Current News

Vermont Business Magazine This month, as student athletes and their coaches prepare for the fall season, Gifford Health Care and Randolph Union High School (RUHS) make official an agreement to provide athletic training in the coming year for all high school and Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA)-required middle school sports. Per the agreement, a Gifford athletic trainer will cover RUHS home games and events and provide training room hours for athletes.

Vermont Business Magazine Castleton University Associate Professor of Biology and Biology Program Coordinator, Dr Preston P Garcia, has secured a competitive research grant through the National Science Foundation (NSF) which will fund his research until 2021. The grant entitled "RUI: Collaborative Research: Understanding the role of a modified phosphotransferase system and a unique two-component signal transduction system in regulating gene expression," is under the direction of Dr Garcia at Castleton, in collaboration with Dr Catalina Arango Pinedo at St Joseph's University in Philadelphia. They will study genetic processes of bacteria that are important in agriculture.

Vermont Business Magazine CAQH CORE in a nationwide report has announced that state agencies and health plans covering 44 percent of all Medicaid enrollees have achieved some level of CORE Certification. This compares to 78 percent for commercial health plans and 75 percent for Medicare Advantage plans. Medicaid agencies and health plans can save more than $4.8 billion annually by fully adopting CAQH CORE Operating Rules for electronic transactions as verified by certification. Vermont alone could save $18.4 million, according to the nonprofit CAQH CORE.

Vermont Business Magazine “Best Place to Work”, “Best Physical Therapy”, and “Best Doctor” were the three categories for which Townshend's Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital took home top honors in the 2018 Brattleboro Reformer Readers Choice Awards. All winners were recognized in the July 21^stedition of the Windham County publication. This is the second consecutive year that Grace Cottage received the “Best Place to Work” and “Best Physical Therapy” awards. The “Best Doctor” award this year was shared in a three-way tie between Grace Cottage primary care physician Dr. Maurice Geurts, and Dr. Denise Paasche and Dr. Tom Evans of Brattleboro.

Director of Rehabilitation Services Crystal Mansfield said the physical therapy award was well-deserved by her staff and that if there was an award for occupational therapy, she’s confident her team would have won that, too.

Vermont Business Magazine Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett visited Louisiana today to announce that USDA is investing more than $124 million to help rebuild and improve rural water infrastructure in 23 states. Coventry Fire District No. 1 is receiving a $298,000 loan and a $992,000 grant to upgrade their water system. The project includes replacing deteriorated water lines and an arsenic, iron and manganese removal system. The improvements will address health and safety issues and put the system in compliance with the Vermont Water Supply Rule. The system serves 60 customers. The State Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund is providing $40,000 in additional funding.

Vermont Business Magazine The UVM Medical Center and Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals resumed contract negotiations Monday with an additional federal mediator. The two sides are also meeting Tuesday. The nurses went on a two-day strike July 12 and 13 and have been working without a contract since July 9. The union represents 1,800 nurses at the Burlington hospital.

by John McClaughry Enviros are furious at a Trump Administration rule change to freeze the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) requirement for model year 2020 passenger cars at 37 miles per gallon, instead of increasing it to the 54.5 mpg by 2025 set by the Obama administration in 2012. It would also revoke California’s power to set vehicle carbon dioxide emissions standards and mandate sales of zero-emission vehicles, which 12 other states (including Vermont in 1996) have adopted.

When the EPA released its proposed rule changes on August 2, California ‘s governor and attorney general immediately declared all-out war to defeat the changes in the courts, backed up by the attorneys general of 19 other states, including Vermont.

When Congress enacted the CAFÉ statute in 1975, it sought to push the automakers to build high-mileage vehicles to defend against serious fuel shortages and skyrocketing pump prices caused by the Arab oil embargo of 1973.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) called on the University of Vermont Medical Center Board of Trustees Monday “to take a more active role in the contract negotiations between management and the nurses’ union.” In a letter to Allie Stickney, the chair of the Board of Trustees, Sanders said, “The primary responsibility and obligation of any non-profit board is not to management, but to the organization, and that includes providing oversight and guidance on issues related to the organization’s workforce.”

Vermont Business Magazine On Friday, August 10, Co-Founders of Runamok Maple, Eric and Laura Sorkin, were joined by Governor Phil Scott and US Senator Patrick Leahy at their new facility in Fairfax. The husband and wife duo were presented with a grant certificate awarded to the town of Fairfax. Runamok Maple, which specializes in infused maple syrup, is one of the 14 northern Vermont organizations who will benefit from $2.8 million in federal grants from the Northern Border Regional Commission.

In particular, this grant will allow Runamok Maple to expand, giving them the opportunity to hire over 50 new employees. The town of Fairfax will receive $263,000 for water and wastewater infrastructure for the maple company’s new facility.

by Sarah Kaeck, Owner/founder of Bee's Wrap 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 Connecticut Governor Dannell Malloy, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, and Vermont Governor Phil Scott today issued the following statement related to ISO New England and affordable electricity. ISO-NE is charged with maintaining electric supply and reliability in New England. New England, as a region, has the highest electric rates in the nation (though not the highest electric bills, largely because of efficiency). Maine Governor Governor Paul LePage did not sign the statement.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Governor Phillip B Scott and Québec Premier Philippe Couillard signed a Joint Declaration Sunday, aiming to strengthen their long-standing cooperative ties in a variety of sectors to foster economic growth and job creation. The signing ceremony came at the conclusion of the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers conference hosted by Scott in Stowe. This Joint Declaration builds upon the Cooperative Agreement between the governments of Québec and Vermont.