Latest Vermont Headlines

All the headlines from our Vermont Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Vermont Lawmakers to Ban Driving While Texting

May 6 2010 // Vermont lawmakers want to put an S-T-O-P to drivers who text. Under a deal reached Tuesday between lawmakers, texting by drivers of any age will be banned, starting this summer. And the bill that says so goes a step...

Vermont School Had $200K in Winter Flood Damage

May 5 2010 // School officials in Vermont say winter flooding at a Bennington elementary school caused $200,000 in damage. Officials say the Jan. 17 water main break at the Molly Stark Elementary School affected 17 rooms and closed the...

Survey Shows Vermont Companies Safer than Peers

Apr 23 2010 // Vermont’s Department of Labor says companies enrolled in a state voluntary worker safety program have fewer reports of job-site injuries and illnesses than the national average. The Burlington Free Press reports two...

Maine, Vermont Tops for Low Car Insurance

Apr 14 2010 // People who live in northern New England have some of the lowest car insurance rates in the country. A survey by Insure.com says the lowest rates are found in Maine, followed by Vermont. New Hampshire and Massachusetts also...

Vermont Firms to See Decline in Workers’ Comp Costs

Mar 3 2010 // Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas says the state’s business owners are going to be paying less for workers’ compensation insurance. The new rates that will take effect April 1 will mark the fourth consecutive year in...

Vermont Locals Vow to Rebuild Twice-Torched Historic General Store

Feb 2 2010 // Twice burned, the Putney General Store in Vermont is rising from the ashes. On Monday night, the Putney Historical Society hosted a community gathering to update the status of a rebuilding project being planned for the...

Vermont Supreme Court: Landowner Can Sue Mine President

Jan 20 2010 // The Vermont Supreme Court says a landowner can sue the president of the Vermont Asbestos Group over contamination on property next to a former asbestos mine in Eden and Lowell. The Supreme Court has overruled a lower...

USDA Taps Former Head of Vermont Captive Insurance Association

Jan 19 2010 // Molly Lambert, former president of the Vermont Captive Insurance Association, has been appointed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as rural development director for New Hampshire and Vermont. She was nominated for the...

Chartis Assumes Ownership of Vermont Ski Resort

Jan 8 2010 // The Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont has a new owner. The resort’s previous owner, the American International Group, had transferred ownership to its P/C insurance division, Chartis. Ski operations, two golf courses...

Montpelier Officials Happy Insurance Covers City’s 2004 Accounting Error

Dec 15 2009 // Two months after revelations about a $462,000 overpayment to a contractor thrust Vermont’s tiny capital into a round of finger-pointing and soul-searching over accounting and accountability, the mayor and city...

Second Fire at Historic Vermont General Store Ruled Arson

Nov 12 2009 // It was a heartwarming story: A 200-year-old general store suffers a fire, the owner can’t afford to rebuild it and the town’s historical society steps in to buy the building, hoping to make it the commercial...

Former Vermont Commissioner Ledbetter Dies

Nov 10 2009 // A former U.S. Senate candidate who once served as Vermont’s banking and insurance commissioner has died. Stewart Ledbetter died Thursday. He was 76. Ledbetter served in the administration of Gov. Richard Snelling and...

Fire Strikes Historic Vermont General Store Again

Nov 4 2009 // When a fire destroyed the beloved, centuries-old Putney General Store 18 months ago, some people here cried. The creaky wooden building where locals arrived for coffee, hardware and gossip, and where tourists ducked in to...

Sheffield to Tout Regulatory Role in Georgia Insurance Commissioner Race

Oct 28 2009 // Attorney Maria Sheffield has become the latest candidate to enter the Republican primary to be the next insurance commissioner in Georgia. She is one of several candidates hoping to succeed current Insurance Commissioner...

Healthcare Quality Varies Widely By State, Study Finds

Oct 8 2009 // The quality of healthcare Americans receive depends largely on where they live, with insurance coverage, access to preventive medicine and disease treatment varying widely from state to state, according to a study released...

Sheffield Joins Georgia Insurance Commissioner Race

Oct 5 2009 // One Priority Will be Growing the Captive Sector, Says Former Department Employee Attorney Maria Sheffield has become the latest candidate to enter the Republican primary to be the next insurance commissioner in...

Smith to Head Vermont Captive Insurance Association

Sep 9 2009 // Richard Smith has been named president of the Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA). Smith currently serves as deputy commissioner of the state of Vermont’s Public Service Department. The long-time government...

Vermont Hits Massachusetts Company with $217K Safety Fine

Aug 27 2009 // The state of Vermont has issued one of its largest ever workplace safety fines against a Massachusetts firm that formerly installed cable for Comcast. The Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration found six...

Court: Family Can Sue in Vermont Trooper’s Death

Aug 26 2009 // The family of Vermont State Police Sgt. Michael Johnson can sue the state’s insurance company for as much as $11 million in connection with Johnson’s death during a 2003 car chase. That’s the upshot of a...

People

Jul 20 2009 // Colemont Insurance Brokers has named John Cleary as vice president and casualty broker. Cleary will be physically located in New Jersey, but he will be working as part of the Hartford, Connecticut office. He brings over 25...