Current News

Vermont Business Magazine An AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) team is serving with Vermont Historical Society (VHS) from September 19 - October 18. The team is helping preserve the original windows of the Vermont History Center (originally designated as the Spaulding Graded School circa 1891) in Barre. The AmeriCorps NCCC team of nine from the North Central Region campus in Vinton, Iowa, is scraping the windows so new paint can be applied, and repairing and glazing the existing glass which will allow VHS to preserve the historic windows for many years into the future.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Creamery, the mission-driven makers of consciously-crafted delicious dairy, is headed to market with their new cultured butter, now available in grocery stores nationwide. Made in Websterville with fresh, high-quality cream from Vermont family farms, the new 82% butterfat cultured butter is now available in half-pound, two-stick packs in Sea Salt and Unsalted varieties. Packaged in 100 percent recycled cartons, Vermont Creamery’s new Cultured Butter is now on shelves for $3.99 SRP.

Vermont Business Magazine Casella Waste Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: CWST), a regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company, has priced the previously announced remarketing of $11.0 million aggregate principal amount of the Business Finance Authority of the State of New Hampshire Solid Waste Disposal Revenue Bonds (Casella Waste Systems, Inc. Project) Series 2013. The Bonds will bear interest at a rate of 2.95% from October 1, 2019 through final maturity. The Bonds were originally issued on April 4, 2013 and have a final maturity date of April 1, 2029. 

Pursuant to the indenture under which the Bonds were offered, the interest rate period under which the Bonds were previously issued is expiring on October 1, 2019, and accordingly, the Bonds will be remarketed at a new interest rate for a new interest rate period.

Vermont Business Magazine Today at the Vermont Chamber’s 2019 Manufacturing Summit, the Vermont-Quebec Aerospace Trade Corridor was officially extended to Connecticut with a signing ceremony of an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, Aéro Montréal and Aerospace Components Manufacturers (ACM). Over the past six years, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce has established and prioritized the Vermont-Quebec Aerospace Trade Corridor, building cross-border trade partnerships to increase economic activity for Vermont manufacturers.

Vermont Business Magazine The State’s Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) is beginning to receive initial testing results for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl (PFAS) levels in public drinking water. The sampling work is part of Act 21, which requires all Public Community and Non-Transient, Non-Community drinking water systems in Vermont to test for PFAS by December 1, 2019. To date, 45 public drinking water systems have sampled for PFAS out of a total of 590 systems that have been requested to sample for PFAS. Testing shows that the water in each of the 45 systems currently meets Vermont’s drinking water standard requiring PFAS concentrations below 20 parts per trillion (ppt).

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont State Treasurer Beth Pearce today announced that fairgoers who visited the Treasurer’s Office’s unclaimed property booth during the 98th Champlain Valley Fair claimed $94,844.07. Of this total, one lucky fairgoer who searched the state databases located an insurance policy worth more than $21,000, which has now been returned to them.

Vermont Business Magazine The Route 100 scenic byway connects visitors and residents to some of Vermont’s most beautiful landscapes. It also bisects a forested landscape that animals such as bear, moose and bobcat need to thrive. Concern for the future of these animals led a partnership of community members, municipalities, conservation groups, and state agencies to protect the last remaining forested corridor connecting the Green Mountains and Worcester Range.

Vermont Business Magazine Median household income for the United States and 14 states increased significantly in 2018 from the previous year, according to US Census Bureau data released today. Vermont's income also increased, but remained below the US average ($61,937) and ranked 23rd highest at $60,782. Before the Great Recession in 2009, Vermont was above the US median and gaining. But since, the state has generally been below and struggled to gain strength until recently. Vermont is still below its pre-recession level of $61,368 in 2008. This is the closest it's been.

Vermont Business Magazine The Mount Holly Conservation Trust has received a total of $120,000 from two Vermont Community Foundation fundholders to permanently protect 346 acres in Mount Holly that connect the southern part of the Green Mountain National Forest with the Okemo State Forest and Coolidge State Forest. An anonymous Vermont Community Foundation fundholder awarded a generous $100,000 challenge grant that—combined with a $20,000 gift from the Lyman Orton Fund—brings the Mount Holly Conservation Trust closer to its overall fundraising goal of $400,000.

To finalize the purchase of the property located off Vermont Route 155 in Mount Holly between Weston and Wallingford, the Okemo Wildlife Corridor Conservation Project needs to raise approximately $70,000 more in donations to meet the challenge.

Vermont Business Magazine Shelburne Museum Director Thomas Denenberg announced the endowment of the director of education position made possible by a gift from the Stiller Family Foundation. The Stiller Family Foundation, the foundation of philanthropists Christine and Robert Stiller, gave a generous gift of $1.5 million to endow the Education Department chair. Christine Stiller is a trustee of Shelburne Museum. Robert Stiller founded Keurig Green Mountain. The two are longtime supporters of education initiatives, early childhood development and programs for Vermont school children.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine A steep but not tall 3,144 feet, Ascutney Mountain has long been an anomaly among Vermont ski mountains. It has great interstate access, just off I-91 in West Windsor (Brownsville), but it doesn’t get much natural snow and doesn’t have much water for making it. It first opened with a rope town in 1946 and went bankrupt – the first time – in 1950. Now it’s owned by the town and an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization called Ascutney Outdoors is putting a ski lift back on the mountain, ready for skiing this season.

by Maura Adams and Rob Riley, Northern Forest Center Climate change is scientifically complex and politically fraught, yet very clear. Long-term data combined with local observation tell us that natural cycles are changing, and with significant effect. At the Northern Forest Center, we pay special attention to news and studies about the role forests and forest products play in mitigating climate change – and to media stories that mischaracterize the carbon impact of using wood in our context. And there are many. For example, we would have expected a more nuanced piece from climate activist Bill McKibben when he attacked every form of biomass energy in a recent New Yorker article.