Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Slamming the proposal as “bumper sticker budgeting,” Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) Tuesday focused on a provision in the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill that would provide $1.6 billion from American taxpayers for President Trump’s border wall with Mexico.

Vermont Business Magazine Longtime Municipal Manager Frank Heald has announced his plans to step down from his position after more than 15 years piloting the Town & Village of Ludlow. Heald’s plans were announced after the Select Board, Village Trustees and Water Commission meeting in November.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont has the second highest incidence of children with parents who are or were incarcerated, according to the The Annie E Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT Data Center. While the state is slightly below the national average (7 percent), most of its peer-group states had lower rates than Vermont's 6 percent, including New Hampshire (5 percent), Massachusetts (5 percent) and New York (4 percent). Close to 6 million kids in America have experienced losing a parent to prison or jail at some point in their lives — and this number is growing.

Nationwide, this population has increased by 636,000 children since 2011–2012.

At the state level: 30 states and the District of Columbia reported an uptick in the number of kids with a parent incarcerated between 2011–2012 and 2015–2016.

Vermont Business MagazineGreen Mountain Power announced this week that its energy transformation work with customers in 2017 have reduced carbon consumption by over 116,000 metric tons — the equivalent of taking almost 1,000 gasoline-powered cars off the road.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJDonovan announced today that his office has reached asettlementwith Dean Corren in a campaign finance enforcement action arising out of Corren’s 2014 campaign for lieutenant governor. The parties filed a stipulation of dismissal with the Superior Court today. By the terms of the settlement, Corren will pay $255 to a Vermont charitable organization. Trial had been set for December 7, 2017, in Vermont Superior Court in Washington County.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health, in partnership with the Agencies of Education and Natural Resources, is launching a pilot project designed to encourage schools to test drinking water for lead at each tap used for drinking or cooking, and take actions to lower lead levels. Sixteen schools that get their drinking water from municipal water systems were invited to take part in this voluntary effort, and all agreed to participate. Over the next few months, Health Department and Department of Environmental Conservation staff will visit each school and work with its facility team to inventory and test taps used for drinking and cooking. Water samples will be sent to the Health Department Laboratory for testing, at no cost to the school.

Vermont Business Magazine The Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA) is proud to announce the recipient of the 2017 CDFA Lifetime Achievement Award. This year’s recipient is Jo Bradley, Chief Executive Officer at the Vermont Economic Development Authority. She was presented the award during a special ceremony at the 2017 National Development Finance Summit in Atlanta, GA, on November 16.

Vermont Business Magazine On Thursday, November 16th, representatives from NewEngland Federal Credit Union (NEFCU) presented a symbolic “big check”for $20,000 to Burlington’s Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS). Onhand at COTS to make the surprise presentation were NEFCU’s SeniorVice President and CFO Susan Leonard, Senior Marketing Executive CindyMorgan, Mortgage ManagerGreg Hahr, Sales Manager Pat Weaver, andSecondary Market Analyst Abbie Jefferis.

COTS Executive Director Rita Markley, who accepted the donation, said,“New England Federal Credit Union’s support makes it possible for COTSto provide families and individuals facing the crisis of homelessnessthis winter with shelter, services, housing, and homelessnessprevention. We are extremely grateful for NEFCU’s longtime, ongoingcommitment.”

Vermont Business Magazine Compassion & Choices is praising the Vermont Medical Society for dropping its 14-year opposition to doctors writing prescriptions for terminally ill adults who requestmedication to end unbearable suffering and die peacefully. The society posted a resolution recognizing medical aid in dying as a legal option that could be made within the doctor-patient relationship at its annual meeting earlier this month, 4-1/2 years after the state authorized medical aid in dying inMay 2013by passing thePatient Choice at End of Life Act (Act 39).

by John McClaughry Here’s an interesting insight into the arcane world of global renewable energy politics, based on the October 30 column inForbesby widely-read energy blogger Rod Adams.Last week the annual “Conference of Parties” (COP23), the consultative body for the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change, convened in Bonn, Germany. For the past eight years a business-oriented Sustainable Innovation Forum (SIF) has been held alongside the COP, cosponsored by the U.S.-led advocacy group Climate Action and the UN Environment Program (UNEP).

This year the Forum accepted the World Nuclear Association as a Gold Sponsor. But then UNEP demanded that the Forum reject any participation by the nuclear trade association. Its spokesman said “we prioritise the renewables revolution, such as wind and solar energy…Our work on the nuclear sector is limited.”

It’s limited all right – to zero.

Vermont Business Magazine Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) on Monday itemized what he called several key victories in the face of White House headwinds for programs that support Lake Champlain, conservation initiatives, and historic downtowns across Vermont. The programs were funded through the Appropriations Committee bill on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, for Fiscal Year 2018, which was released on Monday afternoon. The bill will now be negotiated to reconcile differences between the Senate and House bills prior to being considered by the full Senate.

Vermont Business Magazine The US Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $4,395,000 in Lake Champlain restoration funding to help address outbreaks of harmful algal blooms and the spread of invasive species in Lake Champlain. The vast majority of funding will go to the Lake Champlain Basin Program, which includes Vermont, New York and Quebec. Vermont itself will also get $525,978; New York will get $365,000. With a record-setting heat wave hitting the region in September, cyanobacteria blooms arose along many shoreline locations and public beaches in Lake Champlain and surrounding waterbodies. Cyanobacteria are a concern because they sometimes release toxins that can make people and pets sick.