Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Dealer.com, the premier digital marketing solution and partner for auto dealerships based in Burlington, will unveil new capabilities this month at the NADA Show. The new innovations will enable dealers to leverage cutting-edge data and technology to create a more personalized online shopping and buying experience, unlock digital marketing efficiency and cater to emerging consumer needs.

The new solutions being launched help dealers deliver a more complete and connected digital storefront, with personalized experiences that reach and engage customers at every step of the shopping process while providing improved flexibility, customization, and Managed Services options. The innovations include:

Vermont Business Magazine When you picture the biggest craft beer loving state, you might immediately conjure up images of a sunny San Diego brewery or a vegan taco truck surrounding an Austin microbrewery—but would you guess that Vermont is the craft beer capital of the United States? Vermont is home to 11.5 breweries per capita – that’s a lot of beer for the Green Mountain State. Vermont also ranked second overall in economic impact.

Vermont Business Magazine Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) took to the House floor today to call for an end to the 25-day partial government shutdown and share the stories of affected Vermonters ranging from furloughed federal employees struggling to pay their bills to those unable to access to critical government services.

“It’s somebody who has a microbrewery and can’t get the FDA inspection, it’s the construction company that can’t get the sign-off on a permit, it’s a home closing that can’t occur because the paperwork can’t be signed. And this is costing our economy about $1 billion a week. We must make off-limits the tactic of shutting down government in order to get our way. As vigorous as we argue our point of view, we should not cause collateral damage to others to get our way.”

Vermont Business Magazine Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel brewed up $5,557 for the Vermont Foodbank and JCEO Plattsburgh Foodshelf through some clever fundraising events this holiday season. For the second year in a row, Lenny’s teamed up with Darn Tough Vermont to create a limited-edition sock. The Lenny’s Shoe and Apparel Darn Tough 802 Sasquatch Sock was released exclusively at Lenny’s in October and sold out by mid-December. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets is taking applications for the 2019 Vermont Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. This funding opportunity will provide awards for projects that strengthen Vermont specialty crop industries. Awarded projects will enhance the competitiveness of Vermont specialty crops defined as: fruits and tree nuts; vegetables; culinary herbs, spices, medicinal plants; nursery, floriculture, horticulture, Christmas trees; honey, hops, maple syrup; and mushrooms.

by Robert Zulkoski, ​Social Entrepreneur Hay fields grow constantly. They sprout in the spring, shoot up and bloom in the summer, are harvested in the fall (at a minimum), and gather strength in winter to do it all over again come spring. It takes a lot to kill hay. Fire might, but only if it gets to the roots. Extended drought could, but one good downpour and it will pop back. Even too much fertilizer may burn it, but it will still come back, because it is always adapting and growing.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Legislature this session will weigh-in on a scathing series of articles last fall that described the Vermont National Guard as a frat house full of womanizing and over-flowing with beer. The Guard bristles at that portrayal and has called the reporting in some respects false and reckless.

by John McClaughry Two years ago the legislature created a six-member commission to assess the fifty years of experience with Vermont’s Land Use Control Act and “assess, to the extent feasible, the positive and negative outcomes of Act 250’s implementation from 1970 to 2017.” The commission was charged with developing legislation for consideration in 2019.

Here’s a bit of background on the enactment of Act 250. Disclosure: I am probably the only member of the 1970 legislature still active in our state’s public life. I was active in the debate then and afterwards, offered the only successful floor amendment, and cheerfully voted yes on passage.

In 1969, practically everybody shared Governor Deane Davis’s alarm at the threat of developers launching huge projects – notably in Wilmington and Dover – that would completely overrun the capacities of local governments to deal with water, sewer, town roads, traffic, police and fire protection, and schools.

Vermont Business Magazine On Friday, February 8, Bromley Mountain ski resort will hold their 17th Annual “Mom’s Day Off” fundraiser. Moms ski or ride for just $25 when they show the ticket seller a snapshot of their kid or kids. Once again, this year’s event will benefit women’s breast cancer care at the Southwestern Vermont Regional Cancer Center in Bennington, part of Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC). The Cancer Center will receive the entire $25 lift ticket cost as a donation.

Photo courtesy of Bromley

During the day, participants will be able to meet some of the physicians and staff of the Cancer Center, whether on the slopes or in the lodge. The event will feature giveaways and après-ski activities.

Vermont Business Magazine The Radiology Department at Gifford Health Care has a new and improved mobile unit to provide magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for patients in central Vermont. The MRI unit, leased from the Center for Diagnostic Imaging, brings advanced technology to Gifford and provides a more comfortable patient experience than that offered by the hospital’s previous unit. Improvements include more room—the patient opening in the MRI scanner is bigger with a diameter of 70 centimeters, up from the previous model’s 60 centimeters—to lessen potential feelings of claustrophobia.

Vermont Business Magazine Benjamin Jealous, civil and human rights leader, former NAACP president and CEO, and 2018 Maryland gubernatorial candidate, will give the keynote speech during a week of activities, speeches and events commemorating Martin Luther King during the University of Vermont’s annual MLK Week. All events except for Bassem Yousef at the Flynn Theatre are free and open to the public.

Benjamin Jealous. (Photo: Marvin Joseph, The Washington Post/Getty Images)

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University has announced that New York Times bestselling author and historian Alex Kershaw, who penned “Citizens & Soldiers: The First 200 Years of Norwich University,” will give the commencement address to the Class of 2019 in Norwich’s bicentennial year. A graduate of Oxford University, Kershaw is the author of 10 books, including the New York Times best-sellers “The Bedford Boys,” “The Longest Winter” and “Avenue of Spies,” and biographies of Jack London, Raoul Wallenberg and Robert Capa. It was recently announced that Kershaw’s book, “The Liberator,” will be made into a four-part animated WWII drama series for Netflix.