Current News

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.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine An investigative piece on economic development policies conducted by Vermont Auditor Doug Hoffer calls into question the efficacy of incentives undertaken by Vermont (and indeed any state). In short, Hoffer is not sure that the money they bring in exceeds the cost of the program or whether using that same money for some other program might be better spent.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Community Foundation announced today that—in partnership with some of its fundholders—it has awarded a total of $37,720.39 in Spark! Connecting Community grants to 15 nonprofit organizations for local projects in communities across the state, including some nonprofits that serve residents in multiple counties. One of the competitive grant programs at the Community Foundation, Spark! Connecting Community puts building and nurturing community front and center.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington Telecom has maintained its high level of Customer Satisfaction, according to the results of an annual survey. Overall, 90 percent of customers are satisfied with Burlington Telecom as their internet service provider (ISP). According to the 2018 American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Telecommunications Report released in May, the average satisfaction for internet customers saw a 3 percent drop this year and, along with subscription TV, ISPs have the poorest customer satisfaction rankings among all industries tracked, including airlines and health insurance.