Current News
by tim
Vermont Business Magazine Since 1999, BEVS has had a unique and rich history caring for the companion animals of the Champlain Valley in a variety of ways. It has evolved from a part-time ER service for 12 veterinary hospitals, then grew to serve over 40 hospitals, followed by expanding hours to include nights and weekends, to today’s, 24/7 emergency facility, complete with board-certified veterinary specialists in surgery, internal medicine, and oncology among others. In fact, we are the only 24/7 veterinary emergency and specialty hospital in the state.
WHO: Burlington Emergency & Veterinary Specialists (BEVS)
WHAT: Ground-Breaking Ceremony for New State of the Art Animal Hospital
WHEN: Wednesday, May 16, 2018 @ 10:30am – 11:30am
by tim
Vermont Business Magazine In May 2017, Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) issued a goal to collect 100,000 jumps from its Jump Rope Challenge initiative in time for its 100th anniversary in June 2018. They challenged attendees at several community events, participants from community groups, and students in area schools to jump rope for 1 minute and record their jumps. Each complete revolution of the jump rope added one point to SVHC’s running total. SVHC is proud to announce that our community has achieved 100,000 jumps.
“We are so proud of our community for the enthusiasm we experienced during the Jump Rope Challenge,” said Ray E. Smith, director of Marketing and Communications, who leads outreach activities. “We are thrilled that we met this goal ahead of our June target, and would like to thank our community, schools, and MAYCA for their help and participation.”
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Vermont Business Magazine The third graduating class of Castleton University passed across the stage at its 231st Commencement ceremony on Saturday, bringing to close the 2017-18 academic year. Co-keynote speakers #1 New York Times bestselling author Chris Bohjalian and critically acclaimed journalist and novelist Stephen P Kiernan addressed the more than 3,500 guests in attendance and thousands more streaming the ceremony online. Castleton President Karen M Scolforo took the podium and welcomed everyone "home."
“The word home is often used as a descriptor of a place. But, to most of us "home" describes a feeling – a familiar embrace, a comforting smile, a feeling of belonging. At Castleton University, these tangible expressions are what we call the 'Castleton Way.' It’s why so many of our alumni, faculty, staff, and students when asked why they chose Castleton proudly declare 'it feels like home.'"
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by Senator Bernie Sanders As a longtime member and former chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, I am honored to be able to work on behalf of Vermont’s 45,000 veterans and their families, who have done so much in service to our country. That is why I am organizing a Veterans Town Hall and Resource Fair this Saturday, May 19, at Norwich University from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. We’ll hear updates from Washington and learn about veterans’ resources and projects here in Vermont. Our special guest will be Matthew Shuman, national legislative director for The American Legion.
I hope you can join us - to RSVP, please call 1-800-339-9834 or visit www.sanders.senate.gov/veteransfair.
by tim
Vermont Business Magazine Casella Waste Systems, Inc (NASDAQ:CWST), a regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company based in Rutland, announced today that it has entered into a $550 million credit facility with Bank of America, NA, as administrative agent and swing line lender, Merrill Lynch, Pierce Fener & Smith Incorporated, Citizens Bank, NA, JPMorgan Chase Bank NA and Comerica Bank as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners, and certain other agents and lenders. The credit facility provides for a term loan A facility in the amount of $350 million and a revolving credit facility in the principal amount of up to $200 million, with a $60 million sublimit for letters of credit.
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Vermont Business Magazine The union representing Community College of Vermont will hold an informational picket Tuesday in Montpelier outside the office of Vermont State College Chancellor Jeb Spaulding. CCV is part of the Vermont State Colleges system. After five months of bargaining, CCV United Faculty union and the CCV administration have reached a statutory impasse. According to a press release issued by the union, CCV administration continues to deny faculty the right to know from semester to semester if they will have work. The CCV administration has refused, the union said, to let faculty know why they no longer are offered the ability to teach, and have even offered classes to family members before existing faculty.
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by Jeff Wakefield University of Vermont Everyone knows what a business pitch competition is. But what about a “reverse pitch”? BTV Ignite – a local non-profit created to leverage Burlington’s world-class fiber optic gigabit network – just held one of those at UVM’s Larner College of Medicine on May 4. A reverse pitch turns the standard event on its head by asking entrepreneurs to do the listening, while people who could be their customers do the pitching -- by talking about the challenges they face that innovative new products could address.
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Veto looms with Special Session likely
Vermont Business Magazine The Legislature adjourned very early Sunday morning with the $5.8 billion budget passed but likely facing a veto, at this point, if some adjustment is not made. Legislative leadership has declined to set a veto session. The governor could also call a Special Session, possibly this week, under which any piece of legislation could be reviewed. State government will shut down July 1 without a budget. Late Saturday evening, Governor Phil Scott offered the following statement on the fiscal year 2019 budget passed by the state Legislature:
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Vermont Business Magazine The Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS), Vermont’s largest service provider for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, today announced receipt of a $150,000 grant from KeyBank Foundation to help them expand a project entitled Ending Family Homelessness: Helping Parents and Children by Keeping Them Home. Support from KeyBank is targeted to help reduce by 50 percent the number of families falling into homelessness for the first time in Burlington/Chittenden County – the largest population center in Vermont. This three-year goal will be achieved by combining financial assistance with customized housing retention services to households at imminent risk of homelessness, stopping evictions and foreclosures.
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Vermont Business Magazine The Flexible Capital Fund (Flex Fund) announced a $300,000 investment in Aqua ViTea, LLC, to support the continued growth of the Company’s Vermont operations today. Aqua ViTea employs 34 Vermonters, producing Kombucha, a handcrafted, tea-based, functional health beverage.
Flex Fund’s investment will support the critical purchase of a bottling line that will help Aqua ViTea expand its production capacity in Middlebury and meet the growing demand of its customers in Vermont and beyond. The Flexible Fund helps small and innovative companies, like Aqua ViTea, stay and grow in Vermont through the use of an innovative investment structure known as royalty (or revenue-share) financing.
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Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) will host a town hall at 7 pm ET tonight to examine the consequences of Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. The town hall will be live streamed on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter in partnership with The Guardian, The Intercept, NowThis, The Young Turks, Act.tv and MoveOn.org.
Sanders will be joined by regional, security and nonproliferation experts to discuss how Trump’s decision will impact U.S. foreign policy in the short term and the long term.
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by Donald L Baker, Vermont Market President, KeyBank Today consumers want to know how corporations, as a whole, are taking a stand. In fact, customers are 43 percent more likely to purchase a product from a company they know is committed to social value. The number of companies directing corporate social responsibility from the C-Suite has increased nearly 75 percent compared to five years ago. Major financial service industry leaders, like KeyBank’s Beth Mooney and BlackRock’s Larry Fink, are challenging business owners and the C-Suite to rethink their economic impact, environmental footprint and social conscience. At KeyBank, corporate social responsibility initiatives are woven into the fabric of who we are and in whom we invest.