Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The first project rankings for the new 2019 Southern Vermont Economy Zone CEDS (Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy) have been announced. A total of 70 projects were submitted to be included in the first ever five-year plan for growing the southern Vermont economy, six of which have been ranked “vital.”

by Robert Zulkoski Any farmer will tell you the importance of “listening to the land.” You don’t grow corn where you should be yielding cotton; you don’t force wheat where chard grows freely. Farmers rely on ingenuity and capitalize on the strengths of their equipment and land, farmhands and neighbors, and knowledge of the market to respond to the ever-changing conditions. Sticking to the same practices during a drought or flood won't yield crop or a profit.

Vermont Business Magazine AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” of National Guaranty Insurance Company of Vermont (NGIC) (Burlington, VT). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) remains stable. The ratings reflect NGIC’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best categorizes as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

The ratings support NGIC’s role as a captive insurance company of Waste Management, Inc (WM) [NYSE: WM], a leading company in the waste management industry. The captive benefits from the parental support and robust risk management strategies afforded to it from WM as important factors of the company’s overall financial assurance program. The active risk management has benefited capitalization through loss prevention to generate consistently positive earnings.

Vermont Business Magazine The United States Senate Thursday passed a $19.1 billion bipartisan, bicameral disaster supplemental to provide aid for all American citizens recovering from 2017-2019 disasters by a vote of 85 to 8.  The House first passed an emergency supplemental in January, only for the measure to stall in the Senate due to President Trump’s insistence that it not include “one more dime” of funding for the American citizens of Puerto Rico recovering from two category 5 hurricanes. 

Vermont Business Magazine BioTek Instruments announces a new wide field of view (FOV) camera option for their Cytation 5 Cell Imaging Multi-Mode Reader. The new wide FOV camera captures approximately four times the area compared to Cytation 5’s standard camera, allowing users to capture larger areas of interest with fewer images. The new camera increases the speed of acquisition for larger samples and accelerates statistically significant sampling for cell population analysis.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) on Wednesday introduced the Inclusive Prosperity Act along with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and more than a dozen House Democrats.The legislation imposes a tax of a fraction of a percent on the trades of stocks, bonds, and derivatives. This tax on Wall Street speculation, also known as a financial transaction tax, is estimated to generate up to $2.4 trillion in public revenue from wealthy investors over 10 years. An added benefit of the proposed tax is deterring the high-frequency trading that increases the instability of the financial sector and produces no economic value.

Vermont Business Magazine In response to its growing medical device business, advanced contract manufacturing and injection molding company GW Plastics, Inc. announced today the expansion of its Royalton, Vermont Manufacturing and Technology Center. GW Plastics has broken ground on a 30,000 ft² expansion to accommodate the growth of its thermoplastic injection molding and medical device contract assembly business.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan announced a settlement with the New England Municipal Resource Center (NEMRC) regarding serious data security problems in its municipal management software. This software is used by every city and town in Vermont. To resolve allegations that its lack of data security violated the Vermont Consumer Protection Act, NEMRC has agreed to improve many of its business practices, such as developing an Information Security Program and enhancing employee training regarding security. NEMRC will also pay a penalty of $30,000.

by John F Varney, VEC As the weather warms across Vermont, many of us are eager to get out and start outdoor projects around our homes. During spring we tackle lots of yard cleanup, tree trimming, repairs, plantings, painting projects and other work. Because of our post-winter enthusiasm, it can be easy to overlook basic safety precautions as we work. In all work, take things slowly, think through your process, and keep focused.

Here are a few tips for specific tasks:

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Gas has once again joined forces with the Intervale Center and the Winooski Valley Parks District to plant over 375 trees at the Ethan Allen Homestead in Burlington. This planting project is part of the Company’s commitment to conservation and education. Tree plantings along stream embankments prevent erosion and help protect fish habitat. About 20 Vermont Gas employees took part in this morning’s planting.

Vermont Business Magazine Castleton University is proud to announce a partnership with MHG Solar that will allow Castleton to purchase net-metering credits from a community solar site in nearby Poultney. Castleton anticipates that partnering in the MHG Solar project will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential savings over the next 25 years. MHG Solar, an energy company based out of Manchester, Vermont, is beginning construction on a series of solar projects that will be located on old tailings piles in slate quarries that extend from Poultney to Pawlet.

These unique locations, which qualify as preferred solar sites due to their already disturbed landscape, help to preserve the state's limited agricultural lands, hide the solar arrays from public view, and take advantage of existing infrastructure for transmission and site access. The sites will include a 500-kilowatt array with over 2,000 panels, all connected to Green Mountain Power.

Vermont Business Magazine Accel-VT has selected seven early-stage energy companies from across the US and Canada to participate in its Energy 2019 cohort. The Vermont business accelerator will kick off the first of three one-week sprints in Burlington next week. Fifteen entrepreneurs from the eight companies will convene at Burlington Electric Department’s Spark Space to focus on reducing fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the heating and transportation sectors.