Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Carrie walked into the Maple Landmark showroom early on a Monday morning with an idea. An employee at a nearby food storage company, she brought a concept from their design team to see what possibilities might be available. The concept, a simple one-piece toggle, would be used as part of their product packaging. Carrie began explaining the idea to Maple Landmark owner, Michael Rainville, when he came up with an idea of his own: why not make a prototype on the spot for her to show her team?

Vermont Business Magazine Besides reducing their environmental impact and saving money, members who have enrolled in Vermont Electric Co-op’s Co-op Community Solar Program often cite convenience and lack of equipment maintenance as major reasons they participate. Under VEC’s Co-op Community Solar Program, members make an up-front payment to sponsor panels for either 10 or 20 years and receive a guaranteed, fixed, monthly credit on their electric bill. By the end of the sponsorship, the total value of the bill credits exceeds the initial up-front payment.

Vermont Business Magazine Over 150 Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) Corporators and community leaders attended the organization’s annual meeting at Northern Vermont University on Tuesday, Dec. 3. The meeting, which marked the end of NVRH’s 2019 fiscal year, highlighted organizational achievements from the past year and featured remarks from NVRH CEO Shawn Tester, NVRH Board Chair Tom Robinson, and the Executive Director of Lumunos Clinicians Wellbeing Services Doug Wysockey-Johnson. The meeting also included election and re-election of Corporators and trustees for the St Johnsbury-based hospital.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Public Radio has been selected by Report For America to host a journalist next year to expand coverage of the Northeast Kingdom. 

"VPR has been working toward more Vermonters hearing and seeing themselves in our coverage and this new reporter will help us do that in the Northeast Kingdom," said Sarah Ashworth, Vice President of News. "Our reporter will live and work in the region and will weave the voices and perspectives of the Kingdom into our broader coverage of issues in Vermont."  

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University in Northfield will host the fifth annual FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Vermont State Championship on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019, in Shapiro Field House, an all-day event beginning at 9 am. Founded by Segway inventor Dean Kamen, FIRST LEGO League is designed to inspire children in science and technology through the use of robotics. Open to 9 to 14-year-old students around the world, teams are tasked with researching a real-world scientific issue and designing and building an original robot.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Ed Sawyer, President and CEO, of SBE, Inc in Barre has confirmed to VBM that SBE is winding down operations and has dispersed the SBE assets. He also confirmed that he is ramping up a new company that is using his patents for electronic components vital to the electric vehicle industry. The new company is called Advanced Power Conversion Solutions, Inc. It will occupy the same relatively new plant at the Wilson Industrial Park in Barre, though on a smaller footprint. Sawyer said he was able to retain 15 of the 19 SBE employees. 

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Senate author and champion of the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019 (S.561), praised the U.S. House of Representatives for passing the House version of this landmark legislation (H.R.4) to remedy the Supreme Court’s Shelby County decision that decimated the Voting Rights Act. Leahy urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to let the Senate vote on the bill so that it can be sent to the President’s desk.  Leahy said the right to vote is “foundational to our democracy” and that the high court’s decision opened the floodgates to systematic efforts in many states to disenfranchise minority voters.  “Our bill is a bulwark against voter suppression,” he said.     

Vermont Business Magazine Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) Secretary Julie Moore invites the public to join her on December 10 from 4-5 pm to discuss a variety of environmental topics. The conversation will start with a discussion on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The Secretary will provide more information about the ongoing PFAS investigation in Vermont, remediation efforts, and the implementation of Act 21.   

Vermont Business Magazine Middlebury-based Stonecutter Spirits announced Tuesday that they will close Highball Social, their bar & restaurant in Burlington, and their tasting room in Middlebury at the end of 2019. The company will continue sales to liquor stores, bars, and restaurants throughout Vermont. However, it no longer is producing its award-winning spirits.

Vermont Business Magazine The United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Randall Swartz, 59, of Orleans, was sentenced yesterday in United States District Court in Rutland to 48 months of imprisonment following his guilty plea to a charge of mail fraud. Chief Judge Geoffrey Crawford also ordered that Swartz serve three years of supervised release following completion of his prison term and pay restitution in the amount of $452,558.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment spiked last week. After a long period of very low numbers, claims have been higher over the last month and now have entered the holiday period, which typically brings with it wild swings in claims, as retailers hire and then fire seasonal workers. Initial claims for the week of November 30, 2019, were 1,124, up 503 from last week and 262 more than they were at this time last year. Thanksgiving was much later this year, which could alter the timing of the usual holiday hiring/firing. Altogether 4,100 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 387 from a week ago, but 683 fewer than a year ago.

Vermont Business Magazine The Northeast Kingdom Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation made $110,243 in grants to 29 organizations in Orleans, Essex, and Caledonia counties this year. The NEK Fund was established in 2011 by the Vermont Community Foundation and local partners as a permanent philanthropic resource for people and communities in the region. In a new initiative for 2019, the NEK Fund grantmaking committee invited a small group of continuously supported NEK partners to apply for multi-year funding to provide for programmatic and operational grant requests. The committee awarded three multi-year grants, which make up a portion of the Fund’s total grantmaking for the year.