Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Saint Albans Town Educational Center hosted an event to celebrate their new 2089-panel solar array, the largest on any school in the state. The array will meet 100% of SATEC’s electricity needs, plus share extra production with the nearby Bellows Falls Academy, St Albans’ high school. Waterbury-based SunCommon is SATEC’s solar partner on the project.

The newly unified Maple Run Unified School District now includes both schools, making the shared solar array possible. The project will save the District approximately $400,000 with no initial capital cost to St. Albans taxpayers.

Vermont Business Magazine On Friday, the statewide nonprofit conservation organization, the Vermont Land Trust (VLT), will have a new president. Nick Richardson, most recently Vice President for Finance and Enterprise at VLT, will take the helm. Nick has been at VLT for more than five years and is recognized by the organization, partners and members for his creativity, hard work and passion for Vermont.

Vermont Business MagazineJoin the Vermont Woodlands Association on two Winter Tree Identification Walks this December. The first Tree ID Walk will be hosted at Merck Forest and Farmlandon Saturday, December 9^thfrom 1pm-3pm.The secondWinter Tree IdentificationWalk will be hosted at the One World Conservation Centeron Saturday, December 16^thfrom 10am-12pm.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott Wednesday afternoon announced he has decided to opt-in to the federal FirstNet plan to deliver a wireless broadband network to the state’s public safety community. The Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network is expected to provide Vermont’s first responders with access to a reliable, secure and technologically robust cellular network that is now under development.

Vermont Business Magazine As part of a continued focus on protecting Vermont’s most vulnerable, six child care and preschool programs located within 200 feet of current or former dry cleaning businesses will be evaluated in December to determine if dry cleaning chemicals are present. Chemicals associated with dry cleaning can seep into the ground if not stored or disposed of properly, and move from the ground into the air of buildings through the foundation. This testing is precautionary. No one has reported being sick.

Vermont Business Magazine In partnership with an interagency working group, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) released the draft Beneficiary Mitigation Plan (BMP) for how to spend the $18.7 million Vermont will receive as a beneficiary of an Environmental Mitigation Trust funded by the car manufacturer Volkswagen (VW). ANR is asking Vermonters to evaluate the draft plan during an extended public comment period with an eye to how to prioritize projects. ANR will also hold a public meeting to discuss the use of these funds.

In 2015, VW admitted to installing software in over 500,000 diesel passenger cars designed to cheat motor vehicle emission standards by allowing excess nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the air. Because of the large number of affected VW diesel vehicles on Vermont roads, the state is receiving a relatively significant share of the settlement between the U.S. EPA and VW.

Vermont Business Magazine Moody’s Investors Service upgraded the City of Burlington’s credit rating from A3 to A2 on Monday, November 27, 2017, before the City Council resolved the sale of Burlington Telecom. In itsCredit Report, Moody’s stated that, “The management team, in place since 2012, remains committed to improving the city's financial position.”

Vermont Business Magazine Investments in Vermont’s 529 college savings plan have reached another milestone, topping $350 million in assets, the Vermont Student Assistance Corp announced today. Vermont’s plan, the Vermont Higher Education Investment Plan, or VHEIP, turns 18 this year, the same age as students heading off to college or other educational opportunities after high school graduation.

With more than 20,000 accounts, VHEIP has paid out over $143 million to help more than 5,800 students over the years to continue their education.

Vermont Business Magazine Walmart and the Walmart Foundation recently presented a $25,000 grant to Age Well in support of its efforts to deliver more than 250,000 meals over the next year to homebound seniors and support infrastructure that will ensure greater quality and efficiencies in meal preparation and delivery for the largest Meals on Wheels provider in the state of Vermont. The grant will also provide funding to support Age Well’s new meal delivery technology, ServTracker which enables online management of delivery routes, dietary needs, volunteer schedules and much more. The grant was made available through the Walmart Foundation’s State Giving Council.

Vermont Department of Public Safety On November 28, 2017, first responders were called to Wake Robin, a retirement community located in Shelburne, to investigate a report of a possible Ricin exposure. During their initial investigation, a substance field tested positive for the toxic poison Ricin. Confirmatory testing at the Vermont Department of Health Laboratory completed early this morning was also positive for Ricin toxin.

At this time no one from the public is in danger. Symptoms of Ricin poisoning develop rapidly after exposure. No individuals have been identified as being exposed, nor are expected, based on the last possible date of exposure on Sunday, November 26. All areas potentially exposed by this substance have been evacuated and secured by law enforcement.

This incident is considered to be isolated and is currently being investigated by the FBI. No further information regarding the ongoing investigation is available at this time.

Vermont Business Magazine On the Senate floor Wednesday, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) challenged Republicans to tell him he is “wrong” – that they will not cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid if the tax bill passes and creates a $1.4 trillion deficit. Sanders predicted that in order to pay for the tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, Republicans will move swiftly to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs that working families desperately need.

The Republican budget calls for cutting nearly $500 billion from Medicare and cutting $1 trillion in Medicaid. Efforts to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicare have been a feature of House Speaker Paul Ryan’s budgets, Sanders said.

Vermont Business Magazine Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Wednesday announced a grant of more than $1.3 million for the Vermont State Police (VSP) to continue its aggressive work fighting the opioid epidemic in Vermont. This was the second-largest of only eight grants awarded nationwide through the highly competitive COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force (AHTF) grant program that Leahy created in the fiscal year 2015 Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bill.