Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced a new initiative to address the high cost of workers’ compensation insurance for logging contractors in Vermont’s forest economy. The Vermont Logger Safety and Workers’ Compensation Insurance Program—developed collaboratively by the Departments of Financial Regulation, Labor and Forests, Parks and Recreation, with input from logging safety trainers, the National Council on Compensation Insurance, insurance carriers and business owners in the forestry sector—will modernize safety training for logging contractors and their employees, reducing injuries and insurance claims and allowing them to qualify for reduced insurance rates.

Vermont Business Magazine Long a key element of SKI MAGIC LLC's 5-year strategic plan, Magic Mountain Ski Area has gained Vermont state permitting approval for doubling the size of its snowmaking pond to approximately 9 million gallons while taking the pond "off stream" to help create a better aquatic environment for downstream fish. The permit also allows the in-take of water from the Thompsonburg Brook along Route 11 for pond replenishment.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Farm & Forest Viability Program, a program of the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board, awarded a total of $507,000 to fourteen farms in Addison, Orleans, and Rutland counties. These grants leveraged an additional $4.9 million for capital improvement projects and are matched by the farmers’ funds, bank loans, and grant funding from the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets.

Anson Tebbetts, Secretary of the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, said, “The Vermont Farm & Forest Viability Program’s Water Quality Grants are helping farms make lasting investments in environmental stewardship by reducing runoff and improving manure management, soil health and the long-term viability of these businesses.”

Vermont Business Magazine The Bombas Giving Program has donated 1,500 pairs of new socks to the Brattleboro Retreat's patient clothing program known as the Retreat Boutique. The Retreat Boutique is primarily a used clothing program that was launched by employees in 2016 to provide clean, quality garments for Brattleboro Retreat patients in need. It is run by volunteers who gather, sort, launder, and fold donations.

Vermont Business Magazine The Summer Gala—the Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) Foundation’s signature fundraising event and the region’s most elegant charity occasion—was held on the evening of June 8 at the Hubbell Homestead in Bennington. The event hosted more than 300 people and raised $250,000, of which nearly $220,000 will support advancements in breast imaging for early detection of breast cancer.

Vermont Business Magazine The United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Louise Larivee, 60, of Swanton, pleaded not guilty today in United States District Court in Burlington to federal fraud charges. US Magistrate Judge John M Conroy released Larivee on conditions pending trial, which has not been scheduled. On June 13, 2019, a federal grand jury in Burlington returned a two-count indictment charging Larivee with conspiracy and federal program embezzlement.

According to the indictment, between 2013 and 2017, Larivee was employed by the Abenaki Self Help Association, Inc. as the director of a federal grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor.

by C.B. Hall, Vermont Business Magazine Williston-based AllEarth Rail, which is hoping to launch the nation's only privately operated commuter rail service, failed this spring in its push for the state to perform a technical analysis of how self-propelled rail cars of the type AllEarth owns could provide such a service. But the company's initiative is not dead.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Financial Regulation recently clarified that Vermont insurers are prohibited from making coverage determinations for medically necessary gender-affirming care based solely on age. In 2007, Vermont passed legislation that prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. In 2013, DFR issued Bulletin 174, stating the law applies to the coverage of medically necessary gender-affirming care, including gender-affirming surgery. Last week, the department further revised Bulletin 174.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) unveiled landmark legislation today to eliminate tuition and fees at all public four-year colleges and universities, as well as make community colleges, trade schools, and apprenticeship programs tuition- and fee-free for all. The three lawmakers’ proposal also eliminates all $1.6 trillion in student debt for 45 million Americans.

by Rob Roper Activists and politicians around Vermont are preening with pride about having passed the nation’s broadest ban on plastic bags and plastic products, with a promise (in the form of a study committee) of more to come. As citizens of an ostensibly free society founded upon the principle of limited government, this is not something we should be pleased about. This bag ban is a truly authoritarian/totalitarian policy.

Vermont Business Magazine FirstLight, a leading provider of fiber-optic data, Internet, data center, cloud and voice services to enterprise and carrier customers in Vermont and throughout the Northeast, announced today the latest addition to its comprehensive portfolio of fiber-based services: Veeam-Powered Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS).

Vermont Business Magazine Edward Larson of Montpelier has been named interim president of the Central Vermont Chamber of Commerce and will begin work at the Chamber on July 1. The appointment was announced today by Board Chair Joseph L Choquette III, president of Mark III Public Affairs LLC. Larson will take over for current President and CEO William D. Moore, who will be leaving the position in mid-July for another job. 

“We are very fortunate to have somebody available with Ed’s experience in association management, knowledge of the area, and existing relationships to carry on the important work of the Chamber while we search for a new president,” Choquette said. “Ed has been on the board for many years and served ably as our treasurer, so he knows the organization well. The Chamber is in good hands.”