Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Grossman School of Business today announced the launch of its new 15-credit Certificate of Graduate Study in Sustainable Enterprise and its Leading Sustainable Innovation Professional Certificate Program, both accepting enrollments for January 2019.

Vermont Business Magazine On Tuesday, August 21^st, the Burlington Board of School Commissioners passed a resolution asking City Council to place a $70 million bond question on the November ballot. The School board passed the resolution by a margin of 9-1.

Vermont Business Magazine Strolling of the Heifers’ successful farm & food business accelerator, Windham Grows, is in full swing with its third cohort. The current group of entrepreneurs, who started the program in July, are from all over the Northeast. In its first eighteen months, Windham Grows mentored thirteen Windham County businesses. The combined scale of the program’s first phase equates to the 13th largest employer in the county with 150 employees, over $500,000 in outside investments, and 30 new jobs to the region.

“Windham Grows is excited to continue growing conscious food and agriculture businesses by providing them with state of the art tools, resources, and mentorship needed to evolve businesses to the next level by helping them create positive change in their community, and revolutionize the future of food” said Orly Munzing, Executive Director of Strolling of the Heifers.

Vermont Business Magazine On Primary Day last Tuesday, Republicans in Chittenden County added a third name to the two listed on their ballot for State Senate. Former Essex Junction State Representative Paul Dame's name was placed into nomination after receiving the required number of write-in votes across the county. Former representative Dame will now join fellow Republicans Alex Farrell and Dana Maxfield on the ballot in November in an attempt to break up the 6-person Senate District (the largest such legislative district in the country) currently held entirely by Democrats.

Senator Patrick Leahy There have been a number of headline-grabbing days during the first 18 months of the Trump administration. Yesterday will likely rank among the most extraordinary. And among the most troubling. The President of the United States was effectively identified by his longtime lawyer and confidant as an unindicted co-conspirator in their efforts to commit criminal campaign finance violations. If true, then-candidate Trump arranged payments to two women he had affairs with in violation of federal law in order to keep those affairs hidden from the American people at a most critical time, days before the election.

Vermont Business Magazine The Board of Directors of the Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) announced today that Rebecca Towne will be joining the co-op as chief executive officer. Towne has almost 18 years of utility experience in Vermont, serving 14 years in various roles at Green Mountain Power and the last 3 ½ years as vice president of organizational strategy at Vermont Gas Systems.

Towne, who currently lives in Essex, will start at Johnson-based VEC on October 8. She takes over from Christine Hallquist, who stepped down in February to run for governor. She will be the Democratic candidate against Republican Governor Phil Scott in November.

Rebecca Towne. VEC photo.

by Jack Hoffman, Public Assets Institute It should be clear by now that Washington is committed to a lopsided economy that keeps concentrating money in the hands of fewer and fewer people. But in some state capitals, including Montpelier, elected officials are beginning to recognize that smarter tax policies are aimed at helping working families.

Senator Patrick Leahy We are now less than two weeks away from Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Two weeks away and the Committee has received only six percent of his total White House records according to the National Archives. And not a single one of the records we have received has been provided by the National Archives. That is because the Archives will not complete its review of the limited-number of records requested by Chairman Grassley until October — a month after the Majority Leader intends to hold a final vote on Judge Kavanaugh.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington Electric Department has been selected as a finalist for the prestigious 2018 CHARGE Award for the ‘Green’ category. The CHARGE Awards are given to the world’s best energy brands, and the winners will be announced at the 2018 CHARGE Energy Branding Conference in Iceland in September.

With rapid changes in the energy sector, the energy brands that thrive in the future will be the ones that can quickly and effectively adapt, and that convey their approach through exceptional branding. The annual CHARGE Energy Branding conference, to be held September 24-25, has announced the finalists for this year‘s CHARGE Awards. The five categories are Established, Challenger, Green, Transmission, and Product & Innovation.

Vermont Business Magazine The Senate Committee on Committees has appointed Kellie B Campbell of Georgia to serve on the Vermont Commission on Women. Campbell is an Associate Director in Information Technology (IT) for Saint Michael’s College, and directs hybrid and online programs for the Accelerated Summer College.

Vermont Business Magazine Horsepower Technologies Inc, a Massachusetts-based healthcare and technology company dedicated to combating equine lameness, has contracted Mack Molding to manufacture its groundbreaking product, FastTrack, the first rehabilitative orthotic device for horses. Last month, Horsepower commercially launched FastTrack, which is designed to significantly reduce both rehabilitation time and incidence of re-injury following tendon and ligament trauma.

Vermont Business Magazine Today Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos announced the official results of the Vermont Primary Elections held on Tuesday, August 14. Vote totals and winners for all statewide offices were certified today by Secretary Condos and a designee from each of Vermont’s three major parties. Vote totals and winners for County office, State Senate, and State Representative were canvassed at the town and county level.

Official election results for the August 14^th Primary Election can be viewed online at the Secretary of State’s website.