Current News

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Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan today announced a settlement with a small Florida-based company that routed thousands of foreign scam robocalls to Vermonters. The Attorney General investigated the company—Strategic IT Partner—after reports of scam robocalls to the Vermont Consumer Assistance Program. The settlement will prevent Strategic IT Partner from bringing any robocalls into the US from abroad unless the company first verifies they are wholly legitimate. The Attorney General also today announced the formation of a Robocall Team to assist in the office’s ongoing efforts to combat scam calls in Vermont.

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Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Buildings and General Services has resumed the online auctions offering a large assortment of State vehicles and equipment. BGS administers the State’s Surplus Property Program which receives and redistributes items no longer needed by the State such as office furniture, computer equipment, vehicles, and hundreds of other items. The auctions are an excellent opportunity for Vermont communities and others throughout New England to obtain a good deal on a vehicle or piece of equipment. Access to the auction system is facilitated by Auctions International.

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Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Department of Labor Commissioner Michael Harrington today issued the following statement: “On Monday April 26, 2021, the Vermont Department of Labor received formal notification from Koffee Kup Bakery (KKB), in the form of a Notice of Potential Layoff (also referred to as a WARN Notice), that the company was ceasing operations at its Burlington and Brattleboro facilities effective immediately. In an effort to immediately support the roughly 250 Vermonters who have lost their jobs, our Workforce Development and Unemployment Insurance divisions have begun the process of coordinating Rapid Response services. Additionally, a number of employers across the state have contacted the Department of Labor interested in hiring individuals who were impacted by this closure."

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An educational entrepreneur and a public face of the nonprofit that purchased the Marlboro College campus in 2019, Seth Andrew pleads not guilty to stealing $218,005 from three of the charter schools he founded and once ran
by Olga Peters/The Commons. Additional reporting by Jeff Potter The principal figure in an educational nonprofit’s acquisition of the former Marlboro College campus in 2019 was arrested early Tuesday morning in New York City on three charges of financial fraud. Seth Andrew has been removed as president of Democracy Builders Fund, the owner of the campus on South Road in Marlboro, and from the board of directors of Degrees of Freedom, the program emerging on Potash Hill. He has entered a plea of not guilty to federal charges of wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to a bank, and he faces a preliminary hearing in US District Court for the Southern District of New York on May 27.
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Vermont Business Magazine Champlain College President Benjamin Ola. Akande is returning to St Louis to assume a leadership role at one of the nation’s largest investment banking and financial services firms. His last day as president will be May 31, 2021. The Board of Trustees has accepted his resignation as announced in an email to the college community today.

Benjamin Ola. Akande. File Photo

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Vermont Business Magazine The New England Regional Defense Industry Collaboration (NERDIC) kicked off an Industry 4.0 series of workshops to support competitive advantages and growth of our regional defense supply chain. In the first of the Tuesday noontime webinars, Stanley X, in partnership with DeepHow, shared their AI-powered solution to capture, train and transfer knowledge among skilled workers.

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Vermont Business Magazine The Patricia A Hannaford Career Center (HCC) has announced that Collins Aerospace, Vergennes, Vermont, has provided HCC and its maker-space, The Makery, $5,000 to support its growing high-tech manufacturing training programs. A portion of these funds was used to purchase a GlowForge Laser Cutter with the remainder of the funds planned for additional equipment purchases that support HCC’s workforce development initiatives.

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Vermont Business Magazine Vermont has the third highest increase in real home value in the nation. First American Real House Price Index (RHPI) measures the price changes of single-family properties throughout the US adjusted for the impact of income and interest rate changes on consumer house-buying power over time at national, state and metropolitan area levels. Because the RHPI adjusts for house-buying power, it also serves as a measure of housing affordability.

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Vermont Business Magazine On April 17th, H.315 was enacted (Act 9). The Act appropriates $10 million of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to ACCD to provide priority funding to businesses that have not received prior State or Federal financial assistance. To the extent that funds remain available, the program is also intended to provide funding to businesses that have suffered a tax loss even after receiving State or Federal aid.

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Vermont Business Magazine NBT Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ: NBTB) has reported net income and diluted earnings per share for the three months ended March 31, 2021. Net income for the three months ended March 31, 2021 was $39.8 million, or $0.91 per diluted common share. Net income increased $5.7 million from the previous quarter primarily due to lower provision for loan losses and branch optimization charges recognized in the previous quarter. Net income increased $29.5 million from the first quarter of 2020 due to the adoption of the Current Expected Credit Losses accounting methodology.

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by Lindsay DesLauriers With the end of the ski season, and now thankfully, the end of the pandemic seemingly in sight, I finally have a little time to pause and take stock of the past year. Uncertainty and the ski industry (like any weather dependent business) are old friends, but making a plan to operate during COVID-19 was on a whole new level. On balance, I’m happy to say, Bolton Valley fared pretty well. It turns out that, in the midst of the pandemic, skiing became a respite of sorts for people who craved to escape the four walls of their homes, let loose a little bit, and interact with other people in a safe way. I’m sure it comes as no surprise to anyone that the other major parts of our operation – our restaurants and lodging – were hit pretty hard. However, in the final analysis, the hardest hit part of our operation was actually our childcare program.

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Vermont Business Magazine Liquid Measurement Systems, Inc (LMS) has announced that its Georgia, Vermont, facility has been awarded Part 145 Repair Station certification by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The new capability supports LMS’ primary business in the delivery of best-in-industry fuel measurement solutions for aerospace applications, designing, certifying and manufacturing electro-mechanical systems and components for both commercial and military aircraft