Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) will host a live streamed town hall on climate change Monday in Washington at 7 pm. Sanders will be joined by 350.org founder and author Bill McKibben; actress, activist and Our Revolution board member Shailene Woodley; CNN host and author Van Jones; Congresswoman-Elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Earth Guardians Youth Director Xiuhtezcatl Martinez; Union of Concerned Scientists Director of Climate Science Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel; Dr. Camilla Bausch, President of Ecologic Institute; and Dale Ross, the Republican mayor of Georgetown, Texas.

Vermont Business Magazine Winter is here in full force and is prepared to hit us again with another storm forecasted for Saturday. Green Mountain Power crews have been out all week and so far, restored power to more than 100,000 customers. Crews are on track to finish restorations tomorrow, just as forecasters say a new storm system will hit Vermont. GMP is preparing for the possibility of new outages starting Saturday night. The storm is expected to bring wet snow, freezing rain and ice to already hard-hit areas of central and southern Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine BCTV today announced in a press release that its future and that of similar organizations around Vermont and the country is in serious jeopardy. On September 25, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued proposed rulemaking (Docket 05-311) which, if successful, could allow cable operators to reclassify certain services and charge those against the cable subscriber fees that are collected to fund public access stations in Vermont and across the country.

Vermont Business Magazine New England Federal Credit Union (NEFCU) President/CEO John J Dwyer, Jr announced Tuesday a $500,000 grant from NEFCU to Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) to address the area’s shortage of housing affordable to Vermonters with low and moderate incomes. The money will support construction and renovation costs for perpetually affordable homes in Bristol, Jericho and several other towns.

“This investment will help address the shortage of affordable housing in the area, which impacts not only our residents but also businesses and communities,” Dwyer said. “We believe that improving the affordability of homes in the counties we serve creates a cascade of benefits that help make the region more economically healthy in the long run,” he continued.

Vermont Business Magazine In order to help residents, businesses and emergency personnel cope with the aftermath of Winter Storm Bruce, Comcast is opening its 8,400 Xfinity WiFi hotspots throughout Vermont to anyone who needs them – including non- Xfinity Internet customers. The Xfinity WiFi hotspots will remain open through Sunday, December 2nd.

Vermont Business Magazine As VEC welcomed mutual aid crews from New Jersey and Pennsylvania to help with power restoration efforts, the co-op urged members who still do not have power to be prepared to be without electricity possibly into the weekend. Today, crews from Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative in New Jersey and Northwestern Rural Electric Co-op in Pennsylvania arrived in Vermont to assist with restoration efforts.

“As VEC crews, along with line workers who have come to help, work hard to restore power, the safety of our members who remain without electricity is a primary concern,” said VEC Chief Operating Officer Peter Rossi. He urged people who are vulnerable and without power to call 2-1-1 or 866-866-652-4636 to ask about warming or overnight shelters. “Also, if you are in a position to do so, please check on your neighbors, the elderly and anyone else who might need help, to be sure they are okay,” he added.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont): Mr President, I hope the Saudi royal family was paying attention to yesterday’s debate in the United States Senate. The bipartisan vote on Senate Joint Resolution 54, introduced by Senators Bernie Sanders, Mike Lee, and Chris Murphy, of which I am a cosponsor, was significant for multiple reasons, but most of all for what it says about the potency of the outrage and disgust in this country and in the Congress about the conduct of Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince...

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power crews restored power to more than 90,000 customers as crews continue a days-long battle with challenging conditions including heavy wet snow and severe widespread damage in Central and Southern Vermont. Crews in the areas around Royalton, Springfield, Rutland, Wilmington and Brattleboro are still confronting multiple trees and lines down, often in off-road, back country locations.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Lisa Ventriss, President of Vermont Business Roundtable (VBR) and Jeffrey Carr, President, Economic & Policy Resources (EPR), announced the Q4 of 2018 outlook results of their joint initiative, the VBR/EPR Business Conditions Survey and Index. More than 80 percent of respondents shared negative outlooks specifically with ease of hiring for available positions; a majority of respondents expressed a neutral outlook about the state’s overall business climate; and the Finance and Insurance sector expressed the most optimism (54%), while the Education sector had the most pessimistic outlook (50%).

Vermont Business Magazine Earlier this month, the CCRPC released the results of the 2018 Chittenden County Transportation Survey. The purpose of the survey was to objectively measure public opinion regarding performance of the region's transportation system and strategies to address existing and future transportation issues. Among the findings is that people want existing roads and bridges better maintained but don't want to see new highways; interest in public transportation appears to have waned a bit; people are willing to pay more in gas taxes to get transportation upgrades they do want; and they're letting the Internet do their shopping instead of driving around as much.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) announced on Wednesday that his office will again organize six senior holiday dinners in December. The meals are an opportunity for seniors to come together, enjoy a holiday meal and hear holiday music performed by local students. There will also be brief “town meeting” updates on senior issues. The meals will be held in Barre, Bennington, Brattleboro, Burlington, Rutland and St Johnsbury.

Seating is limited and RSVPs are required. All meals start at noon except for Burlington’s dinner, which will start at 1 pm.

St. Johnsbury Senior Holiday Dinner

When: Friday, December 7 at 12:00 noon

Where: St. Johnsbury House; 1207 Main Street; St. Johnsbury

Details: RSVP by Tuesday, December 4 to Senator Sanders’ Office at 800-339-9834 (toll-free) or 802-862-0697

Burlington Senior Holiday Dinner

Vermont Business Magazine The Sanders Institute announced their inaugural conference, The Sanders Institute Gathering, late last week. Scheduled to be held in Burlington, Vermont, from Thursday, November 29th through Saturday, December 1st, 2018, the array of speakers come from both the national and international progressive community. Among the participants will be AIDS Healthcare Foundation. In late 2017, AHF launched the Healthy Housing Foundation (HHF), part of a community-based effort to address the exploding housing and homelessness crisis in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the US.