Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott has requested a Major Disaster Declaration for two federal programs for storm damages throughout Vermont caused by wind, rain and flooding from October 31-November 1, 2019. The request is for assistance from the Public Assistance program, which seeks support for municipal infrastructure repairs, and the Individual Assistance program, which seeks aid for private homeowners and renters.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine General Fund tax revenues came up short of expectations for the month of November as personal income revenue was nearly 9 percent below its target. Personal income is the most important revenue source and is still ahead of year-to-date expectations. Meanwhile, corporate income was well above expectations. And the consumption taxes represented by rooms & meals and sales taxes finished just above expectations for the month. Rooms & meals, which largely tracks tourism, has relatively high expectations, which have been a little behind – about $1 million – for the year.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment cratered last week after two weeks of very high numbers. After a long period of very low numbers, claims have been higher over the last two months and now have entered the holiday period, which typically brings with it wild swings in claims, as retailers hire and then lay off seasonal workers. Initial claims for the week of December 14, 2019, were 539, down 438 from last week and 58 fewer than they were at this time last year. Thanksgiving was much later this year, which could have altered the timing of the usual holiday hiring/firing.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor reported today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate increased another tenth in November to 2.3 percent, according to household data. The rate also was up a tenth in September. All three of the major metrics were negative, as they also were in October, with the labor force and total employed down, while the number of unemployed increased, though by a small amount. However, Vermont retained its position with the lowest rate in the nation.

Vermont Business Magazine The Community Health Centers of Burlington (CHCB) and Community Health United/American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have reached their first tentative bargaining agreement as of December 17, 2019. The agreement is subject to ratification by the union’s membership. Both parties said they were committed to creating a contract that reflected the shared values of providing quality patient care and supporting the health care professionals. The parties reached agreement after a third all-day bargaining session.

Vermont Business Magazine Community Health welcomes Donald Reuther as the health network’s Chief Executive Officer. Reuther comes to the Rutland-based organization from the Baltimore Medical System FQHC where he was Chief Operating Officer and brings with him 17 years of FQHC experience. At Baltimore Medical System, Reuther was responsible for the day-to-day operations of Maryland’s largest FQHC serving over 47,000 patients and offering primary care, pharmacy, behavioral health and substance abuse service lines.

Senator Patrick Leahy For the first time in decades, Congress will fund $25 million for gun violence research by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the NIH. This funding is a significant step to combat the gun violence epidemic and rash of school shootings facing our nation. It has been a long time coming, and I am proud we were able to include this funding for the first time since 1996. This is a good bill that will improve the lives of Vermonters and millions of Americans, provide support for working families, and support and promote our economy. In a few moments we will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to concur. I urge an AYE vote.    

Vermont Business Magazine With the help of Citizens Bank, the Vermont Foodbank will continue to keep a new truck on the road delivering food to people in Vermont struggling with hunger. Thanks to a generous donation toward the lease of this truck, it is on the road bringing food to people this holiday season. The new, co-branded 26-foot refrigerated box truck joins the Foodbank’s fleet of eight trucks that move food throughout the state. It will support the Vermont Foodbank’s work delivering food to 215 food shelves, meal sites, senior centers and after-school programs. It will also travel monthly to schools and hospitals providing a mobile pantry of fresh food directly to families, children, older adults and individuals in need. Last year with the help of its fleet of trucks, the Vermont Foodbank shared 11.7 million pounds of food with people in need of food assistance.  

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) confirmed that three public drinking water systems have per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) levels above Vermont’s 20 parts per trillion (ppt) standard. The three systems with exceedances are Fiddlehead Condominiums (Fayston), Killington Mountain School, and Mount Holly Elementary School. Each water system has notified its users and issued a Do Not Drink notice.

The system information and test results are as follows:

Vermont Business Magazine Highview Power Storage, Inc, a global leader in long duration energy storage solutions, and Burlington-based Encore Renewable Energy, a developer of renewable energy generation and storage projects, today jointly announced plans to develop the United States’ first long duration, liquid air energy storage system. This facility will be a minimum of 50MW, provide in excess of eight hours of storage (400MWh) and will be located in northern Vermont. The Vermont facility will contribute to resolving the longstanding energy transmission challenges surrounding the state’s Sheffield-Highgate Export Interface (SHEI) and enable the efficient transport of excess power from renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power to help integrate them on the power grid.

Vermont Business Magazine A University of Vermont team, led by food systems professor Ernesto Méndez, has been awarded a $660,000 grant from the McKnight Foundation to advance research and sustainable practices across its global Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP), which “works to ensure a world where all have access to nutritious food that is sustainably produced by local people.”

Vermont Business Magazine The New York Council of Trout Unlimited, a national non-profit that conserves, protects and restores North America’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds, has given UVM professor Ellen Marsden its 2019 Professional Achievement Award. The group honored Marsden, a wildlife and fisheries biologist in UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, for her decades-long work studying trout populations in Lake Champlain and sea lampreys, their natural predators.