“Captives really have a narrow perspective on the industry broadly, and reinsurers are seeing a broader view of the industry, which is critical,” said Steve McElhiney, president, EWI Re.
Current News
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Vermont Business Magazine The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $263,581 to the State of Vermont to improve air quality. Funding was provided to the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation to support air monitoring to measure the particulate matter in the air by collecting high quality data to demonstrate that the area is within the federal air quality standards for particulate matter, also known as PM 2.5.
“Elevated levels of fine particulate matter in the air can pose health concerns for the people of Vermont,” said EPA New England Regional Administrator Alexandra Dunn. “In partnership with the state, these funds are used for monitoring across the state, which helps us find out if we are meeting standards and what we can do to help us all breathe more easily.”
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Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced the appointment of 19 Vermonters to serve on his Community Violence Prevention Task Force. The Governor created the Task Force in Executive Order 03-18 as part of the Administration’s broader efforts to ensure Vermont continues to be one of the safest states in the country.
“This Task Force will undertake important and difficult work to examine how we can work together to reduce violence in our society, keep kids safe in our schools and help all feel more secure in our communities,” said Scott. “Our goal must be to find real solutions – steps that will make our schools and communities safer by addressing the underlying factors that lead to violence.”
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Vermont Business Magazine In a survey of state taxes, national personal financial adviser SmartAsset modeled income, property and estate tax payments for wealthy households to find the states where "it costs the most to be rich," and Vermont ranks in the number two spot. The rankings largely tracked the Blue State (Democratic) versus Red State (Republican) politics. It generally also followed wealthier per capita states versus poorer states on a per capita basis, with a few outliers. Vermont, for instance, is above average for income but high for taxes; Colorado is also above average in income, but lower in taxes; while Red States Nebraska and Kansas are below average in income and relatively high on the SmartAsset list.
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Vermont Business Magazine Following an investigation by the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), The Fairbank Group LLC will implement extensive corrective measures to resolve violations of the child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and ensure future compliance at its three recreational resorts. The company has also paid a $21,582 penalty.
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Vermont Business Magazine A.M. Best brought its A.M.BestTV to the DoubleTree in South Burlington last week to film episodes at the annual Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) conference. This is the largest such conference in the world and Vermont is the largest captive insurance domicile in the US and second largest globally. In the reinsurance episode, a panel of captive insurance and reinsurance experts said captives, which are typically smaller insurance organizations, look to reinsurers as much for capital as for business expertise.
The panelists discussed how reinsurance partners could provide valuable industry insight to a captive insurer.
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Vermont Business Magazine Less than 12 hours after launching the “Garlic Fest 2018 Official Event – Sept 1-2” on Facebook, the Bennington Area Chamber reports that the event had 2,100 interested people and over 190 shares. The event is now at 12,000 interested on Facebook and just shy of 1,000 shares with little under two weeks to go until the event. This only proves that the beloved “Garlicfest” of Southern Vermont still has the interest and demand that has pushed it forward over the past 23 years.
This year the Garlicfest team, a committee of the Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce, with Lindy Lynch returning to the helm for her 10th year, will introduce some new additions to the festival.
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Vermont Business Magazine David G White, CRE, President, White + Burke Real Estate Investment Advisors, Inc. has shared the 2018-19 Top Ten Issues Affecting Real Estate—the issues and trends most likely to impact commercial and residential real estate. White is a member of The Counselors of Real Estate, the global professional association which annually creates this list. Members of The Counselors organization are recognized property experts who provide specialized, objective real estate advisory services to clients.
White, a credentialed Counselor of Real Estate (CRE) since 1994, explains that the list is categorized by Current and Longer-Term issues.
Current Issues
1. Interest Rates & The Economy
2. Politics & Political Uncertainty
3. Housing Affordability
4. Generational Change/Demographics
5. E-commerce & Logistics
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Vermont Business Magazine This week, the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced a $4,628,765 grant awarded to the non-profit organization Farm Fresh RI, in partnership with NOFA-VT and other non-profits in New England states. The money will go towards expanding their work increasing access to fresh, locally grown foods across New England.
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USDA-Backed “Factory Farm” Takeover of Organic Milk Production Crushing Family-Scale Farmers and Forcing Them Out of Business
Vermont Business Magazine Kimball Brook Farm in North Ferrisburgh has received a coveted four-cow rating of organic dairy brands by The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based organic industry watchdog. “With organic stakeholders failing to pressure the USDA to enforce laws cracking down on giant factory farms with as many as 15,000 cows, mostly in the desert west, ethical producers like Kimball Brook Farm give consumers the ability to support the true heroes in this industry,” said Mark A Kastel, senior farm policy analyst for Cornucopia.
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Vermont Business Magazine To prevent flooding on nearby roads, the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department recently completed construction of 19 water control devices on beaver dams in locations throughout Vermont. Known as ‘beaver baffles’ these devices allow some water to pass through the dam without breaching the dam and destroying the wetland. The Fish & Wildlife Department expects to continue to install additional beaver baffles throughout the state this year.
The baffles are one of many techniques that department staff employ or recommend to landowners to minimize beaver damage to property or trees. Other techniques include using fences to protect culverts, or placing wire mesh or special paint around the base of trees to prevent gnawing.
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Vermont Business Magazine With nearly of 500 square miles of water in a beautiful setting, Lake Champlain is what a boater's dreams are made of. However, boat traffic can have unintended impacts on the lake. That is why the Burlington Boathouse Community Marina is Joining the effort to preserve the Lake for everyone to enjoy. Burlington Community Boathouse Marina will become the Vermont Green Business Program's newest member, after having achieved ambitious environmental standards that protect Lake Champlain.
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Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan has announced some recent actions taken by his office to protect Vermont’s environment. “Protecting Vermont’s environment is one of my top priorities as Attorney General,” said Attorney General Donovan. “Vermonters care about our environment and are worried about the threats it faces. They want and deserve clean water to drink and clean air to breathe. My team and I remain committed to working every day – here in Vermont and on the national level – to do our part to protect Vermont’s environment from harm.”
Recent actions taken by the Attorney General include: