Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) is pleased to announce the first round of a two-round grant opportunity for Vermont produce growers. The grant opportunity, which is intended to improve on-farm produce safety, will have approximately $74,000 in funding each round. To be eligible for the grant, applicants must grow, harvest, pack, or hold "covered produce" as defined by the USFood & Drug Administration's (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule (PSR) and have average annual produce sales of greater than $25,000 over the past three years.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business MagazineThe September unemployment rate improved over August as have the major indicators. The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for September was 2.9 percent. This reflects a decline of one-tenth of one percentage point from the revised August rate (3.0 percent). The number of employed increased, the number of unemployed decreased and the Labor Force, which has been an ongoing weakness in the state economy the last few years, also increased. The year-to-year numbers were not quite as strong, as the Labor Force lost ground as the other data points improved.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan joined a coalition of 15 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief opposing the Trump Administration’s plans to ban open military service by transgender individuals. The amicus brief, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that banning transgender individuals serving in the military is unconstitutional, against the interest of national defense, and harmful to the transgender community at large. The case, Doe v. Trump, was brought by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

The brief states that approximately 150,000 veterans, active-duty service members, and members of the National Guard or Reserves identify as transgender.

Vermont Business Magazine Municipal waterline construction has begun in the Town of Bennington and the Village of North Bennington. Water service will be extended to properties with on-site wells contaminated or threatened by perfluooctanoic acid (PFOA) in the area where the State of Vermont and Saint-Gobain have settled Saint-Gobain’s liability. Saint-Gobain is also continuing an investigation of the affected properties east of Route 7 with oversight from the Agency of Natural Resources.

“The Agency is very excited to see construction beginning to extend water lines to homes impacted by PFOA contamination in Bennington and North Bennington,” Peter Walke, Deputy Secretary for the Agency of Natural Resources said. “This is an important milestone and there is more work to be done to ensure long term drinking water solutions for all impacted residents.”

Vermont Business MagazineVermont Attorney General TJ Donovan filed a motion with 19 attorneys general that compels the Federal Government to pay cost-sharing subsidy payments required by the Affordable Care Act. Millions of Americans rely on these subsidies to lower the out-of-pocket costs in their insurance plans. Last week, the Trump Administration decided to end the October subsidy payments.

Vermont Business Magazine The Personal Income tax was down a little and the Corporate Tax was down a lot as General Fund revenues collected for the month of September totaled $149.99 million, -$3.34 million below the consensus cash flow expectation adopted by the Emergency Board on July 21, 2017, according to Secretary of Administration Susanne Young. The under-performance was driven primarily by -$2.87 million less than expected collections in Personal Income Tax and -$1.92 million less than expected in Corporate Tax. All other components of the General Fund were either slightly ahead or behind target, with the Rooms & Meals Tax (+3.26%) had another good month.

Vermont Business Magazine The UVM Medical Center is pleased to announce that Isabelle Desjardins, MD, has accepted the position of Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for the University of Vermont Medical Center, effective October 1. Dr Desjardins is an attending psychiatrist and associate professor of Psychiatry at UVM’s Larner College of Medicine. Desjardins has held clinical leadership roles at the Medical Center since she arrived in Burlington in 2003. She most recently served as Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs for the Department of Psychiatry, executive medical director of the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital in Berlin, and as medical director of Inpatient Psychiatry at the UVM Medical Center.

Vermont Business Magazine Molly Dillon has been named deputy commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation’s Banking Division, Commissioner Michael S Pieciak announced today. Dillon has more than 30 years of experience in both retail and community banking and brings to the job a wealth of knowledge of current operations and senior management.

Vermont Business MagazineThe Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets is pleased to announce $1 million in funding for the Capital Equipment Assistance Program (CEAP). This financial assistance program is available to support farmers to acquire new or innovative equipment that will aid in the elimination of runoff from agricultural wastes to state waters, improve water quality, reduce odors from manure application, separate phosphorus from manure, and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

Vermont Business Magazine The Public Service Department today announced the next meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel will be held on Thursday, October 26, 2017, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM in the multipurpose room at Brattleboro Area Middle School, 109 Sunny Acres Road, Brattleboro, VT. Representatives from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and GEI Consultants will provide a presentation on Brownfields restoration and reuse.

Vermont Business MagazineGrants are now available to support projects through the South Lake Champlain Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation. The South Lake Champlain Fund supports projects focused on education and research concerning the cultural and ecological history and heritage of Southern Lake Champlain. Projects must be located on the southern portion of Lake Champlain (the area of Lake Champlain south of Crown Point in both Vermont and New York) with a preference for projects directly on the lake or in close proximity. School-based projects are encouraged.

The fund also aims to support projects that involve experts and others living in the southern Lake Champlain region. Matching funds are encouraged but not required.

Grants: $1,000-$7,500 grants to organizations for research and education concerning the southern portion of Lake Champlain.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Superior Court hassetspecific, narrow, limits on a proposed deposition of former Attorney General Sorrell and his disclosure of private emails. Sorrell had sought to block all inquiry into his private account, which he says does not contain work-related emails in any case. However,the Vermont Attorney General’s Office was successful in its fight against Energy and Environmental Institute’s (EELI) broad request for discovery into private e-mails of Vermont state employees. The Court balanced the public’s right to know and Vermonters’ right to privacy. The ruling denies EELI’s request to depose three Assistant Attorneys General about private email accounts.

SEE RULING BELOW