Current News

Fitch Ratings has assigned a rating of 'AAA' to the $102,000,000 Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) mortgage revenue bonds (Mortgage Backed Securities Program), series 2009A (escrow bonds). The Rating Outlook for the bonds is Stable.

Targeting five Vermont dairy farms for audits of their employee documentation is creating extreme hardship for the farms involved and producing significant anxiety for farms throughout the Northeast, says John Mitchell, president of the Northeast Ag & Feed Alliance.
The farms are among 1,000 employers across the nation slated for documentation audits by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
When the initiative was announced on Nov. 19, ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton said in a department news release that the targeted employers were selected for inspection “as a result of investigative leads and intelligence and because of the business’ connection to public safety and national security.”

Insurance.com, the largest independent online auto insurance agency in the United States, today released its RateWatch report, which found that car insurance rates across the nation declined 3.5 percent in 2009 to $1,803 per year. After dramatic rate increases of 8 percent in 2008, the rate cuts this year allowed savvy auto insurance shoppers to save money on premiums by purchasing new policies.

At 8:45 this morning, after weeks of finger crossing, weather watching and speculation, the lifts at Stratton Mountain Resort spun for the very first time this season. The first skiers took their seats and were seen winding their way down Upper Mountain trails minutes later.
“It’s awesome,” said Nick Einstein, a snowboarder from Harrisonburg, Va. “I’m really excited the mountain is open and pumped to be riding here.”
Stratton opens with top to bottom skiing and riding on intermediate and advanced terrain on Southern Vermont’s highest peak. With 5-8 inches of natural snow in the forecast, trail projections could be as high as 30 for the upcoming weekend.
“The skiing is excellent. Edge to edge. Top to bottom, there’s a ton of snow out there,” noted Stratton Snow Reporter Chris Estes. “You ski down and hear the roar of the snow guns in the distance. It makes it feel like mid winter.”

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Tuesday announced $10.45 million in new first-responder grants to Vermont. The grants will be used to address the planning, equipment, training and exercise needs of first responders across the state. The new funding includes $6.6 million through the State Homeland Security Grant Program that Leahy authored in 2001. Leahy’s all-state minimum funding formula, modified in recent years, ensures that smaller states like Vermont are able to participate in the program, and it has brought nearly $100 million in grants to Vermont’s first responders since 2002.
Leahy said, “Our first responders are a community’s lifeline in an emergency. We count on them being ready at a moment’s notice, and they should be able to count on support like this for the resources they need to answer the call. This is an investment in Vermont’s readiness.”

The McCarthy Arts Center, home of Saint Michael's College theater productions, student and professional concerts, the Saint Michael’s Playhouse, hundreds of lectures, meetings, concerts, rehearsals, courses, and more, has been turned into an energy efficient building worthy of scrutiny by the Vermont’s heating and cooling engineering professionals.
The facility, closed this fall to allow for a thorough-going upgrade of the heating and cooling systems, was re-opened this month. The work provided such an improvement that it became the showpiece for the Dec. 2 meeting of the Vermont chapter of the American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASJRAE) who toured back stage, downstairs, upstairs, and the entire building to see the changes that have enabled major improvements to the energy efficiency of the facility.

At a recent Addison County Chamber of Commerce mixer, Bread Loaf Corporation presented Darcy Tarte, Financial Services Manager for Chittenden’s newest branch in Middlebury, with a plaque acknowledging the project’s recent LEED Certification. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System® was developed and is supported by the United States Green Building Council and is an international standard for assessing building performance and meeting sustainability goals. LEED recognizes common and state-of-the-art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

Dutton Smith, Jr., Bread Loaf’s Project Manager
Maynard McLaughlin, Bread Loaf’s President
Darcy Tarte, Chittenden Bank’s Branch Financial Services Manager
Jim Pulver, Bread Loaf’s Vice President of Architecture

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) (“GMCR”) today announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Diedrich Coffee, Inc. (NASDAQ: DDRX) (“Diedrich”) for $35 per share in cash pursuant to a cash tender offer, in a transaction with a total value of approximately $290 million.
Concurrent with entering into the merger agreement with GMCR, Diedrich terminated its previously announced merger agreement with Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEET) (“Peet’s”) (the “Prior Agreement”) following the expiration of the negotiation period granted to Peet’s under the terms of the Prior Agreement. In accordance with the terms of the Prior Agreement, on behalf of Diedrich, GMCR paid a termination fee of $8,517,000 to Peet’s in connection with such termination.

On an average school day, almost 15,000 low-income Vermont school children eat a free school breakfast, according to the School Breakfast Scorecard 2009, an annual report issued by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). This is a 15.5% increase over the previous school year – the largest percent increase in the nation – and moves Vermont from 9th to 3rd in the nation for participation. This is likely the result of both increased need and a bill passed in 2008 by the Vermont State Legislature that allows all low-income students to access free school breakfast.

Long-time Douglas staffer, Dennise Casey will leave the Governor’s office at the end of the year to take a senior position at the Republican Governors Association (RGA), Governor Douglas announced today.
“This is a bittersweet announcement,” said Governor Douglas. “Dennise has been an important part of my team since 2002 and she will be missed. However, I am thrilled that Dennise will continue her good work at the RGA as we gear up for an exciting 2010 election. Her intelligence and energy will be a real asset to the organization.”

Mount Snow kicked off the 09-10 winter season by opening with top to bottom trails on two of its mountain faces. At 9am this morning the Grand Summit Express, Canyon Express and Discovery Shuttle lifts offered terrain on the main face of the mountain for a group of guests eager to carve their first turns of the season. Meanwhile at Carinthia the Nitro Express spun into action as a horde of park riders raced to be the first to put board to steel in the Nitro terrain park. In total there was over 70 acres of skiing and riding on four trails with ten terrain park features.

Governor Jim Douglas today announced that the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation was awarded nearly a half-million dollars of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds from the U.S. Forest Service to control invasive insects and plants and provide conservation education programs in state parks and recreation areas within the Green Mountain National Forest.
The 16-month project will allow state officials to control the spread of invasive plants and insects on state and National Forest Service lands, by conducting pest surveys, limiting firewood movement and enhancing native species recovery for ash, butternut and chestnut.
“Vermont’s forests are valuable economically, ecologically and socially,” said Commissioner Jason Gibbs. “A major thrust of maintaining forest health in Vermont is detecting, eliminating or managing newly introduced pests.”