Current News

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.

​Vermont Business Magazine Accel-VT is seeking innovative, early-stage, energy companies focused on reducing fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the heating and transportation sectors to participate in its business accelerator in Burlington, Vermont. The business accelerator, which is focused on helping early stage companies in climate economy innovation, is now accepting applications through April 28, 2019 for its summer 2019 climate economy entrepreneur program.

Vermont Business Magazine Lloyd Plumbing, Heating & Gas Service, LLC is the recipient of this year’s Efficiency Excellence Network Partner of the Year award, one of the eight annual Best of the Best awards, presented by Efficiency Vermont recently at the Better Buildings by Design conference.

Vermont Business Magazine 450 students from Riverside Middle School and Springfield High School and the River Valley Technical Center will participate Thursday in a day of coding that includes hands-on coding activities and panel discussions with computer science professionals. The day is designed to expose local students to coding, give them an opportunity to hear from computer science professionals, and explore pathways to coding careers. 

Vermont Business Magazine At a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform this afternoon, Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) questioned Michael Cohen, former attorney to President Donald Trump. During the exchange, Welch asked Cohen about President Trump’s knowledge of a stolen, “massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign” by WikiLeaks. Welch is a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan today announced that Wells Fargo has begun a program through which Vermonters who were harmed by Wells Fargo’s practices can have their complaint reviewed by an “escalation team” to identify whether they are eligible for refunds or other compensation. Consumers may be eligible if they have not already been made whole through other restitution programs.

The consumer redress review program was a key component of the settlement with the attorneys general of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The settlement resolved claims that the bank violated state consumer protection laws by opening unauthorized accounts without customers’ knowledge or consent, improperly charging auto loan customers for unnecessary insurance, failing to provide refunds for certain auto financing products, and incorrectly charging mortgage customers fees for extending rate locks.

Vermont Business Magazine Tennessee, Delaware, Wyoming, Texas and Montana top the nation for the highest number of fatalities caused by distracted driving, while states with strict car phone use, like Vermont, generally had fewer fatalities according to a study issued today by national financial adviser ValuePenguin.com. Nationally, distracted driving is a serious and growing threat to road safety. From 2015 to 2017, more than 1,400 fatalities were attributed to car crashes involving drivers that were distracted by their cell phones.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) today announced three changes to its Board of Directors, electing a new Chair, Vice-Chair and Treasurer. Former Chair John Snow of Charlotte stepped down from his role on February 17th. 

by Jack Hoffman, Public Assets Institute When the Vermont Senate voted last week to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024, it was portrayed as an economic boon and a way to narrow the gap between low-income families and the well-to-do. What some senators may not have realized is that they also were passing a health care bill.