Current News

Vermont Business Magazine On October 17, state officials announced an online tool that they say will help Vermonters weigh health insurance options and choose the health plan that best fits their medical needs and budget. The 2018 Plan Comparison Tool allows individuals and small business employees to compare at least 24 health plan options not just by monthly premiums and deductible amounts, but also by estimated total annual costs.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University has announced that US Navy Admiral (Ret) and Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University James G. Stavridis will deliver the university’s 2018 Commencement address to graduating seniors on Saturday, May 12, 2018. Stavridis is a retired United States Navy admiral and the current dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He serves as the chief international diplomacy and national security analyst for NBC News in New York. He is also chairman of the board of the U.S. Naval Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He is an associate fellow of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

Vermont Business Magazine Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc (NYSE: BHLB) has completed the acquisition of Commerce Bancshares Corp and the merger of Commerce Bank & Trust Company into Berkshire Bank, effective at the close of business on October 13, 2017. With this acquisition, Berkshire adds 16 branches in the Worcester and Boston areas and becomes the largest regional bank headquartered in Massachusetts. The merger adds approximately $1.8 billion in assets, bringing the combined assets to $11.6 billion. Berkshire Bank has several branches in southern Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The Burlington City Council will meet tonight and is scheduled to select two finalists to buy Burlington Telecom. A final decision will be made by the Council October 30. Two out-of-state bidders and one local bidder are the finalists. Last week, Mayor Miro Weinberger urged the City Council to advance to the final round the bids from Schurz Communications and Ting/Tucows. This was expected as they were the high bidders. The third bidder, Keep Burlington Telecom Local (KBTL), presented a bid that would provide less than half the cash and a high debt load. The chairman of the BT advisory council already had advised against the KBTL bid because of that.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims increased last week but remain at a very low level and fell from where they were a year ago. Claims had been falling steadily since early July. Claims also are lower than they were the same time last year, which has been the case for most weeks in 2017. For the week of October 7, 2017, there were 336 claims, 44 more than than they were last week and 112 fewer than they were a year ago.

Altogether 2,543 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 61 from a week ago, and 438 fewer than a year ago.

Vermont Business Magazine The Permanent Fund for Vermont’s Children announced the third annual Early Educator of the Year Award today at the Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children (VAEYC) Annual Conference held in Killington, VT. The award winner, Cheryl “Cookie” Danyow, of Addison, was named 2017’s Early Educator of the Year. Richmond resident Ellen Kraft was the award finalist. The Permanent Fund created the Early Educator of the Year Award to recognize and celebrate excellence in the teaching of Vermont’s young children to bring attention to the importance of high-quality care and early education.

Vermont Business Magazine A Winooski Tech Crawl event will highlight the tech businesses that have made their home in the historic Mill buildings in the greater Winooski area, representing textiles to tech transformation, on Tuesday October 17, from 4 pm to 5:30 pm, with a reception following. This free event is presented by theVermont Technology Alliance as part of Innovation Week, a celebration of the entrepreneurial and technology ecosystem in the greater Burlington area.

Vermont Business MagazineA 14-member student cast at Saint Michael’s College started work on Labor Day, which felt appropriate, for a new original play with music about the lives of 19th century girls who worked the mills of New England towns like Lowell, MA, and Winooski, VT. That rehearsal launched preparations still under way for performances on November 2, 3,4,10 & 11 at 7 pm in the McCarthy Arts Center Theater. All performances are free and open to the public.

Vermont Business Magazine On October 16, Vermont PBS proudly celebrates 50 years of serving the people of Vermont and its surrounding regions with a week of commemorative events and special programming chronicling the station’s half century mission to educate, inform, entertain and inspire.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott dedicatedthe Vermont Equality for Same-Sex Couples Historic Site Marker at the State House in Montpelieron Tuesday morning.The site marker commemorates the Vermont Supreme Court ruling and Civil Union legislation in 2000, granting legal recognition to same-sex couples for the first time anywhere in the US, and the achievement of full marriage equality through a vote of the legislature in 2009. Representative Bill Lippert and Supreme Court Justice Beth Robinson will also provide first-hand remembrances of the events.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Tourism Summit is seeking input from tourism industry professionals who did not attend the 2017 Summit in Stowe, VT. They want to know if you have attended the Summit in the past, why you chose not to attend in 2017, and how to sway you to attend in the future. In exchange for your response, you’ll have the opportunity to win a variety of great prizes, including lift tickets, spa products, wine, and more! The Vermont Tourism Summit is a great way to network with tourism industry professionals. It features two days of educational sessions, engaging panel discussions, a keynote presentation, an industry update from the Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing, social events, and fun! Please consider attending the 35^th Annual Summit in Manchester, Vermont on April 11-12, 2018. Learn more at www.vttourismsummit.org.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) issued the following statement Friday after President Donald Trumphalted cost-sharing reductions that helppay out-of-pocket health care costs of low-income people andordered potentially sweeping changes in the nation’s insurance system, including sales of cheaper policies with fewer benefits and fewer protections for consumers.

"Amazingly, we have a president who is trying to destroy the American health care system. At a time when millions of Americans remain uninsured or underinsured, President Trump’s decision to sabotage the Affordable Care Act will substantially raise health care costs for the American people and lead to lower quality coverage. Trump’s action is clear proof that he was never interested in improving health care. His only goal has been to destroy the Affordable Care Act.