Current News

by Joyce Marcel, Vermont Business Magazine It’s difficult to describe the Vermont Law School without using words like “bucolic” and “tranquil.” Set in tiny South Royalton in the heart of rural Vermont, the state’s private, stand-alone law school leads the country in environmental law and is proud of its mission-driven student body and faculty — so mission-driven, in fact, that they usually find themselves on the lower end of the earning scale for lawyers, meaning they can’t provide the school with the impressive endowments that, say, are enjoyed by Yale or Harvard.

In response to the lawsuit filed by Vermont, New York, Connecticut, and the City of New York, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York today granted anationwide preliminary injunction stopping the Trump Administration’s new “public charge” rule from taking effect. The rule, which was scheduled to take effect on October 15, 2019, would have expanded the current “public charge” policies. The change would have allowed the federal government to consider if an individual has received public assistance, or is likely to seek public assistance, when considering the individual’s entry into the country or application for a green card. The public assistance programs considered in the rule would have included Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (known in Vermont as 3SquaresVT), and Section 8.

Vermont Business Magazine The Snelling Center for Government is pleased to announce the Vermont Leadership Institute Class of 2020. The Class of 2020 is comprised of 22 leaders from across the state who represent a wide variety of organizations from the public, private and non-profit sectors:

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment numbers increased last week, but still remained under 300 claims. Summer typically brings very low claim levels and these have slipped into fall. Initial claims for the week of October 5, 2019, totaled 279, up 30 from last week but 51 fewer than they were at this time last year. Altogether 2,115 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 46 from a week ago, and 318 fewer than a year ago.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger, joined by a coalition of environmental and business leaders, proposed a statewide carbon pollution fee that would cut emissions by 37 percent by 2040 when combined with existing clean energy policies, create new jobs, and boost state economic growth. The Mayor’s proposal is based on a newly-completed component of the City’s Net Zero Energy Roadmap, first released publicly last month, and demonstrates that putting a price on carbon would have broad economic and environmental benefits for Vermonters. Further, Mayor Weinberger also announced that Burlington will continue to lead by example by becoming one of the first cities in the nation to apply an internal carbon price when evaluating future decisions about investment in the City’s fleet and building heating systems.

by Dan Smith The heart of community is a sense of common experience. We build vital connections around those shared experiences. We experience community when we walk down the sidewalk, along a stone wall, on a dirt road, or up to the front doors of a local school. And we believe those experiences are held in common with those who walk alongside us, before us, and after us.

And yet, there is something increasingly fragile about that. We can no longer assume that our neighbors see and feel the same things when they take those steps.

As a community foundation, our role is to help donors find and fund the causes that matter in the places they care about. To do that well, we need to be able to answer questions about the ways in which philanthropy may be most able to make the greatest difference.

by Joy Choquette When the phrase “Vermont revenue sources,” come up, most often a few things come to mind: the ski industry, maple syrup production, and tourism, particularly in the summer months. But another revenue source has quietly entered the scene in the state: mountain biking. Vermont’s mountainous terrain is the perfect pairing for the sport, which can be performed on downhill ski trails in the off-season months. Riders and their bikes are taken up the mountain by lifts and then bikers ride the trails down.

Vermont Business Magazine With the bustling Stowe Foliage Arts Festival as a backdrop, Rep. Peter Welch today unveiled legislation he is championing in Congress to boost international tourism to Vermont. Welch made the announcement at Top Notch during a roundtable discussion with leaders of Vermont’s travel and tourism industry.

Welch’s legislation, co-authored by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), would renew and fully fund the Brand USA program, a public-private partnership that promotes Vermont and other states to international tourists. The program is funded at no cost to taxpayers through a fee on international visitors.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott spoke about the economy, taxes, the good and bad of revenues, the troubling suicide and opioid use rates, the tight workforce, tourism, the environment, education and other issues in a conversation with VBM.

Vermont Business Magazine Legal Services Vermont and Vermont Legal Aid want to meet with you. The nonprofit law firms want to know more about the civil legal problems facing low-income and vulnerable Vermonters. They are holding seven meetings around the state to hear from Vermonters, their community partners and supporters. “We want to hear from as wide a cross section of Vermonters as possible. Everyone is encouraged to participate in this process,” said Sam Abel-Palmer, executive director of Legal Services Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Our state's rural communities are critical to its identity, but will the next generation of Vermonters be able to live, work and thrive here? This fall, Vermont PBS and VPR are collaborating to present This Land: The Changing Story of Rural Vermont. The project explores the realities and rewards of living in rural Vermont through a statewide poll, news and analysis, a storytelling event and other special programming. “Vermont PBS is proud to team up with our friends at VPR to combine our professional expertise to give voice to the daily experience of rural Vermonters,” says Holly Groschner, president and CEO of Vermont PBS. “Throughout the fall we will use the full power of our combined public media to explore the story of contemporary rural life and to spark conversation with you. Together we seek to explain the issues faced by rural communities and highlight grassroots solutions that show promise for the future.”​

This week, the Burlington office of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hosted farmers, environmental advocates, and community members across Vermont to share recommendations with his staff on how agriculture can help mitigate climate change and adapt to its effects.

“Farmers in Vermont and around the country know that the debate about the reality of climate change is over,” said Sanders.  “They want—and deserve—to be part of the solution in addressing this global threat. We need to hear from them and get their ideas on how to move forward.”

Discussion with the Senator’s staff focused on ways to position farmers to address climate change while improving the financial stability of their farms. Farmers highlighted the importance of rewarding measurable improvements to land, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as well as providing financial incentives for farmers to develop sustainable farming practices.