Current News

Enjoy a free sample of Vermont’s fishing, State Parks and State Historic Sites during the annual Vermont Days weekend celebration on June 14-15. All Vermont State Park day areas, State Historic Sites, and the Vermont History Museum in Montpelier will be open at no charge all weekend. Saturday, June 14 is also free fishing day – the one day of the year when residents and non-residents may go fishing without a license in any Vermont State Park.

“Vermont Days is a great opportunity to explore Vermont’s outstanding variety of recreation, culture and history,” said Governor Peter Shumlin. “We have more than 50 state parks and nine historic sites all around our state, each offering their own unique and authentic Vermont experience.”

Q Burke Mountain Resort has announced that a mutual agreement has been reached with Kingdom Trails Association regarding the operation of the Q Burke Mountain Bike Park, and the cross-country bike trails that lie on Q Burke Mountain Resort property. The agreement allows for Q Burke Mountain Resort to maintain and operate the trails within the Bike Park, while Kingdom Trails Association will continue to maintain the cross-country trails on Q Burke Mountain Resort property under their standard landowner agreement. Kingdom Trails members will have access to the cross-country trails seven days a week and the bike park trails during non-operating hours, free of charge. In recognition of Kingdom Trails Association’s efforts towards winning the Bell Helmets Grant that allowed for the construction of Roly Grail, Q Burke Mountain Resort has made a monetary donation to Kingdom Trails to go towards the construction of a new trail within the KTA network.

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org Jay Peak’s developers announced at a hotel groundbreaking in Burke on Tuesday afternoon that their proposed biotechnology plant in Newport had gained a key federal approval.The news that the Newport project had won EB-5 approval further buoyed the optimism on Burke Mountain, where planned expansions have been pushed back due to delays in the same immigrant investor program that will fund the proposed AnC Bio facility. Q Burke Resort’s 180,000-square-foot hotel is slated to open in December 2015, along with an aquatic center and tennis facility. Construction will commence next spring or summer. Two more hotels, adding another 116 units to the mountain, are set to follow.

Vermont will collect $1.4 million as its share of a settlement reached between GlaxoSmithKline, LLC, Attorney General William Sorrell and the attorneys general of 43 other States and the District of Columbia. The settlement, totaling $105 million, resolves allegations that GSK unlawfully promoted its asthma drug Advair, and antidepressant drugs Paxil and Wellbutrin, by misrepresenting the proper uses and qualities of these drugs.

“A drug manufacturer cannot be allowed to lie about which patients can safely use its drugs, nor to incentivize and reward sales teams for spreading misinformation about its drugs,” said Attorney General Sorrell. “The settlement addresses this misconduct.”
GSK must reform its marketing and promotional practices under the settlement in a number of ways. For example, GSK cannot:

Attorney General William Sorrell issued a GE Food Labeling Questionnaire today in his first official solicitation of public input on the rules that will implement Act 120 — the law requiring the labeling of foods produced with genetic engineering. All interested persons, including food processors, grocers and other retailers, distributors, the agricultural community, and consumers, are encouraged to take the questionnaire, which is available here (at www.surveymonkey.com/s/vt-ago-gefoodrule), and to forward it to others who may desire to provide input. The questionnaire will be open until June 30, 2014.

Vermont Business Magazine At the Vermont Ski Areas Association annual meeting at Killington Resort, the state’s resorts celebrated another stellar season with 4,503,269 skier & rider visits, nearly identical to last year’s near-record numbers. The 2013-14 season tally once again ranks Vermont number one in the East and number three in the country, according to preliminary figures from the National Ski Areas Association. The record early start and strong finish to the season were welcome boosts to Vermont’s coffers as well, with November business netting a 13 percent increase in the rooms & meals tax revenue over last year while March posted an 8.5 percent gain. Overall, the winter season generated a 6 percent increase in the rooms & meals tax revenues while matching last year’s strong sales tax revenues, once again highlighting the ski and snowboard industry as a cornerstone of the Vermont economy.

Governor Peter Shumlin joined Vermont employers, colleges, chambers of commerce and others in Waterbury today in announcing the new ‘Great Jobs in Vermont’ campaign, a marketing and job listing effort to connect job seekers in and out of state with exciting available job openings in Vermont businesses. “With the second lowest unemployment rate in the country, we need to make sure people know that we have great jobs in Vermont – and lots of them,” the Governor said at a news conference at the Keurig Green Mountain, Inc Beverage Technology Center in Waterbury.

Fletcher Allen Health Care filed a Certificate of Need (CON) application with the Green Mountain Care Board today seeking approval to purchase two parcels of real estate located adjacent to Hinesburg Road in South Burlington: the majority of the 92-acre Mountain View Business Park, containing Tilley Drive where Fletcher Allen leases two buildings, and an adjoining undeveloped 38-acre parcel. The proposed combined purchase price for both properties is approximately $51 million. A CON application is necessary when a proposed hospital expenditure exceeds $3 million.

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield’s single scoop shop grew into an ice cream empire. Dealer.com went public with a sale of nearly $1 billion in 2013. Coca-Cola now owns $3.2 billion worth of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters — renamed Keurig Green Mountain. These darlings of Vermont-style homegrown entrepreneurialism all got their start with the help of small business loans — capital they may or may not be able to get in the current lending climate.

“No one maybe would make that loan today,” said Darcy Carter, district director of the federal Small Business Administration in Vermont. “Who can say if that’s the right thing to do or not.”

Vermont Gas Systems issued a statement today saying the South Burlington Police Department is seeking the public’s help in identifying a protestor who it says assaulted an administrative support staff member at Vermont Gas last Tuesday when a group of protesters from Rising Tide Vermont and 350.org demonstrated at the utility’s office. Vermont Gas stated it has previously allowed protestors to express their views peacefully.

“We don’t have a problem with people expressing their opinions and concerns, but last week protestors went too far when they assaulted and injured an employee and endangered themselves and others by climbing on the roof,” said Stephen Wark, communications director for Vermont Gas.

The Brattleboro Retreat has announced the launch of a broad-based media campaign designed to raise public awareness and reduce the social stigma associated with mental illness and addiction. The campaign known as Stand Up to Stigma includes a variety of messages in print, radio, and online formats. These messages provide fact-based information aimed at countering the stereotypical myths that often surround psychiatric and addictive disorders as well as the people affected by them. As a part of the campaign, the Retreat has launched www.brattlebororetreat.org/standup to offer more information regarding mental illness and addiction stigmas, as well as campaign materials.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc Tuesday announced two new Bank Better enhancements that expand mobile banking functionality for Citizens Bank and Charter One customers – mobile check deposits and fast account balances. Both enhancements use industry-leading technology designed to deliver increased customer convenience. CFG’s mobile check deposits capture check images using a mobile device’s video camera. Because there is no need to tap a button – which can cause blurry or incomplete images and frustrating retakes – depositing checks is quick and simple. The bank’s new Fast Balance™ feature makes it simple and easy for on-the-go customers to view account balances without needing to log into their mobile banking app for iPhone and Android. CFG is one of the first banks to offer customers this convenient solution.