Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Small businesses leaders will be on hand at the State House on Wednesday to raise awareness about issues that support the small businesses and are vital to Vermont’s economy. Representatives from Main Street Alliance of Vermont, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility and members from both organizations will be available to chat during a coffee bar meet and greet in the State House cafeteria in the morning.

Led by Rep. Bill Botzow, chair of the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development and Sen. Michael Siroktin, chair of the the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs, the House and the Senate will take up resolutions in the afternoon that affirm the important role that small businesses plays in Vermont communities and the economy.

WHO: Small business leaders, Main Street Alliance of Vermont and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility.

Vermont Business Magazine A state-by-state analysis released by a national advocacy organization for Tuesday's Equal Pay Day reveals that a woman employed full time, year-round in Vermont is typically paid just 86 cents for every dollar paid to a man – a yearly pay difference of $6,718. That means Vermont women lose a combined total of more than $1 billion every year to the gender wage gap. If it were closed, on average, a woman working full time in Vermont would be able to afford 50 more weeks of food for her family, more than nine additional months of mortgage and utilities payments, nearly one additional semester of tuition and fees for a four-year public university, nearly one year of tuition and fees for a two-year community college, more than seven additional months of rent or more than eight additional months of child care each year.

by Bob Bick, Howard Center CEO Beginning last summer Vermonters seeking medication assisted treatment for opiate use could access treatment almost immediately. While there may still be a delay in first appointment scheduling, what had been long waiting lists at the treatment centers known as hubs were all but eliminated. Around the same time, Vermont instituted new policies that limit opiate prescribing and encourage doctors and their patients to explore alternative pain management solutions. The result has been a dramatic reduction in the number of prescriptions written for opiates in Vermont.

In spite of these achievements, the number of deaths attributed to opiates in Vermont once again increased in 2017, albeit at a slower rate than in previous years.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Mutual Insurance Group was recently awarded the 2018 Governor’s Excellence in Worksite Wellness Award by the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Each year the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports awards Vermont employers who promote a work environment that encourages and enables employees to improve their overall health. This is the eleventh year Vermont Mutual has been recognized by the state for its efforts in worksite wellness.

Worksite wellness brings numerous benefits for employees, as well as employers, including:

• Improved employee health and well-being

• Improved employee job satisfaction and retention

• Lower healthcare cost increases associated with lower employee health risks and improved health status

• Ability to affect workers’ compensation related expenses through integration of safety and health promotion

by John McClaughry In the wake of a Florida school shooting and a thwarted attack targeted on Fair Haven High School, the legislature and governor have enacted into law a bill touted by its advocates as “gun violence prevention”. Its main features are required background checks for firearms transfers among all but immediate family members, a ban on high capacity magazines, and barring the sale of a firearm to a person under age 21, unless that person has completed hunter safety training.

The bill is founded on the view that guns are the problem, and if the government can keep guns out of the hands of “the people (that the government determines) shouldn’t have them”, there will be less “gun violence”.

Vermont Business Magazine Patricia “Patti” Fisher, MD, has joined The University of Vermont Health Network - Central Vermont Medical Center (CVMC) as Chief Medical Officer, succeeding Philip Brown, DO, who retired in March. Dr Fisher comes to CVMC from The University of Vermont Medical Center, where she served as medical director for Case Management and Medical Staff Affairs as well as Family Medicine Inpatient Service/Ambulatory Care Unit.

Vermont Business Magazine Michael Feitelberg, President of The Sports & Fitness EDGE Inc (The EDGE, The EDGE Kids & Fitness and The EDGE Physical Therapy), a Vermont health and fitness company established in 1966, has announced that The EDGE is launching a multi-site preventative care practice, The EDGE Preventative Care. The Edge has locations in Essex, South Burlington and Williston.

As Vermont’s exclusive provider of Genavix and HealthyCARE Services, this uniquely structured practice has already impacted hundreds of lives in Chittenden County with a focus on fitness, nutrition, stress management and behavior modification; our participants have seen sustained weight loss, lowered cholesterol and blood pressure.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott announced today that he will sign three bills related to gun safety (S.55, S.221 and H.422) at 2 pm on Wednesday at the State House. The most controversial of them has been S.55. The bill would ban “bump-stocks,” limit the capacity of ammunition magazines, require background checks for private gun sales and increase the age at which one can purchase a firearm from 18 to 21.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced the arrival of an AT&T Cell Site on Wheels (COW) at Grace Cottage Hospital, which will reinforce and enhance wireless network coverage for the hospital and the surrounding area. Grace Cottage, the state's smallest hospital is located in Townshend in Windham County. The hospital and surrounding area were facing a loss of coverage due to a potential shutdown of wireless provider CoverageCo. A press release issued Monday afternoon stated that the governor worked with AT&T to ensure there would be no coverage gaps in the hospital’s critical operations. However, this does not replace lost service in the rest of the CoverageCo areas.

Vermont Business Magazine BTV Ignite will participate in this year's US Ignite series of "Reverse Pitch" competitions. Digital solution developers and educators are invited to compete for cash grants to demonstrate innovative ways high-bandwidth ideas can help deliver education – in Burlington, across our state, and by linking our students with national communities and resources. $30,000 in total grant funding will be made available through this program, in awards for best solution ideas and, subsequently, for best proof-of-concept developed “application solutions”.

An “application solution” can be any combination of software, equipment, digital systems, and related “services” that demonstrate new ways of delivering education.

by US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) This Saturday, April 14, I will be holding three Senior Town Meetings: A breakfast meeting in Montpelier, a lunch meeting in Newport, and an early dinner meeting in St Albans. I hope you can join me to get an update from Washington, and to discuss issues of importance to older Vermonters. As I travel around the state, I often meet older Vermonters who are struggling just to get by. To my mind, no senior in the richest country on Earth should ever have to decide between buying groceries, medications, or keeping their house warm. But that is the sad reality today for far too many older Americans.

Vermont Business Magazine Today the Vermont State Colleges System received a grant of $25,000 from the TD Bank Charitable Foundation, the charitable arm of TD Bank, to fund financial literacy education at each of its colleges and universities. The grant continues TD Bank Charitable Foundation's previous support for financial literacy activities within peer mentoring programs at Northern Vermont University, Castleton University, the Community College of Vermont and Vermont Technical College.

Phil Daniels, TD Bank Market President for Vermont and Update New York, presented the check to Vermont State Colleges' Chancellor Jeb Spaulding at the Community College of Vermont in Winooski on Monday. In 2016, the TD Bank Charitable Foundation provided a $25,000 grant to get the program off the ground.