News

Governor Jim Douglas passed into law last week a program called Challenges for Change, which aims to find $38 million in savings in state government operations. Rather than making traditional budget cuts, the law urges state government agencies to find new, less expensive ways of implementing their services.

Legislation passed by the Vermont House last week would make it easier to recycle computers, televisions and other electronics, according to a story in the Burlington Free Press. The bill would require manufacturers to fund the disposal of their products, which would fund free drop-off sites for e-waste in every Vermont county.

The Vermont Senate has passed a bill which would use $8.6 million in federal economic stimulus money to help create more than 1000 new jobs around the state. The bill, which was drafted by the Senate Economic Development committee, will put $3 million dollars towards expanding high speed broadband internet service in rural areas of the state.

This February eLEI report brings a first possible glimpse of an upcoming double dip in the US economy. Following 10 consecutive months of increase, eLEI has gone down. Growth has pulled back from the previous highs reached and the recession probability has increased dramatically. It will be important to continue to watch the recession probabilities index to determine if the course reverses.

CVPS completed restoration efforts late Sunday night in the aftermath of last week’s two-pronged snow and wind storm that knocked out power to more than 1 million electric utility customers across the Northeast, finishing one day ahead of initial estimates.

Governor Jim Douglas today announced that workers compensation insurance would cost less for most Vermont employers when new rates approved by the Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration (BISHCA) become effective on April 1, 2010. This is the fourth straight year Vermont rates have decreased.

Tired utility crews are making steady progress today in the wake of a hard-hitting one-two-punch storm system that caused 88,000 Central Vermont Public Service customer outages. As of 5 p.m., 8,500 customer outages remained, but storm recovery is likely to extend through the weekend into Monday.

The state is making roughly $250,000 in grants available to communities across the state for municipal planning and other special projects. Officials at the Vermont Department of Economic, Housing and Community Development announced the Municipal Planning Grants of up to $15,000, which can be used for a variety of planning projects.

By Neale F Lunderville. On Town Meeting Day, many voters will be confounded by a riddle on their school budget ballot: how is it that we cut school spending, but our property tax bill went up anyway?

Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) Secretary David Dill and New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Acting Commissioner Stanley Gee today announced that the second ferry slips at the Lake Champlain Ferry between Crown Point, NY, and Addison, VT, have been completed and are open for service.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) has given $10,000 to support the South Burlington School District’s Wellness and Resiliency Program.
The program, which includes approximately 100 teachers, addresses wellness and learning through stress management and mindfulness techniques. These techniques are brought into the classroom as part of the student’s regular curriculum.

As utility crews whittled tens of thousands of outages down to a several thousand late Thursday, the second hit from a two-punch storm knocked out service to thousands more customers. As of 8 a.m., about 23,600 CVPS customers were without power.
Widespread outages were scattered across the state, with Addison Bennington, Orange, Rutland, Windham and Windsor counties hardest hit.