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Vermont Business Magazine When it comes to investing, every investor is always looking for ‘the next big thing’. Centuries ago, it was the gold rush era, and more recently, it was digital currency creating all the buzz. Looking ahead, MarketBeat.com ran a survey of 3,000 respondents to ask them a hypothetical question: If you had $10,000 to invest in one future industry, which would you choose?

Vermont Business Magazine In 2012, the Vermont Legislature passed Act 142, creating the Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Initiative, and the structure for investment of state dollars into agricultural and forestry-based businesses.  Over the ensuing eleven years, the Working Lands Enterprise Initiative (WLEI) has invested $15.6 million in 446 farm, food, and forestry projects and leveraged an additional $24.6M in matching funds. These projects have created 540 new jobs, impacted 24,985 acres, and generated $92M in sales. To celebrate these investments and the resulting impacts, the WLEI Board has released the latest Impact Report detailing the significant outcomes from the entire 11 years of the program. With ongoing support from Governor Phil Scott and the Vermont Legislature, WLEI continues to grow, and in fiscal year 2023 received an increase in annual base funding from $594,000 to $1,000,000. 

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine A letter sent from ACLU Vermont to the Vermont Department of Health accuses VDH Commissioner Mark Levine, MD, of violating the Open Meeting Law in regard to the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee. The ACLU maintains that Dr Levine changed the spending priorities after the committee had decided how to spend some $2.6 million of the opioid settlement funds. Senate Pro Tem Baruth added that "Commissioner Levine's logic does not pass the straight-face test." Governor Scott's office fired back, saying the law was followed and that, "Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD, was inappropriately smeared this week without any consultation with State statute to verify the facts. In January, Dr. Levine acted on his authority to make recommendations to the Legislature as part of Governor Scott’s budget recommendation on how to spend $4.9 million in funds available through an opioid settlement."

Vermont Business Magazine A Ukrainian national pleaded guilty February 15 to his role in two separate and wide-ranging malware schemes involving tens of millions of dollars in losses. The cyberattacks included the one against the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington in October 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The UVMMC attack affected about 5,000 computers and cost the hospital about $30 million in recovery and repair. Medical staff reverted to using paper charts, but there were no negative medical consequences reported as a result of the cyberattack. Nor did the hospital pay out any ransom or even receive a demand for it. According to court documents, Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov, also known as Vyacheslav Igoravich Andreev and Tank, 37, of Donetsk, Ukraine, helped lead a wide-ranging racketeering enterprise and conspiracy that infected thousands of business computers with malicious software known as “Zeus” beginning in May 2009. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) recently entered into a settlement with TradeStation Crypto, Inc. (TradeStation) to resolve Vermont’s securities investigation into TradeStation’s crypto interest-earning program. TradeStation, a Florida corporation formed in 2018, provides crypto-asset-related financial services to retail and institutional customers in the United States, including investing and trading services. From August 2020 to June 2022, TradeStation offered a crypto interest-earning program to Vermont investors. Under this program, investors passively earned interest on crypto assets by loaning them to TradeStation. 

Vermont Business Magazine United Way of Northwest Vermont (UWNWVT) is issuing $372,000 in subgrants to 19 organizations to support substance misuse prevention efforts in Chittenden, Franklin, Grand Isle, and Washington Counties. The funding comes from the State of Vermont Department of Health Division of Substance Use Programs (DSU) and is part of the state’s new framework for regional funding to advance a statewide system of substance misuse prevention. UWNWVT is one of four Lead Prevention Organizations selected by DSU to lead regional substance misuse prevention activities and subgrant funds to community prevention partners.

Vermont Business Magazine The M&T Charitable Foundation, the philanthropic arm of M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB), announced that it has awarded $450,000 to Cathedral Square. The grant is part of the second round of giving through the Amplify Fund providing more than $8.2 million to 68 lead nonprofit organizations throughout New England, Long Island, and Rockland County, NY. Now in its second year, the SASH (Support and Services at Home) for All pilot is bringing SASH programs and resources to families and individuals living in affordable housing communities in Brattleboro and Putney, in collaboration with Brattleboro Housing Partnerships and the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust. 

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont State University Interim President David Bergh received a petition Wednesday night requesting the Black Lives Matter and Pride Progress flags be removed from the flagpole that was installed via a student-led initiative for the express purpose of flying them. Bergh responded that the flags will continue to fly and explained the relationship the university has with Vermont National Guard at the Lyndon campus and the Veterans Park there

Vermont Business Magazine Overburdened security teams need smarter solutions to efficiently detect unrelenting threats and effectively investigate anomalies without succumbing to alert fatigue. In response, NuHarbor Security, trusted managed security provider to hundreds of clients in both the public and private sectors based in Colchester, Vermont, has launched a Microsoft Sentinel Managed Extended Detection and Response (MXDR) service. This fully managed service provides threat detection, expert-led analysis and actionable response recommendations for organizations using the Microsoft Sentinel security information and event management (SIEM) platform.

Vermont Business Magazine Feed Every Need, a newly formed 501(c)3 in Northfield, has recently begun providing nutritious, prepared meals, for distribution to those facing food insecurity throughout greater-Central Vermont. For the past 3 years, Jonathan and Lisa Burr, (owners of The Woods Lodge), have been developing and perfecting systems, processes and recipes designed to meet the needs of those being served by the Vermont Everyone- and Emergency-Eats programs. Their involvement in these programs allowed for a first-hand look at the incredible impact that making prepared meals available to the community has had, and also revealed to them that a reliable and sustainable resource was needed to address this, now and well into the future. 

VermontBiz Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CWST), a regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company, today reported its financial results for the three and twelve month periods ended December 31, 2023. The Company also provided guidance for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024 ("fiscal year 2024").

VermontBiz Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Chair of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy, celebrated the ribbon cutting for the Fairbanks Museum Science Annex with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Farah Ahmad and local leaders. The project was funded in part by $2.5 million in Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) for a USDA Rural Development (RD) Community Facilities grant secured by Senator Welch, along with a grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC).