Current News

Vermont Business Magazine This morning AccuWeather passed on a National Weather Service Tsunami Warning that was intended by the NWS to be a test but was miscoded by the NWS as a real warning. AccuWeather stated that it has the most sophisticated system for passing on NWS tsunami warnings based on a complete computer scan of the codes used by the NWS. While the words "TEST" were in the header, the actual codes read by computers used coding for real warning, indicating it was a real warning. The warning even appeared on some cell phones in New England. A Tsunami is a seismic sea wave, typically caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption.

Vermont Business Magazine South Burlington Chief of Police Trevor Whipple has announced his plans to retire from the Police Department in January 2019. Whipple has served as Chief for 12 years and has ushered in many modern and innovative approaches to law enforcement and public engagement.

by Tom Torti, President of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce It was heartening to hear Governor Scott announce a new program to attract young people to live and work in Vermont during his January 23 budget address. Employers and business leaders across the state will tell you that strengthening Vermont’s economy depends upon reversing current demographic trends of an aging population and rapidly shrinking workforce. We must ensure that young families are able to afford living and working in our state. It is clear that the governor and his administration has made this issue a centerpiece of their agenda.

So how do we get young people to consider moving to Vermont and raising their families here? How do we keep the talented young Vermonters with the skills employers need from moving out of state and taking their potential elsewhere?

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources is promoting best environmental practices as an economic development tool. A typical tourist trip to Vermont might include hiking on the Long Trail, skiing at one of our many resorts, fishing for wild brook trout, visiting a farm, and sampling some of the finest cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. People come to Vermont because it represents a vibrant counterpoint to the narrative, so prevalent elsewhere, that agriculture and the environment cannot coexist. Here in Vermont, environmental and agricultural excellence can be mutually reinforcing.

Vermont Business Magazine Mother Nature is sending some snow our way and Vermont Gas wants to make sure customers play it safe. Forecasters are calling for as much as nine inches expected Wednesday, with heaviest accumulation between noon and 7 pm. Vermont Gas encourages the public to be careful when traveling and to take the proper safety precautions around the home. Vermont Gas has also cancelled its informational open house in Bristol. More information will be provided when a new date has been set.

Report suspected gas leak – above all, if you think you smell natural gas or propane, report it right away. Natural gas and propane have an odor similar to that of rotten eggs. If you suspect a gas leak, leave the area, call 911 and contact Vermont Gas at 1-800-639-8081 or your propane fuel supplier.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) called on Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, to investigate the role of pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors in precipitating and exacerbating the deadly opioid crisis. Sanders demanded in a letter to Alexander Monday that, for the first-time, executives of the pharmaceutical industry testify before Congress about what their companies did or did not know regarding the addictiveness of prescription opioids while they were flooding towns across the US with far more pills than they could ever need.

Vermont Business Magazine In response to growing customer demand in its global medical device and drug delivery business, Bethel, Vermont-based advanced manufacturer GW Plastics has expanded and upgraded their tooling facility in Vermont with additive manufacturing technology. The company has renovated and enhanced their state-of-the-art tooling facility in Royalton, Vermont, and purchased advanced metal 3D printing equipment to build precision mold components.

Vermont Business Magazine MSN Money recently compiled a list of what it calls the Most Admired Company in Each State. Marathon Health was named in the Most Admired Company in Vermont. Most of those included are huge names like Nike, CVS, General Electric and Berkshire Hathaway. Marathon also was named one of the Best Places to Work in Vermont by Vermont Business Magazine in 2017 and the winner of the Deane C Davis Outstanding Vermont Business of the Year Award for 2016.

Vermont Business Magazine THINKMD and Ona have announced a technical partnership focused on integrating the functionality of THINKMD’s MEDSINC frontline health worker clinical assessment platform with OpenSRP, a comprehensive open-source point of care case management platform for frontline health workers developed by Ona with the World Health Organization and a consortium of leading global technical and health research partners.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Health Network – Central Vermont Medical Center (CVMC) in Berlin, in partnership with New England Donor Services (NEDS), marks Donate Life Month in February. The observation remembers those who’ve given the gift of life through organ and tissue donation and celebrates recipients living more healthfully as a result of that choice. Ongoing awareness campaigns through CVMC continue urging Vermonters to consider becoming donors.

2017’s awareness efforts earned CVMC national recognition for promoting enrollment in state organ donor registries. CVMC was recently among a select group of hospitals earning bronze recognition for support of a campaign sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). HRSA’s Workplace Partnership for Life Hospital Campaign added more than 400,000 donor enrollments nationwide.

Leonine Public Affairs This week saw a public dispute erupt between the Phil Scott administration and Senate leadership over workforce statistics; an influx of citizens coming to the statehouse to advocate for various causes; and the beginning of the nitty gritty review of the Governor’s proposed budget for FY2019. Since the early days of the Scott administration the governor and his team have been outspoken with their “6-3-1” message, a phrase that highlights what they believe are the key problems facing the state. According to the administration the “6” refers to the number of people leaving the state’s workforce every day, the “3” is the daily reduction in the number of public school students in Vermont and the “1” represents the number of babies born every day to mothers who are addicted to opioids.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) There are more than a few problems with this. The most disturbing of which go well beyond this highly flawed and misleading memo. But in case anyone believes this memo represents a serious attempt to address serious problems within the FBI, or within our FISA surveillance authorities, I want to raise a few points to consider. For years I have been leading calls in the Senate to protect our civil liberties and reform our surveillance authorities under FISA. This memo has absolutely nothing to do with improving FISA. Nor does this partisan memo have anything to do with serious oversight of FISA authorities more broadly.