Current News

Vermont Business Magazine This year’s sofi Awards, at the Summer Fancy Food Show, were a success for Vermont, goats, and caramel. Fat Toad Farm, a small, family-run, goat dairy in Brookfield, Vermont, received gold for Outstanding Product Line for their Farmstead Goat’s Milk Caramel Sauces, known as cajeta, a traditional Mexican confection. Fat Toad Farm is run by husband and wife team Steve Reid and Judith Irving, and their daughter Calley Hastings. The family has spent the last eight years building a high-quality herd of Alpine milking goats and perfecting the art of caramel making. Their award-winning product line of goat’s milk caramel sauces comprised of eight mouthwatering flavors (Original, Salted Bourbon, Cold Brew Coffee, Spicy Dark Chocolate, Vanilla Bean, Irish Whiskey Cream, Vermont Maple, and Cinnamon), can be found online at www.fattoadfarm.com and in specialty food stores across the United States.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General William Sorrell joined with 46 other Attorneys General in sending a letter to Congress regarding federal data breach legislation. For the past decade data breaches involving loss of credit card data or social security numbers have generally been the province of state governments. Recently several bills have been introduced that would create a single federal data breach standard which would replace or “preempt” state law while providing much weaker protections for consumers than currently exist in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor and Vermont’s Statewide Workforce Investment Board Youth Council have chosen eight Summer Employment Opportunity projects for funding from the US Department of Labor Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Youth funds. All projects will link academics, occupational skills learning, and career pathway guidance, and will provide work experiences for youth ages 16-24. Under WIOA regulations, the priority for the US Department of Labor is to serve out-of-school youth.
The following programs were chosen for funding after submitting applications that were reviewed by the State Workforce Investment Board’s Youth Council and Department of Labor staff.

Vermont Business Magazine Beginning Friday, July 10th, Kristin Carlson, broadcast journalist turned communications and energy expert, and a native Vermonter, returns to TV in a new weekly talk show, “Connect… with Kristin Carlson,” on Vermont PBS. The program is scheduled to air Fridays at 8:30 pm. As part of the station’s commitment to feature more Vermont-based content, Carlson will sit down each week to chat with the people who shape our state and our world, bringing the excitement and variety of life in Vermont into viewers’ living rooms. The program will feature people from varied walks of life: writers, musicians, business and community leaders, entrepreneurs, filmmakers, social visionaries and more.

Vermont Business Magazine Efforts to boost the rate at which Vermonters attain post-secondary education will receive $50,000 in support from the Lumina Foundation. Improving the attainment rate from 45.5 percent to 60 percent is critical to the future of Vermont's economy and to the economic security of those who get a college degree or certificate. The nationally competitive grant proposal was developed by the Vermont State Colleges (VSC) in collaboration with the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC), the University of Vermont (UVM), and the State of Vermont.

Lumina will bring national experts on higher education continuation, access and completion to Vermont to consult with grant partners. With the grant, a working group appointed by the partners will convene stakeholders to develop policy recommendations to help the state reach its goal of 60% higher education attainment by 2020.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Student Assistance Corp, celebrating 50 years of helping Vermonters pursue education after high school, has been selected to receive a $60,000 grant from the J. Warren and Lois McClure Foundation. The VSAC grant will be used to provide professional development training for middle schools, high schools and supervisory unions on implementing personalized learning plans, a key component of Act 77, also known as Flexible Pathways.

“We thank the McClure Foundation for this grant and for their unwavering support of education in Vermont,” said Scott Giles, president and CEO of VSAC. “This grant allows VSAC to continue its assistance to educators in moving forward with personalized learning plans that are focused on building and realizing a student’s education, training and career aspirations.”

Vermont Business Magazine The Bennington Select Board has voted unanimously to become the first public investor in the redevelopment of the former Bennington High School Building. The Town will make a sum of up to $18,000 available from its Economic Development Fund with contingencies. This initial investment will help fund the first phase of a development plan required to move the project into construction.

Vermont Business Magazine Mamava, Inc, an innovative company that delivers design solutions for nursing mothers on the go, making the world a friendlier place for women to pump or breastfeed, announced today that it closed on a seed capital round of financing which included $250,000 of investment from FreshTracks Capital III, L.P. Cairn G. Cross co-founder and managing director of FreshTracks has joined Mamava’s board at the closing of the investment.

Vermont Business Magazine The nation’s top rural housing official joined US Senator Patrick Leahy June 30 to announce the availability of United States Department of Agriculture mortgages for Vermonters who want to purchase a Vermont-made, energy-efficient modular home. The mortgage is the first of its kind for residents of mobile home parks, where home buyers face high interest rates and short loan terms.

Rural Housing Service Administrator Tony Hernandez and Sen. Patrick Leahy join housing advocates and local officials to launch USDA’s Energy Efficient Manufactured Home Pilot Program in front of a Vermod in Shelburnewood Mobile Home Park in Shelburne.

Vermont Business Magazine Mayor Miro Weinberger today announced the appointment of Deputy Inspector Brandon del Pozo as the City’s next Police Chief. A 1996 graduate of Dartmouth College, Del Pozo comes to Burlington following more than 18 years of service with the New York Police Department, including a number of command-level positions. The mayor has asked the City Council to approve the appointment at its July 13, 2015 meeting, and if approved, del Pozo would take up his position from Acting Chief Jannine Wright effective September 1, 2015.

Vermont Business Magazine Standing with VTrans Secretary Sue Minter and local transportation officials at the site of a crumbling East Montpelier bridge, Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) today outlined his bipartisan effort to reach consensus on a long-term transportation infrastructure plan funded by a sustainable revenue source. Most of Vermont's FY 2016 $616 million transportation budget (begun June 30), which includes $116 million for bridges, comes from the federal government. Federal funding for road and bridge infrastructure projects will expire on July 31 if Congress fails to act.

Vermont Business Magazine All 22 of the drinking water systems on Lake Champlain began sampling this week as part of a new program to monitor public drinking water supplies for blue-green algae toxins. Some blue-green algae blooms produce toxins that are harmful to humans and animals. Testing is the only way to know if an algae toxin is present in drinking water. This new 12-week monitoring program will bolster the state’s current efforts to visually monitor for blue-green algae blooms and protect the public from potential toxins in drinking water.

Algae in the lake by Lake Champlain Committee monitor Philip Brett