Current News

by Rob Roper When the gavel fell on the 2019 legislative session with the house and senate deadlocked over the $15 minimum wage and a Paid Family Leave program, most of us thought those two issues would be front and center this January when the legislature reconvenes. But it doesn’t appear that Vermont’s highly vocal climate change activists will allow that to be the case. They want a carbon tax, and they want it now!

Goodwill honored Casella Waste Systems, Inc. with its Spirit of Goodwill Award last week for its innovative work that prioritizes the sustainability of the earth and the stability of people.  

For the last seven years Goodwill Northern New England and Casella Waste Systems Inc. have shared knowledge and resources in an ever-changing world of resource management and job creation. The award recognizes the efforts the company has made in making Vermont more sustainable.

“Casella helped bring important workforce programs to Vermont, and John Casella walks his talk by hiring people from those programs, which often means giving much-needed second chances to our neighbors,” said Rich Cantz, President and CEO Goodwill NNE. 

Vermont Business Magazine On November 5, 2019, the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Dam Safety Program, with the assistance of the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, will host a free workshop at the Pavilion Auditorium in Montpelier, Vermont. The workshop is for anyone interested in learning more about dam safety topics including information on the new draft dam safety rules, dam operation, maintenance, Emergency Action Planning, owner responsibilities and liabilities, and examples of how dams fail and case studies.  

“The new draft administrative dam safety rules will be presented and discussed. We hope to receive input and comments from the public during and following the conference as we move into formalizing these rules early next year,” said Ben Green, Dam Safety Engineer. “The Workshop will also feature a variety of dam safety presentations of interest to Vermonters.”  

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont hemp industry has seen significant growth but with that growth has come uncertainty for farmers. The partnership between Trace and Bia Diagnostics is intended to help farmers test their product which will help ensure it meets legal requirements and can attract more buyers through Trace’s hemp exchange.

Trace helps connect farmers with potential buyers through its exchange. Over the past month members of the Trace outreach team have visited farms across the state to help growers get their crop onto the Trace platform. Today there are more than 145,000 plants on the Trace Hemp Exchange.

Vermont Business Magazine Vanguard Renewables and Vermont Gas (VGS) received the 2019 American Biogas Council Up-and-Coming Biogas Project award for the Goodrich Farm Anaerobic Digester project in Salisbury, Vermont at the organization’s awards ceremony on October 29. The project is a unique partnership between Vanguard Renewables, VGS, Middlebury College and the Goodrich Family. It will generate biogas from manure and food waste and convert it to pipeline quality gas for use by Middlebury College and VGS's customers. This project is the first to sell renewable gas to end customers and is not bringing diversity to the industry by developing markets for RNG.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) is preparing to respond to severe weather forecasted for Thursday night and Friday, with meteorologists calling for up to three inches of rain and winds topping 50MPH in Vermont. Winds are expected to kick in Thursday evening. The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for Vermont starting Thursday at 11pm. Scattered outages are possible with this combination of weather.

Vermont Business Magazine Barbara Duffield, a national advocate on childhood homelessness, spoke Friday at the COTS Annual Meeting & Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast on the nationwide rise of family homelessness and negative impact that is having on children.

Duffield has spent her entire career advocating for children and youth who experience homelessness. She is the executive director of the SchoolHouse Connection, a national nonprofit that works to overcome homelessness through education by partnering with early childhood programs, higher education institutions, and service providers.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s congressional delegation announced Wednesday that the Vermont Fire Academy and fire departments throughout the state have received more than $2 million through 16 federal grants.
 
The awards are part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program, which helps fire departments, fire academies, and EMS agencies obtain critically needed equipment and training to better protect the public and first responders.  This year’s AFG grants will help departments purchase equipment including air packs, vehicle extraction tools, and a fire truck, and it will also fund paramedic training.
 

The Small Business Administration Vermont District Office is accepting nominations for its 2020 small business awards. 

Previous Vermont winners include Ben and Jerry’s, Mamava and 14th Star Brewing Co., the 2019 Small Business Person of the Year winner.

Since 1963, the SBA has recognized the outstanding achievements of America’s small businesses for their contributions to their local communities, and to the nation’s economy.

Vermont Business Magazine Four Vermont schools have joined CFES Brilliant Pathways’ growing network of programs across the US and Ireland in support of students becoming college and career ready.

Vergennes Union Middle/High School, Brighton Elementary (Island Pond), Miller’s Run Elementary (Sheffield) and North Country Union Junior High (Derby) signed on as CFES schools for the 2019-2020 schoolyear. They join new schools from Texas, Hawaii, Florida and Pennsylvania and an overall network of 25,000 students in 150 schools from 30 states.

Vermont Business Magazine The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) today released the nationwide performance results from the 2019 assessments in reading and mathematics. The NAEP is administered every two years to students in grades Four and Eight across the nation.

Students in Vermont scored above the national average in all the 2019 assessments but Grade Four mathematics. However, while Vermont students continued to perform at or above the national average, students showed a decline in average scale scores compared to Vermont’s 2017 results. This decline follows a downward trend going back roughly a decade or more.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General T.J. Donovan announced today that his office has reviewed the officer-involved shooting incident that occurred on August 9, 2019 in Montpelier, Vermont. The Attorney General’s Office is declining to prosecute Montpelier Police Department Corporal Chad Bean for charges related to the fatal shooting of Mark J. Johnson. The Office concluded that, based on the totality of the circumstances, the use of deadly force to stop an imminent threat of bodily harm was reasonable and justified. In reaching this decision, the Office reviewed materials provided by the Vermont State Police, who conducted the investigation.