This week the big news was in the electric business, with Central Vermont Public Service and Green Mountain Power announcer a merger. We also examined institutional changes at the University of Vermont over the last decade. About 100 people applied to be on the state’s new five-person health care board. And field biologists and citizen scientists prepared for the annual loon count this weekend.
These were some of the voices in the news this week:
CVPS: More Utility Mergers Expected
(Larry Reilly of CVPS) "Everyone who looks at the state says there are too many utilities here. Even when you put our two companies together with 250,000 customers we’ll still be one of the smallest utilities in the U.S. and with lots more utilities in the state there is obviously room for even further consolidation down the road if an when the time is right."
After Big Improvements, UVM Faces Budget Shortfall
(UVM President Daniel Fogel) "While those things are notable, what is most important is raising the profile of the university academically, raising its academic caliber, making it a destination point for a more highly qualified and more diverse student body."
Taking Stock Of UVM’s Expansion Strategy
(Professor Frank Bryan) "I think the great challenge is to maintain the university we advertise, which is a human-scale university with interaction with professors, when you send a lot of kids into classes with 80-90-100-200 students in large lecture halls."
Applicants Line Up For New Health Care Board
(Governor Peter Shumlin) "I think the ideal is to have a Board that represents a number of different backgrounds. Obviously experience in health care is incredibly important but all people who have been in the business community people who have had to pay for health care, consumers. I mean we want to try to have as much representation as we possibly can."
Vermont Prepares For Loon Count
(Eric Hanson, Vermont Center for Ecostudies) "Our lakes in Vermont are only getting busier and more developed and because loons nest right where we like to recreate, right where we like to be active on the shorelines, there’s always going to be some sort of a loon program."