Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Rights & Democracy is announcing the endorsement of 17 candidates—from U.S. Senator to the Vermont House of Representatives—for the 2018 elections. These 17 candidates were endorsed by a vote of the Rights & Democracy (RAD) Board of Directors to show support for candidates who have championed key legislative issues such as raising the minimum wage, workers’ rights, universal health care, and racial equity, among other top concerns facing Vermont communities and families. Several of these candidates were backed by RAD in 2016 and not only won their election, but pushed hard for legislation that improves the lives of Vermonters.

Vermont Business Magazine In April 2018, the Burlington Board of School Commissioners accepted the Burlington High School (BHS) ReEnvisioning Committee’s recommendation to partially demolish, expand and renovate the current BHS facilities. Now, the Burlington School District (BSD) is inviting members of the community to tour these facilities and to experience first-hand why the ReEnvisioning Committee and the BSD are asking City Council for their support to place a bond for this work on the November 2018 ballot.

Stakeholders can visit www.bsdvt.org to sign up for the tours. Tours will be led by a student and a member of the District’s property services team, will take place on three separate dates, and are expected to last about 90 minutes:

Vermont Business Magazine Today the Vermont Public Utility Commission (“PUC”) made appointments to four of the five public seats on the Vermont System Planning Committee. The VSPC was established in 2007 to improve coordination among Vermont’s utilities in the transmission planning process, and to consider both transmission and nontransmission alternatives to meet the state’s needs. In addition to the appointments made today, membership includes all 17 electric utilities, the state’s electric energy efficiency utilities, and VELCO.

The eight new members include one primary member and an alternate representing each of the following four interests:

Vermont Business Magazine National Life Insurance Company ("National Life") on Monday announced that holders of 10.50% Surplus Notes due 2039 (the "Existing Surplus Notes") may tender Existing Surplus Notes in principal amounts equal to minimum denominations of $2,000 and integral multiples of $1,000 in excess thereof in National Life's previously announced offer to exchange (the "Exchange Offer") any and all of the Existing Surplus Notes held by Eligible Holders for National Life's 5.250% Fixed-to-Floating Rate Surplus Notes due 2068 (the "New 2068 Surplus Notes").

Vermont Business Magazine Valley Vista, the 99-bed inpatient alcohol and chemical dependency treatment program with locations in Bradford and Vergennes, is realigning its program to better meet the demand created by the ongoing opioid epidemic. In an effort to better serve the increasing needs of patients aged 16-22 years, Valley Vista is launching a Young Adult Program.

The Young Adult Program will replace the recently sunset Adolescent Treatment Program (ATP) that served a population aged 13-17 years old. The goal with this change is to help reduce wait list pressure for those seeking inpatient treatment. It will also serve a growing population in need of inpatient substance use disorder treatment, particularly opioid use disorder.

Vermont Business Magazine Champlain College Online, a leader in career-focused adult higher education, today announced the appointment of Dr. Johnna Herrick-Phelps to its academic leadership team. As assistant provost, Herrick-Phelps will lead the College’s over 60 online academic programs, including associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees; undergraduate and graduate certificates; and non-degree programs and courses.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont has one of the highest opioid use disorder rates in the nation, but also has seen one of the steepest declines in opioid-based prescriptions. A new study from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association found that the number of prescriptions for opioid-based medications among its commercially insured members in Massachusetts plummeted 51 percent between 2013 and 2017 -- the biggest drop in the nation. The results come in the wake of a groundbreaking prescription safety program launched by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts in 2012, before the opioid epidemic was widely recognized as a crisis.

by John McClaughry In his Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom (1785), Thomas Jefferson famously declared that “to compel a man to furnish contribution of money for the propagation of opinion which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” In that spirit, the US Supreme Court last month struck down “agency fees” taken by public sector unions from non-members’ paychecks. “The First Amendment,” Justice Alito wrote in the Janus v. AFSCME case, “does not permit the government to compel a person to pay for another party’s speech just because the government thinks that the speech furthers the interests of the person who does not want to pay.”

Vermont Business Magazine Fundraising efforts for this year’s LACiNg Up For Cancer walk, an event that benefits Lamoille Area Cancer Network (LACN), is at $187,029 with more expected to trickle in over the next several weeks. Kathy Demars, Event Chair, expressed her appreciation to the many teams, businesses and individuals who supported this year’s walk stating, “We live in a very generous community, a community that understands the importance of helping others."

Vermont Business Magazine The Center for Women and Enterprise (CWE) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office (SDO) have partnered to streamline the SDO certification process for women-owned businesses. This agreement applies to companies certified as Women’s Business Enterprises (WBE) by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) in the region covered by the Center for Women & Enterprise, which includes: Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and the northern CT counties of Litchfield, Hartford, Tolland, and Windham.

Currently, 275 MA-based WBE companies are WBENC certified out of 425 total WBENC certified businesses in the region.

Vermont Business Magazine As part of Vermont’s statewide public health initiative 3-4-50, Mt Ascutney Hospital and Health Center (MAHHC) is teaming up with local schools to cultivate an early interest in healthy behaviors among children and their families. MAHHC representatives are making a series of visits to area schools to encourage healthy choices, most recently at Hartland Elementary School in Hartland, Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine A talk about women’s heart health by Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s Dr Bina Ahmed, an interventional cardiologist, drew 120 people to the Taconic Hotel on Wednesday evening. During the talk, Dr Ahmed revealed differences in heart disease in men and women, including the ways it is commonly treated. She revealed three heart diagnoses that occur mostly or only in women.