Current News

Many beers claim to have put Milwaukee on the map as the beer capital of the United States. Instead of trying to put Shelburne, Vermont on the beer-making map, The Fiddlehead Brewing Company is more interested in putting maps on its latest Ramblin’ Cans mixed 4-pack. Specifically, maps created by another Vermont company, Discovery Map International.
Based in Waitsfield, Vermont, Discovery Map International is the leading provider of curated guides to top tourist attractions, cities and towns throughout North America. The designs on the four Ramblin’ Cans, feature Fiddlehead characters with the actual Discovery Map of Shelburne, Vermont as a background.

As the growing season gets underway, farmers throughout Vermont are trying their hand at a new crop - hemp. With the crop’s re-emergence in the state, University of Vermont researchers conducted a statewide poll to assess Vermonters’ opinions and knowledge of hemp production and evaluate market opportunities for growers.
Poll results showed over three-quarters of Vermonters support industrial hemp production in the state with fewer than 5 percent opposed. Support is spread across genders and geographies with Vermonters throughout the state expressing strong support for the growing industry. The poll, a subset of the annual Vermonter Poll conducted by the UVM’s Center for Rural Studies, also evaluated consumers’ awareness and use of hemp products, providing a baseline for tracking and evaluating the industry over time.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General T.J. Donovan announced that Vermont has been selected for the Firearms Technical Assistance Project (FTAP), a program to help communities prevent deaths and injuries caused by domestic abusers’ access to firearms. Vermont is one of seven grant sites nationwide to be selected through a competitive grant process. FTAP provides assistance and training to improve implementation of existing domestic violence and firearm laws. Vermont is the only statewide site that was selected. Other recipients include Brooklyn, NY; Birmingham, AL; Columbus, OH; Spokane, WA, and two as-of-yet selected tribal sites.

Energize Vermont, a non-profit energy education and advocacy organization, will collaborate with town energy committees from Glover, Craftsbury, Greensboro, Montpelier, Thetford, and Strafford, as well as Transition Town Charlotte, to outfit Vermont homes with energy-saving window inserts. The good-looking, custom-fit inserts from WindowDressers, a Maine-based nonprofit, consist of plastic film stretched over wooden frames and are assembled by volunteers at community workshops.
The inserts work like storm windows, but they are much less expensive and far easier to install and remove.  They fit on the inside of an existing window, adding two insulating spaces. A foam gasket around the perimeter provides a tight seal against drafts and holds the insert in place without fasteners. A window insert can save as much as one gallon of heating fuel per square foot of window per heating season. The price of a 30” x 60” insert will be about $42, and special pricing will be available to low-income residents.

KeyBank has released its 2018 Corporate Responsibility report, highlighting the company’s ongoing legacy as a responsible bank and citizen. Included in the report are the results from the first two years of the National Community Benefits Plan, under which KeyBank invested over $7.1 billion in communities. KeyBank executives said the investments exceeded the goals for the first two years of the plan by 38%.

Peck Electric Co. (“Peck”, or “the Company”), a leading commercial solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company, today announced the completion of four solar projects in the first quarter of 2019.

Peck Electric holds a rich history as a family owned business in operation in Vermont for 47 years. The Company began operations as a traditional electric contractor and holds a wide range of capabilities to install electric equipment for a variety of end uses. Today, these core capabilities have developed the Company’s business in solar array installation, traditional electric, and data services. These projects range in size from several kilowatts for residential loads to multi-megawatt systems for large commercial and utility projects. The Company can deploy these capabilities to other large, rapidly growing renewable energy geographies and end markets; namely EV charging stations and energy storage.

Kinney Pike Insurance is proud to announce the company has received the E&O Plus Quality Management Award for the fifth consecutive year. This award is presented to insurance agencies demonstrating outstanding devotion to quality management in serving their clients and a commitment to excellence in the area of Errors & Omissions prevention and mitigation.  This mark of distinction puts Kinney Pike Insurance in an elite group, as it is one of only 22 firms participating in the E&O Plus Program to receive this award for 2018.

Are you a trainer or advisor on workplace equity and inclusivity issues in our state, or have you worked with one?  What trainings would be most helpful in your workplace?

The Vermont Commission on Women is currently compiling online educational resources and a directory about work-related discrimination and sexual harassment prevention. The Commission is inviting interested members of the public - employers, workers, non-profit organizations, advocates, and businesses - to provide input and guidance, and to help “crowdsource” experts, resources and information.

Input is being collected through two online forms, both of which can be found on the Commission’s website (women.vermont.gov):

National Trails Day 2019 represents a milestone for recreation efforts in the Mad River Valley: Come June 1, 2019, outdoor enthusiasts of all varieties will be able to journey through the entire Mad River Valley trail network with the guidance of newly installed trailhead kiosks and the most comprehensive printed MRV Trails map to date.

Eighteen trailhead kiosks have been erected this week at existing trail access points across the towns of Waitsfield, Warren & Fayston. The kiosks feature a site map, trail information, and user guidelines – part of a group of 50 total trailhead signs being established across Mad River Valley this summer to identify, unify, and celebrate its expansive trail network. These kiosks join two that were put in the ground in 2018 – at Scrag Mountain Town Forest and Mad River Park—and highlight connectivity between the paths and sidewalks of community centers like Irasville and more remote mountain trails.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott has requested a Major Disaster Declaration from President Trump to acquire federal funds to assist six Vermont counties in repairing public infrastructure damaged in floods on April 15, 2019. Communities and public entities in Bennington, Essex, Orange, Rutland, Washington and Windsor counties sustained damage exceeding the minimum threshold for federal disaster assistance eligibility.

A Joint Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA) by the State of Vermont and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) validated more than $2 million in public infrastructure damage statewide, far exceeding the $1 million statewide minimum required for Major Disaster Declaration consideration. Each of the six counties in the declaration request also exceeded the $3.78 county per capita threshold to qualify communities and public entities for assistance.

Vermont Public Power Supply Authority (“VPPSA”) and Encore Renewable Energy announced today the completion of their 855 kilowatt (kW) Trombley Hill Solar project, the first developed under their partnership formed last year. Sited on property owned by Morrisville Water and Light, it is the first utility project to come online under Vermont’s Standard Offer program in 2019. 

Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) is pleased to honor three outstanding individuals and organizations who are leading by outstanding example, and developing successful socially responsible business models. Our 18^th Annual Awards Ceremony and Dinner will recognize Bram Kleppner, CEO at Danforth, with the Terry Ehrich Award for Lifetime Achievement. The VBSR Innovation and Inspiration Award will be given to Windham Grows, and the VBSR Young Changemaker Award will be given to Dan Hock, Programs Director of Old Spokes Home.