News
by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org March 24, 2011You can call it Frank. You can call it Fred. But don’t call it a single-payer health care system. That was the message Representative Mark Larson, D-Burlington, delivered to lawmakers in the House Appropriations Committee last week and during the House floor debate on Vermont’s latest effort to reform its health care system.
Two foresters from the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation recently participated in an interstate effort to survey for the emerald ash borer in eastern New York. The emerald ash borer is an invasive insect from Asia, which was detected in Ulster and Greene Counties in New York last summer.
The City of Burlington announced today that Fitch Ratings has assigned a BBB rating to $37 million in outstanding Burlington International Airport (BTV) revenue bonds, with a negative outlook. This represents a downgrade from the BBB+ Fitch rating maintained by BTV.
Draker Labs, a provider of high performance turnkey monitoring systems for large commercial and utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, is moving into new, larger offices on April 1, 2011. The company’s new offices will be located in the Maltex building at 431 Pine Street in Burlington, VT.
US Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced today that public housing agencies in Vermont will receive $386,383 to link low-income families with the necessary education and job training to put them on the path to self-sufficiency. These agencies are among nearly 600 that will receive approximately $54 million in grants. See national list here.
FairPoint Communications has expanded broadband to hundreds more homes and businesses in Hartford, White River Junction, Wolcott and Readsboro.
FairPoint’s new fiber-based, high-capacity network ‘ called VantagePoint(sm) ‘ offers customers a better, faster way to communicate.
Small business lenders now have access to more in-depth information and resources on U.S. Small Business Administration loan programs through the new Lender Toolkit on the agency’s recently redesigned website.
National Life Group today released its consolidated financial results for 2010, reporting a record high $1.74 billion in total revenue.
The company also announced that total assets under management grew $3 billion to $28.94 billion, that insurance in force increased roughly $2 billion to just over $62 billion, and that the company’s statutory surplus stood at $1.14 billion.
Spike Advertising has selected Mobius to receive one year’s worth of free marketing services --up to $50,000-- with their ‘Advertising Gone Good’ grant program. Nearly 40 non-profits from around Vermont competed for the grant through a comprehensive RFP process.
The City of Burlington and the Alliance Française of the Lake Champlain Region (AFLCR) will host a special flag-raising event on March 24 in culmination of a series of French cultural events celebrating French month. Mayor Bob Kiss will attend the event and welcome French Consul Général Christophe Guilhou, as well as other officials and community members.
by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org March 23, 2011 In the end, the House Dems, despite the best persuasive efforts of a Progressive and an independent representative, were good foot soldiers who did the speaker’s (and the governor’s) bidding: They refrained from straying too far outside the box they were given to work in.
Across Vermont, architects, builders and contractors are working to create more energy-efficient businesses and homes. Efficiency Vermont is proud to recognize a select number of those projects with its annual ‘Best of the Best’ Awards.