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Vermont Business Magazine Citing numerous violations of the law, union nurses at Porter Medical Center filed 11 Unfair Labor Practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board today. "We need to put patients first. Attracting and retaining a quality nursing staff is put at risk when Porter management continues to violate the law and basic principles of respect," stated Alice Leo, RN and President of the Porter Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, AFT. "We have attempted to reach out to Lynn Boggs, the CEO of Porter, and the Porter Board of Directors but they have been unwilling to meet to discuss our concerns around patient safety.

The charges allege that Porter management has retaliated against nurses for lawful union activity and has failed to bargain in good faith.

Vermont Business Magazine Suburban Propane, LP, one of America’s largest propane retailers, has agreed to pay $311,357 to Vermont consumers, $200,000 to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and $200,000 in civil penalties to the State of Vermont, to settle claims that the company violated Vermont consumer protection laws. The Attorney General found that Suburban had a deficient system for complying with Vermont’s timeframes for removing propane storage tanks and issuing refund checks after consumers terminated propane service. Suburban also improperly billed and collected a gross receipts fuel tax, charged a regulatory fee that was not allowed under Vermont law, and terminated some customers without giving a mandatory 14-day notice.

Vermont Business Magazine Casella Waste Systems, Inc (CWST), the regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company based in Rutland, reported on Friday its results for the period ended September 30, 2015. Revenues and earnings were up and ahead of Wall Street analysts' forecasts. Its annual meeting is November 6. Shares on Monday were $6.15 and were trading at the high end of its 52-week range ($3.41 - $6.75). Casella is involved in a proxy fight with a Texas-based investor. If successful, Chairman and CEO John Casella could be removed from the board.

Highlights for the Three and Nine Months Ended September 30, 2015:

Vermont Business Magazine Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott today issued the following statement on Act 46 and school choice related to school districts seeking to merge. Scott, a Republican, has announced he is running for governor in 2016: "While Act 46 is an imperfect law which, unfortunately, does not provide immediate tax relief, it does create an opportunity to address a significant part of unsustainable and unaffordable increases in property taxes and the inability of many schools to make adequate investments in educational opportunities for our children.

"Rightsizing our education system is a difficult discussion to have, even with the guiding motivations of addressing the economic impacts of rising property taxes and our desire to give every child the best education possible. But we must have it and the Legislature deserves credit for jump-starting this conversation.

by Mike Smith The Shumlin administration announced this past week that absent corrective action by the Legislature the state’s expanded Medicaid program will have a $38 million budget deficit. Enrollments into the program are occurring at a faster rate than estimated. One out of every three Vermonters is enrolled in the taxpayer-funded program. And this challenge is just part of the projected general fund budget gap quietly approaching $100 million.

No doubt the overall cost of providing social services to Vermonters and the network of programs and staff these systems require will be a large part of this year’s budgetary discussion — it always is.

Vermont Business Magazine Last Tuesday the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) and Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) met at Entergy's Governor Hunt House in Vernon for a joint annual meeting. Outgoing BDCC President Dan Normandeau and SeVEDS Chairwoman Ariel Brooks welcomed the public to the event as well as Vermont's Vermont Department of Labor Commissioner Annie Noonan.

Vermont Business Magazine Lake Sunapee Bank Group (NASDAQ: LSBG), the holding company for Lake Sunapee Bank, fsb, has announced results for the quarter ended September 30, 2015. Consolidated net income for the third quarter of 2015 was $2.1 million, or $0.25 per diluted common share, compared to $2.7 million, or $0.32 per diluted common share, for the same period in 2014, and $6.9 million, or $0.82 per diluted common share, for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, compared to $7.2 million, or $0.85 per diluted common share, for the same period in 2014. Lake Sunapee Bank serves customers through the central part of Vermont and in New Hampshire.

by Mike Faher vtdigger.org An important part of Vermont Yankee’s decommissioning process – moving the plant’s spent nuclear fuel into more-stable storage – could begin two years earlier than originally planned. In new filings with the Vermont Public Service Board, an Entergy executive says administrators may start to move the fuel into dry cask storage in “as early as 2017.” The company previously has said it would transfer the fuel in 2019 and 2020. The federal government might be on the hook for some of the costs.

The schedule shift apparently would give VY owner Entergy more time to undertake the slow, highly regulated transfer of thousands of radioactive spent fuel assemblies from a pool of water at the nuclear plant compound into casks on the site.

George Thomas, a senior project manager with Entergy VY, said the accelerated schedule won’t increase the cost or change the projected completion date.

Speaker of the Vermont House Shap Smith has appointed Cathy Frey of Barre to serve on the Vermont Commission on Women. Commissioner Frey is Professor of Mathematics at Norwich University and serves as Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate. She joined the Norwich faculty in 1985, and in 1991 became the very first woman promoted to Associate Professor in Mathematics, and the first woman ever tenured in the University's Mathematics Department. In 2001, she became the first woman promoted to the rank of Professor of Mathematics at Norwich. She served as the first and only female Chair of the Mathematics department from 2002-2006 and as the first and only female Dean of Mathematics and Sciences from 2006-2013.

Cathy Frey

Vermont Business Magazine Dr Robert E Simpson, Jr, president and chief executive officer of the Brattleboro Retreat, was awarded the SoVermont Leadership Award for Excellence in Economic Development 2015 at a joint meeting of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) and the Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies group (SeVEDS) held on Tuesday afternoon, October 20, at the Governor Hunt House in Vernon. The annual award is given in recognition of sustained and effective efforts to mobilize leadership in the development of programs and projects, planning and designing of new and creative economic development activities, and deep commitment as a leader and advocate for economic development in Southern Vermont.

by Michael O'Connor As a registered Democrat, I admire our state's presidential candidate. But as one of the 1 million Americans who battle Parkinson's disease,^[1] I worry that Senator. Bernie Sanders' well-intentioned plan to cap prescription drug prices will have dangerous, unintended consequences. Sixty percent of Vermont adults suffer from a chronic disease like cancer or diabetes.^[2] Senator Sanders is right that "people are dying and becoming much sicker because they can't afford the medicines they need."^[3] But the blame for high drug bills rests not with pharmaceutical companies, but rather with the insurance companies who slam patients with enormous out-of-pocket expenses.

Vermont State Police The Vermont State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations for the Middlesex Barracks have concluded a lengthy investigation into the two armed robberies that occurred at the Northfield savings bank in the town of Waitsfield on 4/28/15 and 5/5/15. Investigators have identified Andrew Place (dob: 1/1/86) and James McCausland (dob:7/2/88) as being responsible for both armed robberies. Investigators learned that Place entered the bank with a handgun during both incidents while McCausland waited outside and drove the getaway vehicle.

Andrew Place, left, and James McCausland. Courtesy VSP