Current News

Vermont Business Magazine As part of statewide efforts to clean up Lake Champlain, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VTDEC) this year is updating the Tactical Basin Plan for the South Lake Champlain Basin that includes the Poultney-Mettowee River watersheds. A meeting will be held March 29, 2016 beginning at 6 pm at The Meeting House, 348 Bentley Avenue, Poultney (just across from Green Mountain College). The Rutland County towns of Danby, Pawlet, Tinmouth, Wells, Middletown Springs, Poultney, Castleton, West Rutland, Pittsford, Fair Haven, Hubbardton, West Haven, Benson, and Sudbury are part of the South Lake Basin (as are a handful of towns in Addison County).

Vermont Business Magazine Keurig Green Mountain, Inc today announced the appointment of Robert J "Bob" Gamgort as Chief Executive Officer effective May 2, 2016. Bob is currently serving as Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Foods Inc (Birds Eye, Duncan Hines, Vlasic), where he generated industry-leading shareholder returns by building a diversified portfolio of iconic consumer brands recognized for innovation. He will replace Brian Kelley, who will continue to support Keurig and become vice chairman of the board. Keurig was acquired for $13.9 billion by a JAB Holding Company-led consortium earlier this year. Keurig reported revenue of $4.5 billion in 2015. Pinnacle's revenues were $2.7 billion.

Vermont Business Magazine FirstLight Fiber, a leading fiber-optic bandwidth infrastructure services provider based in Albany, NY, and operating in Vermont, New York and Northern New England, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Oak Hill Capital Partners. Under the terms of the agreement, Oak Hill will acquire the company from its current private equity owner, Riverside Partners. At the conclusion of the transaction, Riverside Partners is expected to continue as a minority investor in FirstLight. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General William Sorrell wants businesses to be on the alert for a scam which has begun to emerge in Vermont and nationally has cost thousands of businesses millions of dollars and resulted in security breaches. It involves an email “spoofing” or pretending to be from the business’s CEO to an employee, requesting the employee to wire funds, supply sensitive information, or attach employee W-2 forms.

The email might request the information as soon as possible or otherwise impart a sense of urgency. Unlike many phishing emails, which often contain grammatical errors or strange usages, the fraudsters crafting these emails may be more sophisticated, and the emails often look legitimate.

Vermont Busness Magazine Green Mountain Power today announced it is opening up its state-of-the-art, open concept workspace in Colchester, Vermont to the world’s most inspiring energy innovators. The fun competition will allow entrepreneurs and energy pioneers the opportunity to share their cutting-edge ideas for a chance to locate their companies at GMP’s Inspire Space.

by Sarah Wojcik, Ski Vermont Skiers and riders can save on next season’s turns by purchasing 2016-17 season passes this spring. Some deals include free skiing and riding for the rest of this season and other perks like discounted summer access, lessons, equipment and more. 

by Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott Before the days of modern technology, miners brought canaries into the mines for safety. If there were deadly gases collecting in the shafts, the canaries would collapse – a sign to the miners that they should evacuate to fresh air and natural light. Recently, another canary signaled the need for fresh thinking in Montpelier. It came as a late-day statement from a regional chamber of commerce in Bennington County. The organization’s mission is to promote its local businesses. But it announced it was facing closure, and would need to shut down immediately. A last-minute effort may have saved this Chamber, but it’s another indication that the priorities of legislative leaders and Governor Shumlin have been misplaced.

by President Barack Obama Just six years ago, the reality in our country was that millions of Americans were locked out of our health care system because they couldn’t afford insurance or because they had pre-existing conditions. Women were charged more than men simply because they were women. People who needed coverage the most were too often denied it. (See Vermont Fact Sheet issued by the White House below).

At the same time, rising health care costs posed a significant threat to our economy, eroding workers’ paychecks and adding to our deficits. And while costs were high, the quality of care often wasn’t.

by Rob Roper The Vermont House Ways & Means committee just passed out a $48.3 million package of new or increased taxes and fees. The list includes an increase the fuel gross receipts tax that will at two to three cents to every gallon of home heating fuel, a new application of the 9 percent rooms and meals tax to private rentals done through such sharing programs as AirBnB, and a 25 percent hike in the bank franchise tax.

On the fee side, the state will rake in an additional $10.5 million from folks renewing their drivers’ licenses and registering their vehicles, etc. at the DMV. The biggest item is a $20.8 million increase in the fee to sell mutual funds in Vermont. This sets a very bad precedent as a fee is supposed to raise only enough money to cover the costs of regulating the entity paying the fee. It is not supposed to generate revenue for the general fund as this “fee” hike does. 

Vermont Business Magazine There's a $7,216 cost difference between owning a car in Michigan ($15,314.53) and New Hampshire ($8,098), finds a new study from personal finance website GOBankingRates.com. Vermont ($10,739.32) is also much cheaper than Michigan, but in the middle of the pack nationally. The study considered the costs of six key factors affecting the expenses of owning a vehicle in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia.

by Jennifer Nachbur A team of Vermont investigators has been issued a patent for their discovery of a molecule that rescues damaged blood vessels, yet preserves healthy vessels and could serve as a springboard for a new pharmaceutical therapy with fewer side effects for hypertension – a major risk factor for cardiovascular and kidney disease that effects roughly one in three people in the US.

by Olga Peters/The Commons A former US ambassador and two-time state senator for Windham County, Peter Galbraith, entered the Vermont gubernatorial race today. Galbraith, a Democrat from Townshend, says his campaign will focus in part on improving economic justice in Vermont. Like economic justice and income inequality, there are issues critical to the state that the other candidates aren’t talking about, he said.

Peter Galbraith photo by Randolph T Holhut/Commons file photo

Voters shouldn’t expect him to make grand campaign promises, Galbraith warned.

Galbraith said that if elected, he would focus on the issues over which the state has direct control.