Current News

Vermont Business Magazine On Thursday, November 30, representatives from New England Federal Credit Union (NEFCU) presented a symbolic “big check” for $20,000 to Burlington’s Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS). COTS Executive Director Rita Markley accepted the donation.

Vermont State Police Tuesday night, Dec. 4, 2018, school officials at Harwood Union High School in Duxbury notified the Vermont State Police in Middlesex of a threat that had been discovered written on a mirror in a boys bathroom at the school. Following investigation, the Vermont State Police identified Dick Peck, 51, of Moretown, a custodian at Harwood Union High School, as the source of the written threat.

Vermont Business Magazine The Center on Rural Innovation (CORI) today announced that the Black River Innovation Campus (BRIC) has received $724,000 in federal grant funds to support continued progress in building a digital economy ecosystem in Springfield. The award was first announced by the US Economic Development Administration (EDA) as part of its most recent Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) i6 Challenge competitive grant program. The BRIC award is one of only 40 awards in the country this year, and the first award in the history of the program with a rural digital economy focus.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan announced Vermont’s participation in a $6 million multistate settlement with Midland Funding LLC. As part of the settlement, Vermont will receive $67,309. Twenty-one Vermont consumers will receive some form of debt forgiveness. The settlement is between Midland and attorneys general of 38 states.

Midland is a debt buyer. After buying debt, Midland files debt collection actions against consumers for unpaid debts. The settlement concludes a multistate investigation into Midland’s deceptive practices of: (i) filing debt collection cases without the ability or intent to prove them; and (ii) signing affidavits without personal knowledge of the facts and without verifying the underlying information concerning consumers’ debts.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Public Radio has announced that journalist Mark Davis will join VPR as Assistant News Director early next month. Davis will be a leader in shaping VPR's news coverage and long-term reporting projects, helping VPR refine and strengthen our reporting In the coming year, Davis will also play a role in helping us improve how Vermont Edition, Brave Little State and the newsroom work together to cover important and pressing issues across the state.

"I have always admired Vermont Public Radio, and I have a lot of respect for the many VPR staffers I have gotten to know in my time as a reporter in this state,” Davis said. “Some of the most powerful and innovative journalism today is coming from public radio stations, and I think this is a particularly exciting time to join VPR and help produce rich storytelling and in-depth news across its many platforms."

​Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s independent newsweekly, Burlington-based Seven Days, has hired three experienced writers to join its editorial staff. They include a new Sate House reporter, an arts reporter, and one staff reporter.

First step toward requesting federal disaster declaration
Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Emergency Management (VEM) Director Erica Bornemann has requested a Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA) from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to determine if the state qualifies for a federal Public Assistance disaster declaration following a winter storm and power outages that began November 26. The request asks for assessments in Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Lamoille, Orange, Orleans, Washington, and Windham counties.

Local, state, and federal officials will begin the assessments on Thursday, December 6.

A broken pole lies across a power line from the November 2018 storm. GMP photo

Vermont Business Magazine Over the years, mechanical engineering professor Dryver Huston and his team have become adept at understanding the needs of what they’ve always thought of as their main customers -- federal agencies like the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and NASA that fund their research. “It's a bit of a mystery, but we think hard and we can often figure out what the US government wants,” Huston said.

Vermont Business Magazine The Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce (LCRCC) will once again have access to a variety of health insurance plans through the Vermont Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (VACE). BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont will provide three plans to businesses with 100 employees or fewer: the VACE Advantage 100 percent Health Savings Account, the VACE Advantage Copay, and the VACE Advantage Copay HSA.

Vermont Business Magazine On December 5, from 5-7 pm, Magic Hat is set to debut two new wine-beer hybrids and a special barrel-aged collaboration at a release party at their brewery. Throughout 2018, the brewer has been busy traveling Vermont, making “accidental friends” by meeting local growers and tippling local wines, seeking varietals that would pair perfectly with a beer base.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Peterson Quality Malt and the owners of Hotel Vermont in Burlington have purchased Nordic Farm. The historic, long-time dairy with its famous red roof stands above Route 7 just before the highway dips down into Charlotte village. The dairy farm, like many others in Vermont, financially failed last year. Until 2014 it was owned by the Hinsdale family. This new endeavor enables Monkton maltster Andrew Peterson to expand capacity and supply Vermont breweries with local malt and keep the iconic 583-acre farm in agriculture.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Student Assistance Corp and the Vermont State Colleges System were joined by state leaders in the education, business, and policymaking communities at a summit today to discuss results of a comprehensive VSAC study that looked at college retention and completion rates among Vermont’s high school class of 2012.