Morning Newscast: May 7, 2008

Here are the top stories at 7:30 a.m.: Service has been restored to about 250,000 Unicel cell phone customers in New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and parts of Massachusetts and New York; Vermont’s leading economic development lender says business has dropped dramatically this year; Vermont’s top music students are gathering in Vergennes this week for the 81st annual All-State Music Festival.

VEDA sees drop in loan requests

Vermont’s leading economic development lender says business has dropped dramatically this year. The Vermont Economic Development Authority is still lending money to growing companies, but only half as much as it expected. The agency hopes to turn that around with economic stimulus loans that it will unveil in the next few weeks. VPR’s Ross Sneyd reports.