by Alicia Freese May 9, 2013 vtdigger.org How diverse can a “miscellaneous” bill be? That was more or less the question that squashed an attempt in the Senate on Thursday to allow child-care workers to unionize.

Governor Peter Shumlin and the Vermont Department of Labor (VDOL) has announced the awarding of $135,000 of federal Workforce Investment Act funds to 12 organizations in Vermont to administer the Summer Employment Opportunity (SEO) programs.  The purpose of the SEO program is to provide young Vermonters with meaningful work experiences to increase their employment, academic and personal skills and confidence.

by Anne Galloway May 9, 2013 vtdigger.org On Tuesday, Governor Peter Shumlin and legislative leaders agreed to eliminate any new General Fund taxes this year, effectively killing a number of provisions in the miscellaneous tax bill, H.528.

The parent company of Berkshire Bank, Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc (NYSE: BHLB), held its annual meeting of shareholders Thursday in 

Vermont had the third highest residential electric rates in the nation in February at 18.41 cents per kilowatt hour and the seventh highest for all sectors at 14.57 cents/KWH, according to the federal government. Vermont was 2.58 cents higher than the average New England residential rate and 0.2 cents lower overall. The US average was 11.61 and 9.77 respectively. Both the Vermont and US rates were higher than for February 2012. For residential, New York and Hawaii were higher. Overall, in addition to New York and Hawaii, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Alaska were higher.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, on a bipartisan voice vote, Thursday approved legislation authored by Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and cosponsored by Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) that blocks the creation of a land-border crossing fee. 

People's United Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of People's United Bank, announced that it has awarded a $100,000 grant to DonorsChoose.org, in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, May 6-10, 2013.

Kilawatt Technologies has great pleasure to announce the first quarter results for 2013 of the Energy and Environment Management Project with Vermont Mutual Insurance Group.Vermont Mutual achieved a 34 percent Reduction in Thermal Energy consumption. In addition, they achieved more than a 31 percent reduction in electrical energy consumption. This equates to a fuel oil burn for their building of 0.05 Gallons per Square Foot for the month of February.For 2012 as a whole, Vermont Mutual achieved a total energy reduction of almost 21 percent for the year.

Anbaric Transmission has announced that the "Transmission Customer Open Solicitation" for the Grand Isle Intertie Project ("GII") released on April 12, 2013, resulted in expressions of interest well in excess of the planned capacity of 400MW.

by Anne Galloway May 9, 2013 vtdigger.org The members of the House and Senate budget conference committees met twice on Wednesday to find $10 million in budget reductions. Democratic legislative leaders and the governor charged conferees with a double scrubbing of the budget on Tuesday when they announced a deal to scuttle at least $10 million in tax proposals. Instead, Gov.