I think it's great that you're making the effort to bring foreign direct investment into Vermont. But I don't see the state making a comparable effort to help our small businesses sell their goods into foreign markets, which would help the most in reviving our economy and getting us through the present slump.

Can you restore the Vermont Global Trade Partnership, which recently lost its director? Can you draw up a comprehensive state strategy for promoting our trade not only with Asia but with traditional markets like Canada and Europe? Can you pull together the scattered and often rival initiatives of the state's various chambers of commerce and other trade-related entities into a coherent approach?

Scott in Calais (posted by VPR's Sarah Yahm)

What do you think Vermont's identity will be in the global market 10 or 20 years from now? And given our track record is it even possible to predict? For example: Could Vermont's early explorers, bushwhacking through dense forests 400 years ago, have ever foreseen the state's pastoral agricultural era? And in turn, 200 years ago could farmers ever have anticipated our skiing industry and greater recreational era? And 100 years ago could anyone have predicted our high-tech manufacturing era? Thankfully all of these surprising twists and turns remain as part of our well-diversified fabric, but really, what do you think will be our next surprising twist, in other words, our next era?

Tom in Charlotte (posted by VPR's Sarah Yahm)

I am looking forward to hear the Governor speak about his ideas for job growth in Vermont. I recently read that the Adirondack Park Agency Commission in NY has approved the construction of two cell phone towers by T-Mobile to cover the "last remaining dark stretch" along I87 - a 40-mile distance between Pottersville and Peru, NY. I learned that some of the impetus for this rose from the death of a man who was unable to call for help on his cell phone, due to a lack of reception along that stretch, and who subsequently died when he froze to death. Here, in Vermont, there are still many stretches of road and areas that also do not provide cell reception. While I understand that it is not profitable to build towers in rural areas, I also firmly believe that there is a bigger issue at stake here - namely public safety. There is a duty by our government to protect its citizenry. I worked for a year for a hotel atop Killington Mountain. Every night that I drove home - through the snow and ice - south bound along route 100 into Ludlow, my biggest fear was that I would go off the road on a patch of ice and into the lake that borders this stretch. Had this happened, I would not have been able to call for help as there is little to no cell reception along this stretch. This is not an isolated problem, merely one example. As I continue to hear every day about the wonders of cell phone technology and the emerging "smart phones," and all the wonderful ways they can improve our lives, I simply just want to be able to use my phone to reach help in an emergency, and cannot do that in many parts of Vermont, let alone access any of the other features available on cell phones. It would seem to me that improving our existing cell phone coverage - by building more towers - would not only provide jobs, but would also improve Vermonters access for help in an emergency. It is high time that profits and dollars be balanced with public safety. Will someone have to die here in Vermont in order for this happen?

Kathryn in Proctorsville (posted by VPR's Sarah Yahm)

If the governor believes the states should not be burdened with extra health care costs, he should be in FAVOR of a federally run single payer system. The viable method of reducing health care costs is to have the "risk pool" be "every legal resident of the country". No medicaid necessary when EVERYONE is covered.

Bruce in South Burlington (posted by VPR's Sarah Yahm)