Current News

by Danny Monahan, Small Business Administration A small business in Wilder is putting the final touches on one of its most significant projects. Soon Vermod will finish construction of its 100th home. After Tropical Storm Irene struck Vermont in 2011, it was determined about 130 mobile homes were destroyed and more than 400 were damaged. During the aftermath, state and local officials recommended several proposals to assist Vermont mobile homeowners. One of the more ambitious plans was when several non-profit organizations teamed up to create the Modular Housing Innovation Project in 2013. It was a pilot program to construct 10 well-insulated and energy efficient modular homes to replace mobile homes.

by Jen Kimmich, Co-founder & CEO, The Alchemist and Sascha Mayer, Co-founder & CEO, Mamava We’re at a pivotal point in Vermont on paid family leave. We have a bill that has passed both chambers of the Legislature and today it is sitting on Governor Scott’s desk. As we wait to see what the Governor will do, it’s time to really reflect what this bill will accomplish, and what our future looks like once it becomes law.

Vermont Business Magazine The Addison County Chamber of Commerce announces their seminar schedule for 2020. The Addison County Chamber provides monthly seminars for members and the community each year focused around the challenges faced by small and medium sized businesses and non-profits. Typically, they include topics around marketing, human resources and organizational issues. This year’s schedule includes four seminars to support non-profits, in partnership with United Way of Addison County and non-profit consultant Sarah Audet.

Vermont Business Magazine Fuse, a marketing agency specializing in reaching teens and young adults, has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Vermont for the tenth consecutive year. The annual program is designed to identify and celebrate places of employment that benefit the state's economy, workforce and businesses. Fuse is based in Burlington.

Public Assets Institute Vermont lost jobs in 8 of the 12 months of 2019. There were 315,500 nonfarm payroll jobs in December—1,100 fewer than at the end of 2018. Vermont’s labor force also shrank last year. The numbers of people both working and unemployed were lower at the end of 2019 than in the previous December.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Transit (GMT) and Burlington Electric Department (BED), joined by Governor Phil Scott, Mayor Miro Weinberger, and other federal, state, and local leaders, today unveiled for the public GMT’s first two electric-powered transit buses (E-buses). The new E-buses, which cost a total of over $2 million including infrastructure, are scheduled to be in service this March. They are the first electric transit buses in Vermont and will help reduce carbon emissions in Burlington and Chittenden County while providing clean, quiet transit along GMT service area routes.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General Donovan today joined a multistate coalition in filing an amicus brief, in Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region v. Parson, challenging the constitutionality of several recently enacted abortion bans in Missouri. As the only remaining abortion clinic in Missouri, Planned Parenthood of St Louis is seeking to overturn two state laws that would create barriers to safe and legal abortion. The coalition’s amicus brief, filed in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, argues that these laws are unconstitutional restrictions on women’s right to choose.

Vermont Business Magazine The Richards Group was recently named one of the 2020 Best Places to Work in Vermont, an award created by Vermont Business Magazine, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, the Vermont Department of Economic Development, the Vermont Department of Labor, and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) – Vermont State Council and Best Companies Group.

Senator Patrick Leahy The one-sided Middle East plan that the President has announced is a striking example of President Trump’s familiar playbook of delusional hyperbole over reality. After years of empty promises while systematically dismantling decades of bipartisan US policy in order to benefit only one party, it is farcical to call something a ‘deal’ and impose it on the other party knowing it will be rejected. It is a plan that would diminish the prospects for peaceful coexistence, while damaging our country’s hard-won role as a force for stability in the Middle East, which also has implications for US security interests in the region and beyond.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University Board of Trustees Chairman Alan DeForest ’75 announced today that Colonel Mark Anarumo, USAF, will become Norwich University’s 24^th president effective June 1, 2020. DeForest, along with Anarumo and university officials, made the announcement at an 11 am press conference held on the Northfield campus in Mack Hall Auditorium, which was followed by an open reception in the lobby. He will take over from retiring President Richard Schneider, RADM, USCGR (Ret.), who has served since 1992.

Vermont Business Magazine During the year, DFR received over 3,000 consumer inquiries resulting in 457 formal complaints against financial services firms. Investigations into these complaints, and subsequent enforcement actions, resulted in DFR ordering $2,734,493 be paid to consumers in financial restitution and an additional $2,640,400 be paid in financial penalties. This represents a 32 percent increase in penalties and restitution compared to the previous year.

Vermont Business Magazine The 2020 tax season officially opened on January 27 at both the federal and state levels. This is the date that the IRS and Vermont began accepting and processing personal income tax returns for tax year 2019. The Vermont Department of Taxes recommends filing electronically (e-file) through a commercial software vendor to increase accuracy and have your refund processed sooner. In 2019, 86 percent of all Vermont personal income tax returns were filed electronically. Last year, taxpayers who e-filed their returns on average received their refunds more than twice as fast as those who filed paper returns.