Current News

by Alyssa B Schuren, Commissioner, Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation The Vermont Clean Water Act has passed. The draft Lake Champlain cleanup plan has been released. The "all-in" message from the past two years remains and now resonates, with each sector beginning to roll up its sleeves to address phosphorus pollution that runs off our roads, farms, forests and developed lands, to achieve clean water results.

Municipalities are engaged in the early phase of clean water implementation. They manage the vast majority of Vermont roads, operate our wastewater treatment facilities, and own large swaths of developed lands. The Vermont Clean Water Act requirements are new and the costs are significant. Most municipalities enter the implementation process short-staffed and under-resourced. They are understandably nervous.

Vermont Business Magazine Wireless LINC announces a recent expansion that offers fast and reliable broadband services to large sections of Franconia, Easton and Littleton. Through this solution, many can now access state-of-the-art performance that delivers high speed downloading and uploading capacities. These capabilities make Wireless LINC an ideal platform for residents and businesses relying on internet access for professional purposes, as well as households choosing to stream online video from services such as NetFlix.

US Census Bureau Throughout the decades since the oil embargo of 1973, increasing research and development has gone into renewable sources of energy. Some of the results are seen atop windswept hills and plains across America — large electricity generating windmills. While the concept sounds very modern, the first practical wind turbine generator goes back 74 years. According to the US Census, it was on this October 19 in 1941 that Palmer Putnam of Vermont demonstrated his device. His wind turbine had blades 66 feet in length, and in over 700 hours of operation, produced almost 300,000-kilowatt hours. In the U.S. today, there are over 2,700 electric power generating establishments producing 4.1 million megawatt hours. Wind power provides about 4.5 percent of the country's electricity production.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Gas Systems today announced that it has reached right-of-way agreements with 94 percent of landowners in the right-of-way corridor of the Addison Natural Gas Project. This marks a significant increase in landowner agreements since last winter, up from 80 percent in January 2015. Vermont Gas is still waiting for a decision by the Public Service Board on whether it will reopen the Certificate of Public good process regarding the completion of the pipeline. Eminent domain procedures for properties with whom Vermont Gas has not come to agreement also must wait for that decision.

Vermont Business Magazine Mayor Miro Weinberger, joined by Burlington Fire Chief Seth Lasker, members of the Burlington Fire Department, and members from the University of Vermont Medical Center, today announced a paramedicine program for the Fire Department and the City of Burlington. The goal of the paramedicine program is to send a paramedic to every medical call in the City in an effort to provide the best pre-hospital medical care and pain management in transport to the UVM Medical Center. A City of Burlington paramedicine program sends a strong message to the citizens of Burlington – that during an acute medical or traumatic emergency, they will have available to them, in the critical transport time to the hospital, a pre-hospital professional of the highest quality and most exhaustive training.

Vermont Business Magazine Localvore Today has officially released a free iOS mobile app into the iTunes App Store. The app was created to make purchasing and redeeming offers and event tickets easier, to eliminate the need for printing, and to provide all the information you need about a local business right at your fingertips.

In tandem, Localvore Today closed a $700,000 Series A investment round in a private offering this month. Localvore Today has recently expanded to Portland, Maine and now reaches an audience throughout New England numbering more than 50,000 subscribers. For business owners, the company is offering several new services for digital marketing including event ticketing, marketing strategies for new and existing promotions, sponsored content on their in-house blog, and managed email marketing.

Additional Information

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin issued the following statement after news that President Obama has issued a memorandum calling for increased training for professionals who prescribe opiates and a call for greater access to treatment for those suffering from prescription drug and heroin addiction. (President Obama's full plan is presented below.)

“I am incredibly encouraged by the steps President Obama is announcing today, especially his efforts to further the conversation about how we deal with pain management in America. The opiate crisis affecting this country is linked to the vast over prescription of pain medication going back to the approval of OxyContin in the mid-1990s. Since then, painkillers have been handed out like candy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, doctors in the United States prescribed enough painkillers in 2010 to ‘medicate every American adult around-the-clock for a month.’

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Technology Alliance, an industry trade group representing Vermont’s tech businesses, announced today the finalists of the 2015 Vermont Tech Jam Awards, sponsored by Merchants Bank. The awards will be presented during the Vermont Tech Jam — a job fair and tech expo organized by the independent newsweekly Seven Days and the Vermont Technology Alliance. The 2015 Tech Jam is Friday and Saturday, October 23 and 24, at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center; it’s underwritten by Dealer.com and MyWebGrocer.

Vermont Business Magazine People's United Financial, Inc (NASDAQ: PBCT) has reported net income of $68.4 million, or $0.23 per share, for the third quarter of 2015, compared to $61.6 million, or $0.21 per share, for the third quarter of 2014, and $61.7 million, or $0.20 per share, for the second quarter of 2015. Operating earnings were also $68.4 million, or $0.23 per share, for the third quarter of 2015, compared to $63.0 million, or $0.21 per share, for the third quarter of 2014, and $63.7 million, or $0.21 per share, for the second quarter of 2015.

The Company's Board of Directors declared a $0.1675 per share quarterly dividend, payable November 15, 2015 to shareholders of record on November 1, 2015. Based on the closing stock price on October 14, 2015, the dividend yield on People's United Financial common stock is 4.4 percent.

Vermont Business Magazine The third meeting of the Solar Siting Task Force will take place on Thursday, October 22, 2015, from 1:00 – 3:00 pm in Room 11 of the Vermont State House, 115 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont. The Solar Siting Task Force was created in Act 56 of the 2014-2015 legislative session. Details on the membership, duties, and timeframe of the Task Force can be found in Act 56, Sec. 26g.

The draft agenda for the October 22, 2015 meeting is listed below. The remaining meetings of the Solar Siting Task Force will occur as follows:

Vermont Business Magazine This school year, Edmunds Middle School and Hunt Middle School in Burlington, Vermont have been selected to join the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools (VILS) program directed by the nonprofit Digital Promise, a program that is using mobile technology to extend learning beyond the walls of the classroom. All 405 students at Edmunds, and all 383 students at Hunt will receive their own personal tablet equipped with a 2-year Verizon Wireless 4G LTE data plan, enabling 24/7 Internet access for learning at school, at home, and wherever they want to take them.

This program will provide new learning opportunities for students, especially those who may not have high-speed internet connections available to them at home.

Vermont Business Magazine The Small Business Administration Vermont District Office is accepting nominations for its 2016 small business awards. Previous Vermont winners include Ben and Jerry’s, Switchback Brewing Company and the 2015 Small Business Person of the Year winner, Monica Greene, Vermont Precision Tools. Since 1963, the SBA has recognized the outstanding achievements of America’s small businesses for their contributions to their local communities, and to the nation’s economy.