Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermonters and others who purchased tickets to a concert gone wrong will be eligible for refunds. The Office of Attorney General TJ Donovan has resolved its investigation of Shrinedom 2017, a rock festival that was supposed to take place on Saturday, September 16, 2017, in Irasburg. Seven bands were contracted to play, including local bands and national acts Vince Neil, Slaughter, Warrant, Lita Ford and Firehouse. On the day of the festival, the organizers had not sold enough tickets to pay the national bands, who did not perform.

Vermont Business Magazine It’s not every day one gets the chance to weigh in on a multi-million dollar budget. This month, the Clean Water Board is asking Vermonters to do just that. Public ideas and feedback on how to prioritize the $19 million in clean water funds will help the Clean Water Board develop the Clean Water Fund budget for 2020. The easiest way to participate in the conversation is to take the Board’s 9-question survey, available online or by mail. The board is accepting comments through July 31.

Senator Patrick Leahy: An indictment charging 12 Russian intelligence officers with conspiring to interfere with our presidential election is no witch hunt. I agree with Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein that as Americans we must stand together against any and all foreign interference in our democracy.

Vermont Business Magazine Ten families from New York to California have been selected as finalists in GMP’s Rutland Innovation Home Contest – and one will win a cutting-edge, super-efficient home in the next several weeks. The finalists, selected from more than 160 applicants, participated in interviews this week with a selection committee that included political, business and community leaders from Rutland. Applicants wrote a 500-word essay explaining why they want to live in the GMP Rutland Innovation Home and what the individual or family would bring to community life in Rutland.

“To say we were impressed with the finalists would be a huge understatement,” said Mayor Dave Allaire, who serves on the committee. “They include people with deep ties to and profound feelings for Rutland, and hard-working couples and families who have demonstrated tremendous commitments to building community and becoming integral to the ongoing revitalization of Rutland.”

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont is in the middle of the pack and South Dakota is the best state in which to retire, according to a new Bankrate.com report. Utah, Idaho, New Hampshire and Florida comprise the rest of the top five. Vermont was ranked 26th-best state (tied with Wisconsin). The study examined 7 categories: cost of living, taxes, health care quality, weather, crime, cultural vitality and well-being. Vermont did well in cultural vitality (#1), health care quality (#2), well-being (#2) and crime (#3). However, it was dragged down by bottom-10 rankings in cost of living (#41), weather (#44) and taxes (#47).

The study examined seven categories (weightings in parentheses): cost of living (20%), taxes (20%), health care quality (15%), weather (15%), crime (10%), cultural vitality (10%) and well-being (10%).

Vermont Business Magazine Bethel, Vermont-based advanced manufacturing company GW Plastics has announced the recent promotions of three executive team members. Cathy Tempesta has been promoted to Vice President of Human Resources. Tempesta joined GW Plastics 15 years ago as the Director of Human Resources, and in her new role as Vice President, she will work to bring best practices to all of GW Plastics’ worldwide operations, including workforce training and career development, employee engagement, and retention.

Vermont State Police Alfred Wolfsohn was pronounced dead Thursday afternoon at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Wolfsohn, 88 of Stamford, CT, died as a result of internal injuries sustained during a head-on crash. State Troopers from the Westminster Barracks responded to a two vehicle, serious injury crash on VT Route 9, west of Auger Hole Road, in the town of Marlboro Thursday morning.

Initial investigation into the crash determined that vehicle #1 (Wolfsohn) was traveling west at an undetermined rate of speed. For an undetermined reason, vehicle #1 traveled across the center line and struck a VT AOT dump truck head-on as it was parked in the brake down lane facing east.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan gathered at the Newport waterfront with Governor Phil Scott, Auditor Doug Hoffer, Newport Mayor Paul Monette, and others involved in economic development in the Northeast Kingdom to announce a settlement in the State’s EB-5 enforcement action. The State of Vermont today filed a motion with the Washington Superior Court seeking approval of the settlement reached with Ariel Quiros. A separate settlement was reached with William Stenger. The settlements resolve the State’s enforcement actions in connection with EB-5 projects. Funds from the settlements, totaling $2.1 million, will be designated for economic development in the Northeast Kingdom.

Vermont Business Magazine The heat wave is over, the numbers are in, and Green Mountain Power’s innovative network of Tesla Powerwall batteries in customers’ homes, and larger community storage with solar installations, helped GMP cut carbon and costs for customers. GMP leveraged stored energy to accomplish the equivalent of taking 5,000 homes off the grid, creating savings for customers that could reach $500,000.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) will host a live streamed town hall Monday in Washington at 7 pm to address the enormous disparity between the wealth of corporate executives and the wages and treatment of the companies’ workers. Sanders will be joined by workers from Amazon, Disney, McDonald’s, American Airlines and Walmart, and he has invited the CEO of each company to attend.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Medical Center nurses went on strike this morning at 7 am. This is the first nurses' strike in the hospital's history. The 1,800 nurses will strike for 48 hours and then go back to work without a contract pending further action. Nurses are scheduled to strike during what would be their usual shifts.

Vermont Business Magazine The Burlington Department of Public Works announced Wednesday night that 3 million gallons of wastewater and stormwater was discharged into Lake Champlain on Tuesday. The DPW said the cause of the system failure was due to an electric storm which caused a computer failure late Tuesday.

Robert Goulding, DPW Public Information Manager said in a statement Monday afternoon: "Sample results came back this morning and bacteria levels are all well below EPA limits. Due to state requirements, we will keep caution signs at Blanchard Beach, Blodgett Access Area, Perkins Pier and the Coast Guard boat launch until early tomorrow morning. However, the results are normal and all city beaches remain open."