News
BURLINGTON’Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) will donate a pair of mittens stuffed with candy to Burlington’s King Street Center for every new fan that joins the Agency’s Facebook page through Wednesday, Dec. 15.
US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) announced Wednesday that the US Army Medical Command has begun implementing a new first-in-the-nation medical pilot program for returning members of the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, which includes most of the line-of-duty injuries among the 1,300 Vermont National Guard members who are returning from deployments in Afghanistan.
The total value of Vermont construction contracts this year through October were down 23 percent as federal funding for highway and bridge construction waned. But both residential and commercial spending showed modest gains after two years of sluggish building in each. Residential was up 16 percent for the year-to-date and commercial was up 12 percent.
Governor-elect Shumlin sent the following letter to Vermont school board members today regarding the tax rate recommended by the acting Tax Commissioner, Ellen Tofferi. The letter suggests that the current tax rate will continue for 2012 and that the one-time, $19 million federal contribution could be used to bridge the expected shortfall in funding over the next two years.
At a time when 76-million Americans are sickened by food-borne illnesses each year, the Senate today voted 73 to 25 for legislation to strengthen food safety.
Weekly unemployment claims continued their sharp rise last week continuing an upward trend over the last couple of months to reach a similar level to a year ago. For the week of November 27, 2010, there were 1,795 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance, an increase of 394 from the week before.
With the launch of the new winter season, Stowe Mountain Lodge and Stowe Mountain Resort are poised for a grand re-opening. A multitude of new additions including the South Wing of Stowe Mountain Lodge, Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, new menu launch in both of Stowe Mountain Lodge's dining options, KidSpa and additional meeting space will nearly simultaneously open in December 2010.
People's United Financial, Inc (Nasdaq: PBCT), which is based in Connecticut and is the largest bank in Vermont, announced today that it has completed its acquisitions of LSB Corporation, an $800 million bank holding company based in North Andover, Massachusetts, and Smithtown Bancorp, Inc, a $2.3 billion bank holding company based in Smithtown, New York.
Mary M Lee has been appointed vice president and chief people officer of National Life Group.
The appointment, effective January 1, 2011, places Lee in charge of the department that oversees all people-related issues, including recruiting, organizational development and training, and total rewards for the roughly 900 employees who work at National Life Group.
Governor-elect Shumlin announced this afternoon that Doug Racine, the man whom he beat in a recount for the Democratic nomination last August, will be Vermont’s next Secretary of Human Services, Deputy Secretary and Commissioner of the Department for Children and Families.
The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets recently assessed penalties to two retail establishments for violating the Vermont scanner pricing law. The agency assessed the Price Chopper store in Derby a penalty of $3,750 and the Price Chopper store in Saint Johnsbury a penalty of $13,000.