Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The TD Charitable Foundation, the charitable giving arm of TD Bank, announced that it has provided $800,000 in grants to 36 food banks across the bank's Maine to Florida footprint to help provide meals locally to families and individuals in need. The grants focus on food stability; healthy growth and development; and access to fresh food for underserved communities. In Vermont, $30,000 of these funds will support the work of the state’s largest hunger-relief organization, the Vermont Foodbank. The Vermont Foodbank provides nutritious food and promotes health through a network of 215 food shelves and meal sites, and directly to families and individuals at schools and hospitals.

Vermont Business Magazine Representative Peter Welch (D-VT) issued the following statement late Thursday in advance of the vote very early Friday morning on the federal budget agreement. Welch voted in favor of the compromise bill, which President Trump signed later Friday morning. The federal government briefly was shutdown overnight. Vermont senators split their vote, with Senator Patrick Leahy supporting it and Senator Bernie Sanders opposing.

Vermont Business Magazine The Agency of Natural Resources announced today that Enviro Tech of VT Septic Services, LLC of Colchester was fined $58,550 for unlawfully managing septic waste for over a decade. Many Vermonters live outside areas served by municipal sewer lines, relying instead on septic systems. Commercial waste haulers provide essential services to these Vermonters by managing septic, solid, and hazardous wastes that can be difficult and impractical for individuals to manage on their own. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) supports and regulates waste management companies to make sure they are handling and transporting waste safely. To do this, the DEC requires commercial solid waste haulers to maintain a Waste Transporter Permit and submit quarterly reports detailing the amount of septic tank waste managed.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington businessman and philanthropist Tony Pomerleau has died, his family announced Friday morning. He was 100 years old. He grew up in Newport in hard times and made himself a millionaire. He liked to say that the only thing he knew how to do was "make money." But what he did with that money endeared him with Vermonters from across the state, especially those who needed a helping hand in order to have a better life. Tony Pomerleau's hand always seemed to be there.

Vermont Business Magazine In the US, energy costs eat between 5 and 22 percent of families’ total after-tax income, with the poorest Americans, or 25 million households, paying the highest of that range. And lower energy prices don’t necessarily equate to savings. Where one lives and how much energy one uses are a big part of the equation, according to WalletHub, a national credit information firm. For instance, although electricity is relatively cheaper in Southern Louisiana, its scorching summer heat raises costs for residents compared with the temperate climate in more energy-expensive Northern California, where heating and cooling units stay idle most of the year. Vermont ranks 10th overall in energy dollars consumed, but this is not due to relatively high electricity and gasoline prices; it's because of our cold winters. Vermont ranks relatively low in total electric and gasoline consumption due to frugality and conservation, and because of the short summers.

Vermont Business Magazine Band leader, singer and award-winning songwriter Rick Norcross will kick off the first celebration of his 55th anniversary year as a professional musician with a multi-media concert at Burlington’s magnificent Willard Street Inn on Saturday evening, February 24th. Though there will be other 55th anniversary celebrations over the course of the year with his band, Rick & The All-Star Ramblers, none will be staged in a more intimate or opulent setting than the Solarium of the Willard Street Inn, Vermont’s premier Bed & Breakfast Mansion, built in 1881 in the Hill Section of Burlington by a prominent businessman and Vermont State Senator.

Vermont Business Magazine The National Endowment for the Arts announced its first round of grant funding for FY2018. Seven Vermont organizations received grants totaling $122,000. The grants were awarded to Kingdom County Productions, New England Center for Circus Arts, Marble House Project, President & Fellows of Middlebury College, Vermont College of Fine Arts, Yellow Barn, and Governors Institutes of Vermont.

Karen Mittelman, executive director of the Vermont Arts Council commented “I'm proud that Vermont received seven grants in this round of competition for scarce federal funds. It's a recognition of the diversity and richness of Vermont's arts landscape that the grants reach from small towns to galleries to college campuses, and support a wonderful variety of disciplines from literature to circus arts.”

Information on the grants to Vermont organizations is below, followed by the full press release from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) sent a letter Thursday urging President Donald Trump to fund the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) at no less than $5.1 billion in his upcoming budget.

This morning on his WDEV radio program OPEN MIKE, Mike Smith announced, with the following statement, that he will no longer do the radio show or his regular column, which ran on vtdigger.com, vermontbiz.com and in Vermont Business Magazine.

by Mike Smith This is a difficult announcement, but there’s no other way to say it, than to just say it: I am leaving WDEV and the OPEN MIKE program on February 19th. First of all this has nothing to do with the station or the change in station ownership. In fact, this station has been so supportive of everything that I have done. I will be forever grateful to Ken, Steve and everybody here at WDEV for their support and encouragement; and for giving me this wonderful opportunity over the last 2 ½ years. I have been blessed in life with this opportunity to be with you on a daily basis. Believe me when I say this: it has truly been an honor that I never take lightly.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced the successful sale by Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) of Vermont’s first Sustainability Bonds. The bond sale raised $37 million in proceeds for affordable housing, exceeding the expected amount by $2 million. The bonds will fund the “Housing for All” initiative proposed by the governor and enacted by the Vermont Legislature in 2017. Proceeds from the sale of the bonds will be awarded by the Vermont Housing Conservation Board (VHCB) to construct 550-650 homes statewide over the next two to three years. Vermont investors played a critical role in the success of the bond sale.

Vermont Business Magazine The Criminal Division of the Attorney General’s Office received the investigation regrading former VTrans Aviation Program Manager Guy Rouelle’s expenditures as a state employee for review on August 17, 2017. The allegations regarding Rouelle were possible misappropriation of state funds. Having completed the review of the matter, the Attorney General’s Office announced today that it declines to prosecute due to insufficient evidence of criminal conduct. This matter was investigated by the Vermont State Police with assistance from the Attorney General’s Office and VTrans.

The findings of the Attorney General include the following:

Guy Rouelle, May 2015. VBM photo.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced the appointment of four Vermonters to the state’s judiciary, filling existing vacancies. David A. Barra, Scot L. Kline and Megan J. Shafritz were each appointed as a judge to the Vermont Superior Court, which is the state’s trial court consisting of civil, criminal, environmental, family and probate divisions. The judiciary will make the specific court assignments once these appointees are sworn in.

The governor also announced the appointment of Alicia Sacerio Humbert as Family Division magistrate. The judiciary will assign this magistrate primarily to Caledonia, Essex, Orleans and Washington counties. The Family Division of the Superior Court has jurisdiction over all family-related legal matters, including divorce, separation, civil union dissolution and parentage. As magistrate, Humbert will preside over and make decisions in family-related proceedings.