Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Sanjay Sharma, dean of the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business, has been named the 2018 Fetner Sustainable Enterprise Fellow. The prestigious research fellowship is made annually to a leading international scholar in sustainable enterprise. The fellowship program is a joint initiative of the Sustainable Enterprise Partnership of the Syracuse University Whitman School of Management, Syracuse University’s L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Sciences, the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and the Syracuse University Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems.

Fetner Fellows participate in a three-day residency, delivering a series of research lectures to faculty and graduate students at the Whitman School, L.C. Smith College and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims increased last week largely because of manufacturing claims. For the week of September 1, 2018, there were 334 claims, 61 more than than they were the previous week, and 24 more than they were a year ago. Weekly claims still remain at a very low level. Altogether 3,021 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 191 from a week ago, and 317 fewer than a year ago. For most weeks of 2017 and 2018 claims have been below the year before. Vermont is currently in a historically low period of unemployment.

Senator Patrick Leahy In the last few months, the Senate has achieved record progress in processing appropriations bills. As we return from the Labor Day weekend, the Senate has already passed 9 of the 12 Appropriations bills by overwhelming margins and the Appropriations Committee has reported the remaining 3 bills with bipartisan support. The end of the fiscal year is only few short weeks away, but, because of the record pace of our work, there is no reason that we cannot conference all of these bills with the House, and send all nine to the President’s desk before October 1. That would be quite an accomplishment.

Vermont Business Magazine As part of its renewed focus on place-based investments, the Vermont Community Foundation announces a major equity investment in the Putnam Project development in Bennington. The Foundation has reached terms with the Bennington Redevelopment Group to purchase $500,000 in preferred equity in the Putnam Project, a major revitalization program for downtown Bennington.

“We are thrilled to announce this major equity investment in the Putnam Project,” said Vermont Community Foundation President and CEO Dan Smith. “This is not an investment in a building, or even an investment in a project—it’s an investment in Bennington.”

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Public Radio has launched JOLTED, a five-part podcast about a school shooting that didn’t happen, the line between thought and crime, and a Republican governor in a rural state who changed his mind about gun laws. In February of this year, Vermont law enforcement discovered an 18-year-old from Poultney had purchased a gun and documented his plans to commit a mass shooting at his former high school in the town of Fair Haven — bringing the threat of a school shooting closer to Vermonters than it ever had come before. The case against this young man motivated Vermont’s Republican governor, Phil Scott, to make a stunning reversal on gun control policy, and it catapulted Vermont into a debate about the line between thought and crime.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) has announced a distribution to members of $1.5 million in patronage capital funds, the largest capital distribution in the co-op’s 80 year history. This will be the sixth consecutive year that VEC members have received a patronage capital distribution. As all electric co-ops do, VEC allocates any money that’s left over after paying its operating expenses to its members. This “patronage capital” is kept in is kept in reserve and used to help the co-op secure good borrowing rates and invest in infrastructure, that allows the co-op to provide safe, reliable power to its members and maintain stability over time.

Vermont Business Magazine Grassroots Solar, Inc of Dorset, VT, has donated more than 220 solar panels—an array capable of providing 46 kW—to their solar project in Puerto Rico. The donation of the panels, given by Green Street Power Partners in Massachusetts, was facilitated by Bill Laberge of Grassroots Solar. Grassroots Solar has been working to bring power to homeowners in Puerto Rico following the devastation of Hurricane Maria in September 2017.

Vermont Business Magazine LineSync Architecture in Wilmington, Vermont, has recently undergone a rigorous assessment to earn B Corporation certification for the second year. B Corps form a global community of leaders that use business as a force for good. 2,500 B Corps now exist, spread over 50 countries. B Corps are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability to balance profit and purpose.

LineSync photo of Joseph Cincotta and Julie Lineberger, center, with their team.

Vermont Business Magazine An $11.7 million Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant renewal to the Vermont Center on Behavior and Health (VCBH) at the University of Vermont will support another five years of research on addressing and better understanding the unhealthy behaviors that negatively impact health. Those behaviors also cost the US healthcare system billions of dollars. The funding comes from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Vermont Business Magazine Berkshire Bank, with branches in southern Vermont, is partnering with GreenPath Financial Wellness to offer its employees, customers and communities with practical resources and tools to improve their financial well-being. The goal of the new partnership is to enhance Berkshire’s ongoing commitment to helping individuals realize their financial goals. Funding for the new collaboration was made possible, in part, by a contribution from Berkshire Bank Foundation.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Interfaith Power and Light (VTIPL) has announced that matching grants for renewable energy projects are now available through the Katy Gerke Memorial Program (KGMP) to Christian churches in Vermont and the following twelve (12) Upper Connecticut River Valley towns in New Hampshire: Bath, Charleston, Claremont, Cornish, Hanover, Haverhill, Lebanon, Lyme, New London, Oxford, Piermont and Plainfield.

Vermont Business Magazine Get your taste buds and fully loaded credit card ready. On Wednesday WhistlePig Rye Whiskey, based in Shoreham, announced the release of The Boss Hog V: The Spirit of Mauve, the fifth edition of their most profound whiskey. As the biggest and best expression of WhistlePig, The Boss Hog is only produced when the brand feels they can create something superior to anything they have previously made. This marque fulfills the five promises WhistlePig makes to each edition of The Boss Hog: single barrel, bottled at barrel proof, powerfully complex, distinctly unique from anything they have done before, and stupendous. The Boss Hog V targets the senses with a unique balance between sweet and spiced flavors and a fine balance between American power and French sophistication. Proof 115.8. Suggested retail price $499.99.