Union Bankshares, Inc Plans Move to The NASDAQ Stock MarketMorrisville, VT – (8/21/2008) Union Bankshares, Inc. announced today that its board of directors has approved the voluntary transfer of the listing of the Company’s common stock from the American Stock Exchange (“AMEX”) to The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC(r). The Company’s trading symbol “UNB” will remain unchanged. The Company anticipates that its shares will begin to trade on NASDAQ Global Market effective September 4, 2008. Until then, the shares will continue to trade on AMEX.”This decision was reached after careful consideration of capital market alternatives and analysis of the electronic market model, which provides added visibility to our investors,” said Ken Gibbons, President and CEO of Union Bankshares, Inc. “We believe that NASDAQ’s electronic multiple market maker structure will provide our company with enhanced exposure and liquidity, while at the same time providing investors with the best prices, the fastest execution, and the lowest cost per trade.”Union Bankshares, Inc., with headquarters in Morrisville, Vermont is the bank holding company parent of Union Bank, which offers deposit, loan, trust and commercial banking services throughout northern Vermont and in northwestern New Hampshire. As of June 30, 2008, the Company had approximately $396 million in consolidated assets compared to $376 million at June 30, 2007. The Company operates 14 banking offices and 29 ATM facilities in Vermont, a branch and ATM in Littleton, New Hampshire, and a loan origination office in St. Albans, Vermont. For further information, please refer to the Company’s reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov(link is external).This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include the anticipated timing of the trading of the Company’s common stock on The NASDAQ Stock Market, the effect of such listing on the Company, its common stock and investors, and the expectation of an orderly transfer of the listing to NASDAQ from AMEX. Forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations and assumptions of the Company’s management, and entail various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Important factors known to the Company that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements include the ability of the Company to continue to satisfy the listing requirements of The NASDAQ Stock Market and other factors identified from time to time in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those factors identified in the Company’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
The Vermont/New Hampshire Marketing Group announced a special event to assist marketers throughout the region. The topic is Marketing in a Down Economy and it is an all-day workshop in Concord, NH that will discuss the best practices for generating business through online marketing, email, and Web 2.0 strategies.The session will be lead by marketing experts sharing their knowledge from various vantage points. They are Daryl Eames of the Herrington Catalog, Sundeep Kapur of NCR eCommerce and Regan Taylor, also of NCR eCommerce. They will be joined by other eMarketing veterans with experience in financial services, sports and entertainment to discuss strategies that can benefit many different types of businesses in challenging times. The host of the panel, Kapur, said the topic was selected because economic times are tough, which means all your marketing initiatives need to count. We’ll focus on customer acquisition, learning more about your customers, their preferences, the right communications frequency and ways to strengthen your dialogue with them. The cost for the January 21 seminar is $90 for members, $125 for non-member and the location is the Holiday Inn, Concord, NH. Attendees need not be VT/NH MG members to register. There is a discount for multiple attendees from the same company. For reservations, contact the organization at 802-457-2807 or visit the website: www.vtnhmg.org(link is external).The VT/NH Marketing Group is a not for profit membership organization providing education and management information to the marketing industry in Vermont, New Hampshire, and states beyond. Its mission is to provide networking and affordable education to people at every level of member companies, from new hires who need to learn basic skills, to experienced staff who need to re-tool for changing media opportunities. Originally created to support catalogers and the vendors who service them, the VT/NH Marketing Group has expanded to provide information and support to business owners, managers and marketers of all industries, including direct and online marketing. Its annual conference will be in Burlington, VT June 4-5, 2009.
Saint Michael’s College,Arne Duncan, United States Secretary of Education, will be the 2009 commencement speaker at Saint Michael’s College on Thursday, May 14, at 10 a.m. in the Ross Sports Center. Secretary Duncan will address the 516 graduating seniors earning bachelor s degrees and 50 graduate students who are present, earning master s degrees, and their families, together totaling some 3,000 people at the college s graduation ceremonies. U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, a graduate of the Saint Michael s College class of 1961, was instrumental in arranging for Secretary Duncan to speak at Leahy s alma mater.Honorary Degrees:Secretary Duncan will be awarded an honorary Saint Michael’s College doctoral degree, as will Marcelle Leahy, wife of Senator Patrick Leahy; Sister Irene Duchesneau, RHSJ, executive director of the Fanny Allen Foundation, and Dr. Frederick Burkle (SMC 61), senior fellow of the Harvard School of Public Health and senior associate and researcher at the Johns Hopkins University Medical Institutes.Secretary DuncanArne Duncan was confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Education on inauguration day Jan. 20, 2009, becoming the leader of President Barack Obama s historic agenda of support for America s education system. Secretary Duncan has seven years experience as chief executive of the Chicago Public Schools, the nations third-largest school district, where he has addressed such issues as how to raise teacher quality, how to transform weak schools, and when to shutter those that are irredeemably failing.President Obama said, in announcing his choice of Arne Duncan for this position, We need a new vision for a 21st century education system one where we aren t just supporting existing schools, but spurring innovation; where parents take responsibility for their children s success; where we re recruiting, retaining, and rewarding an army of new teachers; where we hold our schools, teachers and government accountable for results; and where we expect all our children not only to graduate high school, but to graduate college and get a good paying job.The President said further, These are the goals to which Arne Duncan has devoted his life from his days back in college, tutoring children here in Chicago; to his work at the helm of a non-profit remaking schools on the South Side; to his time working for the Chicago Public Schools, where he became Chief Executive Officer of this city s school system. President Obama credited Secretary Duncan with proven experience changing our schools from the bottom up.Harvard & BasketballBorn in 1964, Mr. Duncan comes from a family of educators: his mother founded and has run a highly regarded Chicago tutoring program for 48 years. His late father was a psychology professor at the University of Chicago.Mr. Duncan graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and sits on the Harvard Board of Overseers. He tutored Chicago children during a year he took off from studying sociology at Harvard. He and President Obama have played pick-up basketball together in Chicago since the early 1990s, having met through Michelle Obama s brother. Mr. Duncan was co-captain of the Harvard basketball team, and a professional player in Australia from 1987 to 1991 (he is 6 foot 5); from 1991 to 1998, he directed the Ariel Education Initiative, a program seeking better schooling for poor children on the South Side of Chicago.At his confirmation hearing before the Senate, Mr. Duncan said he would work for real and meaningful change in the nation s schools and said he hoped that Mr. Obama s example as a model student could inspire millions of American children. He added, Never before has being smart been so cool.Plan to increase student financial aidOn Feb. 26, Secretary Duncan highlighted education portions of the FY 2010 budget that would dramatically expand student financial aid for college. He said the budget calls for a historic investment to make college more affordable, and said, The new funding represents a significant expansion of our federal student aid programs providing more dollars to allow more students to attend more schools. Specifically, the proposal would provide an additional $17 billion for Pell Grants in FY 2009 and 2010. The current year funding is $16.2 billion with 6.1 million students participating. By ensuring that higher education is affordable and accessible for all our young people, Mr. Duncan said, we will make certain that our nation is prepared to compete in an information-age economy.Saint Michael s College, www.smcvt.edu(link is external), founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation s Best 368 Colleges. A liberal arts, residential, Catholic college, Saint Michael s is located just outside of Burlington, Vermont, one of America s top college towns, and less than two hours from Montreal. As one of only 270 institutions nationwide with a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael s has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael s students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and Saint Michael s professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last eight years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation s Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings.
For the twelfth time since 1991, U.S.News & World Report has ranked Vermont Law School’s environmental law program as the best in the nation. The program, run through the school’s Environmental Law Center (ELC), offers the largest selection of environmental law courses in the nation. The ELC has also been active in international projects, assisting partner schools in China and Russia in the development of environmental law curricula. The 2010 edition of America’s Best Graduate Schools will appear on newsstands on April 28.Vermont Law School (VLS) President and Dean Geoffrey Shields says, “We are committed to protecting the planet’s most valuable resource–our environment. I commend Environmental Law Center (ELC) Director Marc Mihaly and our outstanding faculty.”The school’s environmental law and policy program offers the largest and deepest selection of environmental law courses in the country. The ELC provides a multidisciplinary program in law, policy, science, and ethics to lawyers, law and graduate students, government officials, teachers, scientists, and citizen activists. The ELC administers the Master of Environmental Law and Policy (MELP) degree program for lawyers and nonlawyers and the LLM in Environmental Law, a post-JD degree for experienced attorneys who seek to specialize. The school offers unparalleled clinical, research, and experiential programs through the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, the Institute for Energy and the Environment, the Land Use Institute, the Environmental Tax Policy Institute, the Climate Legacy Initiative, and the Partnership for Environmental Law in China.The ELC’s Summer Session participants acquire a working knowledge of the legal and scientific underpinnings of environmental policy and explore major environmental issues with leading national experts in a collaborative environment. The Summer Session offers a broad curriculum, a Visiting Distinguished Environmental Scholars program, and a popular lecture series that features summer faculty members, distinguished summer scholars, and environmental media fellows speaking about current issues in their fields.In addition to the Environmental Semester in Washington and the MELP internship program, the ELC is active in international projects, assisting partner schools inChina and Russia in the development of environmental law curricula. VLS received a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development to support a collaborative partnership with Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, to address the serious environmental problems and energy needs associated with China’s ever-growing market economy.Vermont Law School-a private, independent institution–is top-ranked in environmental law by U.S.News & World Report. VLS offers a Juris Doctor (JD) curriculum that emphasizes public service, a Master of Environmental Law and Policy (MELP) degree for lawyers and nonlawyers, and two post-JD degrees, the Master of Laws (LLM) in Environmental Law and the LLM in American Legal Studies (for international students). The school also features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Environmental Law Center and the South Royalton Legal Clinic. For more information, visit www.vermontlaw.edu(link is external).Source: Vermont Law School, April 23, 2009
Eight community health centers in Vermont will receive almost $4.9 million in economic stimulus funds to address immediate and pressing facility and equipment needs. The $4.9 million is Vermont s latest allotment from $2 billion that was set aside for Federally Qualified Health Centers in the economic recovery bill that Congress passed last February 13.The Vermont grants include $877,690 for Community Health Centers of The Rutland Region in Bomoseen; $485,900 for Little Rivers Health Care of Bradford; $699,995 for Community Health Center of Burlington; $717,500 for Community Health Services of the Lamoille Valley in Morrisville; $462,310 for The Health Center of Plainfield; $519,220 for the Richford Health Center in Richford; $881,820 for Northern Counties Health Care in St. Johnsbury, and $250,000 for Springfield Medical Care Systems in Springfield.The centers provide affordable primary care, dental care, mental health services and low-cost prescription drugs. A cost-effective alternative to hospital emergency rooms, community health centers offer basic services like prenatal care, childhood immunizations and cancer screenings. Open to everyone, the centers care for patients covered by Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance as well as those who have no insurance. We are finally making real progress in addressing the primary health care crisis in our country, said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has spearheaded a dramatic expansion of health centers in Vermont and across the country. With 60 million Americans not having regular access to a doctor, we have a major shortage of primary health care physicians, dentists, nurses and other medical personnel, Sanders added. The good news is that Congress is beginning to address that crisis by doubling the amount of money going to community health centers and tripling the amount of money for the National Health Service Corps, which will substantially increase the number of primary health care doctors, dentists and nurses. We have a long way to go but we are beginning to make some progress.A member of the Senate health committee, Sanders helped take the lead in doubling funding under the stimulus bill for health centers.Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said, Community health centers are an invaluable component of providing health care especially in rural areas like much of Vermont. As we engage in a national debate around truly reforming our health care system, our community health centers are providing Vermonters patient-centered care that will continue as we move forward. These funds from the economic recovery plan will direct resources to our eight centers to help them reach more Vermonters and make vital upgrades to their facilities and equipment.Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said, As Congress debates the best way to reform the nation s health care system, one thing is clear: we must ensure Vermonters have access to quality, local health services. These recovery funds will help our community health centers provide critical services to Vermonters who need them most. By investing in these centers, we are investing in Vermonters health.The Vermont grants are part of $851 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act capital improvement program grants. The grants will support the construction, repair and renovation of over 1,500 health centers nationwide. More than 650 centers will use the funds to purchase new equipment or health information technology systems, and nearly 400 health centers will adopt and expand the use of electronic health records.In an earlier round of stimulus funds for Vermont, the eight community health centers shared more than $1.5 million to expand services and create jobs.Separately, Springfield Hospital earlier this year was awarded $1.3 million to become Vermont s eighth Federally Qualified Health Center. With that addition, health centers will provide primary health care to more than 100,000 Vermonters regardless of their ability to pay.Source: Senator Sanders’ office
ASIC North, Inc.Champlain Dental Laboratory, IncFuse MarketingHeritage AviationHUBER+SUHNER, Inc.Resource Systems Group Inc.Seventh GenerationTPW ManagementVermont Electric Power Company, (VELCO)Wells River Savings BankWild Apple Graphics, Ltd.Large Companies(150 or more employees) Vermont Business Magazine and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce have named the top twenty Best Places to Work in Vermont 2011. The awards program was created in 2006 and is presented in partnership with the Vermont Department of Labor and the Vermont Department of Economic Development and Best Companies Group.This statewide survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Vermont, benefiting the state’s economy, its workforce and businesses.2011 Best Places to work in Vermont winners in alphabetical order are: Comcast CableCountry Home ProductsDealer.comEdward JonesEntergy Nuclear Vermont YankeeGreen Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.Mascoma Savings BankThe King Arthur Flour CompanyVermont Energy Investment CorporationTo be considered for participation, companies had to fulfill the following eligibility requirements:- Have at least 15 employees working in Vermont;- Be a for-profit or not-for-profit business or government entity;- Be a publicly or privately held business;- Have a facility in the state of Vermont; and- Must be in business a minimum of 1 year.Companies from across the state entered the two-part process to determine the Best Places to Work in Vermont. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company’s workplace policies, practices, and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process in Vermont and also analyzed the data and used their expertise to determine the final rankings.Who will be number one?The final rankings for each category will be announced at a special event at the McCarthy Art Center on the Campus of Saint Michael’s College on March 28, 2011.For more information on the Best Places to Work in Vermont program, visit http://BestPlacesToWorkinVT.com(link is external) or contact Jackie Miller at 877-455-2159.For more information on the event or to register for the event contact Delaney Meeting and Event Management at 802-865-5202 or email info@delaneymeetingevent.com(link sends e-mail).About Vermont Business MagazineSince 1972, VBM has been the leading source of statewide Vermont business news and data. It publishes every month, in addition to three annual publications: The Vermont Business & Manufacturers Directory (May), The Book of Lists (August), and the Ask the Experts/Business Profiles (December). VBM also sponsors or co-sponsors several business awards events: Vermont Centennial Business Awards (March); Best Places to Work in Vermont (March); Deane C Davis Outstanding Vermont Business of the Year Award (May); Vermont SBA Small Business Person of the Year (June); 5x5x5 Growth Awards (September); and Vermont Rising Stars (November).About the Vermont Chamber of CommerceThe Vermont Chamber of Commerce, the largest statewide, private, not-for-profit business organization, represents nearly every sector of the state’s corporate/hospitality community. Our mission is to create an economic climate conducive to business growth and the preservation of the Vermont quality of life.
Small/Medium Size Companies(15-149 employees)
Three new businesses launched this month by recent graduates of the Women’s Small Business Program, (WSBP). WSBP is one of several programs run by Mercy Connections whose mission is to nurture self-sufficiency through education, mentoring and community. One is a cloth diaper service, another is a floral hair pin company, and the third is fitness retreat service. Program Coordinator and graduate Ali Marchildon says, ‘WSBP has been teaching women how to write business plans for 22 years. We’ve graduated close to 1500 women, 150 of whom are currently running successful businesses. These three new businesses are opening their doors in the toughest economy since the Great Depression by starting small, designing or bartering for their own websites, keeping low inventory, and basing year one operations out of their homes.’Cyndi Sullivan graduated from WSBP last fall and is launching Smarty Pants, a cloth diaper service. (http://www.smartypantsvt.com(link is external)) She is a stay at home mother of three and washed her own diapers for years, as there wasn’t a service available. Her website and video went live last week and the service will begin this summer. Sullivan’s latest blog post states, ‘The days and weeks to come will be filled with preparing our laundry facility. We have chosen to make this business a part of our home. This allows us to keep overhead under control for everyone. But make no mistake. This is no ‘home laundry business’. We’ve got some amazing industrial grade, state-of-the-art in energy efficiency machines that will be delivered to this humble basement of ours in the coming weeks. (In fact ‘ about an hour ago, contracts for the machines were signed and sealed!) We are so excited to choose a system that will give our future clients the kind of diaper service we only dreamed of having.’Kristin Humbargar owns Posy Pins, LLC, a charming floral hair pin company. Humbargar just completed designing her new website that links her blog, Facebook page and Etsy shop. While still in the middle of writing her plan, a buyer for Garnet Hill ‘friended’ her on Facebook. Things moved forward quickly and her colorful bobby pins were offered in the Growing Up Garnet Hill catalogue for the 2010 holiday and 2011spring seasons. Humbargar came back to her business planning roots last week to speak to the current cycle of WSBP students as part of a graduate panel. While sharing stories of her first year she states, ‘I can’t emphasize how important it is to listen to your customers and follow your product down the path it points to. My daughter’s friends treat their Posy Pins like trading cards. They have so many that I came up with a new product to carry them inâ ¦.a packet full of posies.’ (http://www.prettyontop.com/(link is external))The third business and website launched this month is a mountain bike/yoga retreat service called Single Track Mindfulness. Co-owner Jennie Date finished WSBP in May of 2010 and will be offering her first Vermont retreats this summer. Her new homepage states, ‘Singletrack Mindfulness strives to provide you with a unique experience that combines the fun and freedom of mountain biking with the inner reflection of yoga. Our retreats invite you to be fully present and devote complete attention to self-awareness and personal goals.’ STM full-service retreats feature local organic cuisine along with the guided physical adventure. (http://www.singletrackmindfulness.com(link is external))‘We are always excited to learn of our graduates opening doors,’ says Marchildon. ‘WSBP nurtures a vibrant community of women business owners who network with each other, shop from each other and promote each other. Our latest graduates are making clever and consistent use of social media tools and are finding savvy ways around the challenges of building a business when traditional lending opportunities for start ups are scarce. They know how to take smart risks and have the foundation to see it through and make it happen. This is a particularly exciting month for WSBP graduates and a significant contribution to the growing micro-business community that keeps Burlington alive and well.’
Community Bank NA,Thomas S Leavitt, Executive Vice President of Merchants Bank, announced that Merchants Bank, in partnership with The Vermont Foodbank, has started a fundraising drive to support those hardest hit by hurricane Irene. Donation centers have been established at Merchants Bank branches across Vermont. Please visit www.MBVT.com(link is external) for a branch listing. This effort will primarily be focused on re-stocking the food shelves, meal sites and kitchens in the areas of Vermont most impacted by the storm and its aftermath. Vermonters are encouraged to make monetary donations at their local Merchants Bank branch office. Monetary donations will allow for the purchase of supplies needed to respond to specific needs across the state. Monetary donations can be made directly to The Vermont Foodbank at www.vtfoodbank.org(link is external) or by calling 1-800-585-2265. The Vermont Foodbank is the state’s largest hunger-relief organization, serving communities in all 14 counties of Vermont through a network of more than 280 food shelves, soup kitchens, shelters, senior centers and after-school programs. In FY2010, the Vermont Foodbank distributed more than 7.6 million pounds of food to as many as 86,000 Vermonters. The Vermont Foodbank, a member of Feeding America, is nationally recognized as one of the most effective and efficient nonprofits and food banks in the nation. To learn more about hunger in your community and to take action against hunger and poverty in Vermont, visit us on the web at www.vtfoodbank.org(link is external)
Ohio Attorney General Approves Ballot Initiative for $13 Clean Energy Initiative FacebookTwitterLinkedInEmailPrint分享Alan Johnson for the Columbus Dispatch:The language for proposed amendments to the Ohio Constitution dealing with renewable energy and legislative ethics was approved by state Attorney General Mike DeWine on Monday.DeWine certified that the Ohio Clean Energy Initiative and the Ohio Ethics First Amendment each had at least 1,000 valid signatures of registered voters, the minimum number required. He said the wording on each was a “fair and truthful summary” of the full proposals.The energy initiative, submitted by backers for the sixth time as an amendment, asks voters to approve spending $13 billion in taxpayer money on clean energy, including wind, solar and geothermal projects. The state would issue $13 billion in bonds over 10 years to fund investments that would be controlled by an appointed commission based in Ohio but incorporated in the state of Delaware.The backers of the amendment are described only as grass-roots activists. Financial supporters have not been identified.DeWine also approved the language for the Ohio Ethics First Amendment, proposed by a group called the Ethics First — You Decide Ohio Committee.The proposal has several provisions related to the General Assembly. They include a two-year ban on former legislators doing business with the legislature; limiting legislative salaries to no more than the median household income in the state; requiring the retention of legislative records for four years, and granting taxpayers standing to file lawsuits to compel legislative compliance with the state constitution.Both issues now will be reviewed by the Ohio Ballot Board, a five-member panel chaired by Secretary of State Jon Husted. It must decide whether each proposal should appear on the ballot as one or more issues.Backers of the energy and ethics proposals then would separately need to gather a minimum 305,591 valid signatures of registered Ohio voters to reach the fall ballot. The signatures must come from at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties.The proposals can be found on DeWine’s website at www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Petitions.DeWine OKs language for Ohio amendments on ethics, ‘green’ energy
FacebookTwitterLinkedInEmailPrint分享Reuters:HANOI—Vietnam plans to more than triple the amount of electricity it produces from renewable sources and push for a 26% increase in household solar energy usage by 2030, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told Reuters.Speaking ahead of Vietnam’s participation in the expanded G7 summit that will be held in Canada from June 8 to 9, Phuc also said he hopes the country can utilize its roughly 20 Mt of rare earth reserves, which he said are the world’s third-largest, in building new energy technologies.Vietnam has been seeking to promote renewable energy development to reduce its increasing reliance on coal for electricity generation.According to its Strategy of Renewable Energy Development, by 2030 Vietnam plans to reduce its use of coal products by 40 Mt, Phuc said.Vietnam will consume 156.6Mt of the fuel by 2030, according to a forecast in a 2016 report on the Ministry of Industry and Trade website. By that time, coal-fired power plants will account for 53% of Vietnam’s total power generation capacity, compared with the current level of 45%, the ministry said.Vietnam will “increase the electricity output produced from renewable sources from approximately 58 billion kWh in 2015 to 101 billion kWh by 2020, and 186 billion kWh by 2030,” Phuc said.More: Vietnam Sets Out Green Ambitions with Bold Targets for Solar, Rare Earth Vietnam plans major renewable energy push