Current News

by John McClaughry Last September the Legislature underwrote a $120,000 contract to a Washington, DC, firm named "Resources for the Future" that specializes in analyzing the economic impact of various policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by consumption of fossil fuels. The 114-page “Decarbonization Study” has now been delivered.

Before summarizing its findings, let’s recall why certain organizations are so intent on driving Vermonters away from using gasoline, diesel fuel, natural gas, heating oil, and propane.

They believe that Planet Earth is approaching a climate catastrophe caused by the humans burning these energy-rich fuels. By far the most dominant greenhouse gas is water vapor, but that can’t be controlled by driving up the price of water. So the climate alarmists – for want of a better description – are determined to defeat the menace of climate change by making humans stop burning fossil fuels.

Vermont Business Magazine The Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) community and other parts of the country are experiencing a significant increase in influenza and flu-like viral infections. To help protect the community, patients and staff, SVMC has temporarily restricted its Visitor Policy, requesting that people who have the flu or flu-like symptoms not visit patients. These symptoms include cough, fever, diarrhea, rash, or known exposure to a contagious illness in the past 14 days. Additionally, no visitors under the age of 18 will be allowed in the hospital until further notice.

Anyone who has these symptoms and due to extenuating circumstances must visit a patient, will be required to obtain a mask on entry to the hospital and to follow these recommendations:

• Wash or sanitize your hands before and after visiting.

• Stay in the patient’s hospital room. Do not visit other patients.

Vermont Business Magazine Four member agencies of Vermont Care Partners (VCP) have come together to reshape the delivery and coordination of care through a partnership with Netsmart to deploy a unified technology platform. As value-based care quickly becomes reality, Lamoille County Mental Health Services, Northwestern Counseling and Support Services, United Counseling Services of Bennington and Washington County Mental Health Services will leverage the full suite of solutions from Netsmart to integrate with Vermont’s other care providers, establish common clinical workflows and ensure their outcomes-focused mission can continue to thrive as the healthcare landscape evolves.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Education today recognized the state’s 2019 Presidential Scholar nominees in a ceremony at the Vermont Statehouse. The Vermont Presidential Scholars Program recognizes graduating high school seniors who show outstanding scholarship, leadership and service to their communities. Twenty scholars are nominated in the general category, and five scholars are nominated in the Career Technical Education (CTE) category. For the first time this year, Vermont will award five scholars in the Arts.

Vermont Business Magazine A Vermont court has ruled that a “receiver” is needed to run the Pillsbury residential care homes in South Burlington and St. Albans. On Friday, January 25th, the court ruled that the current owner-manager had caused the Pillsbury residents to experience food shortages, inadequate nursing care, and related mental stress, among other harms. Attorney General TJ Donovan had requested the receiver on behalf of the VT Department of Disabilities, Aging & Independent Living (DAIL). DAIL licenses and oversees long-term care facilities in the state.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims continued to edge down last week, as the holiday layoff spike subsided. For the week of January 19, 2019, there were 576 claims, 98 fewer than they were the previous week, but 65 more than they were a year ago. The holiday season usually sees wild swings in claims, as retailers in particular hire and layoff workers in spikes in November and December and then levels off in January.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and members of his Cabinet will be in Essex County on Tuesday, January 29 for their eleventh Capitol for a Day visit. The initiative has brought the Governor and members of his Cabinet and Extended Cabinet to Rutland, Caledonia, Windsor, Franklin, Bennington, Addison, Chittenden, Orleans, Windham and Lamoille counties over the last several months.

Vermont Business Magazine Casella Waste Systems, Inc (NASDAQ:CWST), a regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company, has announced the closing on January 25, 2019, of its previously announced underwritten public offering of shares of its Class A common stock, including the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase an additional 465,000 shares at a public offering price of $29.50 per share, before offering discounts. The exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares brought the total number of shares of Class A common stock sold by Casella in the offering to 3,565,000 and increased the aggregate gross proceeds from the offering to $105.2 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and offering expenses.

Vermont Business Magazine At its 32^nd Annual Membership Meeting held January 17^th at The Essex Resort and Spa, the Vermont Business Roundtable elected new officers: Chair Mark Foley, Foley Services; Vice-Chair Judith O’Connell, Champlain Investment Partners; Treasurer Scott Giles, Vermont Student Assistance Corporation; Secretary Stephanie Mapes, Paul Frank + Collins; Immediate Past Chair Michael Seaver, Peoples United Bank; and, President Lisa Ventriss.  

Also, at the meeting, members elected new directors to their first three-year term: David Bradbury, Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies; Sara Byers, Leonardo’s Pizza; Meg Fleming, SymQuest Group; and, Holly Groschner, VermontPBS.  

Vermont Business Magazine Ben & Jerry's intends to eliminate single-use plastic. As a first step, the company will no longer offer plastic straws and spoons in any of its more than 600 Scoop Shops worldwide in early 2019. The company also announced a plan to address plastic cups and lids used to serve ice cream by the end of 2020. Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shops currently hand out 2.5 million plastic straws a year, and 30 million plastic spoons. If all the plastic spoons used by Ben & Jerry's in the US were placed end to end, they'd stretch from Burlington, Vermont to Jacksonville, Florida.

Leonine Public Affairs On Thursday Governor Phil Scott delivered his budget address to a joint assembly of the Vermont legislature and for the first time since taking office in 2016, the governor proposed a new tax. His proposal calls for a 92 percent wholesale tax on all e-cigarette products including the devices. If adopted, this would tax e-cigarettes at the same rate as other tobacco products like chewing tobacco. The governor also proposed numerous fee increases primarily in areas that have not seen increases in several years. 

Vermont Business Magazine Fuse, a marketing agency specializing in reaching teens and young adults based in Burlington, has released a new report on teens. At the start of a new year, it's valuable for marketers to consider what is most popular with teens. So, to kick the year off, Fuse asked 1,000 about their favorite things.