Current News

by Don Turner I’ve previously written about how our unfunded pension liabilities are Vermont’s sleeping giant. We owe our state employees and teachers about $4.5 billion more than we have in the bank. We’ve seen two credit-rating downgrades in one year. Our “funded ratio” (the ratio of assets to liabilities) is only about 64.3 percent, below the national average. We’ve lived through years of underfunding where, until 2008, the state made payments as low as 38.4 percent of what was recommended by professional actuaries. We’re forced to spend hundreds of millions on required principal and interest that would have otherwise gone towards higher education, child care, or any number of meaningful programs. And the projected rates of return on our pension investments are still far below actual returns. These are the facts.

Vermont Business Magazine Community and business leaders turned out today for an open house at the city’s first food shelf, thanking volunteers and fundraisers for the outpouring of support to help their neighbors who struggle with hunger. The South Burlington Food Shelf opens to the public Noember 1 and expects to serve many of the households that struggle to put enough food on the table as possible.

Today’s celebration marks an unprecedented 8-month effort to see that Vermont’s second-largest city has its own food shelf for our neighbors in need, said Patrick Leduc, president of the Faith Influenced Leaders Corporation, which has spearheaded the campaign for the new food shelf.

Vermont Business Magazine Ledyard Financial Group (Ticker Symbol: LFGP) announced today a regular quarterly dividend of $0.19 payable November 29, 2019 to shareholders of record as of November 8, 2019, and reported record quarterly and year-to-date earnings.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Cheese Council announced today that seven Vermont cheesemakers took home 19 medals at the World Cheese Awards held in Bergamo, Italy, and hosted by Annual Guild of Fine Foods with partners FORME, the Italian & International Cheese Festival and B2Cheese trade show. VT cheese companies winning awards included Cellars at Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, VT; Parish Hill Creamery in Westminster West, VT; Cabot Creamery Cooperative in Cabot, VT; Spring Brook Farm in Reading, VT; von Trapp Farmstead in Waitsfield, VT; and collaborations with Grafton Village Cheese Company with Crown Finish Caves; and Vermont Creamery with Wegman’s Markets.

Vermont Business Magazine On November 1st, Ben & Jerry's will celebrate World Vegan Day bigger and better than ever with its first World Vegan Day Happy Hour! Across the United States, vegan and Non-Dairy fans can visit their local Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop between 4 - 8 pm to try a full scoop for free. Ben & Jerry's launched its first Non-Dairy/vegan flavors back in 2016, giving people the undeniable creaminess and all the chunks and swirls you expect from Ben & Jerry's, minus the dairy. Today that lineup includes 10 Non-Dairy/vegan flavors.

Vermont Business Magazine The Scott Administration will be in Orleans County on Tuesday, October 29 for its Capitol for a Day initiative, a 14-county tour launched by the Governor in 2018. Tuesday’s visit will mark the fourth stop on the second round of the Capitol for a Day tours, having visited all 14 counties between June 2018 and April 2019 and beginning again in July 2019. Capitol for a Day gives local constituents, municipal government leaders and other partners the opportunity to connect directly with state leadership and staff.

Follow along on social media using the #VTCapitol4aDay hashtag. Not all events are open to the public.

WHEN:                Tuesday, October 29

                             8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.                            

WHERE:              Various locations throughout Orleans County.

GOVERNOR SCOTT’S PUBLIC SCHEDULE

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power and Vermont Magazine set a new deadline to enter to win one of the state’s great literary honors: The Vermont Writers’ Prize. Writers now have until January 1, 2020 to perfect their entries, and this year, for the first time, there are two prizes – one for prose, and one for poetry. The winners’ work will be published in Vermont Magazine’s Early Summer 2020 Issue and the winning prose author and poetry author will each win $1,250.

Vermont Business Magazine The Addison County Chamber of Commerce recognized a local business, individual, and non-profit organization with awards during its annual meeting held on October 24th at the Middlebury Inn. Three awards were presented in front of a crowd which included Chamber members, local business people and community members.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today issued the following statement on the closing and transfer of operations of the Energizer battery plant in Bennington to Wisconsin: “The news that the Energizer facility in Bennington is closing is extremely disappointing, and my team is working to learn more from the company about this decision... With the facility moving to another state within the US, this decision is an unfortunate example of why those of us in Montpelier need to work together to make Vermont a more affordable place to do business and make sure our policies help businesses thrive rather than creating unique burdens and barriers to growth that make us less competitive with other states."

Vermont Business Magazine The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Jennifer Dwyer, 49, of St Johnsbury, Vermont, pled guilty today in federal court to one count of wire fraud involving the embezzlement of approximately $2.2 million over a ten-year period from her Lyndonville employer, Northeast Agriculture Sales, Inc (NEAG).

Vermont Business Magazine In recognition of Senator Patrick Leahy’s decades of support for important research and teaching initiatives, the University of Vermont today unveiled a new $3.3 million  fund that will pay tribute to Senator Leahy and his wife Marcelle. The new fund will benefit undergraduate, doctoral and post-doctoral students in two signature programs at the university, the UVM Honors College and the Gund Institute for Environment.

Vermont Business Magazine While weekly unemployment numbers have been inching up in recent weeks, they accelerated that trend last week, but are on par with totals from a year ago. Initial claims for the week of October 19, 2019, totaled 392, up 84 from last week but one fewer than they were at this time last year. Altogether 2,222 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 84 from a week ago, and 302 fewer than a year ago.