Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Landowners who have agricultural land and/or farm buildings enrolled in the Current Use program face an important deadline on November 1, 2018. Landowners currently enrolled must certify that their agricultural land and farm buildings continue to meet the requirements for the Current Use program. Landowners who are unsure whether or not they need to file the agriculture certificate, may look up their SPAN using the online search found here.

The Vermont Department of Taxes has mailed a form to each enrolled landowner at the address it has on file. A landowner must complete, sign, mail or hand deliver the form to the Tax Department by November 1. Failure to certify by the deadline will result in the removal of agricultural land and enrolled farm buildings form the Current Use program.

Vermont Business Magazine Join the TechJam experts for “Anatomy of a Data Breach,” a Vermont Tech Jam panel moderated by Attorney General T.J. Donovan on Friday, October 19 at 10:15 a.m. (doors open at 10 a.m.). If your company has been compromised by a spear phishing attack, or by ransomware, what do you do next? In this workshop, organized by Vermont’s Office of the Attorney General, experts go step-by-step through a data breach scenario at a mid-size Vermont company and explain how to respond.

Panelists will be:

Vermont Business Magazine FirstLight, a leading provider of fiber-optic data, Internet, data center, cloud and voice services to enterprise and carrier customers throughout the Northeast, has announced that the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region has selected FirstLight for high speed Internet, data and voice services. These new services, offered by FirstLight, will not only support the Ronald McDonald House staff but also supports the 25 families who reside at the Ronald McDonald House in Albany, New York.

Vermont Business Magazine Union Bankshares, Inc (NASDAQ - UNB) today announced results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and declared a regular quarterly cash dividend. Consolidated net income for the three months ended September 30, 2018 was $2.3 million, or $0.52 per share, compared to $2.4 million, or $0.53 per share, for the same period in 2017 and $7.5 million, or $1.68 per share, for the nine months ended September 30, 2018, compared to $6.5 million, or $1.46 per share for the same period in 2017.

Vermont Business Magazine With a few short weeks left before Election Day, Burlington School District (BSD) is hosting a “BHS Envisioning Town Hall” on October 23rd, from 7-8:30 PM in the Burlington High School Cafeteria (BHS). The event will feature a presentation of the District’s $70 million plan to upgrade the aging and failing facility, which will be followed by a question and answer session with staff and project architects. The District also plans to show a new 3D model of the plan for the first time at the event.

“As I have said through this process, we are committed to providing as much information as we can to the community so that they can make an educated decision on voting day,” Superintendent Yaw Obeng said. “We want to make sure stakeholders have the answers to any and all questions regarding this project, and I am looking forward to this opportunity to connect with our community.”

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont.) and eight other Democratic senators Wednesday wrote to President Donald Trump and to the Trump Organization seeking a full accounting of any financial ties between the Trump Organization and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The senators’ letters follow the disappearance and reported killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a resident of the United States and Washington Post journalist, whose whereabouts have been unknown since he entered a Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2nd.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, RuralEdge, a rural regional housing non-profit organization, announced the appointment of Frances Pheeny as Executive Director. Pheeny comes to RuralEdge from Franklin County Regional Housing & Redevelopment Agency, in rural western MA, where she most recently served as the Executive Director. As head of RuralEdge (RE), Pheeny will oversee 600 housing units scattered across the 2,000 square miles of three counties comprising the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Target is nearly here, for the first time in Vermont. The new store at the University Mall in South Burlington, when it opens in full October 21, will complete the circuit for the Minneapolis-based retailer, which will now be in every state. And everyone in the Burlington area couldn’t be happier. Target held a VIG opening Tuesday evening, with a soft opening today. Customers are called guests. There were snacks for the VIGs. TV crews prowled the sparkling new store, interviewing customers, employees and managers.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Health Network Home Health & Hospice (formerly VNA of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties) has been named a 2018 HomeCare Elite agency, a designation awarded to the top-performing home health agencies in the United States. This year, 8,898 home health agencies were considered, resulting in Elite recognition for 2,223.

In partnership with Decision Health, ABILITY Network’s HomeCare Elite ranking program performs a comprehensive analysis of all home health care agencies in the country evaluating their overall performance to identify the top 25 percent of all Medicare-certified home health agencies in the United States.

Vermont Business Magazine In response to consumer concerns after published reports of fraudulent organic grain imports flooding the American market, The Cornucopia Institute, an organic industry watchdog, has released a web-based Buyer's Guide that identifies brands of organic dairy products, eggs, and poultry derived from animals that are exclusively fed US-grown grains.

Vermont Business Magazine Jasmine Bigelow, Executive Director of the Mad River Valley Chamber of Commerce, has announced the launch of a new “Community Conversation Series.” “A groundswell of positive energy is spreading across the Valley,” noted Bigelow. “The goal of our new series is to inform and enlighten, share progress and optimism, and invigorate discussions around economic vitality in the Mad River Valley.”

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan is warning Vermonters about a spike in scams by fraudsters pretending to be utilities. The Attorney General issued a “Scam Alert” and joins Vermont power companies in warning Vermonters about the scam. These scammers call residents and businesses demanding immediate payment for electricity with a credit card, pre-paid card, or money order. Utilities reported a sharp increase in complaints from consumers this week. In response, the Attorney General issued a “Scam Alert” to over 4,000 Vermonters to warn them of this fraudulent activity.

“Our team is working with local utilities to raise awareness and stop these scams,” said Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan. “If any Vermonter is not sure about who is on the other end of the phone, you should not make a payment. Hang up and call the AG’s office or your local utility.”

Vermont utilities also issued statements warning consumers: