Current News

Vermont Business Magazine In response to National School Walkout Day, set to occur at schools across the nation from 10– 0:17 am on March 14, the Burlington School District has issued the following statement: “At Burlington School District, we support this national student movement towards safe and inclusive schools. Our students are engaged in critical thinking to empower student voice. As such, we are working with the principals in each of our schools to ensure that any and all activities undertaken in our District on the 14^th will be done so in an age-appropriate manner, be student-led, and, above all, happen in a safe manner.

Vermont Business Magazine National Pollution Prevention Roundtable board member Rick Reibstein traveled from Boston to Vermont this week and visited GLOBALFOUNDRIES to recognize the company for winning the 2017 Most Valuable Pollution Prevention ( MVP2 ) award. All GF employees receiving the award work at the GF Vermont facility. They included: Dan Wildermuth, Eric Lemire, Ruma Kohli, Jonathan Grohs, Randy Austin, Jim Densmore, Christopher Magg, Dan Hill, Louis Kindt and Shaun Crawford.

GF’s winning project is “Elimination of Legacy Wet Chromium Etch Processing in Photomask Manufacturing” and is from the Mask House organization at the Essex Junction site. This project brought about significant savings and reductions and also resulted in improved operator safety and productivity.

The following results were achieved:

Vermont Business Magazine In a fierce competition against four other contenders, Norwich University emerged as the winning team in NASA's third Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge. The University of Colorado Boulder team was awarded second place. In this engineering design competition, NASA enlists university teams from across the nation to develop creative solutions to some of the agency's most relevant challenges.

In 2017, NASA called for proposals for large power systems that could be used on the surface of Mars. Because these systems need to be in place before humans ever arrive on the Red Planet, teams were required to propose robotic or autonomous solutions for deployment and sustainable operation.

Vermont Business Magazine The bipartisan Coalition of Northeastern Governors (CONEG) met in Washington, D.C. recently and unanimously elected Governor Phil Scott as chair for 2018. CONEG – which includes governors from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island – is a non-partisan association of the Northeast states, encouraging intergovernmental cooperation on issues affecting the economic, social and environmental well-being of the Northeast.

Governor Phil Scott with Governor Charlie Baker (R-MA), Governor Gina Raimondo (D-RI) and Governor Dannel Malloy (D-CT). Courtesy photo.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine While the Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec (FPAQ) is struggling with substantial levels of unsold inventory, there has been a significant increase in Quebec's imports of maple syrup, almost all from the United States, according to a report issued today by the MEI. Since the FPAQ started controlling both production and marketing, Quebec has been losing ground to its competitors. Between the start of the 2000s and today, the province has experienced the slowest growth in maple syrup production in all of North America (60%), far behind Maine (131%), New Brunswick (179%), and Vermont (254%).

Vermont Business Magazine New England’s wholesale electricity prices in 2017 were the second-lowest in 15 years, following 2016, which holds the record for the lowest average annual price since 2003, according to ISO New England Inc, the operator of the region’s bulk power system and wholesale electricity marketplace. Reduced costs are attributed to generally more mild weather, lower natural gas prices and a decline in consumer demand. While wholesale prices rise and fall, retail prices are set by regulators on a longer-term basis, so consumers will not see a drop in electric bills.

Vermont Business Magazine The state of Vermont has gained more financial assurances from the current and potential future owner of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon. In exchange, further legal action will cease. If regulators approve of the deal and the sale, it will move up the scheduled decommissioning of the site by about 40 years. Entergy Corp affiliates (NYSE: ETR) and NorthStar Group Services Inc announced May they have signed a settlement agreement and Memorandum of Understanding with state of Vermont agencies and other interested parties on terms for approval of the proposed sale this year of Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, the entity that owns the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station.

Vermont Business Magazine Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice (CVHHH) has partnered with Sugarbush Resort and Henri Borel of Chez Henri Bistrot in Warren to host the 30^th Annual Chez Henri Cup. New this year, CVHHH will be the sole beneficiary of event proceeds. Borel, who turned 91 in February, is a fixture of the Mad River Valley community. The race and raffle, which stretches over two days, starts with a cheese fondue party at the bistro on Friday evening and ends with a late-season race, raffle, and awards reception on Saturday afternoon.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont's smaller towns are more likely to have held on to a traditional town meeting and their residents tend to participate in the democratic process more often. For 30 years University of Vermont political scientist Frank Bryan and his students attended more than 1,500 Vermont town meetings, cataloging more than 230,000 individual acts of participation – commenting, voting, raising hands, by more than 60,000 citizens – documenting Vermont’s town meeting as an authentic and meaningful form of direct democracy.

When Frank Bryan retired in 2013, data collected ended, until 2018.

This year, a group of researchers and students at the University of Vermont, Castleton University and Northern Vermont University collected data from 38 town meetings across the state on March 3, 5 and 6. (Statistics in this press release are drawn from 31 of the towns.)

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Representative Bill Botzow (D-Pownal) and former Vermont Senator Kevin Mullin (R-Rutland) were recognized by the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) on February 21^st for their commitment to enacting policies aimed at growing Vermont’s economy. Vermont Secretary of Commerce and Community Development Michael Schirling presented Botzow and Mullin with the agency’s first Vermont Economic Advancement Awards during the ThinkVermont Week Legislative Luncheon in Montpelier. During the luncheon, community and economic development practitioners from Bennington County presented to a crowd of 120 lawmakers and others about how Bennington has used ACCD tools, programs and funding to spark redevelopment.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) joined Senate Democratic leaders Wednesday to announce a $1 trillion proposal to rebuild our nation’s crumbling infrastructure and create 15 million middle-class jobs. The announcement of the Democratic proposal follows the unveiling of President Donald Trump’s infrastructure plan, which would encourage states to sell our nation’s highways, bridges and other vital infrastructure to Wall Street, wealthy campaign contributors and foreign governments.

Vermont Business Magazine At a Senate Budget Committee hearing Wednesday, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), the ranking member of the committee, questioned the massive compensation packages of top defense contractor CEOs and demanded that the Pentagon end its waste and abuse of taxpayer funds following years of reports of fraud and mismanagement.

"It is essential that the Pentagon demonstrates that it is trustworthy and accountable with taxpayer dollars, and that has not been the case," Sanders said. "I don't think there's any debate among anybody here that we want to be able to defend our country, that we want to make sure that the men and women in the armed forces have all of the equipment they need to protect their lives. But I would hope that nobody here believes that just because this is the Department of Defense, we will defend an enormous amount of bureaucratic waste."