Current News

State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding will announce a new statewide financial literacy program for elementary-age children Wednesday, June 3 in Burlington at 11:15 am. The Reading is an Investment program aims to increase school book collections in personal finance, give teachers and librarians related curricular resources, and encourage students to read books that teach money concepts.
Spaulding will be joined by C.P. Smith School Library Media Specialist Shannon Walters and teacher Sue Clark and her third grade class. Phil Daniels, Market President for TD Bank, also will speak.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing next week to examine how recent court decisions and federal liability caps influence corporate behavior, affect American taxpayers, and provide justice to victims, Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced Tuesday.

With about 1,500 Vermont National Guard members deployed in Afghanistan, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Major General Michael Dubie today announced continued funding for a model outreach initiative and a new childcare program.
“When these soldiers were deployed, Vermonters made a promise to them that we would do our best to protect them and their families when they were in combat and when they returned,” Sanders said. “All of us should be very proud that Vermont has come up with programs that have become, in some ways, a model for America.”
At a press conference at Camp Johnson, the senator and the Vermont National Guard adjutant general detailed how $2.4 million in federal funds allotted at Sanders’ request is continuing a Vermont outreach program that has become a model for other states.

Two start-up companies, one a sales firm and the other a wood products manufacturer with plans to reopen the shuttered Stanley Tool Plant in Pittsfield, have been authorized to earn up to $230,094 in Vermont Employment Growth Incentives. The one firm would re-start the former Stanley Tool plant in Pittsfield.
The companies, if they grow in or locate in Vermont, could create 41 new jobs over the next five years, according to officials with the Vermont Economic Progress Council, which authorized the incentives late last week.
The Original Vermont Wood Products, Inc. was authorized to earn incentives totaling $100,604. The start-up company plans to re-start production at the former Stanley Tool plant in Pittsfield and bring most of the Stanley employees back to work.
They would lease the plant and equipment and make wood component parts for other customers. They also plan a new line of custom post caps, trellises, pergolas and wood sheds.

WPTZ-TV and WOKO-FM were winners of the Best in Show awards in the 2010 VAB Commercial of the Year competition. The awards were announced during the VAB s 55th Annual Convention May 27 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Montpelier.
More than 195 entries were submitted by radio stations, TV stations and local advertising agencies for the VAB awards, which remains the only regional competition of its kind.
Multiple first-place award winners included television stations WCAX, WVNY and WPTZ. WJEN-FM in Rutland and WWFY-FM in Barre each won multiple first place awards in the radio competition, and Shadow Productions and Mt. Mansfield Media both took home multiple awards in the ad agency contest.
WPTZ won Best in Show among all television entries for "Contraptions," a commercial for the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center in Burlington.
WOKO-FM won Best in Show for radio for "Cupholder," a commercial for Treadway Service Center.

During plant start-up activities Friday night, plant operators at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon identified a condition described as vapor and water dripping in the Advanced Off Gas excavated area. The volume was estimated to be extremely small and occurred over a period of approximately four hours. According to Yankee, this was a new leak. The leak has been stopped and there is no leak at this time. Yankee said there is no threat to public health or safety.
The vapor and water dripping was identified at approximately 7:30 pm during warm up of the AOG system. No leakage was visible after warm up and shortly after the AOG system was placed in service. The leak was located on a two-inch drain line and is approximately one-eighth of an inch in diameter.

Central Vermont Public Service said this afternoon that its crews, assisted by about 65 outside contract crews from across the northeast made steady progress today to restore power lost during Wednesday nights thunder storm. CVPS said that of this evening, the going is slow in restoring power to all customers, as each repair is only turning on a handful of customers at a time. As of 4:30 pm, about 240 CVPS customers in Rutland County and 640 customers in Windham County remain without power.
Crews will continue to work through the night. While most will be back on by late tonight, there may be some stragglers, particularly in Windham County without power into tomorrow. Crews will continue to work as quickly as they safely can to get everyone back on, so everyone can enjoy as much of their holiday weekend as possible.

President Obama has signed into law legislation authored by Senator Patrick Leahy to reauthorize satellite television licenses and to modernize satellite television services. The legislation will particularly benefit Vermonters in Bennington and Windham counties, who now may be able to receive Burlington networks through DISH, in addition DirecTV. The President signed the bill into law on Thursday.
“Vermonters are connected by the programming the state’s networks provide to television viewers, and with this new law, they can depend on continued service from satellite television providers,” said Leahy. “I urge DISH network to quickly work to exercise its new license to bring Burlington programming to Vermonters in Bennington and Windham counties. The news and information provided by Vermont stations to Vermonters should be available to consumers throughout the state.”

Governor Douglas will join with the families of fallen Vermonters, veterans, state leaders and others to celebrate the groundbreaking of Vermont’s new Global War on Terror Memorial at the Vermont Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery.
During the ceremony the Governor will also present a Gold Medal of Remembrance to the child of a Vermonter who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation fighting in Global War on Terror. The Gold Medal of Remembrance is issued by the White House Commission on Remembrance.
WHAT: Memorial Day Groundbreaking Ceremony for Vermont’s Fallen Heroes Global War on Terror Memorial

WHEN: Sunday, May 30, 2010 – 3:00 p.m.

WHERE: Vermont Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery, 487 Furnace Road, Randolph Center

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) has released its “First State-Specific Healthcare-Associated Infections Summary Data Report”, which gives an overview of where the country stands in efforts to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI). The report is based on both national and state-specific CLABSI data collected by NHSN.
The NHSN report looked at CLABSI data from January – June 2009. During that time, Vermont hospitals reported CLABSI rates that were among the lowest of the seventeen states that were included in the report, and that were significantly lower than the report’s standardized infection ratio baseline of 1.0. Vermont’s ratio for the period reported was 0.27.

Vermont Governor Jim Douglas yesterday (May 27, 2010) vetoed H485, An Act Relating to the Use Value Appraisal Program. The governor said in his veto message that H485 greatly undermines the original intent of the Current Use program, is complicated, highly nuanced, difficult to understand, administratively complex and needlessly and unfairly increases three taxes.
Governor Douglas has supported the Current Use program since he voted for the program s inception as a member of the House in the 1970 s. I continue to support the Current Use program, and believe that it has provided great benefits to our state. It is unfortunate that the General Assembly chose to raise taxes unnecessarily and punitively on the stewards of Vermont's working landscape in an effort to address the perceived misuse of the program. A more calibrated approach is required to achieve the desired objectives, he concluded.

Governor Jim Douglas announced yesterday that he would allow S88, An Act Relating to Health Care Financing and Universal Access to Health Care in Vermont, to become law without his signature.
“Vermont is recognized as a national leader in health reform, we are the healthiest state in the nation and we are in the midst of implementing significant changes from the federal health care reform bill,” said Governor Douglas. “To spend time and money studying a new model that cannot be implemented until at least 2017 is counterproductive. Further, the drug sample reporting provision adds burdensome new regulations that are unnecessary and could make it difficult for low-income Vermonters to receive needed medications. These sections do not represent meaningful reform; rather they detract from the serious work ahead.”