Current News

Vermont Business Magazine NBT Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ: NBTB), with branches in northwestern Vermont, reported record net income and diluted earnings per share for both the three and six months ended June 30, 2018. Net income for the three months ended June 30, 2018 was $28.1 million, up from $26.0 million for the first quarter of 2018 and up from $21.4 million for the second quarter of 2017. Diluted earnings per share for the three months ended June 30, 2018 was $0.64, as compared with $0.59 for the prior quarter and $0.49 for the second quarter of 2017.

Net income for the six months ended June 30, 2018 was $54.1 million, up 29.9% from $41.6 million for the same period last year. Diluted earnings per share for the six months ended June 30, 2018 was $1.23, as compared with $0.95 for the same period in 2017, an increase of 29.5%.

Highlights:

Vermont Business Magazine In front of hundreds of early childhood educators at the opening of the Early Childhood Institute, Castleton University President, Dr. Karen M. Scolforo, announced the launch of the Early Childhood Lab at Castleton University. The Early Childhood Lab at Castleton University will be a childcare center that provides educational opportunities for future early childhood educators, employment for current early childhood educators, and a host of collaborative opportunities across curriculum, across campuses, and throughout the state.

Vermont Business Magazine Activists from around Vermont will join in nationwide protests against family separation outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in Williston on Saturday, July 28, 2018, 10 am, they announced in a press release Monday. The Trump administration was ordered by a federal judge in California to reunite parents and children separated under its "zero-tolerance" policy within 30 days. That deadline is Thursday, July 26. As of Friday, July 20, the Trump administration had only reunited 364 of the 2,551 children separated from their parents.

“The US government, ICE and any other agency involved must be judged as abusive parents and held accountable for traumatizing/terrorizing innocent children. Their actions are abhorrent and immoral,” said Debra Stoleroff of the Plainfield Community Resistance subgroup.

Vermont Business Magazine As part of its harm reduction approach to the treatment of opiate use, the Howard Center’s Safe Recovery program is distributing free test strips that can indicate the presence of fentanyl in illicit opiates. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 63,632 Americans died from a drug overdose in 2016. The CDC attributes the rise in overdose deaths to the increased presence of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin.

Vermont Business Magazine On July 20, 2018, the Vermont Public Utility Commission approved the award of four contracts under Vermont’s Standard Offer program. These four contracts are in addition to three contracts awarded on June 15, 2018. The seven projects range from 90 kW to 2.2 MW in a diverse range of renewable energy technologies – five solar, one food waste anaerobic digestion, and one small wind. The successful projects will result in more than 10 MW of additional renewable energy in Vermont.

The Standard Offer program uses a competitive bidding process, with price caps related to the cost of different technologies and with the lowest-priced bids accepted first.

All four contracts awarded in this round were for solar projects ranging in price from approximately 8.8 cents to 11 cents per kilowatt-hour, which ranks them among the lowest-priced solar in the state.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Mutual Insurance Group, protecting people and businesses throughout the Northeast for 190 years, has again been recognized by Ward Group as one of the Top 50 insurance companies in the United States. This represents the 10th consecutive year that Vermont Mutual has been recognized by Ward Group for their consistency, safety and superior financial performance.

Senator Patrick Leahy I am pleased to join Chairman Shelby as we prepare to debate the second set of appropriations bills to reach the Senate floor this session. This “minibus” contains four important bills for Fiscal Year 2019: the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies bill, the Financial Services and General Government bill, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies bill, and the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies bill. Each of these bills was reported by the Appropriations Committee unanimously, and each of these bills funds programs that provide important services to the American people and help invest in the future of this country – every corner of our country.

Vermont Business Magazine Nearly 900 hockey players on 63 teams from Vermont, Canada and around the United States helped raise approximately $14,000 playing in this year’s “Hockey Fights MS” tournament to benefit the Multiple Sclerosis Fund at the UVM Medical Center. It’s the 11^th year Candace Arnold, the organization’s founder and one time patient at the Medical Center, has organized a Vermont tournament. Hockey Fights MS also holds tournaments every year in Massachusetts, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

This year’s donation will bring the total raised over the years to $85,000 for Multiple Sclerosis treatment and research at the UVM Medical Center. Vermont has some of the highest rates of this disease in the United States.

Vermont Business Magazine Childhood cancer researchers often depend largely on private funding to get projects off the ground and to move novel treatment approaches to the next phase of testing, ultimately bringing better therapies and cures to the forefront for kids with cancer. In its newest round of grants, the St.

VPR and Vermont PBS What do Vermonters think about the coming election? What are the key issues on their minds? Vermont Public Radio and Vermont PBS have released the full results of a joint statewide poll that measures Vermonters’ opinions the candidates and issues. On the political side, perhaps the most compelling result of the poll is the low rating for members of both parties in the Legislature or the lack of name recognition among challengers. On the non-political side, perhaps it's "The Economy" being the biggest problem facing the state, far exceeding issues like taxes, health care and guns and despite Vermont having one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) has awarded Rutland Economic Development Corporation (REDC) a subgrant of $131,206 to develop a Health and Education Center that will house the Rutland County Parent-Child Center (RCPCC). The RCPCC currently operates from multiple locations but will have a single base once the project is complete.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Attorney General’s Office is issuing this advisory to provide guidance and clarity to individuals and businesses about the scope of the law regarding the sale and gifting of marijuana. Act 86 does not legalize the sale of marijuana. Any transfer of marijuana for money, barter, or other legal consideration remains illegal under Vermont law. This includes a commercial transaction (ie, an exchange of goods or services for money) with a purported “gift” of marijuana. Examples include: selling an item or service, like a bracelet or t-shirt with the “gift” of marijuana. Charging someone for the purported “delivery” of a marijuana “gift” would also be considered a sale.