Current News

by Joyce Marcel, Vermont Business Magazine If you were going to design the perfect secretary of agriculture for a rural state like Vermont, you might look for someone with deep roots in the state, maybe going back to the 1860s. You might look for a person who has actually milked cows for a living. You would also want someone with good communication skills. You would then look no further than Anson Tebbetts, as two governors have done.

Vermont Business Magazine Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) has successfully secured a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields grant. Funds will be used for a 39-acre site that has been in active use as a paper mill since the 1960s. The $500,000 grant will allow BDCC to conduct planned Phase II assessment and cleanup of hazardous substances at the former Neenah Paper plant in Brattleboro. 

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Research News this week spotlights Vermont history. Though the celebration had mostly died out in Vermont by 1900, Antiques and Horribles Parades were the standard way to celebrate the 4th of July in 19th century New England. From the mid-1800s to the early-1900s, Lake Memphremagog saw tremendous growth in both industry and tourism on both ends of the lake. The border town of Newport was home to grand hotels such as the Memphremagog House. The Vergennes Opera House was built in 1897, one of several grand opera houses built in the state during that era to lure tourists with cultural opportunities. From the early 1960s through 1979, residents in the towns of Troy and Jay lived uneasily with a mysterious neighbor: Space Research Corporation.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Public Service seeks to establish a contract with a company that can provide a Feasibility Study of Electric Companies Offering Broadband Service in Vermont. RFP responses are due by 4 pm on July 1, 2019. The contract arising from this RFP will be for a period of 12-months with an option to renew for one additional 12-month period. The state anticipates the start date will be on or around August 1, 2019, with a report ready for the Legislature by January 2020. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that five individuals have been sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Geoffrey W Crawford for their roles in a prolonged conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine base in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Debra Bluto, 64, of St Albans Bay, was sentenced today in United States District Court in Burlington following her guilty plea to a charge that she defrauded the Social Security Administration. Chief US District Judge Geoffrey Crawford sentenced Bluto to two years of probation and ordered her to pay restitution totaling $48,000.

On October 24, a federal grand jury in Rutland returned a four-count indictment charging Bluto with stealing government funds and making false statements to the Social Security Administration.

Vermont Business Magazine The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced Friday that Scott Brochu, 47, of Essex, was charged yesterday by Indictment with unlawfully transporting child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(1), and possessing child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B). Brochu was arrested this morning near his residence in Essex, Vermont, and will appear this afternoon in federal court in Burlington. Brochu’s arrest was a result of an operation conducted by Vermont’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (VT-ICAC) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) during the week of May 13, 2019.

WCAX reported that Brochu is a major with the Vermont National Guard, where he's served for over 25 years.

by US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) It is no secret that many seniors in Vermont and throughout the United States are having trouble making ends meet. In the United States, 7.2 million seniors live in poverty and nearly 9 million face the threat of hunger. Every day, seniors struggle with the high cost of prescription drugs, food, heating or housing. Others deal with loneliness and isolation, a real problem in Vermont’s more rural communities.  
 
It should go without saying, but no senior citizen in the richest country in history should ever have to decide between buying groceries or the medications they need to stay healthy.  No senior should worry about keeping a roof over their head.  Unfortunately, this is the reality today for far too many older Americans – and it is both unacceptable and immoral.
 

by ANR Secretary Julie Moore Last month, I had the opportunity to help volunteers and staff from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, TimberHomes, and students from the nearby Community College of Vermont, plant more than 100 trees along the North Branch of the Winooski River in Montpelier. The project was spearheaded by the Friends of the Winooski River and will help to slow snowmelt and stormwater runoff as it flows over the land, in turn maintaining stable streambanks and reducing erosion. This protects the land and is critical to improving water quality in streams, rivers and lakes, as well as providing valuable habitat for wildlife and birds.

Vermont Business Magazine The Bennington Regional Chamber of Commerce has replaced Dr. David Evans, who was voted as the board of director’s president in January of 2019 at the chamber’s annual membership meeting, with first vice president Brian Maggiotto effective immediately. Evans, who was the president of the now-closed Southern Vermont College, was recently appointed interim president of the American University of Bulgaria.  Evans stepped down as president of Southern Vermont College May 24th.

Maggiotto was elected as first vice president at the January meeting and will finish out Evan’s 2-year term ending January 2021 with an option to run for another 2-year presidential term before serving as past president on the chamber’s executive board.

Vermont Adult Learning These days when computers for most people are not only an essential everyday work tool but also an almost essential part of everyday life, it is easy to forget there are many people that for various reasons are not computer skilled. Many of these did not have or did not take up opportunities to learn computer skills while at school, or they are New Americans who did not have the opportunity to learn these skills in their home countries.

Vermont Business Magazine The Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS) has launched a free Farm Lease Builder as part of their Farmland Access Legal Toolkit. The Farm Lease Builder creates a free customized lease draft for farmers based on their specific needs, significantly reducing the cost of legal services.