Current News

A series of agricultural land use planning modules are now available as a resource for land use planners on such topics as farmland conservation, farm and property taxes, commercial composting, agritourism, and food system planning. The planning guide is a project of the Vermont Farm to Plate Initiative’s Agricultural Land Use Planning Task Force. Municipal officials, local and regional planning commissions, and agriculture advocates will be able to use the modules to guide land use planning for farmland, including ways to update zoning regulations that can sustain and spark more agricultural economic activity in Vermont communities.

The Burlington School Board of Commissioners announced today that it has selected Dr Howard Smith to be the Interim Superintendent of Burlington Schools. Recently retired as Superintendent of the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns in New York, board members said Smith brings to Burlington a record of strong instructional leadership around student-centered learning, demonstrated results in improving student achievement, a passionate commitment to equity and closing the achievement gap, and a deep focus on building partnerships between communities and schools — a body of work that solidly aligns with Burlington School District’s priorities and current major initiatives.

The Public Service Department today announced that it is seeking written public comments on the Vermont Yankee Site Assessment Study (SAS), and draft Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) recently published by Entergy. Public comments on the draft PSDAR received by November 25, 2014 will be considered for inclusion with the Public Service Department’s comments that will be provided to Entergy for incorporation with its PSDAR submittal to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. All public comments received on the draft PSDAR and the SAS will be considered for inclusion with the State’s evaluation of the Vermont Yankee Site Assessment Survey, and may also be considered for discussion at a future Vermont Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel meeting.

SPARK-VT, an initiative that helps bring promising research discoveries to the marketplace piloted in 2012 by the UVM Department of Medicine, has been expanded to engage faculty across the University of Vermont, launching this week with a Call for Proposals to all UVM researchers. David V Rosowsky, UVM provost, and Dr Richard Galbraith, vice president for research, are champions of the SPARK-VT program, which will accelerate the translation of new knowledge into tangible benefits to society.

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org The legislative Joint Fiscal Committeee got a double dose of bad news Wednesday: The state faces shortfalls in the current budget cycle and an anticipated $100 million gap for the next fiscal year. That estimate is subject to change — and is likely to increase, further tightening the financial straits most agencies are facing as the state’s budget continues to grow faster than Vermont’s revenue base. Four months into the fiscal year, overall General Fund revenue is $12 million short, Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding reported Friday.

Higher than expected spending this year will require legislative action through the Budget Adjustment Act, to be taken up immediately when newly elected representatives and senators convene the next legislative session in January. And the $100 million gap for Fiscal Year 2016 will be taken up in 2015, too.

“In perpetuity” as it relates to conservation easements and the land trust movement is an issue people are thinking about in Vermont and across the country. An attorney with the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, DC, will provide the IRS perspective during two sessions, titled “Conservation Easements and the IRS,” November 17 at Vermont Law School and November 18 in Montpelier. Sponsored by the Environmental Tax Policy Institute at VLS, the sessions are free and open to the public and press.

The SBA Vermont District Office is accepting nominations for its annual small business awards. Previous Vermont winners include Ben and Jerry’s, Switchback Brewing Company and Vermont Teddy Bear Company.

The categories are as follows:

Small Business Person of the Year
Criteria: Individual or partners who own a small business, which has increased sales, profits and employees, and have been in business for three years.

Exporting Small Business of the Year
Criteria: Small business which has increased sales, profits and/or employees due to exporting and been in business for three years.

Family-Owned Small Business of the Year
Criteria: Small business must be family-owned for at least 15 years and ownership has transitioned to another generation.

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger and Burlington International Airport Director of Aviation Gene Richards today announced that Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded the credit rating of BTV by one level to Baa3 from Ba1. Moody’s action elevates the airport’s bonds from “junk” status to investment grade for the first time in more than four years. The rating outlook remains stable, having been improved to stable from negative in January 2014.

Mayor Weinberger explains the implications of a raised bond rating. Courtesy photo.

Today PC Construction hosted an awards ceremony to present three Waterbury-based nonprofits with donations totaling $15,000 as part of the company’s 2014 campaign “Building Communities: PC Construction Gives Back.” The first-place winner, Brain Injury Association of Vermont, received a $10,000 donation; the second-place winner, Green Mountain Club, received $3,000; and the third-place winner, Revitalizing Waterbury, received $2,000.

The announcement follows a month-long crowdsourced-voting contest. PC Construction’s employee-owners nominated 10 nonprofits based in the Waterbury, Vermont area. The contest was then opened up to a public vote to help determine the final winners.

During the four-week period concluding on October 31, more than 7,000 votes were cast.

Vermont Business Magazine In order to tie together more closely the University of Vermont Medical School, the university itself and Fletcher Allen Health Care, the Burlington-based hospital and health system will now be known as The University of Vermont Medical Center. New names for the four-hospital affiliation, known as Fletcher Allen Partners, and its individual members, were made official today in recognition that the partnership has become one organization focused on delivering academic medicine to the people of Vermont and northern New York more efficiently and as close to home as possible. Fletcher Allen Partners will now be known as The University of Vermont Health Network, while the other three Partner hospitals - Central Vermont Medical Center, Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital and Elizabethtown Community Hospital - will add that title to their existing names.

In federal fiscal year 2014, the Vermont EB-5 Regional Center ranked in the top 10 out of over 500 regional centers nationwide for I-829 approvals. I-829 approvals for permanent residency are granted to investors whose investments led to a project successfully creating at least 10 jobs. Peter Joseph, Association to Invest in the USA (IIUSA) Executive Director remarked, "It is an honor for IIUSA to celebrate the success of 17 Regional Center members with I-829 approvals over the last year, including the State of Vermont Regional Center, at our 2014 EB-5 Market Exchange Conference. The I-829 approval milestone means a Regional Center has delivered on using global vision to create jobs in their communities. The large Vermont delegation at the event was yet another demonstration of the importance of EB-5 as an economic development tool to the state, and the active roles its stakeholders take in the industry and IIUSA."

The David L Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry at Champlain College, dedicated Saturday, becomes the only academic center in the world focused entirely on Appreciative Inquiry. AI, as it’s known by practitioners across the globe, emphasizes a strengths-based approach to organizational development and management. Co-created by Dr David L Cooperrider, Appreciative Inquiry is embraced by a broad spectrum of business and social sector leaders and executives. The stated purpose of the Center is to educate leaders to be the best in the world at seeing the best for the world, in order to discover and design positive institutions – organizations and communities that elevate, magnify, and bring our highest human strengths to the practice of positive organizational development and change.