Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Tiny House Fest Vermont 2019 is rolling up the highway from Southern Vermont to the Mad River Valley, home of co-presenter Yestermorrow Design/Build School. The weekend of October 26–27, 2019 will kick off with a local tour of tiny houses on Saturday. On Sunday, exhibitions and presentations will occupy the buildings and grounds of Sugarbush Resort in Warren, Vermont.

The yearly Fest serves up opportunities to explore creative housing solutions, and how we live in relationship to community and the environment. This year’s presentations will continue to hone the Fest’s focus on what the festival’s presenters call “enoughness”—minimalist design, craft and technology—as well as maker skills, shared spaces and policy. Cofounder Erin O’Keefe explains, “When we choose to build small, the process requires deep thought into what is most essential and precious to us and our family. We can be conscious about what we will not compromise.”

Vermont Business Magazine ISO New England, operator of the region’s bulk power system and wholesale electricity markets, today announced the election of the 2019 Board of Directors slate. The slate includes two incumbents, Barney Rush and Vickie VanZandt, and new Director Cheryl LaFleur. LaFleur was most recently a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioner, and will join the Board on October 1, 2019. She replaces retiring Board member Raymond Hill.

Vermont Business Magazine Encore Renewable Energy will accelerate its mission of developing solar and energy storage projects on underutilized property with an infusion of development capital from North Carolina’s Leyline Renewable Energy under their first fund, Windstar Fund I, LP, the companies announced today. The companies just closed a deal to loan Encore its next $1.8 million in capital to speed up development of community-scale solar arrays and energy storage facilities on sites such as brownfields, landfills, parking lots, and gravel pits that can be given a new lease on life by generating clean energy.

Vermont Business Magazine A Vermont IT provider is expanding into new territories across New England, led by an experienced problem solver at the helm.

Vermont Business Magazine Ledyard National Bank ihas been named one of Business NH Magazine’s 2019 Best Companies to Work For. For more than two decades, Business NH Magazine has recognized the best employers in the state and shared how they create workplaces that attract and retain talent. Drawing applicants from the across the entire state of New Hampshire, the competition’s judges recognized Ledyard as an organization that proactively focuses on and strives to offer a workplace that truly engages its employees through meaningful work, opportunities to better its communities, and opportunities to better themselves through programs such as Ledyard’s Wellness Initiative.

Vermont Business Magazine The investigation of the incident which prompted the emergency response to 133 State Street and 6 Baldwin Street and the lockdown of several state office buildings in the Montpelier Capitol Complex on Friday, August 30, has been completed. The response resulted from a report from two individuals outside the building that they saw an individual enter 133 State Street carrying what they believed to be a long gun. No gun was found during a search of the buildings and no occupants of the buildings saw a firearm.

Witnesses did observe an individual enter the building with a long black umbrella with a wooden handle and subsequent investigation by the Montpelier Police Department has led to the conclusion that the suspicious person was most likely the individual with the umbrella.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University and University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Training Centers have partnered to offer 15 credit hours from UMBC Training Centers courses to professionals in cybersecurity who wish to enter into Norwich’s online Bachelor of Science in Cyber Security program through the College of Graduate and Continuing Studies (CGCS).

Recognizing the importance of continuing professional education, this partnership provides additional pathways for student professionals to pursue their educational goals. Norwich online undergraduate students will be able to satisfy 15 hours of their credit requirement through Training Centers approved courses. This partnership can better prepare students to prevent more persistent and sophisticated cyber attacks through performance-based education programs.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment numbers rose modestly last week but remain at a low level. Summer usually brings very low claim levels. Initial claims for the week of September 7, 2019, totaled 271, up 66 from last week and 1 fewer than they were at this time last year. Altogether 2,201 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 567 from a week ago, and 255 fewer than a year ago.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) Friday announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved $20 million to repair certain high-risk dams, including the Waterbury Dam, in the Senate’s annual Energy and Water Appropriations bill. The bill was unanimously reported by the committee on Thursday and must be approved by the full Congress and signed into law by the President. 

Leahy said: “The Waterbury Dam and the Waterbury Reservoir draw people from around Vermont and around the country to appreciate our Green Mountain State.  Tropical Storm Irene once again proved how crucial the Waterbury Dam is to the safety and resilience of the surrounding towns.  I am glad the Committee has supported my effort to once again provide the Army Corps of Engineers with the funds it needs to make much-needed repairs to this important piece of Vermont’s infrastructure.”

Vermont Business Magazine Chris Thompson will step down as the executive director of the Burlington maker space Generator at the end of the calendar year, the organization announced. Thompson will rejoin the Generator board at that time. A founding member of Generator, Thompson served as executive director since 2017, moving the organization from a start-up to a financially stable mature organization.

His accomplishments during his term of office were many. He refined Generator’s business model; created a healthy reserve fund; revamped staffing; greatly expanded community relationships and partnerships; increased programming; launched a highly successful entrepreneurial boot camp and free, public lecture series; oversaw an expansion to over 11,500 square feet; and improved operating and administrative systems, in the process earning the wide respect of the maker community.

Vermont Business Magazine Bruegger’s Bagels co-founder Nordahl Brue and his wife Suzanne Brue have made a gift of $1.5 million to New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) to endow the creation of a family history learning center where visitors from all backgrounds can learn more about their ancestry. Bruegger’s originated in Burlington in 1983.

Bernie Sanders, Patrick Leahy, Peter Welch Back-to-school season has begun across America. Millions of children have returned to classrooms, ready to start a new school year. Now, thanks to the Trump Administration, hundreds of thousands of struggling families —including many Vermonters — may have to worry about how they will be able to afford their child’s lunch every day.