Current News

LCC Lake Champlain Committee In early September, Lake Champlain Basin Program Boat (LCBP) Launch Steward Matthew Gorton was conducting a routine boat inspection for invasive species prevention at a public access site in South Hero when he noticed an unusual plant hanging off a boat trailer backing into the lake. Gorton checked the boat and removed the plant specimen, which he later relayed to the Northeast Aquatic Plant Management Society and ultimately sent to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater for genetic analysis. Results confirmed the plant as Hydrilla verticillata, a particularly aggressive aquatic invasive.

by C.B. Hall, Vermont Business Magazine The statutory Vermont Rail Advisory Council (VRAC) voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday night in Barre in favor of a site near Burlington's McNeil Generating Station as the best place for overnight storage of the Amtrak train that is scheduled to begin serving the Queen City in late 2021. The vote opened a new phase of the prolonged controversy over the overnighting issue. A Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission report issued in July had rated a yet-to-be-built rail siding at Burlington Union Station as the best of five options for accommodating the Ethan Allen Express train overnight in Burlington.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Medical Center is closing operating rooms at its Fanny Allen Colchester campus for the month of December, and shifting surgeries to its main hospital campus in Burlington, while hospital staff work with state officials and an outside consultant to investigate air quality concerns in the area of the operating rooms. Patients who have surgeries planned this month will be rescheduled as soon as possible. Patients whose surgeries need to be relocated or rescheduled will receive a phone call from their provider’s office to discuss their options. Over the next several days, teams from across the hospital will be reviewing operating room schedules, patient needs and available staff to determine when and where patients can be accommodated. Any patients with questions or concerns about a scheduled surgery should contact their surgeon’s office for assistance.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Farm & Forest Viability Program, a program of the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB), awarded a total of $410,944 to 12 Vermont farms through its FY2019 Dairy Improvement Grants. These grants are made available with funding from Commonwealth Dairy, whose Brattleboro plant produces Green Mountain Creamery Greek yogurt from Vermont milk.

Grant recipients across the state were awarded up to $40,000 for capital improvement projects to improve cow health, farm efficiency, milk quality and production, and water quality. These grants leveraged $699,894 in additional investments, farm contributions, and grant funding from the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Pico Mountain, part of the POWDR adventure lifestyle company, is scheduled to kick off its 2019-20 winter season at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, December 7, 2019 – the earliest opening in the past 20 years and on the heels of installing a 16,850 foot pipeline to source snowmaking water from Killington. Since installment of the new pipeline, Pico ponds have been refilled twice allowing us to recharge the snowmaking system faster and produce more snow when temperatures allow. Rather than relying on streams as we had done in the past this gives Pico the ability to make more snow, for longer periods of time and deliver a better guest experience.

Vermont Business Magazine On the afternoon of Tuesday, November 19, 2019, the WCAX-TV and WPTZ-TV antenna on the transmission tower at the top of Mount Mansfield unexpectedly caught fire and was damaged beyond repair. The fire damage resulted in WCAX and WPTZ losing the ability to transmit their broadcast signals. WFFF-TV and WVNY-TV, as well as their national parent company Nexstar Media, chose to put the public interest first. They immediately allowed WCAX and WPTZ to use WFFF and WVNY’s tower, also located on Mount Mansfield, to set up a temporary antenna.

Vermont Business Magazine The Kabbage Small Business Revenue Index reveals which states showed the most growth as the end of the year approaches. Kabbage placed Vermont at the third-highest in the nation at 173.90 on the Kabbage Index Value, based on monthly median-revenue growth for small businesses.

The Kabbage Small Business Revenue Index reports strong overall revenue growth in the first half (1H) of the calendar year 2019, with small businesses in the U.S. achieving revenue growth across every state and industry. The Kabbage Index Value (KIV), a value used to track revenue growth of small businesses, increased almost 22 points, from 136.8 to 158.4 points, indicating U.S. small businesses’ median revenue grew 15.7% in the first six months of the year. This represents a 22% increase compared to the same time period in 2018 and a large contrast from the second half of 2018 when small business revenue only grew 1.8 percent.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced the availability of a new round of funding through the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Communities Grant Program to help Vermont communities use outdoor recreation opportunities to grow their local economies. The program will again award grants ranging from $10,000 to $200,000 to Vermont towns, villages or cities to support development of “outdoor recreation friendly” communities.

“This program has already demonstrated great success with high levels of interest in the last round of funding and positive feedback from communities around the state,” said Governor Scott. “I appreciate the work of the VOREC Steering Committee, my teams at the Agency of Commerce and Community Development and the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, and the legislature for supporting this program to strengthen outdoor recreation-based economic development.”

Vermont Business Magazine DealerPolicy in Williston, Vermont, has won a 2019 Agent for the Future Award from Liberty Mutual and Safeco Insurance. The Agent for the Future Award recognizes independent agencies that are adapting to meet the changing needs of customers and driving the independent agent channel forward.

The Agent for the Future Award recognizes DealerPolicy for their commitment to innovation, growth and advancement.

"DealerPolicy is very pleased to be honored with the Agent for the Future Award from Liberty Mutual and Safeco Insurance. We are dedicated to best in class customer service and we're making revolutionary technology changes in the insurance space.  We're excited that our focus on growth and change is being recognized," said Jeff Mongeon, President. 

by Don Turner Our education funding system is broken. We all know it. Ever since the passage of Act 60 in 1997 and Act 68 in 2003, Vermonters have been perpetually frustrated with our education financing system. And for good reasons. Vermont has the second highest property tax burden in the nation. Marry that with a declining student population and wild inequality in educational opportunities and outcomes between different regions in the state.

Vermont Business Magazine ACLU of Vermont client Brian Croteau Sr has reached a settlement with the City of Burlington in his federal lawsuit challenging the City’s policy of confiscating and destroying the property of homeless residents in violation of their constitutional rights. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Burlington agreed to policy changes that require it to advise individuals of the specific reason their sheltering site is being considered for removal, provide an opportunity to object to that removal, give adequate notice before taking property from sheltering sites, and store that property for at least 30 days. In addition, Burlington agreed to pay Croteau $25,000 and mediation costs to resolve the case.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont-based Runamok Maple, the makers of infused maple syrups that take the ultimate breakfast topping to a new level. These syrups are a Sunday morning pancake breakfast must but also a great cocktail ingredient, baking sweetener and can even be used as part of a meat marinade, the possibilities are endless.