Current News

Vermont Business Magazine More than half of Vermonters own something worth tens of thousands of dollars buried in their backyard, yet most never lay eyes on it. These unseen treasures lurking just below the surface are wastewater treatment systems, commonly known as septic systems. Acknowledging that it is easy to flush it and forget it, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is kicking off Septic Smart Week September 17-23, 2018. The entire week is dedicated to uncovering the valuable role these systems play, not only for individual homeowners and business owners, but for local community swimming holes, drinking water wells, and statewide water quality.

Vermont Business Magazine All 10 Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), on Monday urged Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to postpone Thursday’s vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, to allow the FBI to investigate Christine Blasey Ford's allegations and follow up on what they describe as Kavanaugh’s false and misleading committee testimony. Ford has accused Kavanaugh of physical and sexual assault, an accusation he vehemently denies.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont State Police barracks across Vermont will begin accepting “bump-fire stocks” from the public effective immediately following passage of new firearms-related laws earlier this year. Act 94 amends Vermont state law to prohibit the possession of bump-fire stocks. Under the new law, possession of a bump-fire stock is punishable by up to one year in prison and $1,000 in fines.

State statute defines the devices as “a butt stock designed to be attached to a semiautomatic firearm and intended to increase the rate of fire achievable with the firearm to that of a fully automatic firearm by using the energy from the recoil of the firearm to generate a reciprocating action that facilitates the repeated activation of the trigger.”

The law directs the Department of Public Safety to collect bump-fire stocks from persons who want to voluntarily and anonymously relinquish bump-fire stocks.

Champlain Valley Down Syndrome Group The 9th Annual Champlain Valley Buddy Walk will take place at Burlington's Battery Park on Sunday, October 7, with on-site registration opening at noon and the walk commencing at 1 PM. More than 200 people are expected to attend the event, which is one of 250 Walks across the country this fall to raise awareness and funds for programs that benefit people with Down syndrome and their families.

Three innovative projects spanning the fields of regenerative medicine, electrophysiology, and infectious diseases were selected to receive SPARK-VT research funding following a June 22 proposal presentation meeting at which University of Vermont faculty applicants pitched ideas to a panel of consultants from the biomedical and biotech arena. The awardees include Professors Daniel Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., Jason Botten, Ph.D., and Peter Spector, M.D.

Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) released a summary compiled by the Senate Appropriations Committee Minority staff of the conference agreement for the Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies “minibus” appropriations package.

Leahy said: “This agreement invests in the American people and ensures that the government remains open into December. Just as importantly, Congress, Republicans and Democrats, rejected President Trump’s draconian budget cuts, which would have slashed programs in the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies bill by $10.7 billion.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine University of Vermont Medical Center President Eileen Whalen stated in a press release Thursday that it has offered a "last, best and final offer" to the nurses union after negotiations broke down. The union has been working without a contract since early July and went on a two-day strike in mid-July. Whalen said the hospital still would negotiate with the union as required by law but will not change its offer. The union is continuing with its "Vote of No Confidence" campaign and could still go back on strike, though it has not indicated yet it would do so.

“We have negotiated in good faith with the Vermont Federation of Nursing and Health Professionals for nearly six months," Whalen said in a statement. "Throughout the process, we have put forward proposals to increase wages and address concerns about staffing and continuing education.

The Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) approved Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 budgets for Vermont’s 14 regulated hospitals. This past March and April, the Board provided the hospitals with instructions outlining budget parameters and submission guidelines that included a target of 2.8% for growth in net patient revenue (NPR) from the FY 2018 base to FY 2019 budgets, and allowed hospitals to invest an additional 0.4% in approved health care reform activities.

by Sarah Kaeck This summer, we saw two studies about Vermont that appeared in contrast: One rated Vermont as one of the best places to live. The other paints Vermont as a hard place to find employees and run a business. As a business owner and employer, I know both are true, but I believe a crucial piece of the conversation is missing: Why is it hard to recruit employees and, once we recruit them, what structures are in place to keep them here and help them thrive?

I own Bee’s Wrap, a sustainable food storage company, in Bristol. Bee’s Wrap began in my kitchen six years ago and has grown into a thriving small business. Our growth has been organic, but substantial. We doubled our sales numbers each year until 2017, when they tripled. We invested in machinery, rented new production and administrative space, and our staff increased from two to nine to twenty-four.

Vermont Business Magazine Psychiatry professor Hugh Garavan’s federally funded research uses brain scans like the ones above to determine the impact of substance use on brain development in youth. The VACC upgrade will greatly facilitate this work.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced Thursdaythat a package of appropriations bills approved by the Senate includes $20 million in Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC) grant funding, a $5 million increase over the previous year.

The grants are part of a continuing effort, long supported by Leahy, to revitalize communities in Northern Vermont. It included an increase of $1 million, for a total $4 million, for a second year of funding to support the needs of forest based economies. These needs range from support for the wood products industry, to increased investment in outdoor recreation and regional marketing efforts for travel and tourism.

Vermont Business Magazine BURLINGTON startup Reconciled (formerly Reconciled It) has been chosen as Intuit’s 2018 US Firm of the Future. The Firm of the Future contest, now in its fourth year, searches across the globe for the most future-ready and forward-thinking accounting, bookkeeping and tax firms — those that are able to best showcase how they see the value of the cloud, use business models to better value their expertise and grow their practice with modern marketing techniques.