Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Manufacturing Solutions, Inc (MSI), a full-scale contract manufacturing, logistics, and commercial properties leasing company based in Morrisville, recently partnered with Community College of Vermont (CCV) in offering a Certified Production Technician (CPT) training course for interested employees. CPT certification is an industry-recognized credential that sets manufacturing employees apart in their profession. A certification demonstrates that one has the background knowledge and practical skills required for success in many of today’s manufacturing positions. A CPT designation often results in promotions, increased job stability, and improved long-term earning power for the individual, while also providing a more stable, technically-capable, productive, and engaged workforce for the company.

Vermont Business Magazine The Richards Group has reached an agreement to acquire Centurion Insurance Group in West Lebanon, NH, from Mascoma Bank. The transaction will be completed in April of 2018. The Centurion office will remain at its current location while The Richards Group’s Norwich branch office, which has served Upper Valley clients for the past 10 years, will consolidate operations into Centurion’s office space.

“We feel fortunate that the leadership of Mascoma Bank decided The Richards Group was the best fit to serve the needs of their insurance clients going forward,” said Drew Richards, Vice President of The Richards Group. “We’re thrilled to be part of the vibrant community in Hanover and to deepen the commitment we’ve made to the Upper Valley over the past decade.”

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott has sent a letter to Vermont businesses and local economic development leaders encouraging them to write to the US Trade Representative to ask the Trump Administration to renew America’s commitment to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Representatives from the United States, Mexico and Canada gathered in Montreal last Tuesday for the sixth and penultimate round of NAFTA talks, which, according to NBC, are supposed to conclude by the end of March to avoid a clash with Mexico's general elections.

“Vermonters enjoy a close and critical relationship with our Canadian neighbors. In fact, the province of Quebec is Vermont's largest trading partner with $5 billion in trade annually. That's why my Administration has made strengthening our relationship with Canada an important economic priority, and we're already seeing results,” Scott wrote in the letter.

Vermont Business Magazine CCV United Faculty opened negotiations with the Community College of Vermont Administration for their first contract on Wednesday after organizing more than 500 faculty into their union. Members of the CCV United Faculty Bargaining Committee met at the Vermont Statehouse before the first meeting with the Administration to share their goals for their contract and for advocacy this year in the Legislature.

by John Brumsted, MD, UVMHN During Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign for president, a sign in the campaign headquarters famously read: "Change vs. more of the same. The economy, stupid. Don't forget health care.” This was the central theme of the campaign and the sign was meant to keep everyone focused on the issues and themes that mattered most to Americans.

Vermont Business Magazine Farmers and agricultural leaders from New Hampshire and Vermont gathered on January 17th to review their goals and commitment to environmental sustainability as part of the annual meeting of the Connecticut River Watershed Farmers’ Alliance (CRWFA) “We reviewed our successes, discussed challenges and shared ideas to preserve the quality of our watershed,” Paul Doton, CRWFA board chair and dairy farmer of Doton Farms, said.

Vermont Business Magazine For the 14th year in a row, Norwich University has earned a $20,000 grant from the Olmsted Foundation to support the Peace and War Center’s Overseas Cultural Immersion Trip to Israel for students to study the Israeli-Palestinian conflict firsthand. The grant allows seven Norwich students who are on a commissioning track as active duty officers in the United States military to travel abroad to speak to the people and visit the places in person who comprise a relevant international conflict, free of any charge to the student.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine There’s little questions that farmers, especially dairy farmers, in the Northeastern part of Vermont have been painted as the “bad guy” regarding phosphorus pollution in Lake Carmi, Lake Champlain and many points in-between. Governor Phil Scott has tried to both mollify some of the hysteria involving farmer responsibility while also trying to find a solution to what is a clear problem fouling the state’s waterways.

Vermont Business Magazine Fat Toad Farm in Brookfield has received a 2018 Good Food Award for their Original Goat’s Milk Caramel Sauce! The nation’s leading food producers, grocers, chefs, journalists and activists united in San Francisco on Friday, January 19th to honor the 199 Good Food Award winners. An annual awards ceremony now in its eighth year, the Good Food Awards recognizes American food and drink craters who demonstrate a commitment to creating tasty, authentic and responsibly made products and in doing so, better the nation’s food system. The 2018 winners are not only commended for their creativity but also for their sustainable production methods that showcase the highest social and environmental standards. These producers protect the land, continue to push the bounds of their craft, and respect their peers, all the while redefining the breadth of the American table.

Vermont Business Magazine Ariel Quiros is no longer the owner of Jay Peak Resort and all told is liable for nearly $82.5 million resulting from the EB-5 fraud on immigrant investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that the Miami-based businessman behind an alleged scheme involving investments in the Vermont-based ski resort has agreed to pay back more than $81 million of investor money that he used illegally. According to an SEC complaint filed in 2016 in federal court in Miami, Quiros allegedly misused more than $50 million in investor funds to purchase a different ski resort and to fund personal expenses such as income taxes and two luxury New York City condominium purchases. Investors were told their money would specifically be used for construction projects at the Jay Peak Resort and a nearby proposed biomedical research facility.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims rose modestly for the first time since December. For the week of January 27, 2018, there were 589 claims, 78 more than than they were the previous week and 14 more than they were a year ago. Altogether 6,200 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 103 from a week ago, and 548 fewer than a year ago. For most weeks of 2017, including the last several months, claims have registered below the year before.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott issued the following statement late last night regarding, what he called, attempts by legislators to deny Vermont’s demographic crisis. The last two calendar years have shown a net gain in the Labor Force after a steep decline from 2009. Vermont suffered a delayed reaction to the Great Recession of 2008-2009. For 61 consecutive months, from December 2011 to January 2016, Vermont did not gain a single worker. In its worst year since the recession, 2012, Vermont's Labor Force lost 3,950 workers. The last two years have been a rollercoaster, but there has been a net gain in both: 2016, 950 workers; 2017, 650.