Current News

Vermont Business Magazine On October 2nd and 3rd business and community leaders, policymakers, researchers, and environmental organizations will come together in northern New England at Renewable Energy Vermont’s Annual Conference and Expo, REV2017. For almost two decades, REV has provided space for the innovation and dialogue that will help break down cost barriers to affordable, clean and renewable electricity, heating and transportation.

While utilities in Vermont have a statutory obligation to meet an annually increasing Renewable Portfolio Standard, providing customers with 55% percent renewable energy, some of the energy powering South Burlington is still sourced from fossil fuels. Last year, the Renewable Energy Vermont Conference and Expo brought together almost 500 attendees. The electricity and heating/cooling of the meeting space - 13,946 square feet for almost two days - produced upwards of 1,028.29 lbs of CO2e emissions.

Vermont Business MagazineIn an effort to provide some relief to those impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the Vermont Department of Taxes has announced it is extending filing deadlines toJanuary31, 2018, for filers living in hurricane disaster areas. The affected individuals and businesses may file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period by the new due date.

Earlier, the IRS extended federal tax deadlines toJan. 31, 2018. The extension applies for taxpayers who reside within any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as qualified for individual assistance. For information about the specific locations impacted, please visit the IRS website atwww.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-relief-in-disaster-situations.

The periods the extension is valid for include:

Vermont Business MagazineThe Vermont Brewers Association (VBA) is pleased to announce the completion of a refreshed brand focused on the discovery of world class beer throughout the state with the theme of "Beer Worth Finding." The Website, vermontbrewers.com, houses thirteen beer trails that assist locals and tourists alike in exploring the Green Mountain State. There is also functionality to create customized beer trails to create a unique “beer-cation” experience. Plus, you will find Vermont Brewers Festival event information and surrounding attractions to complete your adventure to the breweries.

Vermont Business Magazine The Governor’s Marijuana Advisory Commission, established September 7, 2017 by Governor Phil Scott’s Executive Order Numbers 15-17, will hold its first meeting on September 28, 2017, at the offices of the Vermont Department of Public Safety, 45 State Drive, Waterbury, VT 05671. The Commission will meet from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Its three subcommittees will meet from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The Commission will review the Executive Order, including its reporting deadlines; establish a draft work plan; discuss how it will engage the public in its work; discuss how it will function, deliberate and make decisions; and address how Commission members will interact and work with the three subcommittees.

Following the Commission meeting, the three subcommittees will meet and develop work plans to accomplish the tasks set out for them in the Executive Order.

Vermont Business Magazine Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) on Wednesday pressed the Justice Department on its progress implementing whistleblower protections at the FBI. In a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Grassley and Leahy outline a series of concerns about whistleblower protections that have gone unaddressed despite government reports drawing attention to these problems and recommending changes. The Justice Department’s own report from 2014 identified “key systemic problems” in protecting FBI whistleblowers under agency’s current regime.

Vermont Business Magazine Forests and conservation funding is in decline across New England. The region has been losing forestland to development at a rate of 65 acres per day—and Vermont is losing 1,500 acres of forest every year—according to a new report released today by the Harvard Forest and a team of authors from across the region including two scientists at the University of Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine At a press conference Wednesday in Grand Isle, Governor Phil Scott recognized a series of staff-led energy efficiency projects across Vermont’s fish hatchery system, which will generate at least $1.4 million in energy savings and substantially reduce the hatcheries’ carbon footprint for years to come. Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department employees, with support from the Department of Buildings and General Services’ State Resource Management Revolving Fund, have led the way on several energy efficiency projects that will reduce energy usage, produce green energy, save money and decrease greenhouse gas emissions at Vermont’s fish hatcheries.

Vermont Business Magazine groSolar, a renewable energy company based in White River Junction, Vermont, and the Town of Ontario, New York, have completed the Town of Ontario Solar Project, located on land shared with the town’s wastewater treatment facility. The project will be dedicated today. It was to have gone online last January, but a winter storm the previous November damaged some of the panels and structure delaying the timeline.

by C.B. Hall & Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine One of the more noteworthy trains to visit Burlington in recent memory arrived in the city's South End Monday. Pulled by two Amtrak locomotives, 18 privately owned passenger cars reached the Queen City, at the midpoint of a long excursion through New York State and New England, for the annual convention of the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners (AAPRCO).

Vermont Business Magazine Mayor Miro Weinberger revealed Wednesday the Letters of Intent and details regarding the Burlington Telecom bid finalists. Much of the city council reaction was to a fourth, local bidder who dropped out right before the final list was presented. Also, the one remaining local bidder KBTL ("Keep Burlington Telecom Local") was the lowest bidder and came with strings attached that the head of the advisory board believes are not viable going forward. The bid from the Canadian company Ting was $27.5 million; Schurz from Indiana was $30.8 million; and KBTL was $12 million, with $10.5 million in cash, including $10 million financed at 14 percent interest. All the bidders offered a way for the city to retain a minority stake in the "new" BT. KBTL would run the fiber-based telecom as a co-op, which would include current subscribers. BT provides Internet, phone and television service.

Small Business AdministrationTucked away on the back side of a building on Depot St. in Lyndonville, VT, the founder of a small business sits in his office trying to figure out how his company is going to cover more than 3,000 sporting events this coming school year. On average that equals out to be eight games a day. On September29, Northeast Sports Network is slated to cover and stream 29 different games. It is quite the leap for an online sports network that started out in a basement in 2006.

“Scheduling all the different games at different locations and who is going to cover what may be the most difficult part of this job,” said Eric Berry, founder of Northeast Sports Network.

Vermont Business Magazine FirstLight, a leading fiber-optic bandwidth infrastructure services provider operating in the Northeast, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Finger Lakes Technologies Group. FirstLight acquired Bellows Falls-based Sovernet last March. This latest acquisition is just one of several that FirstLight has successfully completed during the last twelve months, as FirstLight acquired and combined operations with both Oxford Networks and Sovernet Communications and also announced the acquisition of 186 Communications, which is pending regulatory approval. Financial terms of these transactions were not disclosed.