Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont State Treasurer Beth Pearce today announced that fairgoers who visited the Treasurer’s Office’s unclaimed property booth during the 98th Champlain Valley Fair claimed $94,844.07. Of this total, one lucky fairgoer who searched the state databases located an insurance policy worth more than $21,000, which has now been returned to them.

Vermont Business Magazine The Route 100 scenic byway connects visitors and residents to some of Vermont’s most beautiful landscapes. It also bisects a forested landscape that animals such as bear, moose and bobcat need to thrive. Concern for the future of these animals led a partnership of community members, municipalities, conservation groups, and state agencies to protect the last remaining forested corridor connecting the Green Mountains and Worcester Range.

Vermont Business Magazine Median household income for the United States and 14 states increased significantly in 2018 from the previous year, according to US Census Bureau data released today. Vermont's income also increased, but remained below the US average ($61,937) and ranked 23rd highest at $60,782. Before the Great Recession in 2009, Vermont was above the US median and gaining. But since, the state has generally been below and struggled to gain strength until recently. Vermont is still below its pre-recession level of $61,368 in 2008. This is the closest it's been.

Vermont Business Magazine The Mount Holly Conservation Trust has received a total of $120,000 from two Vermont Community Foundation fundholders to permanently protect 346 acres in Mount Holly that connect the southern part of the Green Mountain National Forest with the Okemo State Forest and Coolidge State Forest. An anonymous Vermont Community Foundation fundholder awarded a generous $100,000 challenge grant that—combined with a $20,000 gift from the Lyman Orton Fund—brings the Mount Holly Conservation Trust closer to its overall fundraising goal of $400,000.

To finalize the purchase of the property located off Vermont Route 155 in Mount Holly between Weston and Wallingford, the Okemo Wildlife Corridor Conservation Project needs to raise approximately $70,000 more in donations to meet the challenge.

Vermont Business Magazine Shelburne Museum Director Thomas Denenberg announced the endowment of the director of education position made possible by a gift from the Stiller Family Foundation. The Stiller Family Foundation, the foundation of philanthropists Christine and Robert Stiller, gave a generous gift of $1.5 million to endow the Education Department chair. Christine Stiller is a trustee of Shelburne Museum. Robert Stiller founded Keurig Green Mountain. The two are longtime supporters of education initiatives, early childhood development and programs for Vermont school children.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine A steep but not tall 3,144 feet, Ascutney Mountain has long been an anomaly among Vermont ski mountains. It has great interstate access, just off I-91 in West Windsor (Brownsville), but it doesn’t get much natural snow and doesn’t have much water for making it. It first opened with a rope town in 1946 and went bankrupt – the first time – in 1950. Now it’s owned by the town and an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization called Ascutney Outdoors is putting a ski lift back on the mountain, ready for skiing this season.

by Maura Adams and Rob Riley, Northern Forest Center Climate change is scientifically complex and politically fraught, yet very clear. Long-term data combined with local observation tell us that natural cycles are changing, and with significant effect. At the Northern Forest Center, we pay special attention to news and studies about the role forests and forest products play in mitigating climate change – and to media stories that mischaracterize the carbon impact of using wood in our context. And there are many. For example, we would have expected a more nuanced piece from climate activist Bill McKibben when he attacked every form of biomass energy in a recent New Yorker article.

Vermont Business Magazine SymQuest Group, Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Konica Minolta Business Solutions, USA, Inc, recently hosted their 24th Annual Golf Tournament to benefit Special Olympics Vermont (SOVT), a nonprofit organization part of a global movement that works year-round to foster inclusion and acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities by using the power of sport to showcase their gifts and abilities.

Vermont Business Magazine Dartmouth's Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society and Thayer School of Engineering will collaborate with the US Army Corps of Engineers' Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) to assess ways to improve energy services, delivery, storage, and mobility for military bases in the Arctic.

by C.B. Hall, Vermont Business Magazine The controversy over where to store an Amtrak train overnight in Burlington has intensified in the wake of assertions that a study on the subject served only to provide cover for a predetermined decision that Burlington Union Station, part of the Main Street Landing development, would be the best site for parking the train.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan today joined a coalition of 18 attorneys general and the City of New York to file a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s rollback of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). For over 45 years, the ESA has been an essential conservation tool that has protected thousands of iconic species, including the peregrine falcon, bald eagle, California condor, grizzly bear, and humpback whale. Today’s lawsuit challenges the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service’s decision to finalize three rules that undermine the key requirements and purpose of the ESA.

Vermont Business Magazine Capstone Community Action is receiving a $200,000 grant from the Small Business Administration's Program for Investment in Micro-Entrepreneurs across Vermont. PRIME assists low-income entrepreneurs who lack sufficient training and education to gain capital to establish and expand their small businesses.

The grant will fund the statewide Micro Business Development program run by Capstone and other organizations, including the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, Bennington-Rutland Opportunity Council, Northeast Kingdom Community Action and Southeastern Vermont Community Action.

The SBA placed special emphasis in this year's competition on projects that will offer training and technical assistance to strengthen economically disadvantaged businesses, particularly those servicing entrepreneurs in rural areas and historically underutilized business zones.