Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Grants and Loans Committee of The Episcopal Church in Vermont is pleased to announce the approval of nearly $18,000 in grants during the first half of 2019. Grant recipients were selected from among Episcopal congregations and diocesan entities in Vermont, as well as other ministries with a strong association with the diocese. Projects were funded in part based on their positive impact on local mission.

by Rob Roper Bernie Sanders’ rhetoric on the $15 minimum wage – rhetoric echoed by many politicians here in Vermont – just suffered a violent collision with economic reality. For those who may have missed the story, Sanders pays his field staff minimum salaries of $36,000 a year, which would amount to slightly over $15 an hour for a forty hour work week. However, political campaigns are 24/7 operations, and staff members are putting in sixty hours a week or more, thus reducing their hourly wage to less than $15 an hour with no overtime. The staff is crying foul.

Vermont Business Magazine Dealer.com, the Burlington-based digital marketing solution and partner for auto dealerships, understands the consumer's car buying process has changed dramatically as technology disrupts the industry. As such, Dealer.com recently launched its new premier digital storefront solution designed for dealers to engage customers in the fastest and most effective manner possible. The solution increases transparency and improves trust between the dealer and customer to ultimately drive engagement, deliver stronger leads and increase sales.

"We understand what motivates customers and how they connect with dealers," said Wayne Pastore, general manager of Dealer.com. "The way to bolster dealer-customer relationships is to establish strong points of interaction between dealers and consumers through an unrivaled combination of data, integration and human-centric insights."

Vermont Business Magazine The Burlington-based weekly newspaper Seven Days won four first-place awards at the annual Association of Alternative Newsmedia conference last month in Boulder, Colorado. The AAN Awards recognize the most artful, compelling and courageous journalism produced each year by the alternative newsmedia. AAN member publications vary in size and circulation, and are based in cities across the U.S. and Canada; the awards contest gives these publications the opportunity to compete against their peers. This year’s competition consisted of 600 entries submitted by 55 publications in the U.S. and Canada; the University of Colorado Boulder’s department of journalism conducted the judging.

Seven Days’ awards included:

Vermont Business Magazine For the eighth year in a row, New England Federal Credit Union (NEFCU) has won the Seven Days “DAYSIE” award for “Best Bank/Credit Union” in Vermont by the readers of Seven Days, Vermont’s award-winning weekly newspaper. In addition, this year, for the sixth year in a row, Seven Days readers voted NEFCU the “Best Mortgage Broker.”

Vermont Business Magazine Below is a letter which Spring Hill Water, based in Haverhill, MA, sent to its customers today after making the decision to close the business earlier this week.  Also below are the test results which show that Spring Hill Water is clear; PFAS was not detected. Despite these test results, which were expected, "this whole ordeal has been too much for a small, fourth generation family business and the owners are steadfast in their decision to close it.” Spring Hill bottled water had been distributed across New England, including Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Sam Bent, 33, of Saint Johnsbury, Vermont, was sentenced today to a five-year period of incarceration upon his conviction for three counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances over the "Dark Web." The prison term will be followed by a three-year period of supervised release.

Sam Bent's sentence also included a $14,000 forfeiture money judgment. Chief United States District Judge Geoffrey Crawford ordered Sam Bent to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on October 1, 2019.

Vermont Business Magazine A new partnership between the Community College of Vermont (CCV) and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) builds on the success of CCV’s Healthcare Support Services program to create a training and employment pathway for Vermont and New Hampshire residents looking for a career at DHMC. Successful participants will be offered employment upon completion of the program at DHMC.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment numbers rose slightly last week, but remain at a very low level. Summer usually brings low claim levels, but sub-300 claims indicates very low volume. Initial claims for the week of July 27, 2019, totaled 289, up 27 from last week. Claims were 20 fewer than they were at this time last year.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Patrick Leahy will make remarks as the Vermont-based organization Pure Water For The World celebrates its 20^th anniversary. The group, headquartered in Rutland, with offices in Honduras and Haiti, provides safe water and sanitation tools, along with training, in its efforts to prevent the sickness and deaths of children and their families due to preventable waterborne diseases.

Vermont Business Magazine Casella Waste Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: CWST), a regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company, on Thursday after markets closed reported its financial results for the three month period ended June 30, 2019. Revenues and net income both increased from the second quarter 2018. As of early Friday, shares were trading down slightly ($42.37, $-0.49 or -1.14%) and remain near their 52-week high ($24.61 - $44.19). The broader markets were also down by about the same percent early Friday after a steep dive Thursday.

Vermont Business Magazine Hilco Real Estate, LLC has announced that a 125± acre development site in Groveton, NH, is for sale in a Federally Designated Opportunity Zone – a parcel of land ideal for the energy, manufacturing and technology sectors and easily divisible and ready for immediate redevelopment. The site was originally developed by Chapman Development and features the expansion of the nearby machining company NSA Industries in St Johnsbury, Vermont. An asking price was not revealed.