Current News

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."

Vermont Business Magazine The Burlington Electric Department (BED) today launched innovative partnerships with CarShare Vermont and Greenride Bikeshare designed to encourage the Burlington community to join the transportation revolution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through pairing of vehicle and bicycle options. Through these new partnerships, BED customers who purchase an electric vehicle (EV) with a BED incentive are eligible to receive a free Greenride Bikeshare membership.

Vermont Business Magazine Northern Power Systems Corp (TSX:NPS), a next generation renewable energy technology company, today announced that all nominees listed in the Information Circular and Proxy Statement of Northern Power, dated June 5, 2018, for the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held June 27, 2018 in Barre, VT, were elected as directors of Northern Power.

Vermont Business Magazine TPW Real Estate Managing Broker, Alison Cummings, has been awarded the Realtor of the Year for the South Central VT Board of Realtors.

Alison Cummings is the Managing Broker for TPW Real Estate’s Stratton office and is the 2018 President of the Vermont Association of Realtors. Ali’s list of professional achievements and community involvement is extensive and impressive. She volunteers for the Habitat Resale store, is a Lister for the Town of Windham and the Town of Windham Zoning Administrator. She was the SCVBR President in 2016 and currently is the SCVBR Government Affairs Liaison.

Vermont Business Magazine Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), joined by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), introduced legislation today that would cut prescription drug costs for families by placing a monthly cap on their out-of-pocket drug costs. The Capping Prescription Drugs Act of 2018 comes as more than a quarter of Americans are struggling to afford their medicine.