Current News

Governor Peter Shumlin kicked off Vermont's 2015 maple sugar season Tuesday, officially tapping a tree at Slopeside Syrup, in Richmond. The governor was joined by Vermont Agriculture Secretary Chuck Ross and students from Richmond Elementary, who tap trees at Slopeside as part of their “farm to school” curriculum.

Slopeside Syrup is located on the grounds of Cochran’s Ski Area, a not-for-profit ski center founded in 1961 by Mickey and Ginny Cochran. The sugaring operation was established in 2011 by four of Mickey and Ginny’s grandchildren: Jim Cochran, Tim Kelley, and Roger and Douglas Brown.

“For more than fifty years, Vermont’s young people have come to Cochran’s to learn how to ski,” Shumlin said. “Today, they are learning another essential Vermont skill…sugar-making!”

Mayor Miro Weinberger today responded to the retirement announcement of Burlington Police Chief Michael Schirling, in which he informed the Mayor of his plans to retire on June 30, 2015. Schirling has served the City of Burlington through his work at the Burlington Police Department for more than 25 years, including his seven years of service as Chief of Police beginning in February 2008.

“Michael Schirling has been one of the great Chiefs of the proud, 150-year-old Burlington Police Department,” said Mayor Weinberger. “Chief Schirling joined BPD as an Auxiliary Police Officer while still in college and worked his way up the ranks, showing great energy, innovation, and compassion throughout his 25 years. As Chief, he modernized the Department, deepened its community ties, and confronted squarely growing social challenges. It has been an honor to serve with Chief Schirling, and I wish him much success and happiness with his future plans.”

Crystal Rock Holdings, Inc (NYSE MKT: CRVP), which also does business under the name Vermont Pure brand, has announced its financial results for its fiscal quarter that ended January 31, 2015. These results will be filed on Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission today. Total sales for the first quarter of fiscal year 2015 decreased 4 percent to $17.7 million compared to $18.4 million during the same period in fiscal 2014.

Gross profit decreased for the quarter ended January 31, 2015 to $8.0 million from $8.4 million for the same period a year earlier. Gross profit as a percentage of sales was 45 percent in both periods.

Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) and VITL recently completed the final phases of a hospital interface project that developed five connections to transmit health data from the hospital to the Vermont Health Information Exchange (VHIE), the statewide health data network operated by VITL.

The five interfaces were built to:

Vermont Business Magazine The number of jobs created in January showed a modest increase, as the jobless rate itself remained the same as December and the same from last year. Construction and Hospitality were up, while Manufacturing and Business Services were down.

The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for January 2015 was 4.1 percent. At this level, the statewide unemployment rate held steady from the revised December rate (4.1 percent). The seasonally adjusted Vermont data for January show the Vermont civilian labor force decreased by 100 from the prior month estimates. The number of employed increased by 200 and the number of unemployed decreased by 250. None of the over-the-month changes were statistically significant in the seasonally-adjusted series.

Deringer’s commitment to employee wellness has recently been recognized with two Vermont state wellness awards. On March 25, 2015, Deringer, based in St Albans, will be presented with the Worksite Wellness Award by the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and the Vermont Department of Health. This is the second consecutive year that Deringer has been honored with this award, which applauds an employee wellness program that decreases absenteeism, reduces employee turnover, and lowers healthcare costs. Additionally, Deringer has received a silver status participant certificate as a Breastfeeding Friendly Employer, which recognizes Deringer’s adoption of breastfeeding-friendly policies in the workplace.

by Governor Peter Shumlin Earlier this month, Vermonters gathered at Town Meetings around the state to make decisions large and small about their communities. This year, two towns in particular made one very large decision about the future of education in their communities. As we continue the debate in Montpelier about how to address rising school spending at a time of declining student enrollment so we can reduce the burden of property taxes on hardworking Vermonters, these two Vermont communities provide an example of how we can work together to make the difficult decisions that will be required if we are to truly make progress on this issue.

by John McClaughry Crunch time is rapidly approaching in Montpelier. The pressing problem is finding at least another $112 million to fill a General Fund budget gap for 2016. This high-tension exercise requires finding new money from Washington, looting account balances within state government, and pushing spending into a following fiscal year. When those options have been exhausted, the legislature is then faced with either reducing state spending on less strongly defended programs, or even terminating programs altogether.

The first of these means either shrinking program benefits, or, more commonly, shrinking the workforce without reducing the work. The second - well, it’s hard to recall a state-funded spending program that was actually terminated.

At crunch time, these options become increasingly threatening to the affected interest groups. More and more the cry is heard to get more money from the least organized group – the taxpayers.

College Ranker has released the 50 best college towns to live in forever. Burlington, Vermont, ranked 38th. This list highlights 50 college towns around the US that can provide a permanent home for college students after they have completed their collegiate experience. Every city and town in America with a college or university was considered and weighed, and these 50 were chosen based on metrics and statistics involving strength of local schools, vibrancy of the local economy, and family friendliness.

by Wendy Wilton It is good news that Auditor Doug Hoffer has scheduled a performance audit of Vermont Health Connect this Spring. The Auditor’s work will be vitally important information for the legislature to consider as it determines the fate of the state’s health insurance exchange, Vermont Health Connect. Hopefully Hoffer will release his report before the end of the current legislative session.

Much has been said and written about the problems with development and roll-out of Vermont Health Connect and the expected $200 million cost of this poorly managed effort. However, there could be more financial costs lurking on the horizon that the Auditor needs to tell us about.

Basketball tournaments, spring break vacations and holiday festivities make this time of March an especially busy season for drinking establishments. Some cities and regions, however, are better equipped to handle long lines of thirsty patrons. Vermont ranked 7th with 2.9 bartenders per 1,000 residents. Tourism-heavy Lamoille County, with Stowe Mountain Resort and Smugglers' Notch, had the highest rate in the state at 5.6 per thousand.

According to a new analysis by CareerBuilder, there are nearly 580,000 bartenders in the US, equaling 1.8 per 1,000 residents; 381 cities and metropolitan areas have ratios that exceed the national average.

The analysis is based on data from Economic Modeling Specialists Intl. (EMSI), CareerBuilder's labor market analysis arm that pulls from more than 90 government and private sector resources.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) says years of work on the goal of restoring passenger rail service between Vermont and Montreal took a major step forward Monday as the United States and Canada signed a long-awaited agreement designed to improve cross border travel and security between the two countries.

US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Canadian Minister of Public Safety Steven Blaney signed a new pre-clearance agreement in Washington that was negotiated under the Beyond the Border Action Plan approved earlier by President Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.