Current News

Leonine Public Affairs The second week of the legislative session was quiet. Aside from the Senate passing the marijuana legalization bill not much action was taken in either chamber. The legalization bill now moves to Governor Scott’s desk for his signature and he has confirmed he will sign it. When the governor signs the bill, Vermont will become the first state to legalize marijuana through legislation opposed to referendum. However, beyond marijuana legalization the committees have not yet advanced many bills to the House and Senate floors, which is typical at this early stage of the session.

by Mike Smith Two hot button issues last week highlighted questions of public confidence: a firing and a battle to lay claim to the affordability agenda. The executive editor of The Burlington Free Press, Denis Finley, was fired after posting on his personal Twitter account the following: “Awesome! That makes us one step closer to the apocalypse.” He was responding to a proposal to add a third gender option on driver’s licenses in this state. Now there are only two: male and female.

The Free Press reported that Finley was fired because he “violated the company’s social media guidelines on a number of occasions.”

Denis Finley. Twitter image.

by Randolph T Holhut/The Commons The School for International Training in Brattleboro is about to undergo a major transition. SIT still will have its headquarters in Brattleboro, but according to its president, Dr Sophia Howlett, its educational programs will expand to the more than 30 countries where SIT has learning sites. Last week, SIT issued a news release saying it would no longer offer full-time graduate programs in Brattleboro. The emphasis will be shifted to developing a new, full-time, global master’s degree program that will instead use SIT’s overseas program centers.

Vermont Business Magazine By unanimous vote, the Vermont State Colleges System Board of Trustees has elected J. Churchill Hindes as its chair. Hindes will lead the 15-member board, which provides governance and stewardship for the VSCS and its institutions—Castleton University, Community College of Vermont, Northern Vermont University and Vermont Technical College. Working with the Chancellor and college leaders, the Board focuses on fulfilling and sustaining the VSCS Mission, “For the benefit of Vermont, the Vermont State Colleges system provides affordable, high quality, student-centered, and accessible education, fully integrating professional, liberal, and career study, consistent with student aspirations and regional and state needs.”

Vermont Business Magazine Conscious consumers are demanding products and services from environmentally and socially responsible companies in all industries. Burlington-based digital marketing provider, Localvore, is expanding operations outside of Vermont to connect conscious consumers with restaurants dedicated to local sourcing. In recognition of Localvore’s growth potential to create jobs in Vermont and support the in-state supply chain, the Flexible Capital Fund announces an investment of $400,000 in royalty financing to expand Localvore’s reach into consumer conscious cities nationwide and grow the company here in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The Burlington School District is pleased to announce that both the School Board and the Burlington Education Association have signed the teachers’ contract ratified this past September. With the signing, the contract becomes legal and binding, and teachers will soon begin receiving retroactive pay for raises granted by the contract. The contract also provides teachers with health insurance savings and will help the District support students whose needs are not easily met by traditional models.

“The signing of this contract is great news for all parties,” said District Superintendent Yaw Obeng. “This means we can begin to pay teachers their raises, and can put the process behind us and learn from it.” Obeng mentioned that finalizing the contract will allow the district to focus on presenting the school board with a sustainable budget that the community can support in March.

Vermont Business Magazine At its 31st Annual Membership Meeting held at Stoweflake Mountain Resort & Spa, the Vermont Business Roundtable elected two new directors to their first three-year term: Mark Crow, Tenth Crow Creative and Don George, BCBSVT. Elected to their second three-year term were the following directors: Tom Dee, Southwestern Vermont Health Care; Mark Foley, Foley Services; Walter Frame, Trapp Family Lodge; Judy O’Connell, Champlain Investment Partners; and Mike Walsh, NFP.

By Senator Patrick Leahy Once again Congress finds itself lurching toward another manufactured made-in-Washington crisis. We are four months into a new fiscal year, and our government is still operating under last year’s fixed funding levels with little flexibility to adapt to today’s world. We have not reauthorized the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), putting the health care of 9 million children, including more than 4700 Vermont children, at risk. And 800,000 DREAMers live under a cloud of uncertainty and fear of deportation.

It was President Trump’s cruel, cynical and senseless decision, a crisis of his own making, to end the DACA program that put America’s DREAMers in an untenable situation. Their lives as productive contributors to our communities have been thrown into chaos. Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking quickly down to the artificial deadline that the President imposed on their lives.

Public Assets Institute “The vast majority of the most rigorous modern research on the impact of higher minimum wages—including robust increases to $13 or more—shows that these policies boost worker earnings with little to no adverse impact on employment.” Testimony to the Minimum Wage Study Committee from Yannet Lathrop of the National Employment Law Project on November 21, 2017. In other words, there is no credible evidence that minimum wage increases cause significant job loss.

Vermont Business Magazine Weather forecasts for Friday evening through Sunday include freezing rain, sleet, snow and wind across the state that could cause outages. Green Mountain Power has activated its workforce and brought in additional crews from around New England and Canada to ensure a strong response to whatever the storm brings.

Vermont Business Magazine As a benefit to customers all over the Northeast Region, Twinstate Technologies has partnered with FirstLight Fiber out of Albany, New York to broaden products and services. FirstLight, a leader in fiber-optic data, Internet, data center and voice services has become a tech giant throughout the Northeast for the past several years, stretching from Western New York to Vermont to Eastern Maine and as far North as Montreal to Southern New York State and New York City.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today at Burlington International Airport announced the Vermont at-par lodging promotion for passengers who travel from Toronto to Burlington aboard Toronto-based Porter Airlines. In a promotion created by the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing, more than 20 lodging properties in Burlington, the Stowe area, Smugglers' Notch and the Mad River Valley are offering Porter Airlines’ passengers lodging packages at a rate equivalent to the value of the Canadian dollar. Details and rates will vary for each participating property.