Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Digital advertising agencies now have access to the most scalable, AI-driven ad platform with Fluency. Founded by some of the sharpest experts in the fields of ad tech, mar tech, engineering and client relations, Fluency is a Burlington-based business-to-business (B2B) ad platform provider that brings automation and efficiency in advertising to new levels. The firm launched earlier this week.

Vermont Business Magazine At a press conference Thursday, Governor Phil Scott celebrated passage of his Working Family Taxpayer Protection Act – a state income tax reform package. He was joined by Tax Commissioner Kaj Samsom, Director and Tax Economist Doug Farnham, Research Statistician Jake Feldman and Research Economist Andrew Stein, who helped develop the proposal.

The reforms, which were proposed by the Administration and passed by the Legislature in response to changes in federal law, lowered State income tax rates for all taxpayers. In conjunction with the elimination of the income tax on social security benefits for low and middle-income Vermonters, these reforms prevented a $30 million tax increase on working families and provided tax relief for many retirees in Vermont.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for June was 2.8 percent. This reflects no change from the revised May rate. The national rate in June was 4.0 percent, which was an increase of two-tenths of one percentage point from the revised May estimate. As of the prior month’s preliminary data, the Burlington-South Burlington Metropolitan NECTA was tied for the fourth lowest unemployment rate in the country for all metropolitan areas. Overall, Vermont’s unemployment rate was 6th lowest in the nation. Hawaii was lowest (2.1 percent). New Hampshire was tied for 3rd lowest (2.7 percent) and Alaska was highest (7.1 percent).

Vermont Business Magazine College of St Joseph has announced a program that will enable students to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in just three years, joining a growing number of colleges offering the shorter path as a way to save students money, and allow them to enter the workforce sooner. CSJ’s Degree in Three accelerated track will be available to students beginning with the Fall 2018 semester.

The Degree in Three program is not considered a partial or a condensed program, it simply allows the student to gain the same degree in three years instead of four, saving students and their families one full year of tuition, room, board and fees. Students agree to meet academic and advising milestones, utilizing January Term and Summer Sessions to earn additional credits on a year-round guided pathway.

Vermont Business Magazine Union Mutual in Montpelier was recently named a Ward’s Top 50 property-casualty insurance carrier for 2018. The 28^th annual list of the Ward’s 50 recognizes insurance carriers with outstanding financial results in the areas of safety, consistency and performance over a five-year period. Carriers must possess a level of financial stability necessary to have the potential to grow while maintaining strong financial and underwriting results and are scored on the following five categories: five-year average return on equity, average assets and total revenue; five-year growth in revenue and surplus; and five-year average combined ratio.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Killington Resort, the largest mountain resort in Eastern North America, has announced registration is open for the 2018 Fox US Open of Mountain Biking on August 1-5 and spectators are invited to attend for free. The Fox US Open features a Pro/Am style format and offers the most challenging and competitive racing in the nation, setting the standard as a proving ground for up-and-coming and elite racers. Anyone can enter the Open Class and compete among the pros for the $40,000 cash purse.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Village in Barre and Runamok Maple in Cambridge are among the trendsetters at the national Summer Fancy Food Show. Over 200,000 products awaited the Specialty Food Association Trendspotter Panel at the 64th Annual Summer Fancy Food Show. Held June 30 to July 2 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City, the show encompassed six football fields worth of specialty food and beverages. Members of the panel were armed with predictions from earlier in the year as they tasted their way through the show, confirming some current, and identifying new and emerging trends.

Vermont Business Magazine Four times each year, New England Federal Credit Union (NEFCU) selects four recipient organizations at random to receive $625 each, for a total of $10,000 annually.

Vermont Business Magazine Berlin Mall, LLC, the owner of Berlin Mall is introducing The HUB at Berlin Mall — an opportunity for individuals and organizations to temporarily use up to 3,000 square feet of prime space in the Mall — rent-free. The HUB at Berlin Mall offers free, flexible space—perfect for start-ups, freelancers, artists, performers, makers, teachers…individuals or groups needing prime mall space for a wide range of purposes, including: activities, classes, events, exhibits, films, lectures, meetings, mixers, performances, shows and work. (While the space is not available to individuals or businesses for the sale of products, users can charge for services and performances.)

Vermont Business Magazine It is good to be king for a day...and that is exactly what the Vermont Lake Monsters will be on Saturday, August 4th. The New York Penn League team announced today that they will be temporarily adopting the name Vermont Maple Kings, with both logo and uniform, as the team pays homage to the Vermont maple sugaring industry. Now don't get all sappy, it is just for the game.

CHAMP will still be there, and the following game, the team will return as the Vermont Lake Monsters. But, on August 4th, the expertise and efforts of the maple industry will be front and center, as the Lake Monsters organization will put on a one-of-a-kind maple themed event at the ballpark focused around education, experience, tasty food and fun.

Vermont Business Magazine Global industrial computer manufacturer Logic Supply has introduced four new lines of IoT Edge Hardware designed for use in challenging computing environments. Edge hardware options include ultra-small form factor fanless Edge Devices, passively and actively cooled IoT Gateway systems, Deep Learning PCs with GPU configuration options, and Edge Servers. Systems can be configured with a wide range of processing, storage, memory, connectivity and expansion options, with the aim of providing IoT builders with the flexibility today's edge computing projects require.

Vermont Business Magazine University of Vermont in collaboration with the University of Maine and others will create a highly competitive University Transportation Center (UTC) called the Transportation Infrastructure Durability Center (TIDC). TIDC aims to help save taxpayer dollars by extending the life of our transportation assets, including bridges, roads and rail. The US Department of Transportation will provide as much as $14.2 million over five years for this University of Maine-led coalition, which includes UVM, University of Rhode Island, University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Western New England University.