New England News

A Minnesota renewable energy company is looking to help set up a solar-powered furnace business in Vermont.

The furnaces would be made in a 6,000 square-foot former mill building in Bellows Falls. The Eagle-Times reports the company, Rural Renewable Energy Alliance, has agreed to provide its patented design of solar panels that create heat through a furnace through a Vermont company. The local company would be called RREAL Warm.

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As much of the region is still recovering from the effects of last year’s tropical storm Irene, a new report outlines the effects of Climate Change on the Massachusetts economy, which includes projections of more frequent hurricanes. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard has more…

Two New York women and a Vermont country inn have settled a lawsuit that accused the business of refusing to host the couple's wedding reception.

The American Civil Liberties Union says The Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty to the Vermont Human Rights Commission and place $20,000 in a charitable trust.

Kate and Ming Linsley contacted the ACLU after Ming's mother was told last year by the Wildflower Inn's events manager that the inn didn't host "gay receptions" due to the innkeepers' "personal feelings."

The state of Vermont is getting a $104.4 million federal grant to continue the process of setting up a health benefits exchange, a key part of state and federal health care reform efforts.

The money will be used to develop information technology, business and outreach operations that will be part of the state's exchange.

Vermont is on target to meet the federal schedule and begin enrolling people in the exchange in October 2013.