Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Moody’s downgrades Vermont's bond rating; Feds OK Vermont Yankee sale to NorthStar; Unemployment rate up one-tenth to 2.9 percent in September; GF tax revenues strong, Transpo and Ed can’t keep up; Keurig Dr Pepper to cut 118 Vermont jobs; Brattleboro Retreat and nurses finalize one-year contract; Superior Technical Ceramics acquired by private equity firm; EPA awards Vermont $19 million for local clean water projects; Miami firm acquires MyWebGrocer; and more...

Vermont Business Magazine A Duxbury company, Birdsbesafe LLC, has gained significant recognition from the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), a national organization in Washington, DC. The national bird conservation organization included Birdsbesafe cat collar covers in their educational listing of “Safe Solutions for Cats”. The ABC “supports simple solutions to keep pet cats and wildlife safe.” Their website link: https://abcbirds.org/catio-solutions-cats/ refers readers to the merits of Birdsbesafe collar covers as a anti-predation device, shown by scientific field study, to provide “visual cues [which] can alert wildlife to the presence of a cat and prevent harmful interactions”.

FOCUS, A Leonine Business Of the 36 states holding gubernatorial elections, 26 of the seats were held by Republicans, whereas nine were held by Democrats and one Independent. Incumbent governors were running for re-election in 19 states, composed of 13 Republicans and six Democrats. Democrats were able to capitalize on voter frustration with the Trump administration to regain gubernatorial seats in seven previously Republican-led states – Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Wisconsin. Of the five Democratic vulnerable states – Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island – Democrats were able to maintain all corner offices.

Vermont Business Magazine Washington County Superior Court has assigned a temporary receiver to take over management of three Vermont residential care homes. The temporary receiver was put in place after the Vermont Attorney General’s Office (AGO) filed an action for the appointment of a receiver with the Court on behalf of the Vermont Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living (DAIL). The residential care homes are located in South Burlington and St Albans.

Both AGO and DAIL, as well as the Vermont Long Term Care Ombudsman, have received complaints from staff, residents, and their family members over the past several months regarding the business practices of these homes. Attempts at correcting the practices through the standard regulatory process were unsuccessful.

Vermont Fish & Wildlife Hunters are gearing up for the start of Vermont’s traditionally popular 16-day rifle deer season that begins Saturday, November 10 and ends Sunday, November 25, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. A hunter may take one buck during this season with at least one antler having two or more points one inch or longer. A point must be one inch or longer from base to tip. The main beam counts as a point, regardless of length. Spike-antlered deer, mostly yearlings, are protected during this season.

“There are more deer in Vermont than there have been in recent years with the greatest numbers of deer found in the southwestern and northwestern regions of the state,” said Deer Project Leader Nick Fortin.

Vermont Business Magazine Uber and Lyft drivers now have vehicle rental solutions nationwide. HyreCar Inc (Nasdaq: HYRE), the carsharing marketplace for ridesharing, has announced the company has expanded access to its proprietary platform for drivers and vehicle owners in Vermont and all 50 US states. This expansion represents an increase from the company’s previously announced availability in 34 states. The Company has added Delaware, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Maine, Idaho, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont, Montana, West Virginia and Wyoming to its carsharing marketplace platform.

“We expect this expansion to add at least 25% in incremental 2019 revenue,” said Joe Furnari, CEO of HyreCar. “Our technology driven marketplace allows us to expand into these states overnight. By leveraging the current staff and technology already in place, each new state becomes directly accretive to our bottom line.”

Vermont Business Magazine Dartmouth-Hitchcock (D-H) is one of six US health care systems sharing a $9 million grant for new research into improving cancer care. The National Cancer Institute, in association with the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot Initiative, recently announced the funding of the collaboration, the SIMPRO Research Center. SIMPRO is a consortium of six US health care systems whose goal is to integrate the use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) into the routine practice of oncology providers to improve symptom management and to decrease hospitalizations.

Leonine Public Affairs The blue wave that swept through the country was amplified in Vermont. While Senator Sanders and Congressman Welch were assured victory, Vermonters were still clearly motivated to voice their opinion of Trump’s presidency. Vermont had the highest turnout for a mid-term election in the state’s history and with no tightly contested statewide race it’s difficult to attribute the historical turnout to anything but the current national mood. Typically, in such a high turnout one would expect a fair number of unexpected outcomes to occur but that wasn’t really the case.

by Megan Sullivan, Executive Director of the Vermont Economic Progress Council (VEPC) Vermont, like all states, continuously strives to ensure that taxpayer investments are well spent. The Vermont Employment Growth Incentive, or VEGI as it is known, is no different. VEGI has been recognized by Good Jobs First as a high performing growth incentive program that also protects taxpayer dollars. A recent news report raised questions about VEGI and whether taxpayers are protected from paying incentives to a company in the program if jobs are lost. These inquiries on the use of taxpayer investments provide an opportunity to more fully illuminate the details of programs that are not in the mainstream of public consciousness.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced that Michael Riendeau, Sr of Brownington agreed to pay a $12,000 fine and perform cleanup activities after violating air pollution control and solid waste regulations by unlawfully burning and burying demolition waste on his property.

In July 2016, Mr. Riendeau received at his property in Brownington approximately six dump-truck loads of demolitionwastes and household items that originated from a nearby fire-damaged residential structure. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Riendeau conducted an open burn of the waste on his property, impacting nearby residences for over 24 hours. The fire triggered a response from the Orleans Fire Department, which devoted two hours to extinguishing the smoldering fire. After the firefighters left the scene, Mr. Riendeau buried the remains of the burn pile on his property.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy, Governor Phil Scott and local officials joined Paul Millman, president of employee-owned Chroma Technology Corp, to celebrate the completion of a $22 million expansion that will add or retain 133 jobs in Bellows Falls.

Vermont Business Magazine will present the Rising Stars, Class of 2018, at a special reception and dinner, Thursday evening, November 8, 2018, beginning at 5:30 pm. The ceremony will take place at the Trader Dukes Hotel on Williston Road in South Burlington. Over 200 were nominated for this award that seeks our future leaders and 40 Vermonters under the age of 40 were selected.

Of the 40 honorees, there are 10 men and 30 women. There are 14 from Chittenden County, 7 from Bennington County, 6 from Rutland County, 6 from Washington County, 2 from Lamoille County, 1 from Franklin County, 1 from Grand Isle County, 1 from Caledonia County, 1 from Windham County, and 1 from Orleans County. The average age of the winners is 32 years old. The oldest is 39 and the youngest is 24 years old.