Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems (VAHHS) held its 2019 Annual Meeting, entitled Healthy Vermont Together: People, Passion, Promise beginning on September 11. Early arrivals at the conference gathered to do a service project to help local families in need. More than 50 participants, including hospital CEOs and staff, stuffed 750 bags with essentials like shampoo, toothpaste, soap and deodorant for individuals and families in need. Partner Capstone Community Action will provide the bags to homeless and housing-insecure residents in Lamoille and Washington Counties.

Vermont Business Magazine The Community Health Centers of Burlington (CHCB) are pleased to announce the promotion of Elicia Thompson, DDS, to the position of Dental Director. Dr Thompson will replace Diana Greenough, EFDA, who will retire from the organization on October 1, 2019, after 45 years in non-profit dental care.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy (D), Vice Chairman of the US Senate Appropriations Committee, announced Monday that Burlington International Airport will receive $15.9 million in grant funding from the Federal Aviation Administration to continue its work on a parallel taxiway. The grant is the largest single award ever received by the airport. The funding will allow for the reconstruction of Taxiway G to the existing taxiway B/K intersection generating a full parallel taxiway with the main Runway 15/33; creating a more efficient operation and reducing noise levels for residents along Airport Drive.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan today joined a bipartisan coalition of 21 attorneys general urging Congress to pass the “Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act” (HR 2093; S 1028), or similar measures that would allow legal cannabis-related businesses to access the banking system. Current federal banking laws, which reflect the federal status of marijuana as an illegal drug, force legitimate cannabis companies nationwide to operate mainly in cash.

Vermont Business Magazine Peak Resorts, Inc (Nasdaq:SKIS), which runs Mount Snow in West Dover, Vermont, announced Friday that its shareholders, at a special meeting held September 20, have approved Peak's acquisition by Vail Resorts, Inc (NYSE: MTN). Under the terms of the merger agreement, Peak Resorts’ common shareholders will be entitled to receive $11.00 per share in cash at the closing of the acquisition. The transaction is expected to close Tuesday. The deal was first announced in July.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington Housing, Vermont’s oldest and largest municipally chartered housing authority, has announced that Laura Zeliger will serve as its new executive director. Zeliger will replace Allyson Laackman, who currently leads the organization that helps very low-income Burlington-area residents find and retain housing through rental assistance and support services.

by Joyce Marcel, Vermont Business Magazine In a little building by the train tracks in Middlebury, the war against plastics is being profitably waged, one hunk of beeswax at a time. Plastics, as we now recognize, are devastating to the environment. “Studies have detected plastic fibers everywhere—in the stomachs of sperm whales, in tap water and in table salt,” said a recent story in the Irish Times, although it could have appeared anywhere. (Google “plastics” and get about 4,290,000,000 results in 0.71 seconds) “A researcher in Britain says plastic may help define the most recent layer of the earth’s crust because it takes so long to break down and there is so much of it.”

Lake Champlain Committee The Lake Champlain Committee (LCC) has been checking Lake Champlain beaches for Asian clam during the summer and have a fun volunteer opportunity coming up on Tuesday September 24. Join us if you can! We are teaming up with our friends at Arrowwood Environmental and Magic Hat Brewing Company to comb Burlington area beaches for the invasive mollusk. The program includes training, field time, and lunch! It’s a great way to learn more about Asian clams, how to identify them and what we can do to keep them out of Lake Champlain.

Vermont Business Magazine Bennington College’s Fall 2019 Visual Arts Lecture Series (VALS) centers on the theme “Indigeneity, Subjectivity, and Medium in Contemporary Art” with lectures from Cosmo Whyte ’05, Terran Last Gun, Genevieve Gaignard, ERRE, Candice Hopkins, and Sara Emsaki. All lectures are free, open to the public, and will take place from 7:00 - 8:30 PM in Tishman Lecture Hall on the College’s campus.

Vermont Business Magazine Four employee-owned Vermont businesses participated in CVOEO’s September 14 Pull Against Poverty Tug of War fundraising event – helping to raise over $8,000 for the Good Food Truck which serves free healthy meals in the summer to children in neighborhoods where needed.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan announced that his office joined 22 other states, the District of Columbia and the nation’s two largest cities to file a lawsuit challenging a major component of the federal government’s plan to roll back greenhouse gas emission and fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. The lawsuit challenges the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) declaration that California’s greenhouse gas emission standards, which have been adopted by Vermont and 11 other states in addition to California, are preempted by federal law. California’s greenhouse gas emission standards would dramatically reduce the emissions from automobiles into our environment.

Senator Patrick Leahy It hit hard when Marcelle and I learned of the sudden loss of our dear, dear friend, Paul Bruhn. Our hearts ache for Colleen and for all who knew and loved him. He is one of the finest Vermonters I ever worked with, and one of the dearest and best friends we have both had, and we loved him.