Current News
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Starting the year off strong, two of Maple Landmark Woodcraft’s newly developed products have been selected as winners of the Family Choice Children’s Products and Resource Awards for 2015. The Lift ‘N’ Learn Dinosaur puzzle and the Stack-a-Track proved to be favorites among the judges.
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The online Master of Science in Information Security & Assurance program at Norwich University’s College of Graduate and Continuing Studies ranks seventh in a recent report compiled by TheBestSchools.org on “The 25 Best Online Master of Information Assurance and Security Degree Programs.” The selection was based on several factors, including academic excellence, course offerings, faculty strengths and reputation.
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The new “sharing economy” is changing the landscape of small business in the US and Vermont. Opportunities to rent everything from rides to rooms, golf clubs to cameras, are popping up everywhere and while you may be tempted to take advantage of these money-making innovations, make sure you know what your insurance policy covers. The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation urges consumers to check insurance policies before sharing rides and rooms.
Transportation networking companies (TNCs) such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar and house sharing arrangements like Airbnb are household terms, but entrepreneurs are also lending vehicles, office space, parking spots, boats, bicycles, cameras and more. Although a smaller segment of the “sharing economy,” personal items like power tools, clothing, household items camping equipment, furniture, and even pets are being “shared” with complete strangers.
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by Amy Ash Nixon vtdigger.org A spending cap added to the House Education Committee’s “big bill,” at the eleventh hour last week in an attempt to put the brakes on rising school budgets is drawing intense criticism.
H.361 calls on school districts across Vermont to merge into larger “integrated education systems” of at least 1,100 students — the cornerstone of the bill that will be scrutinized by the House Ways & Means Committee when the Legislature resumes Tuesday.
The bill also calls for a short-term annual spending cap increase of 2 percent on local per pupil expenditures, for school systems to work to increase staff- and teacher-to-student ratios, and more. The cap would expire Dec. 31, 2018.
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Technology pay in the United States saw another year of hikes with technology professionals earning $89,450 on average annually, up 2 percent from 2013, according to Dice’s annual salary survey. More than half (61 percent) of technology professionals earned higher salaries in 2014, most frequently citing a merit raise as the reason for the increase. Another 25 percent say they received higher wages due to changing employers within the year. Vermont stood at $87,484 and has regained all the ground lost during the Great Recession.
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Attorney General William H Sorrell, the Department of Public Service, the Agency of Natural Resources, and the Department of Health filed Comments today with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding Entergy’s proposed plans for decommissioning the Vermont Yankee nuclear power facility. Those concerns include whether Entergy has done enough work to determine what contamination currently exists at the plant, and whether Entergy will have enough money to fund all of the needed work.
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The Orvis Company, Inc ofManchester, VT ( www.orvis.com) has announced the four recipients of its annual Customer Matching Grant program. Targeted to raise $360,000 or more, these grants are the cornerstone of Orvis' annual commitment of 5 percent of its pre-tax profits to protecting nature. In total, Orvis will raise and contribute more than $1 million to conservation initiatives in 2015.
Orvis has awarded cash grants — to match its customers' contributions up to equal amounts — to the following organizations:
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As the incidence of texting and Web use grows, so does the incidence of wireless network problems, with the year-over-year increase driven primarily by issues with data services, including phone and mobile broadband Web, according to the J.D. Power 2015 U.S. Wireless Network Quality Performance Study — Volume 1 released today.
In the Northeast region, which covers the following states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont, Verizon scored higher than every other wireless competitor with an overall PP100 score of 11, while the Northeast average was 13.
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On February 20, 2015, Judge Thomas Durkin of the Vermont Superior Court Environmental Division issued an order approving a settlement agreement between the Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC), Jay Peak Resort, and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Conservation. This agreement will continue to improve water quality and protect streams adjacent to the fast-growing, four-season ski resort in northern Vermont.
“We have been concerned that for years these streams have failed to meet Vermont’s Water Quality Standards while land development has continued to discharge additional sediment pollution,” said Kim Greenwood, VNRC’s water program director and staff scientist. “It was a good investment of time and energy for VNRC to work with Jay Peak and the Department to figure out a good model for cleaning up water in Vermont,” said Greenwood.
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Fifteen watershed improvement projects were chosen to receive funding from Vermont's 2015 Watershed Grant Program, according to an announcement from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. Forty-four applications were received, requesting a total of $387,744. The 2015 available funding totaled $100,000 and the size of the individual grants to be awarded ranged from $3,500 to $14,000.
A watershed grant helped to fund this dam removal in 2014 on the Wells River in Groton, restoring free-flowing conditions and enabling upstream movement of fish. Photo by Rod Wentworth
The 2015 projects cover a range of water quality and aquatic habitat projects, including these examples in three categories:
Implementation
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Vermont Business Magazine Uncertainty continued in February over Vermont’s revenues, as refunding activity skewed, for better or worse, results for the vital Personal Income Tax and for the Corporate Tax. Meanwhile, consumption taxes were disappointing in what is an important tourism month.
Secretary of Administration Justin Johnson today released the preliminary February fiscal year (FY) 2015 revenue results for the General, Transportation, and Education Funds. The revenue targets are based on the Consensus Revenue Forecast adopted by the Vermont Emergency Board on January 20, 2015.
Preliminary General Fund (GF) revenues totaled $71.25 million for February 2015, +$8.22 million or +13.05 percent above the monthly target. Year-to-date, GF receipts are $868.59 million, +$6.95 million or +0.81 percent above the cumulative target. The results are +$34.95 million or +4.19 percent above the year-to-date results of the prior fiscal year (FY 2014).
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Merchants Bancshares, Inc (NASDAQ: MBVT), the parent company of Merchants Bank, today announced that its 2015 Annual Meeting will be held onThursday, May 28, 2015 at 10:00 AM Eastern Time. Stockholders of record of the Company's Common Stock as of the close of business on March 30, 2015 are entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting. The meeting will be held at The Essex Resort and Spa, 70 Essex Way, Essex Junction, Vermont 05452.