Nast Traveler announced today the results of its 27^th Annual Readers’ Choice Awards, recognizing Hotel Vermont in Burlington as #14 in the 25 Best Hotels in the US. More than 76,600 dedicated readers cast votes for 7,721 hotels, 642 cities, 453 cruise ships, and 148 islands, with an average survey time of 16.5 minutes. The result? The 1,182 best travel experiences in the world.

Hotel Vermont.

by Rob Roper There is some confusion out there, particularly among seniors, about what will happen to Medicare if Vermont adopts the single payer healthcare program, Green Mountain Care. Does the state intend to “take over” Medicare? On the heels of this question getting some necessary public attention from Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Dan Feliciano, the single payer advocacy organization Vermont Leads posted, “Just in case you've seen this… you should understand the state has no desire (or ability) to take over Medicare.” Robin Lunge, the Shumlin Administration’s Director of Health Care Reform, was quoted as saying, "It's never been our intention to take away or reduce people's Medicare benefits.” (VT Digger, 10/7/14)
These statements range from dishonest to misleading.