Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims rose last week after they have been mostly down this year. For the week of February 23, 2019, there were 656 claims, 177 more than they were the previous week, but 86 fewer than they were a year ago. Altogether 5,839 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 24 from a week ago, and 243 fewer than a year ago. For most weeks of 2017 and 2018 claims were lower than the year before, but have been up and down in 2019. Vermont, like the nation as a whole, is locked into a historically low period of unemployment and a tight labor market.

Vermont Business Magazine Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) announced today that Rebecca Ellis of Waterbury Center will join his staff on March 25th as state director. She replaces George Twigg, who relocated to Colorado in January. Ellis currently serves as deputy commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation. She represented Waterbury in the state legislature from 2011-2015 and served on Waterbury’s select board, as member and then chair, from 2006-2014. Ellis led Waterbury’s recovery from devastating flooding caused by Tropical Storm Irene. From 1997-2011, she served as an assistant Vermont attorney general.

Rebecca Ellis. Courtesy photo.

Vermont Business Magazine A new study found Vermont ranks No. 41 for  break-ins of any state in America with 297.3 per 100,000 people. Vermont's neighboring states were even lower. The highest rates were found in states in the South and Southwest. SafeHome.org, a leading resource for reviewing home security systems, has released The States With The Most Break-Ins using the latest annual data released by the FBI. Overall, the number of break-ins has been declining in recent years in Vermont and across the nation.

by Brandon Arcari, Vermont Business Magazine Opponents of the Burlington Telecom sale plan to ask the Vermont Supreme Court to side with the citizens of Burlington in opposing the sale of Burlington Telecom (BT) to Schurz Communications, a broadband media group based in Indiana. Opponents were expected to appeal the award of the Certificate of Public Good to the Supreme Court.

The opponents say that despite the $17 million debt that it owes to taxpayers, it has become profitable and could repay taxpayers over time. They lay the blame for the sale at the feet of Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, who they say will hand over BT to a private company for a fraction of what it is worth.

Online-retailer Amazon has announced plans to begin hiring several dozen Vermonters later this year for new part-time positions in Virtual Customer Service, a program that offers flexible work-from-home arrangements for customer service agents.

Vermont Business Magazine Thomas D Anderson, Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety (DPS), and Nancy P. Sheahan, Chairwoman of the State Police Advisory Commission, have issued the following joint statement summarizing the work of SPAC and the Internal Affairs Office within the Department of Public Safety during 2018. 

This marks the first time that DPS has released a public summary of the commission’s work.

Vermont Business Magazine For the first time, medical cannabis patients in Vermont now have the convenience of using a drive-through window to purchase products for pain relief and other ailments. Southern Vermont Wellness (SVW) is now approved to dispense its full range of medical cannabis products at its new home at 942 Putney Road in Brattleboro.

by Brandon Arcari, Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power has partnered with Renewable Energy Vermont on a new Bring-Your-Own-Device pilot program that will allow about 600 GMP customers to offset the costs of new energy-saving devices in their homes with incentives. The partnership, announced at the home of GMP customer Carole McCay in Hinesburg, was unveiled alongside the installation of a Tesla Powerwall battery sold by SunCommon for McCay to use as part of the program.

Senator Patrick Leahy The opioid epidemic is the health crisis of our time. Every community and every family has been touched in some way by this tragic loss of life or the struggle of addiction. An epidemic of this scale must be met with bold new ideas and the resources to back them up.
Vermont, like other states, is not immune to the scourge of opioid addiction.

Vermont Business Magazine Linda Schadler, dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Vermont, is part of a nationwide collaboration that will collect data on nanocomposites. The project is funded through a five-year, $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Cyber-infrastructure for Sustained Scientific Innovation program.

Linda Schadler, dean of UVM's College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. (Photo: Andy Duback)

Vermont Business Magazine Mayor Miro Weinberger announced on Wednesday that on March 1 the City of Burlington will open the application process for the Burlington Early Learning Initiative’s “First Steps Scholarship Program,” which is designed to place 20 or more low-income Burlington children into high-quality child care in its pilot year. Mayor Weinberger was joined in the announcement by City Councilor Jane Knodell, City Councilor Dave Hartnett, Greater Burlington YMCA CEO Kyle Dodson, Let’s Grow Kids Interim CEO Janet McLaughlin, and Family Room Executive Director Josh Miller.

Senator Patrick Leahy More than 30 years ago, when cooperation and bipartisanship were a hallmark of the United States Senate, a bipartisan group of Senators sounded the alarm about climate change. They made a modest request of the Office of Technology Assessment: study the issue of climate change, and make recommendations to avert global disaster. Those Senators were concerned that human activity might directly cause permanent, destructive, and widespread changes to our planet’s climate system -- changes that would put our entire economy, ecosystem, and our very own existence at risk.