Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The 2018 DRAFT White River Tactical Basin Plan (TBP) is now available for public comment. The Plan provides an overall assessment of the health of the White River basin and defines on-going and future actions and strategies to address high-priority stressors such as encroachment, stream channel erosion, land erosion, and pathogens. The Plan presents the recommendations of State and Federal resource agencies, watershed partner organizations, planning commissions, municipalities, and individual citizens.

A series of public comment meetings will be held in October to gather feedback on the TBP presented by the VT Agency of Natural Resources in partnership with Two-Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Commission, White River Natural Resource Conservation District, White River Partnership, Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission (CVRPC) and the Rutland Regional Planning Commission.

Vermont Business Magazine People's United Financial, Inc (NASDAQ: PBCT) the holding company for Connecticut-based People's United Bank, NA, announced today that it has completed its acquisition of First Connecticut Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ: FBNK) the holding company for Farmington Bank. The 100 percent stock transaction was announced on June 19, 2018, and is valued at approximately $544 million. People's United is the largest bank in Vermont by share of deposits, according to the FDIC.

Vermont Business Magazine National Bank of Middlebury has been awarded an “Outstanding” performance evaluation for Community Reinvestment Act. The CRA categorization is an evaluation of a banking institution’s record of meeting the credit needs of its entire community including low and moderate-income neighborhoods.

Vermont Business Magazine Whether it’s a favorite swimming hole, an iconic stream running through town, or a fishing spot along the shores of Lake Champlain, thousands of people use the Winooski River Watershed’s lakes, ponds, wetlands, and streams. Every one of the watershed’s residents can also play a meaningful role protecting or cleaning up Winooski’s waterways.

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) invites residents with connections to Vermont’s waterways to attend public meetings to weigh in on water quality improvement projects and hear updates on the overall restoration plans.

Lake Champlain at the mouth of the Lamoille River. File photo.

Vermont Business Magazine The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets in September hosted a meeting with its counterparts from Pennsylvania and Vermont to discuss the challenges the dairy industry is facing across the nation and explore opportunities the states have in working cooperatively to help benefit dairy producers regionally. This meeting took place on the heels of the annual National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) conference in Hartford, CT. All commissioners of agriculture from across the nation, including the Northeast’s 10 commissioners, gathered to discuss issues of critical importance to agriculture in the United States, including the ongoing concerns for the dairy industry.

Vermont Business Magazine Every year Google recognizes 51 US businesses that exemplify using Google’s digital advertising and analytics tools for rapid growth and strong return on investment, while also creating a positive impact in their community. This year, Darn Tough Vermont received this prized recognition, published in the Google Economic Impact Report.

Darn Tough Vermont is a family-owned manufacturer of premium merino socks made with uncompromised comfort, durability and fit. Their dedication to American manufacturing and reinvestment in their local community here in Vermont can be felt statewide.

Darn Tough holds its annual sock sale in November at its manufacturing plant in Northfield. VBM photo.

Vermont Business Magazine A newly released report by the University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center that measures how well public colleges and universities are serving African American students gives high marks to The University of Vermont. The report, “Black students at public colleges and universities: A 50-state report card” by Shaun R. Harper and Isaiah Simmons, assigns each school an A-F score based on four equity indicators. The University of Vermont earned a “B” grade in the first three indicators and an “A” in the fourth. The grades resulted in a 3.25 “Equity Index” score for UVM, earning it a spot on the report’s list of 36 institutions with the highest “Equity Index” scores out of the 500 plus colleges and universities in the report.

Equity indicators:

by Rob Roper Following the Janus vs AFSCME Supreme Court decision that ruled public sector unions can no longer force non-members to pay agency fees, both the unions and Vermont’s teachers have some questions to reflect upon. The big one for teachers is, are my union dues really worth it? According to statements made to the media by VTNEA spokesperson Darren Allen, the difference between the agency fee charged to non-members by the teachers’ union ($454) and the full union dues ($629) was just $175.

Before Janus, the question potential members had to ask themselves was, if I’m going to be forced to pay $454 anyway is the extra $175 worth it to be a full voting member of the union?

Now the question is, is that worth over $600, or am I better off just pocketing all that cash?

The unions, on the other hand, have to figure out ways to refocus their priorities and create real and perceived value for potential members.

Vermont Business Magazine Global plastic and silicone injection molder and contract manufacturer GW Plastics, Inc in Bethel is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its subsidiary, GW Silicones. Founded in 2008 in GW Plastics’ Royalton, Vermont technology campus, GW Silicones has grown into a state-of-the-art operation offering highly-automated Class 8 clean-room tooling, molding, and assembly.

Vermont Business Magazine For the eighth time since 2010 Vermont is receiving a grant to assist small businesses reach global markets. A $306,420 grant was recently awarded to Vermont through the Small Business Administration's State Trade Expansion Program, a Federal-State partnership initiative to increase the number of small businesses exporting and the value of exports by the small business sector. The state of Vermont is providing $102,140 for a total of $408,560 in state exporting funds.

“The SBA has provided Vermont a grant each year because the state continues to show it is building a sustainable network for small businesses to gain access to international trade,” said Darcy Carter, SBA Vermont District Director.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims fell by over a quarter last week. For the week of September 22, 2018, there were 267 claims, 89 fewer than than they were the previous week, and 31 fewer than they were a year ago. Altogether 2,407 new and continuing claims were filed, an decrease of 54 from a week ago, and 125 fewer than a year ago. Weekly claims remain at a very low level. For most weeks of 2017 and 2018 claims have been below the year before. Vermont currently is locked into a historically low period of unemployment.

For UI claims last week by industry, Services, which typically accounts for most claims, represented 49 percent of all claims, while Manufacturing fell by more than double and accounted for 17 percent of all claims.

Vermont Business Magazine Vail Resorts, Inc (NYSE: MTN) today reported results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended July 31, 2018 and provided its outlook for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2019. Vail closed on its acquisition of Okemo in Ludlow, Vermont, on Thursday and bought Stowe Mountain Resort last year.