Current News

by Ansley Bloomer,Assistant Director,Renewable Energy VermontA healthy working landscape is a crucial part of Vermont’s identity. With almost 80 percent of Vermont covered in forested land, wood markets provide a sustainable economic solution for rural Vermont communities. Stewardship of these natural resources is essential, so historically we have relied on low-grade wood markets to incentivize the tasks essential to maintaining forest health.

However, this past year we saw a significant loss of low-grade wood jobs. The overall decline is due factors such as the loss of paper mills, warmer winters uncharacteristic of Vermont, as well as lower fossil fuel prices, all of which has sent shivers through the whole low-grade wood market value chain, spanning loggers, pellet mill workers, delivery truckers, and wood boiler installers.

Vermont Business MagazinePatrick FJordan III has been named Chief Operating Officer (COO)for the Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system. Jordan, who previously served as COO for theat Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, MA, was appointed to the position by Dartmouth-Hitchcock CEO and President Dr. Joanne M. Conroy. He begins his new role at Dartmouth-Hitchcock onNovember 20.

Vermont Business Magazine Commissioner of Public Safety Thomas D Anderson and Vermont State Police Colonel Matthew Birmingham issue the following joint statement with regard to the Department of Justice’s notification to the Department of Public Safety of non-compliance with federal immigration law:

"Yesterday, the United States Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs (DOJ) notified the Department of Public Safety (DPS) that it was not in compliance with federal immigration law, specifically 8 U.S.C. § 1373. The letter also notified DPS that because of this non-compliance it risked losing its FY2016 Byrne JAG grant and that its FY2017 Byrne JAG grant request was also in jeopardy.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Attorney General TJDonovan and State Treasurer Beth Pearce are warning citizens about phone solicitations and websites that falsely claim citizens must pay a fee to locate and retrieve unclaimed property. Vermont citizens are advised to search the State’s free unclaimed property database before accepting services from other entities. In recent days, several Vermont residents have reported that for-profit enterprises have contacted them by phone, letter or email offering unclaimed property search services for an upfront fee. “Unclaimed property” describes assets like uncashed checks, lost valuables, forgotten security deposits, misplaced insurance policies, investments or estates.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Bernie Sanders: "It is disappointing, but not surprising, that the House Republicans just voted to give the Koch brothers and other billionaire campaign contributors a massive tax break. Under the House bill, the top 1 percent would get half of the tax benefits, while nearly half of middle class families would see their taxes go up. As bad as the House bill is, the Senate tax plan is even worse..."

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) will hold a student town meeting at Burlington High School to discuss the opioid crisis in Vermont and throughout the United States. The meeting will be held Friday at 1 pm. Sanders will be joined by a panel including Dr Heather Stein, associate medical director at the Community Health Centers of Burlington, and Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan. Following the panel discussion, there will be a question and answer session with the students.

Last year, more than 60,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the United States, including 112 in Vermont. Additionally, according to the Vermont Department of Health, Narcan was used on more than 2,200 Vermonters last year to reverse the effects of an overdose.

Vermont Business Magazine When Mother Nature hands out cold weather, Vermonters make snow with it, and November’s chilly temperatures coupled with the Green Mountain State’s world class snowmaking power allowed for Vermont’s resorts to open early and open strong for the 2017-18 season. Killington Resort stayed true to their legacy by being the first Eastern resort to open on November 8 and Mount Snow Resort took home a new accolade by opening on November 11 with the most open terrain East of the Rockies with 108 acres. Okemo Mountain Resort also began spinning their lifts on November 11. “This was our earliest opening in five years,” said Okemo Vice President and General Manager Bruce Schmidt. Come Thanksgiving weekend, skiers and snowboarders will have access to over half of Vermont’s mountains, with most major resorts opening by Friday, November 24.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets have announced that three Vermont dairy farms have achieved full certification in a national program aimed at ensuring food safety and responsible medication use. In June 2017, the Agency launched a funding initiative to help offset the cost of dairy farm certification in the Food Armor HACCP for Proper Drug Use program. To become Food Armor certified, Gervais Family Farm, Inc., Duhamel Farms, and Dalestead Farm and Maple, LLC., partnered with local Food Armor Accredited veterinarians to develop Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plans that meet the stringent requirements of the program. By becoming certified, these Vermont farms have gone above and beyond to show their commitment to responsible on-farm use of veterinary medications, food safety and livestock well-being.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and State Treasurer Beth Pearce today announced a new partnership and formation of a Financial Literacy Working Group to improve State agencies’ and departments’ delivery of personal finance resources to Vermonters. The Working Group, which will be led by the Treasurer’s Office and Department of Financial Regulation, is one of a series of actions to increase the financial well-being of Vermonters.

Treasurer Pearce and Governor Scott share a laugh while announcing their financial literacy program at the State House Thursday. Screen grab, click image for video.

Vermont Business Magazine You'll no longer have to worry about getting a parking ticket at a meter late at night in Burlington. In advance of a festive and busy downtown holiday season, the Burlington Department of Public Works (DPW), the Burlington Business Association (BBA) and Church Street Marketplace (CSM) have announced a series of significant parking upgrades, improvements and a holiday season promotion. Many of these upgrades and improvements were made possible by the City’s new Sustainable Infrastructure Plan, the 2015 Downtown Parking and Transportation Plan and by Mayor Miro Weinberger’s and his Administration’s focus on improving the parking experience in Burlington, including lessening the time involved in finding and paying for parking, making parking as safe as possible and raising public awareness on additional parking opportunities in light of the Burlington City Place parking structure demolition.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Killington Resort has received a positive snow control announcement from FIS (Internal Ski Federation), the governing body of the Audi FIS Ski World Cup, thus confirming the women's World Cup slalom and giant slalom events will go ahead as planned the weekend after Thanksgiving. Last year, Vermont high school grad Mikaela Shiffrin (Burke Mountain Academy) won the inaugural slalom race, which was internationally televised. Killington is the largest ski and snowboard resort in Eastern North America and part of the POWDR adventure lifestyle company.

Vermont Business Magazine On Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department notified the State of Vermont and the City of Burlington that the Department believes they have laws, policies or practices that violate 8 USC 1373, a federal statute that promotes information-sharing related to immigration enforcement. In all, the Department cited 29 jurisdictions, sometimes derided as “sanctuary cities,” that are being threatened with the withholding of funds. Specifically, the Department is questioning whether the State of Vermont and the City of Burlington comply with requirements of the fiscal years 2016 and 2017 Byrne Justice Assistance Grants (Byrne JAG). The Department is threatening to withhold Byrne JAG funds.