The Addison County Chamber Of Commerce invites you
to join them this Wednesday for an introduction to Google AdWords. Presented by
Matt Henderson, Google's Vermont field marketing representative, you'll get an
introduction to online advertising and Google AdWords. It will be helpful if
you bring a laptop computer with you to this session, and if you don't already
have one, create an account with Google, which is free. The session will take place from 8 –
9:30AM at the Ilsley Library. For
details and to RSVP visit www.addisoncounty.com.
The Town of Middlebury will hold their regular
Select Board meeting this evening at 7 at the Russ Sholes Senior Center. Items on today's agenda include the
approval of the FY2013 Water & Wastewater budgets and rates, the award bid
for the Green Mountain Place Utility Upgrade Project along with and update on
the Fire Facilities Project. Additional
information about most Agenda items is available through the Town's website, www.middlebury.govoffice.com,
on the Select Board page.
Addison County families looking for affordable
entertainment, with a big accent on fun, don’t have far to travel these days.
Whirlie’s World Family Entertainment Center, located on Exchange Street in
Middlebury, is a fabulous, new indoor arcade that has just about everything for
young and old alike. Between
Burlington and Bennington, Whirlie’s World is the only interactive arcade
“multiplex”. It’s an ideal place for kids to blow off steam. And adults can
have fun there, too! This Thursday
morning at 9AM visit our website to take advantage this
week’s $10.00 Bruce and Hobbes Daily Deals certificate! It is good toward a
combo Mini Golf and Bounce House admission at Whirlie’s World.
Last Thursday over 50 University of Vermont
Extension Master Gardeners gathered at a Starksboro commercial garden for a unique
field trip that examined a variety of plant diseases and related pests
encountered by gardeners around Vermont. The master gardeners assembled in
Starksboro last week came from all walks of life. Many were weekend gardeners; others were commercial growers
or plant retailers. However their
shared interest was learning all they can about garden plants in harmony with
the natural environment.
A Rutland jury has decided a wrongful-death lawsuit
in favor of Rutland Regional Medical Center. After an eight-day trial that included testimony from
17 witnesses, most of them medical experts and doctors, jurors needed only two
hours to decide that the hospital and one of its doctors were not negligently
responsible for the death of 75-year-old Lois Vanderminden. The lawsuit had been brought by the
woman’s estate, which was seeking $500,000.
In its 24th year, the Great Brandon Auction serves
as sort of a yard sale for local businesses and residents to help out the
Stephen A. Douglas Birthplace and the local Chamber of Commerce. The auction
begins at 4PM today in the park and features a couple thousand items for bids
this year. A viewing of auction items will begin at 2PM. If you cannot stay for
the auction, you can leave a bid for any item. A 50-50 raffle, which last year
gave the winner more than $500, will benefit the chamber’s high school
scholarship fund. For more
information or a list of merchandise available at the auction, visit www.brandon.org. Also call the chamber at (802)
243-6401.
Ticonderoga’s fourth annual StreetFest promises to
be bigger and better than ever.
StreetFest is coming up this Saturday and is a community celebration of
arts and crafts, shopping, food, fun, entertainment and family activities
designed to bring people to Ticonderoga’s Montcalm Street business district. It
will be held from 10AM – 3M. With nearly 60 participants, this year's event is
bigger than ever. The Ticonderoga Montcalm Street Partnership sponsors
StreetFest. For more information
just visit www.ticonderogany.com.
The Ti-Alliance, with generous support from
Aubuchon Hardware and Benjamin Moore Paints, is beginning an annual mural
contest on key Ticonderoga buildings to incorporate public art in the community's
revitalization strategy. The winner of the contest will receive a $500 prize
and special recognition through the celebration of the final product and its
associated media coverage. This is a great opportunity for a young artist to
become better known in the region or an accomplished artist to showcase their
work in a community visited by over 100,000 tourists per year. Interested
Artists should send a cover letter, complete application form, 1 page
narrative, final design and $25 application fee to the Alliance Office by 3:00
on Friday, August 15. For
more information, contact the Alliance Office at 518-565-0054 or send an email
to jwoods@ticonderoga-alliance.org.
Essex County will get $1.5 million to buy new buses
for its public transportation system, as long as it comes up with $89,000 from
county coffers. County Manager
Daniel Palmer said they are eligible for a $1.3 million federal grant, $170,800
from the state, $20,000 in trade-in money and $61,000 from the Village of Lake
Placid and the Olympic Regional Development Authority. The new buses would
replace ones that are nearing the end of their life.
A couple who own property on a mountaintop in
Rutland County have lost in their bid to prevent construction of a new utility
communications tower there. The
state Public Service Board ruled for the Vermont Electric Power Co., saying it
could erect the tower against the wishes of the landowners and will have to pay
the couple less than $26,000 in compensation. The board found the property atop Northeast Mountain in
Wells would provide a key link in a new communications project VELCO is
building around Vermont. Meanwhile
the homeowners say their home - valued at $425,000 - will be rendered uninhabitable
by the project. They say they plan to appeal the decision to the courts.
The Vermont Department of Health says 10 Vermonters
have become sick from ground beef being recalled by Cargill Beef. Hannaford Supermarkets is alerting
consumers that Cargill Beef is voluntarily recalling 29,339 pounds of ground
beef that may contain salmonella. The
Health Department said yesterday that between June 6 and June 26 a total of 10
Vermonters around the state became sick. Officials say three were hospitalized
and all have recovered.
The state of Vermont is handing over control of its
social media-marketing machine. The
state says it's seeking an authentic, uncensored voice to promote tourism
online. So state officials say
they'll have people on Twitter send messages using the Twitter handle
@ThisIsVermont. That's a nod to E.B. White's famous essay, This Is New York. Steve
Cook is deputy director of the Vermont Department of Tourism, which is
organizing the campaign. He says
consumers are growing more accustomed to user-generated content when making
decisions about purchasing a product or choosing a vacation destination. So
far, more than 20 tech-savvy Vermonters have applied for the chance to tweet as
‘This Is Vermont.'
The state introduced FishVT yesterday, a new
Facebook page bringing together all of Vermont's fishing opportunities in one
convenient place. Vermont has some
of the best fishing in the US. You can view photos of fish caught around Vermont,
discover fishing hotspots you never knew about, learn new fishing techniques,
and share your stories with other anglers. This page was created through the partnership of Vermont
Department of Tourism and Marketing, Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife,
and Lake Champlain International.
Despite uncertainty about federal disaster funds,
the Shumlin Administration is moving ahead with plans to replace the state
hospital and renovate the flooded state office complex. But the administration says it may have
to re-assess those plans if the federal money is not available. The funding questions come almost year
after Tropical Storm Irene battered the state. Administration officials say
they still don't yet know how much money state government will get from the
Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Officials had counted on federal funds to cover 90 percent of the cost
of replacing the state hospital and renovating the Waterbury office complex. The
state expects to hear from FEMA by the middle of August about the possible range
of federal funding options.
The software giant Google will donate 100 computers
and software funding to Vermont public libraries and education sites. The donation is an extension of the
e-Vermont community broadband program.
The department of libraries will collaborate with Vermont state colleges
and the Community College of Vermont to provide free digital literacy training
at each site.
So why are gasoline prices higher in Chittenden
County than the rest of the state, or the rest of New England for that
matter? Even U-S Senator Bernie
Sanders wants to know, and he's calling for a federal investigation. He says two weeks ago, a gas station in
the Burlington area was charging 23 cents a gallon more than the same
company-owned station in Middlebury was charging. According to the Oil Price Information Service, which is an
independent fuel price research firm, Burlington last month was the most
lucrative gas market in the Northeast.
Thunderstorms pounded Shelburne and Grand Isle last
night, taking down trees and power lines.
The storms followed a narrow path, and luckily there were no injuries
despite all the lightning and devastation. At one point, more than 13-thousand Green Mountain Power
customers were in the dark but this morning it's down to 15-hundred, while
Vermont Electric Cooperative is working with nearly 13-hundred customers
without power. Several highways
closed by downed trees have since re-opened as well.
10 of 69 Vermont businesses that signed up to try
to trim their electrical usage by 7.5% over two years have met that goal with
the program half over. That's the word from Governor Peter Shumlin and
officials of Efficiency Vermont. They gathered yesterday at the Rutland
Regional Medical Center to kick off the final year of the project.
Ellison Surface Technologies will add 50 new jobs
by the end of the year with 40 more jobs on the horizon for next year at its
new satellite manufacturing plant in Rutland Town. That’s in addition to the 126 workers employed at the
Ellison Surface Technologies main plant in the Airport Business Park in North
Clarendon. As a major
subcontractor to GE Aviation, Ellison’s 15,000-square-foot space on Quality
Lane will make aircraft engine parts for the Rutland GE plant. Ellison will
also perform coating work for GE’s Hooksett, NH plant.
New York State's Department of Financial Services
says it has licensed a new company to operate as the first mutual insurer
serving the municipal bond market. Build America Mutual Assurance Company will
insure investment-grade general obligation bonds or other revenue bonds for
essential governmental facilities and services.
An American Cancer Society analysis shows higher
lung cancer rates in upstate New York than in New York City, a trend society
officials attribute to higher smoking rates in poorer areas. The report says
prostate, colorectal, breast and lung cancers account for about half the
state's cases and deaths. There’s a major geographic difference only in lung
cancer.
From Fox 44 and ABC 22 News – Your Voice in Vermont
& New York:
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin stood alongside
various police members Friday and delivered a strong message about bath salts. "Don't use this junk in Vermont.
Don't sell it. If you do, we'll bust you," said Shumlin. Over the weekend police did. In Barre, police went into Insane Glass
on Main Street, and took numerous packages. Some of them contain ingredients that state leaders banned
Friday. "They were up front
with us. They turned over all those products in that category," said Barre
Police Chief Timothy Bombardier. Police
say even though the store turned over all of its illegal products, they will
continue to make sure it stays that way.
"We'll check on them periodically," said Bombardier. Monday, we went there to talk to the
owner, but he wasn't there. An
employee however tells us, they're done selling those items. While they are, in nearby South Barre,
we went to Fired Up Tobacco Shop, and saw illegal products on the shelves. We were told the owner wasn't around
and no one could comment. Police
say because of the packaging, it's hard to tell what's in the product. But they say if they don't find out
soon, and continue to sell it, they'll have to take action. "People are going to start getting
charged," said Bombardier.
An ad campaign appears to be so
"Hoff-tastic", that police say people around the Northeast and here
and our area, are stealing signs using former Baywatch star David Hasselhoff. Police say two Cumberland Farms on
Riverside Avenue and Pine Street had cut out Hasselhoff signs stolen. There are still signs above the gas
pumps, but the cut outs are gone. Police
say the stores aren't looking to get people arrested; they just want the signs
back. "This is probably the
first real unique instance where we've had that's a cardboard cutout that has
been to desirable that people have wanted to steal. So I guess that's kudos to
Mr. Hasselhoff. But really this is something we haven't experienced in this
community," said Officer Kim Shelley. Police say if someone is caught with the signs, they could
be charged with a misdemeanor. If
you have any information you can contact police at 802-658-2700.
