A $5.5 million federal grant and loan package to Waitsfield and Champlain Telecom will help connect its most rural and remote customers to high-speed fiber optic Internet access, members of Vermont’s congressional delegation said Wednesday.

Marlene and Mike McCarty, real estate brokers who do much of their work at home less than four miles from the Statehouse, say they spend hundreds of dollars and hours each month on things they wouldn't have to if they had broadband Internet access. Despite promises for years by state officials and phone and cable companies that they would have broadband by 2010, they're still waiting.

Vermont lags behind much of the country in its provisions for bicyclists, according to a recent, national ranking of states' bike friendliness. The state slipped from 21st in 2009 to 34th in a report released last month by Washington-based League of American Bicyclists, largely due to other states' significant efforts to pass legislation protecting cyclists and enhance their infrastructure. While a few states climbed as much as 20 slots in the rankings, Vermont had the single largest decline.

Even though we are now 10 years into the new millennium, residents across large swaths of the state still rely on dial-up Internet – or in some cases — have no access at all. However, the president of Vermont Telephone Company has plans that could, if the funding comes through, provide high-speed Internet access to the most far-flung mountain hollows. VTel President J. Michel Guite is spearheading a campaign to make high-speed Internet access available to all residents, schools, and public safety and municipal organizations.

The state of Vermont's biggest-ever transportation spending bill — $595 million — will become law Wednesday when Gov. Jim Douglas signs a bill at a ceremony in Stowe. The bill, which passed the Legislature in its recent session, includes about $182 million in state funding, $275 million in regular federal funding and $80 million in federal stimulus funds. Among other things, it calls for $113 million worth of major rehabilitation and maintenance work on Vermont bridges.

Nearly 100 people were "all aboard" at Saturday's Southwestern Vermont Rail Corridor Committee's National Train Day event to learn about the opportunities that would come with bringing rail travel to the region. Held at the North Bennington Train Station, guest speakers included John Zicconi, director of planning, outreach and community affairs for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, as well as Jim Sullivan of the Bennington County Regional Commission. Wendy Woods, chairwoman of the SVRCC, said Sunday that much of the event's conversation focused on the environmental and economic impacts of connecting rail transportation in the region with the Amtrak system that leads to New York and beyond.

The Vermont Electric Cooperative will receive $11.2 million to boost the Northeast Kingdom's ability to attract businesses and create jobs by strengthening the electrical distribution network and advancing broadband and smart grid deployment."This grant award provides VEC with the opportunity to improve reliability and expand the broadband infrastructure for Vermont's Northeast Kingdom," Dave Hallquist, CEO of Johnson-based electric utility, said in anews release issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce. "This project will make the region more attractive to new businesses, while strengthening the economic climate for existing businesses, like the furniture industry."

Rutland Free Library is pursuing grant funding to aid in the purchase of about $125,000 in new electronic equipment. Although the upgrade will help bring the library in line with current technology, including e-readers and a book self-check system, not all affiliated with the organization are pleased with this and other changes that could be coming.

Even as the state looks to sell an underused airport in the Northeast Kingdom town of Island Pond, the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) is pursuing a multimillion-dollar campaign to transform several other small airfields into more modern aviation hubs that it hopes will lure businesses, executives and high-rolling tourists eager to spend money and create jobs in Vermont. The $2.5 million project is part of a master plan for modernizing and expanding several of Vermont’s 10 state-owned airports.

e-Vermont is a new $4 million initiative to help rural Vermont towns take full advantage of the Internet and advance a wide variety of local needs including economic development, school innovation, job creation, downtown marketing, community engagement, and e-commerce. Two dozen communities statewide will be selected to work with the new e-Vermont Partnership in a comprehensive effort combining online services, training, access, awareness, and planning. However, applications are due by April 30 to be considered among the 12 communities for Round One.

The Vermont House of Representatives Friday gave final approval to the so-called capital bill, funding projects that ranged from historic road markers to courthouses to a program for killing lamprey. Jockeying on the $72 million bill, which will now go on to the Senate for consideration, included efforts to cut or shift money for housing and the state hospital but those efforts were rejected and the bill passed unanimously. The bill aimed at state buildings and municipal infrastructure is one of critical annual "money bills" the Legislature deals with each session.

A $2.5 million federal Stimulus Grant from the federal Agency of Commerce, announced today, completes the funding to launch the $3.8 million e-Vermont Community Broadband Project. This major campaign to stimulate broadband use in 24 Vermont towns will be produced by a partnership of organizations dedicated to expanding broadband access and its practical use.  The “e-Vermont Partnership” will be led by the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) over the next two years. VCRD is a non-profit organization dedicated to the support of the locally-defined progress of Vermont’s rural communities. Additional support for this project came from Vermont philanthropists and corporate associates.

April Goodrich used to work in the Morrisville district office of the Department for Children and Families, working with local clients seeking benefits. Today, the Hyde Park woman takes calls from clients all over the state from a desk in Waterbury, part of a new system that state officials say will be more efficient. The Department for Children and Families is launching a new system that by June should allow social services clients to apply for benefits online or by phone rather than in person at 12 district offices. With $2.8 million in federal money, the department is using increased technology that Commissioner Steve Dale said will save $2 million a year.

State officials are hoping an Internet search engine will choose Vermont to construct and test an ultra high-speed Internet network it has developed.  The Vermont Telecommunications Authority is spearheading an effort to convince Google to choose this small, rural state as a test site. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company announced several weeks ago it was seeking one or more communities across the country to build a high-speed fiber network. What began as an effort to boost Internet access in Southern Vermont has spread to the entire state. "It started by planning to do Bennington and Windham County, then other people heard about it and said, ‘Why not us?’ So, it’s now a statewide application," said Mary Evslin, who has volunteered to serve as the application team leader.

There are currently 32 American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA)-financed highway construction projects underway or completed in Vermont involving $85 million in funds, according to data released today by the Washington, D.C.-based American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). The projects underway or completed have supported or are supporting 2,366 jobs in Vermont that would otherwise not exist, says ARTBA Vice President of Economics & Research Dr. Bill Buechner.