Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Rep Bobby Scott (D-VA), chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, joined House and Senate leadership Wednesday to introduce the Raise the Wage Act of 2019. The bill would gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2024, index future minimum wage increases to median wage growth and ensure all workers are paid at least the full federal minimum wage by phasing out the subminimum wages for tipped workers, youth workers and workers with disabilities.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Governor Phil Scott and New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu today detailed their Twin State Voluntary Leave Plan, a bi-state voluntary paid family and medical leave program, in a press conference at Schilling Beer Company in Littleton, NH. The governors’ plan creates an insurance product that is not currently offered in either state. It will be available to all businesses, as well as individuals, and will be anchored by the state employee workforce of both states - a combined 18,500 employees.

Governor Scott Facebook image of press conference. Click image for video.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington-based weekly Seven Days has launched a year-long reporting project chronicling the opioid epidemic in Vermont and efforts to address it. The designated writer of “Hooked: Stories and Solutions From Vermont’s Opioid Crisis” is Kate O’Neill, who has personal experience with the crisis: Her sister, Burlington mom Madelyn Linsenmeir, died last October after years battling addiction.

O’Neill described her sister’s struggles in a heartbreaking obituary published locally in Seven Days (see below). It spread quickly on social media, shared by national reporters and celebrities — even Ivanka Trump. Millions of people worldwide read it, and more than 1,000 left online comments describing their own experiences with addiction.

Vermont Business Magazine In Vermont, approximately 1,700 eviction cases are filed every year. The number one cause of eviction is falling behind on rent. In most cases, families lose their housing, leading to increased rates of homelessness, unemployment, mental and physical illness, and financial and housing instability. Half of eviction cases were begun for $2,000 or less owed; 90 percent of them were for less than $5,000.

Vermont Business Magazine Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT) will celebrate getting out into Vermont’s beautiful winter by hosting four Snow Days events in 2019. Snow Days feature free access to cross-country skiing and/or snowshoeing trails, and free rentals on a first-come, first-served basis in an effort to encourage physical activity during the winter months. BCBSVT will also provide healthy snacks and hot cocoa. The first 50 attendees at each location will receive a free Snow Days fleece hat.

In 2019, BCBSVT will host Snow Days at the following locations:

Vermont Business Magazine As federal employees across Vermont go without their paycheck during the ongoing shutdown, which enters its 26th day today, Airbnb is announcing A Night On Us, a new program to support federal executive branch employees in Vermont as well as nationwide who share their home or an experience on Airbnb during the ongoing federal government shutdown. Any federal executive branch employee in Vermont who hosts either an experience or three nights in their home over the three months between December 18, 2018 and March 18, 2019 will get up to $110 extra on Airbnb.

This past Friday, hundreds of thousands of federal workers went without a paycheck, even as they continue to face daily expenses and other financial obligations.

by Representative Heidi E Scheuermann, R-Stowe The Vermont General Assembly returned to Montpelier January 9 ready to get to work. In 2017, Vermont House Speaker, Mitzi Johnson, determined (correctly, in my view) that a standing committee in the House was needed to focus solely on energy and technology issues facing our state. Prior to this time, these critical issues were the jurisdiction of other committees whose work encompassed other significant issues like the environment and economic development in general.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont House Committee on Appropriations will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, January 22, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. in room 11 of the State House. The Committee will take testimony on the Governor’s recommended FY 2019 budget adjustment proposal. It adds about $54 million and moves $266 million from the State Health Care Resources Fund into the General Fund.

Vermont Business Magazine Wright Construction Company, Inc is ahead of the winter curve – right along with the snowfall amounts, with projects throughout the southern Vermont corridor. Following a year of great finished projects such as Pittsford Fire Academy Burn Building, Norwich Fire and Police Department, Arlington School Renovations, Paramount Theatre Emergency Structural Repairs, Large Private Residence Ski House and many many more, the company is currently busy working the winter season.

Vermont Business Magazine MEDITECH, a leading Enterprise Health Record (EHR) vendor and Contributor Member of CommonWell Health Alliance, has deployed CommonWell interoperability services at Northwestern Medical Center in St Albans, taking another meaningful step forward in the goal of more connected care between healthcare organizations. 

Vermont Business Magazine Coldwell Banker Hickok & Boardman Realty based in Burlington has announced that it has activated the Adwerx Enterprise Automated Listing Advertising Program to showcase its listings in Northern Vermont. Adwerx has developed an easy-to-adopt advertising platform to allow businesses to create customized ads at scale. The Adwerx Enterprise Automated Listing Advertising Program has seen widespread adoption throughout the industry with one in ten properties for sale in the United States in 2018 advertised through Adwerx. These ads have been seen over 2.4 billion times. 

Vermont Business Magazine State Representative Bob Helm (Rutland-3) is leading the way in Vermont to term limit Congress by sponsoring a resolution for a national term limits amendment proposal convention. The resolution is expected to be introduced in the Vermont House of Representatives within the week. Through Article V of the US Constitution, 34 state legislatures can team up for a convention to propose a congressional term limits amendment to the Constitution. The Term Limits Convention campaign is shepherded by the nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization, US Term Limits.

Representative Helm commented on the resolution saying, “I believe it’s time to look at term limits in Congress very seriously and, in return for passing term limits, I firmly believe we will gain a less political and more constituent-minded Congress.”