Current News

Vermont Business Magazine In Vermont, agriculture adds by far the most phosphorus to Lake Champlain and the EPA wants to cut farm-based sources by more than half under the plan it released on Friday. The EPA wants to cut total phosphorus pollution by about a third. The Otter Creek segment was the chief culprit, closely followed by the Missisquoi Bay segment. The EPA will begin judging Vermont's effort to set up a plan of action to reduce lake pollutants starting as early as the end of this year and issue a final report card by early 2018. The VNRC, for one, does not believe that the state's current rules governing Required Agricultural Practices are strict enough to achieve the EPA's goals.

by Public Assets Institute In May the Vermont labor force increased for the fifth straight month, the best stretch of growth in seven years. The labor force, which includes people work­ing and those actively looking for work, climbed to 345,821, the highest level in 15 months. Employment also rose in May, while unem­ployment dropped.

Vermont Business Magazine The Board of Finance voted unanimously (4-0) last Monday, June 13, to recommend approval of a development agreement for the Burlington Harbor Marina project to City Council for its consideration on June 27. Burlington is the largest city on Lake Champlain but has the ninth largest marina.  The City has had long waiting lists for slips for many years, and the lack of transient mooring options causes the City to turn away many would-be visitors every year.  Expanding the number of boat slips is an important strategy for creating economic opportunity and increasing the use of our waterfront.

by Mike Smith Alcoholism is a terrible disease. Like any disease of this seriousness, it affects not only the alcoholic; it has devastating impacts on family and friends. The lasting impact of the disease, however, is that it steals away so many memories of who that person actually was — or might have been — absent this disease. My father was an alcoholic, and he died at the age of 44. He essentially drank himself to death. It is easy to focus on his disease; after all, the impact on our family was catastrophic. I could talk about the impacts of my father’s alcoholism — how our family’s downward spiral resulted in financial ruin, or how we were torn apart. Many could, and probably have, viewed his life as a failure because he was not able to overcome or control his addiction. And one cannot argue that his full potential was never reached.

Vermont Business Magazine The Public Service Department today announced the next meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel will be held on Thursday, June 23, 2016, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM in the cafeteria at the Vernon Elementary School, 318 Gov. Hunt Road, Vernon, VT. At the meeting the Panel will receive decommissioning updates from the State of Vermont and Entergy, as well as an update on federal issues from staff representing Senator Bernie Sanders and Congressman Peter Welch.

The Panel will also hear a presentation from the State of the Vermont on the environmental and health regulations that impact Vermont Yankee. 

The complete agenda and material for the June 23, 2016 meeting can be viewed at http://publicservice.vermont.gov/electric/ndcap .

210 Athletes and Coaches Representing U.S. at 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games Including Athletes from Vermont

Vermont Business Magazine On June 13, Special Olympics USA announced Killington, Vermont as the site of its one and only team training camp, prior to when it will send a 210 member delegation to represent the United States at the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games, being held March 18-25, 2017 in Austria. Included in the US delegation will be 3 athletes and coaches from Vermont: Laura Buchanan from White River Junction competing in alpine skiing, Ethan Boragine from Fairlee competing in snowboarding, and Mike White from Dorset, assistant coach in cross country skiing.

Vermont Business Magazine For over 20 years Merchants Bank has been teaming up with the Vermont Lake Monsters; a partnership of deep investment in our community and history. Every year Merchants Bank looks forward to the opening season, so if you're looking for a new tradition and memorable Father's Day head to the Lake Monsters 23^rd home season beginning Sunday, June 19th.

Lavallee Brensinger Architects and Engelberth Construction complete linear accelerator renovation/replacement in less than 2 weeks at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.  Courtesy photo.

Vermont Business Magazine Nine months of planning to replace a massive cancer treatment machine was required to compress a nine-week construction schedule into 11 days. The team of Engelberth Construction of Cochester and Lavallee Brensinger Architects of Portland, ME, was hired by Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) to renovate the patient treatment area and replace its linear accelerator.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Technical College (Vermont Tech) has received a $4 million US Labor Department grant to provide training and education to prepare low- to middle-skilled Vermont workers to enter the workforce with better-paying jobs in industries relevant to Vermont’s growth. Training and education will focus on the advanced manufacturing industry.

The US Department of Labor grant, awarded to Vermont Tech on Tuesday, is the only grant awarded in the nation that will serve an entire state. The grant will help support the Vermont Supported Training Education and Employment Partnership (VSTEEP), a comprehensive, statewide, public/private partnership focusing on building innovative and evidence-based practices, systems and protocols to remove barriers faced by working, low-income Vermonter families in accessing and succeeding in education and training to improve their job prospects and put them on a path to economic independence.

Vermont Business Magazine Employment was up, unemployment was down and the labor force even increased for the second month in a row. The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for May was 3.1 percent. This represents a decrease of one-tenth of one percentage point from the revised April rate (3.2 percent). Overall, Vermont’s unemployment rate is fourth lowest in the country, behind South Dakota (2.5 percent), New Hampshire (2.7 percent), and Nebraska (3.0 percent). The national rate in May was 4.7 percent. As of the prior month’s initial data, the Burlington-South Burlington Metropolitan NECTA had the second lowest unemployment rate in the country for all metropolitan areas at 2.1 percent (not-seasonally-adjusted). May is the 10th consecutive month reporting a decline to the number of unemployed persons in Vermont (seasonally-adjusted).

Vermont Business Magazine Information belonging to customers who purchased hunting or fishing licenses from the FWD website may have been accessed improperly. Although there is no conclusive evidence of a misuse of customer information, security monitoring by the company which manages the website, bolstered by 3rd party forensics audits, have found traces of unauthorized server access occurrences in 2015 and January 2016. This has prompted the Fish & Wildlife Department to notify seven (7) customers of potential exposure of their credit card number. The department also urges customers who have purchased licenses online in the past 14 months to be vigilant and monitor their financial reports as an extra precaution. Free credit reports are available if consumers are concerned about possibly suspicious activity on their cards.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Bernie Sanders announced Thursday that the US Department of Health and Human Services awarded $1.05 million to three community health centers in Vermont. The health centers will use this new federal funding to expand access to dental care. “We have a real crisis in terms of access to affordable dental care in our country,” said Sanders, who serves as the ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health.  “To my mind, it is unacceptable that millions of low-income children and adults – and many middle-class families, as well – go each year without seeing a dentist.” 

Northern Counties Health Care photo