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Natural Merchants Natural Merchants, LLC, based in Grants Pass, OR and Cartagena, Spain, announces the Non-GMO Project Verification of its core portfolio of wines, the first wines imported from Europe to obtain the seal. Natural Merchants works with family-owned wineries throughout Europe to produce USDA Certified Organic No Sulfites Added Wines, as well as wines made with Organically Grown Grapes. Five of the winery partners, located in Italy, Spain, Austria, Greece and France, are participating in the Non-GMO Verification Project.
“Consumer demand for non-GMO products has increased dramatically in the United States, as an estimated 80% of all packaged goods are now genetically engineered,” says Edward Field, President of Natural Merchants. “The demand flows over into wine and other alcoholic beverages and we are delighted to offer the first ever wines from Europe to be Non-GMO Project Verified.”

Today, Seventh Generation, the nation's leading brand of non-toxic and renewable bio-based household, baby and personal care solutions, amasses a first-ever, national campaign to instigate meaningful change to reform The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that has laid dormant since 1976. Unlike other major environmental laws, TSCA has never been updated and has proven to be an ineffective law for regulating chemicals. For the past 30 years, the law has allowed 62,000 chemicals to remain on the market without required testing.
With capes, masks and petitions in hand, comes a new generation of activists ready to make a change.
Photo courtesy of Seventh Generation

Related Company: People's United BankThe People’s United Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of People’s United Bank, announced today that it has awarded $12,000 to Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) in Burlington, Vermont.
CVOEO assists low-income individuals in achieving economic independence in order to address fundamental issues of economic, social, and racial justice. The grant from People’s United Community Foundation will support its Growing Money Program.
With free financial classes and coaching, the Growing Money Program helps low- and moderate-income participants reach their financial goals, improve their credit scores, and identify areas for saving. Individuals learn to manage spending, create a budget, access banking products and services, how to work with creditors and avoid predatory lending.

Spring is around the corner, and with its arrival comes the need for horse-owning Vermonters to ensure that their companions are protected from diseases transmitted by mosquitos, such as Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) and West Nile Virus (WNV).

Related Company: Switchback Brewingby Daniel Monahan The Small Business Administration announced the 2014 Vermont small business award winners today. The highest honor, the Vermont Small Business Persons of the Year, is awarded to Bill Cherry and Jeff Neiblum, owners of the Switchback Brewing Company, for growing their brewery, expanding the brand, increasing sales and employment, and contributing to their local community.

“The SBA has had a long relationship with Switchback,” said Darcy Carter, SBA Vermont District Office Director. “He was able to achieve his dream of opening a brewery with an SBA loan and guidance from his friend Jeff. Over the next 12 years, Switchback obtained several more SBA loans to expand the brewery company, produce more ale and hire more employees.”

Switchback is a brewery based in Burlington. Its flagship beer is an unfiltered ale sold throughout the state and distributed in areas of New Hampshire and Maine as well.

Related Company: Goddard CollegeThe Board of Trustees of Goddard College announced that there will be no increase in tuition or fees for the next fiscal year beginning July 1, 2014.
“Students everywhere continue to be under great financial pressure as they pursue their education,” said Acting President Avram Patt. “By not increasing tuition or fees for next year, we are making it a little easier for our current students to continue their studies, and for prospective students to enroll for the first time.”
The college also announced the Engaged Artist Award, a new grant that provides up to $2,000 to artists and writers who enroll in the Masters in Fine Arts, MFA in Creative Writing, MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts, or MA in Individualized Studies programs.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org
The Vermont Senate doesn’t intend to sit on its hands when it comes to health care reform this session. Frustration with the troubled rollout of Vermont Health Connect has undermined public confidence in the state’s ability to execute reform plans, and senators say they are intent on ensuring the same mistakes aren’t repeated in the transition to a universal publicly financed health care system.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org
The two largest teachers’ unions in the United States have officially jumped into the push for publicly financed health care in Vermont.
The American Federation of Teachers gave $100,000 to a newly formed issue advocacy group, Vermont Coalition for Universal Reform, which will work to build broad-based public support for the state’s planned universal health care program and work to ensure its implementation.

by John Herrick vtdigger.org
A bill to give towns more say in where solar projects are located died on the Senate floor Wednesday night after lawmakers and environmental groups cautioned the bill would slow renewable energy growth in Vermont.
The Senate voted 21-8 against the bill on second reading.
The Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee approved S.191, which was later amended to require ground-mounted solar installations (as opposed to rooftop solar projects) to undergo the same town zoning and screening restrictions as other commercial development.
Renewable energy advocates were on guard to stop the bill, but Senate lawmakers were quick to intervene and kill it on the floor.
The state has established a clean-energy target to source 90 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050. Senate lawmakers said the bill could chip away a statewide goal designed to serve the public good.

Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding and Vermont State Employees’ Association President Shelley Martin announced today that the Administration will implement an Employer Group Waiver Plus Wrap Program for State retirees. The Employer Group Waiver Plan (EGWP), often called “Eggwhip,” is a federal subsidy program for Medicare primary retirees that creates significant savings for the state’s health plans, which in Vermont's case could be over $100 million..
The “Wrap” portion of the EGWP allows the State benefit plan to supplement the Medicare Part D formulary so that the total set of drugs available to these retirees mirrors the benefit plan for active employees in the types of drugs available. The deductible, co-insurance, and maximum out-of-pocket limits will be the same as those for active State employees.

by John Herrick vtdigger.org An electric vehicle charging station near the state capitol in Montpelier. Photo by John Herrick/VTDigger
Some lawmakers were caught off guard when the state’s energy efficiency utility pitched a plan to go into the business of air-source heat pumps and electric cars – technologies that use more electricity but cut down on fossil fuel emissions.
“What does the future hold in 10 years?” said George Twigg, director of public affairs for Efficiency Vermont, a subsidiary of the national company Vermont Energy Investment Corp. “We don’t necessarily know,” he continued.
Early this session, the utility presented the Senate Finance Committee with a proposal to penetrate the budding industry of electric cars.
“What is an electric car except for a big appliance on wheels?” Twigg said. But lawmakers had little appetite for the proposal to expand the utility’s offerings.

The US Department of Labor Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance has issued a determination dated March 7, 2014, determining most of the IBM workers who were laid off in June 2013 as being “trade eligible.” This certification for extended unemployment benefits will include the IBM workers who are facing layoff at end of this month.
This was the second filing by Vermont Department of Labor to the US Department of Labor, as the federal Office of Trade Adjustment had not certified all of the 419 workers that Vermont had asked for in the original petition filed in June 2013.