Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Electric Co-op (VEC) is seeking members in several towns in and around Chittenden County to help test a cutting-edge energy management technology that’s designed to make the electric grid cleaner, cheaper, and easier to run. Under the pilot, technicians would install a device – developed by Vermont start-up Packetized Energy – on members’ water heaters that would tell the water heater to heat water when electricity is plentiful and to avoid times when it’s scarce. The technology, contained in a device a little bigger than a soda can, does not change the supply or availability of hot water to VEC members.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Foodbank and Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf (CEFS) are excited to announce the 24^th graduation ceremony for the Community Kitchen Academy (CKA) program in Burlington. Through this intensive culinary job training program, students develop and apply new skills by cooking with donated food from the community. They work closely with instructors to transform this food and create meals that are then distributed back to neighbors facing hunger, all while gaining valuable job skills.

“Each student is passionate about food and that is reflected in their cooking,” says CKA Chef Instructor Jim Logan. “I am confident they will have an impact on the community.”

Since its inception, Community Kitchen Academy at CEFS has graduated 167 students and boasts a 91% success rate, which is defined as students graduating and finding employment or going on to further educational opportunities.

Vermont Business Magazine The bitter arctic cold snap that hit this month has many Vermonters thinking about keeping their homes and businesses warm with wood and pellet stoves, but did you know that the Vermont State Archives, home to the Constitution, is also heated with wood? Last fall the Department of Buildings and General Services (BGS) replaced the aging boilers in the State Archives in Middlesex with two new automatic Froling wood pellet boilers. This heat plant will use regionally sourced pellets to provide heat to the building that houses vital records, including the State’s constitution. It is the first part of an efficiency overhaul at the archives. The new boilers will displace 180 metric tons of CO2 equivalents annually, that’s equivalent to taking 38 cars off the road! The State will also save nearly $40,000 each year by switching from oil to pellets.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University officials will celebrate on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018, at 12:45 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house, a complete renovation to one of the oldest buildings on campus, the College of Liberal Arts’ academic building, Ainsworth Hall. The public is invited to join President Richard W Schneider, along with Provost Dr Sandra Affenito and College Dean Ted Kohn, PhD, who will give remarks and invite faculty back into the building after seven-and-a-half months of construction costing $4.8 million.

Ainsworth Hall houses faculty offices and classrooms for Norwich’s Academic Achievement Center and the Peace and War Center as well as the departments of History and Political Science and Justice Studies and Sociology.

Senator Patrick Leahy Under this President, the State of our Union is suddenly tenuous, in many ways. President Trump can say he’s for uniting instead of dividing the nation. He’s said it before. But after a year of intensely divisive actions, petty insults and disgraceful race-baiting, those words ring hollow by now. Nor does doubling down on his broken promises to help struggling Americans sound as convincing as it once might have.

Vermont Business Magazine At the opening of the 2018 Legislative Session, House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) charged each committee with working on legislation within their jurisdiction that lessens Vermont’s dependence on fossil fuels and sets Vermont up for a stronger, more resilient future. She called for solutions that work for our economy, and that protect low-income and rural Vermonters. Today, the House preliminarily approved H410, The Appliance Efficiency Bill on a vote of 137-4. This bill proposes to amend current Vermont energy efficiency standards for appliances and equipment to include additional products that currently do not fall under federal energy efficiency standards.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, a nonprofit organization focused on sustainable economic development, announces the expansion of its suite of services for clients from private sector businesses in the early and growth stages of development. Services have expanded to include waste management, renewable energy, and environmental technology sectors, in addition to agriculture/food system and forest product sectors.

The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund helps Vermont companies create and retain jobs, reach new markets with their products and services, and plan for the future. Business assistance services are tailored to meet individual client needs and provide high-touch coaching and advising for business owners and their management teams to advance profitability, job creation, and sustainable business development.

Vermont Business Magazine Deb Markowitz, who led Vermont’s top environmental agency, has joined the Gund Institute for Environment at UVM as Director of Policy Outreach. Markowitz’s distinguished public service career spans nearly 20 years as Secretary of Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources (2011-2016) and Vermont Secretary of State (1999-2011). She is currently a Gund Affiliate and visiting professor at UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources (RSENR).

Former ANR Secretary Deb Markowitz, left, with current ANR Secretary Julie Moore. ANR photo.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Legislators Senator Chris Pearson (P/D-Burlington), Representative Sarah Copeland Hanzas (D-Bradford), Representative David Deen (D-Putney), and advocates from the Energy Independent Vermont Coalition today announced Vermont’s participation in the Carbon Costs Coalition. This multi-state coalition is focused on reducing carbon emissions, ensuring equity in policy proposals, developing market-based solutions, creating resilient local and regional economies, and improving public health.

Vermont Business Magazine Mobile Medical International in St Johnsbury is implementing strategic workforce development to enhance employee skills and increase productivity through a recent $43,668 matching grant awarded from the Vermont Training Program. Mobile Medical International CEO Jeffrey T. Paquet said, “Mobile Medical International Corporation is involved in a highly specialized field that requires expertise not easily found in any labor market, much less a small rural market like Vermont. Investing in the continued training of new and existing employees will ensure that the company can continue to be successful and grow in its current location.”

The Vermont Training Program (VTP) works together with their partners, employers, and training providers to train Vermont employees for the jobs of tomorrow.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermonters filed 5,233 scam reports with Attorney General TJ Donovan’s office in 2017. Most scam reports are for the IRS scam, with 1,337 reports in 2017. The IRS scam involves scammers who claim to be government officials collecting back taxes. Over the past year, scammers also tried to get money or personal information from Vermonters by posing as online tech support, credit card services, lotteries such as the Publishers Clearing House, grant disbursers for the government and even grandchildren.

Vermont Business Magazine AM Best has removed from under review with positive implications and upgraded the Financial Strength Rating to A- (Excellent) from B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating to “a-” from “bbb+” of Eastern Dentists Insurance Company (A Dental Society Risk Retention Group) (based in Burlington and regulated by Vermont's Captive Insurance Division). The outlook assigned to these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings of EDIC were placed under review in October 2017 in conjunction with the release of the updated Best’s Credit Rating Methodology (BCRM). The ratings have been removed from under review, as A.M. Best has completed its analysis of EDIC under the updated BCRM.