Public Post looks into Vermont's customizable emergency alert system, which is online and expanding. Several ski areas have taken on major projects, from a new orange  "six pack bubble chairlift" at Okemo to a parking garage in Stowe. And now's the time to nominate your favorite summer or fall event for the Vermont Chamber's top ten list.

Seneca Mountain Wind is stopping development of a project that would have placed about 20 turbines at a remote mountaintop site in the Northeast Kingdom. The company has withdrawn its electrical connection request with ISO New England and terminated land leases in Newark, Brighton and Ferdinand.

According to a press release late Friday afternoon, “SMW’s decision reflects its commitment to obtain community support before advancing this project, which was not evident in any of the three jurisdictions where SMW had development plans.”

A published report by Bloomberg news say talks between IBM and GlobalFoundries over the sale of Big Blue’s chip making division, including facilities in Essex Junction, broke down over price.  

Bloomberg cites sources “familiar with the process.”  The report says at issue were IBM’s manufacturing plants, which GlobalFoundries “placed little or no value on” due to their age.

Rumors of a deal between the two companies have been circulating since April.

With their contract set to expire in just over a week, FairPoint Communications and the union representing workers continued their negotiations this week. 

The International Brotherhood of Electrical workers represents about 1,800 FairPoint employees in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. 

The union says members have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if necessary. 

Mike Spillane is a Vermont member of the IBEW negotiating team. Returning Friday from talks in Nashua, New Hampshire Spillane said the sides are still far apart.

Controversy is swirling in the Upper Valley around one of the oldest food co-ops in the United States. After two popular employees were fired from Co-op Food Stores of New Hampshire without explanation last month, members began questioning how management treats employees.

At a recent Board meeting attended by about 300 members, two starkly different answers emerged.

The Annual Summer Pride Theater Festival continues this weekend in Randolph, featuring three plays that address concerns and issues of gay and lesbian Vermonters.

One of those plays is Farm Boys, an adaptation of a 1996 book by Milwaukee writer Will Fellows.

Will Fellows was himself a gay man raised on a Wisconsin dairy farm. For the book Farm Boys, he gathered testimony from dozens of gay men from rural areas.

Montpelier's fourth community participation event for the planning of the One Taylor Street transit center has been pushed back to September. The event was originally scheduled to be held on July 30. It will now take place on September 3 at 6 p.m. at the Montpelier Senior Activity Center.

In the next session of the State Legislature, it's likely a bill to legalize marijuana will be debated.

Beau Kilmer, a senior policy researcher at the Rand Corporation, who is working on a report looking at all the issues surrounding legalization discusses some of the topics the report will focus on.

Vermont ranks second in the country in child well being. That’s according to the most-recent Kids Count Data Book, which is published annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The state is among the top 10 in all four of the ranked categories – economic well-being, education, health, and family and community.

Voices for Vermont’s Children Research Associate Sarah Teel and Marianne Miller, Head Start and Early Head Start director for Capstone Community Action Council, discuss the report’s findings and look at areas of well-being that still have children’s advocates concerned.

Wouldn't it be great if you could have school closings, weather alerts and nearby road hazards all custom delivered to your phone or inbox? It's a technology that's already in full swing in New York, and is getting off the ground in Vermont.