Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power is preparing for possible outages as a winter storm rolls toward Vermont packing a one-two punch of high winds and heavy wet snow. Forecasters have advisories for strong winds up to 55 MPH along the western slopes of the Green Mountains starting this evening followed by wet snow on the eastern side of the Green Mountains.

Vermont Business Magazine Today the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) announced it has entered into a settlement agreement with LPL Financial LLC (LPL) that requires the firm to pay the State of Vermont $499,000 and to repurchase certain securities sold to Vermonters dating back to October 2006. A $400,000 civil penalty will be deposited into the state’s General Fund with the remaining $99,000 being deposited into the department’s Investor Education Fund.

by Rick Gordon, Westminster School Board Somehow, amidst all the national news on threats to our democracy, actions in Vermont to force mergers of school districts under the guise of Act 46 seem to be going under the radar. The legislative intent of the original Act 46 was clear — the bill offered incentives for districts to “voluntarily” merge and directed a process for districts to form study committees to look at options to more effectively meet goals of equity, transparency, and efficiency.

Vermont Business Magazine Secretary of State Jim Condos and State Archivist Tanya Marshall announced today that the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office, in collaboration with the Vermont Arts Council, has been awarded a $15,000 grant to develop a statewide emergency preparedness and response network for Vermont-based performing arts and cultural heritage organizations. Funded by the Andrew W Mellon Foundation through the Performing Arts Readiness Project, the grant will be administered by the Vermont Historical Records Program of the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermonters in the market for a new appliance this holiday season have a new tool to help find the best deal; both in the store and on their energy bills. Launched this fall, the Efficiency Vermont Marketplace empowers Vermonters to research appliances in a variety of categories including electronics, heating & cooling, home and office, and laundry. The Efficiency Vermont Marketplace is a collaboration between Efficiency Vermont and Enervee, a company that provides a suite of software applications and services designed to drive more energy-smart decisions from consumers.

Vermont Business Magazine Mount Mansfield Ski Patrol, the oldest ski patrol in the United States, celebrates 84 years of service this year. Join Mount Mansfield ski patroller and historian Brian Lindner for a history lesson about the MMSP, followed by a panel discussion with former Director Bill Westermann, current member Dave Flagg who is the longest serving member at 54 years, current MMSP Director Karen Wagner, former patrolman Denny Bender and others. The history of the Mount Mansfield Ski Patrol will be discussed at the Red Bench Series at Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum on December 6.

For decades the Red Bench drew skiers together around the fireplace in the Octagon at the top of Mount Mansfield. The tradition continues today with the Red Bench Speaker's Series that focuses on topics currently relevant to skiing and snowboarding.

Vermont Business Magazine Mikaela Shiffrin skied away with her 45th World Cup victory Sunday, but the fans at Vermont’s Killington Resort were the real winners this weekend. More than 15,000 screaming fans braved mist, rain, and fog to cheer not only the Burke Mountain School graduate and best ski racer in the world to victory, but for the first time in years, three Americans who qualified for the second run, including a second Vermonter.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims last week rose again and are at a higher level than they've been for several months. For the week of November 17, 2018, there were 629 claims, 119 more than they were the previous week, but 32 fewer than they were a year ago. The holiday season typically will see wild swings in claims, as retailers in particular hire and layoff workers in spikes in November and December. Altogether 3,310 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 296 from a week ago, but 446 fewer than a year ago. For most weeks of 2017 and 2018 claims have been lower than the year before. The last spike in claims came in late June (799 claims) during the end-of-school transition. Vermont, like the nation as a whole, is locked into a historically low period of unemployment.

Vermont Business Magazine A new federal report released today finds that climate change is affecting the natural environment, agriculture, energy production and use, land and water resources, transportation, human health and welfare across the US and its territories.

Vermont Business Magazine Scheduling is complete for the Vermont Department of Health’s three upcoming PFOA blood test clinics in Bennington, but officials want the public to know that walk-ins eligible for blood testing are welcome. The final blood draw clinics of 2018 will be held at the Bennington Local Health Office located at 324 Main Street, Suite 2 in Bennington. Clinic dates are November 28 from 7 am to 3 pm, November 29 from 9 am to 6 pm, and on December 28 from 9 am to 2 pm. Walk-ins will be screened for eligibility and can have their blood drawn. Due to staffing limitations, walk-ins should anticipate longer wait times to accommodate the screening process.

In 2016, private drinking water wells in the area around the former Chemfab/Saint-Gobain facility had detections of PFOA ranging from non-detect to nearly 3,000 parts per trillion, well above Vermont’s health advisory of 20 parts per trillion.

Windham votes to close its elementary school and file litigation as the final Act 46 deadline approaches

by Olga Peters/The Commons, Brattleboro State Representative Carolyn Partridge, D-Windham, wishes she could take back her “yea” vote on Act 46. “I’m afraid that all of the information and all of the intent of this was not made really clear at the time this was going through,” she said. Partridge’s statement summarizes the frustrations for many opponents of Act 46, a 2015 law that implemented education reform in the state. Vermont schools are wrestling with keeping costs down amid shrinking school populations.

Vermont Business Magazine In front of 18,500 screaming fans, former Vermont high schooler and gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin ended up just off the podium in fourth place at the Killington Cup giant slalom, where Italy's Federica Brignone wowed the crowd with her solid skiing for the victory, followed by Norway's Ragnhild Mowinckel and Austria's Stephanie Brunner in third.