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Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Chamber of Commerce and Vermont Business Magazine are accepting nominations until March 4^th for the Deane C. Davis Outstanding Business of the Year Award that honors an outstanding Vermont business. The deadline for nominating a business is March 4, 2016. To recognize and honor Vermont’s best companies, the Vermont Chamber and Vermont Business Magazine created the Deane C. Davis Outstanding Business of the Year Award in 1990. Named for the former Governor of Vermont, this annual award honors a Vermont business that shows an outstanding history of sustained growth while displaying an acute awareness of what makes Vermont unique. Last year’s winner was Champlain Cable Corporation of Colchester, and recent award winners include Dealer.com, GW Plastics, the Foley Family of Companies, Small Dog Electronics, and BioTek Technologies.

Vermont Business Magazine Farmers, producers, and localvores from across Vermont converged on January 27 for the 5th annual Consumer Night at the Vermont Farm Show in Essex Junction. Held on the second night of the Farm Show, Consumer Night celebrates the diversity of Vermont agriculture with the Winter Buy Local Market and Capital Cook-Off. The Winter Buy Local Market featured over 50 farmers and producers of local cheese, meat, fruits and vegetables, milk, maple syrup, jams, culinary oils, honey, wine, beer, spirits, wool, and handmade crafts as well as ready-to-eat prepared foods such as Maple Wind Farm’s bacon hot dogs and ice cream cones from Kingdom Creamery. Over 500 people shopped and grazed their way through the local product booths, and three raffle prizes were awarded to lucky Buy Local Market customers.

Vermont Business Magazine For the first quarter of fiscal 2016, Keurig Green Mountain (GMCR), the beverage company based in Waterbury, reported that net sales decreased 9% to $1,258.4 million as compared to net sales of $1,386.4 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Gross profit for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 was $360.0 million, or 28.6% of net sales, as compared to $464.1 million, or 33.5% of net sales for the prior year period. For the first quarter of fiscal 2016, selling, operating, and general and administrative expenses decreased 20.0% to $198.5 million from $248.2 million for the prior year period. As a percentage of sales, SG&A expenses decreased to 15.8% in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 from 17.9% in the prior year period. The decrease in SG&A over the prior period was primarily attributable to decreases in compensation expenses, due to lower headcount, and decreases in variable marketing expenses.

Vermont Business Magazine The Two Rivers‐Ottauquechee Regional Commission (TRORC), on behalf of the East Central Vermont Economic Development District (ECVEDD), has hired Michael Kane Consulting to conduct a 40‐town district‐wide Creative Economy Inventory and Action Plan over the next six months. Over the past fifteen years, there has been a growing understanding of the economic importance and potential of the region’s creative assets—its creative talent, enterprises, and organizations. To understand the full scale and potential impact of the creative economy in the towns served by the ECVEDD requires an examination of the linkages between the region’s creative talent and creative enterprises and other key clusters that are critical to the region’s economic future.

by Mike Smith Nowadays, participants subjecting themselves to arduous military training are asked to swallow a capsule so medical personnel can continuously monitor their vital signs from afar. In some respects this capsule represents how technology will drive the design of our health care system in the future. No doubt these technological advances will significantly change our current health care delivery model, but they also have the potential to make health care more affordable and accessible, while maintaining quality.

Currently, state officials in Vermont are moving in a direction of changing how providers are reimbursed for the care they provide from the current fee-for-service system—where providers are paid, or reimbursed for each service—to one where they would receive a global budget and be required to manage the health of their population to that budget number.

by Evan McMorris-Santoro, BuzzFeed News BuzzFeed's Evan McMorris-Santoro was the print pool reporter at campaign events in Marshalltown, Iowa. Here is the complete, unedited report issued Sunday at 7:23 pm: Sen. Bernie Sanders said he's in a "tossup" race with Secretary Clinton in brief remarks to a crowd of volunteers at his Marshalltown, IA field office Sunday. With a little more than 24 hours to go before the Democratic caucuses begin, Sanders thanked Iowans for "taking their responsibility very seriously" during the opening months of the 2016 presidential campaign.

The race is as close as it can be, Sanders said.

Vermont Business Magazine Don George, President and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont, has been honored by the American Heart Association (AHA) for helping improve the health and wellness of Vermonters and Vermont businesses through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont’s (BCBSVT) Accountable Blue program. George received the Go Red for Women Crystal Heart Award at the Association’s annual Go Red For Women Luncheon on Thursday, January 28. The award is presented annually to a Vermonter who is an advocate, volunteer and role model for improving the health of our community.   

Vermont Business Magazine Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, based in San Diego, has announced that a class action has been commenced in the United States District Court for the District ofVermont on behalf of shareholders of Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. ("Keurig") (NASDAQ:GMCR) on December 7, 2015, in connection with the proposed acquisition of Keurig by JAB Holdings BV. On December 7, 2015, Keurig and JAB jointly announced that they had entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger pursuant to which JAB will purchase Keurig for $92 per share in cash. Robbins Geller represents US and international institutional investors in contingency-based securities and corporate litigation.

by Speaker of the House Shap Smith The first major hurdle of the 2016 legislative session was resolved Saturday when lawmakers approved a tweak to the cost containment threshold in Act 46, last year’s education governance reform bill. The debate echoed many familiar conversations about our school system. There were speeches about declining enrollment, property taxes, and the relationship between state and local government. But what made the 2016 debate remarkable was that many lawmakers discussed the state’s educational system without ever mentioning how our decisions impact Vermont kids.

The irony was not lost on me – earlier in the day, my fourteen-year-old son, Eli, visited the State House on a class fieldtrip from People’s Academy. When they met with me, the students led a discussion about the legalization of marijuana. As we talked, I looked around the room and realized we could learn a lot if we listened to our kids.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin issued the following statement on legislation passed to amend the spending caps in Act 46. The governor reviewed the bill and signed it Saturday, following a rare midnight session by the House. A flood of complaints from towns about the school spending and consolidation bill, passed just last year, resulted in the Legislature hastily coming up with two options: repeal the whole thing or modify what the spending limits would be. The lawmakers had to act fast because towns are rapidly approaching their own deadlines to prepare school budgets for town meetings in March. The previous version of Act 46 would have inflicted penalties on towns which exceeded the spending limits, thus driving up property taxes, but the towns were finding it dificult to determine exactly what it was they would have to pay. Many towns spending below the per pupil maximum also faced penalties.

by Sarah Tuff Dunn University of Vermont Continuing and Distance Education Of the millions of profile titles on LinkedIn, the one that belongs to Kate McNellis is one of the most poetic: Flower farmer at Stray Cat Flower Farm. Dig a little deeper, however, and discover that McNellis, who graduated from UVM in 2000 with a degree in environmental studies, wasn’t always toiling in the soil. Instead, she was trimming garments for fashion designer Nanette Lepore, sketching swimwear for Aeropostale, and styling for Victoria’s Secret. 

McNellis might have continued living the Manhattan and high-fashion life by the book had it not been for stumbling upon a book by Barbara Kingsolver that inspired her to ditch her clothes-bound life and return to UVM for the Farmer Training Program. 

We talked to McNellis to learn what grew out of that creative career change.

Vermont Business Magazine Thirteen land-grant institutions, includinig the University of Vermont, and partner organizations are working across state lines to develop and enhance tools needed to limit the spread of Johne's disease (JD) and bovine tuberculosis complex (TB) in livestock. JD and TB are two of the most widespread mycobacterial diseases in the US. JD alone costs the dairy industry in excess of $200 million per year. In 2012, researchers formed the Multistate Research Project NE-1201 to fill knowledge gaps, improve diagnostics and vaccines, and strengthen outreach programs for both diseases.

"Collaboration among our diverse team of researchers and partners helps ensure that livestock producers and veterinarians have access to accurate, up-to date information and research about JD and TB," said Gary A. Thompson, administrative advisor of NE-1201 and director of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station.