Current News

Vermont Business Magazine With summer at its height and the Green Mountains truly showing their name, the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation announced the addition of 758 acres to CC Putnam State Forest in Stowe. As part of the state forest, the Brownsville Forest property, as the land is locally known, will be open to the public and managed by the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation.  

Vermont Business Magazine As with the overall unemployment rate, weekly unemployment numbers are holding at a very low level with very little movement. Summer usually brings low claim levels, but sub-300 claims indicates very low volume. Initial claims for the week of August 10, 2019, totaled 289, down 7 from last week. Claims were 26 more than they were at this time last year.

Vermont Business Magazine From state policy issues to local business concerns, energy information helps people make informed decisions. To that end, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) maintains a portal for state energy information that provides dynamic, timely data on the energy market conditions in each region. Recently, EIA updated the energy data and facts about Vermont. For instance, Vermont’s five utility-scale wind farms accounted for 17 percent of the state’s electricity net generation in 2018. In 2016 Vermont set a goal to obtain 90% of all its energy from renewable resources by 2050 and reduce energy use by more than one-third.

Scammers Demanding Personal Info and Payment While Threatening Immediate Disconnection

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) is warning customers about a rise in scam calls, after dozens of reports today. The scammers are claiming to be from GMP and threatening to cut off power within just 30 minutes if you don’t pay immediately. GMP would never do that. If you receive a call like that, just hang up - it is a scam.

“We got flooded with calls starting this afternoon – customers alerting us, and wanting to let other customers know that a scammer is calling Vermonters,” said Mary Morris, Manager of Customer Care for Green Mountain Power. “GMP does not threaten immediate shut off, or demand immediate payment by credit card or pre-paid cards. If someone does this – it is a scam,” she said.

These calls are not from Green Mountain Power. If you get a call like this you should hang up.  Also remember:

Vermont Business Magazine Toppan Photomasks, Inc, a subsidiary of Tokyo-listed Toppan Printing Co, Ltd, and GlobalFoundries (GF), the world's leading specialty foundry, has announced that they have entered into a multi-year supply agreement in which Toppan will provide GF with photomasks and related services currently supported by GF's Burlington, Vermont US photomask manufacturing operation. As a part of the agreement, Toppan will acquire certain assets of GF's Burlington photomask facility. There will be no impact to jobs at the GF Burlington facility, according to Toppan.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont unemployment rate remained unchanged at its historic low of 2.1 percent. As of last month’s data (June 2019), the unemployment rates for Vermont and the Burlington-South Burlington NECTA were the lowest in the country relative to other states and metropolitan areas, respectively. The comparable United States rate in July was 3.7 percent, which was unchanged from the revised June estimate. The major metrics also showed very little movement, with the Labor Force and number of employed up very slightly and number of jobless down, but also by a very small amount.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Drug Task Force announces a multi-week arrest sweep that has concluded with the arrests of numerous people accused of dealing drugs throughout Vermont. During the past several weeks, the Vermont Drug Task Force arrested 59 suspects on charges of selling and distributing heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and crack cocaine. The investigations resulted in 53 individual charges of selling heroin, and 43 individual charges of selling crack cocaine, among other charges. 

Vermont Business Magazine Community College of Vermont (CCV)-Bennington will once again offer its entrepreneurship program in fall 2019. Start-Up 802 is a two-course curriculum designed to help students develop entrepreneurial skills and launch business ideas. The program was launched last year as the result of a collaborative effort to stimulate economic development and cultivate local talent. CCV developed the program in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce, Bennington County Regional Commission, and the Small Business Development Center, among others.

Nicole Stetson is an associate academic dean at CCV. She says the collaborative nature of the program gives students immediate access to a local network of entrepreneurs.

“Our hope is that they are connecting with the resources in our community to move their ideas forward, and that they are launching, or close to launching a business by the end of the semester.”

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Lisa Ventriss, President of Vermont Business Roundtable (Roundtable), and Mary Anne Sheahan, Executive Director of Vermont Talent Pipeline Management (VTPM), announced the receipt of a three-year, $250,000 matching grant to implement employer demand-driven workforce strategies across all counties in Vermont. The award is one of 13 presented by the Northern Borders Regional Commission, a Federal - State partnership, in support of employment-generating projects to reduce poverty, unemployment, and out-migration, through economic and infrastructure programs. 

Vermont Business Magazine The first results of a statewide effort to test drinking water for lead at schools and child care facilities are detailed on a new website created by the Department of Environmental Conservation. Approximately 440 public and independent schools, and more than 1,200 licensed or registered child care facilities are due to test every tap used for drinking or cooking before December 2020.

by Geoff Robertson, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund Anyone who composts knows that if you mound up leaves, animal bedding, and food scraps, you end up with a big, hot pile of compost. While most people, however, see the nutrient-dense material as the finished product for fields and gardens, Brian Jerose also sees renewable energy and a cleaner Lake Champlain.

Vermont Business Magazine Search marketing agency, Eight Oh Two Marketing, has just been named to Inc. magazine’s annual list of America’s fastest-growing private companies — the Inc. 5000. Eight Oh Two ranks in the top half of the list, at number 1969. The agency was also named the fastest-growing private company in Vermont on the Inc. 5000 list. Also on the Inc. 5000 list are Vermont companies Resonance, New Breed Marketing, Jamaica Cottage Shop and iMarket Solutions.