Current News

Vermont Business Magazine In this A.M.BestTV episode from the Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) Conference in Burlington, VT, two insurance industry regulators discuss their handling of risk retention group (RRG) failures, as well as what issues arise in the oversight of agency captives. The captive industry's leading annual conference is held this week at the Sheraton Hotel Burlington. Vermont is the top domestic domicile for captive insurance companies.

Vermont Business Magazine Environmental leader and advocate David Mears JD/MELP ’91 will direct the nation’s top-ranked Environmental Law Center (ELC), Vermont Law School President and Dean Tom McHenry announced today. Mears, who has a long history of practicing and teaching environmental law, will begin work as the ELC director this week after a period of transition following his service as VLS vice dean for faculty. Mears succeeds ELC DirectorMelissa Scanlan, who will continue as director of the school’s New Economy Law Center, which she cofounded in 2015.

Vermont Business Magazine Barre-based Northern Power Systems Corp (TSX: NPS), a global leader in distributed energy power systems, now offers a full suite of megawatt-scale energy storage solutions that incorporate various battery types and capabilities, depending on the application and end-user need. In addition to providing multiple battery options, Northern Power, backed by decades of turnkey systems experience, can integrate its own field-proven power conversion and control hardware to deliver the optimum energy storage system.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced the appointment of David Provost, the executive vice president for finance and administration at Middlebury College, to chair the Vermont Educational Health Benefits Commission.

Vermont Business MagazineAttorney General TJDonovan, Jrannounced today that the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company will pay the State of Vermont $200,000 as part of a $5.5 millionsettlementwith 33 states concerning an October 2012 data breach. The breach, which was alleged to have been caused by the failure to apply a critical security patch, resulted in the loss of personal information belonging to 1.27 million consumers, including their social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, credit scoring information, and other personal data.

Vermont Business MagazineVermont State Treasurer Beth Pearce today joined Governor Phil Scott as the Governor proclaimed August as AbleToSave Month in Vermont, encouraging qualified Vermonters with disabilities to save money in tax-advantaged VermontABLE accounts.

The Governor’s proclamation highlights theVermontABLEprogram, a new savings initiative sponsored by the Vermont Treasurer’s Office that allows eligible individuals with disabilities to save without losing certain public benefits, like Medicaid and SSI. VermontABLE accounts provide individuals with disabilities the opportunity to invest up to $14,000 per year without being removed from public benefit programs.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington Telecom announces it has become the first Internet Service Provider in Vermont to offer high-speed, symmetrical Internet to eligible Lifeline customers. Since 1985, the Lifeline program has helped make telephone service affordable for low-income Americans. Currently, there are nine Eligible Telecommunications Carriers in the State of Vermont offering telephony services through Lifeline. In 2016, the Federal Communications Commission modernized and reformed the program to recognize the American consumer’s need to access the 21^st Century’s most vital communications network: the internet. According to the FCC, 43 percent of nation’s poorest households say they can’t afford modern broadband service.

Vermont Business Magazine Champlain College Provost and Senior Vice President for Academics Laurie Quinn has announced that Scott H Baker has been named Dean of the Stiller School of Business, after completing a national search process. Baker began in his new role on July 1. The Stiller School of Business at Champlain continues the College's 139-year-old tradition of agility and relevance by offering outstanding degree programs in Accounting, Business Administration, Finance, Game Production Management, International Business, Management and Innovation and Marketing. It is home to the David L. Cooperrider Center, the global Center of Excellence in Appreciative Inquiry and strengths-based organizational management.

by Brian T Fitzgerald We’re mid-stride through the summer and many Vermonters are drawn to our waterways. Our rivers provide visitors and residents alike with a bounty of recreational opportunities: swimming, fishing and boating. But, some Vermont rivers harbor unnecessary safety risks in the form of deadbeat dams that no longer serve any useful purpose. Built to power the mills of our industrial past, many of these small dams are no longer properly maintained and some have been abandoned. Worse still, we don’t even know where they all are! What we do know is that today Vermont has more than 1,000 dams with hundreds serving no useful purpose. In fact, it’s quite the opposite – unused dams not only pose a threat to recreationists, but block fish passage, degrade the health of our rivers and streams, and cause flooding when they fail without providing any benefits, such as flood protection or energy production.

Vermont Business Magazine Valener Inc (TSX: VNR)(TSX: VNR.PR.A), the public investment vehicle in Gaz Metro Limited Partnership, today reported adjusted net income attributable to common shareholders of $2.5 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2017, up $0.8 million from the third quarter of fiscal 2016. Adjusted net income per common share was $0.06 for the third quarter of fiscal 2017 compared to $0.04 per common share for the third quarter of fiscal 2016. Gaz Metro is the parent company of Green Mountain Power and Vermont Gas Systems. The Vermont operations saw a 7.8% year-over-year increase, mainly because of a stronger US dollar. The Addison gas pipeline loss was attributed in 2016.

Vermont Business Magazine Gaz Metro investor Valener Inc (TSX:VNR)(TSX:VNR.PR.A) has announced that its Board of Directors declared, on August 8, 2017, a quarterly dividend of $0.29 per common share, payable onOctober 16, 2017, to shareholders of record at the close of business onSeptember 30, 2017, representing a 3.6% increase from the preceding quarter.Gaz Metro is the parent company of Green Mountain Power and Vermont Gas Systems.

The Board of Directors also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.271875 per Series A preferred share, payable onOctober 16, 2017, to shareholders of record at the close of business onOctober 6, 2017.

Both dividends are designated as eligible dividends for Canadian tax purposes.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative (VOREC), a public-private committee tasked by Governor Phil Scott with economic development centered around outdoor recreation, last week gathered 60 stakeholders for a two-day policy conference at the historic Grafton Inn, Aug. 2-3, 2017. Throughout the event, attendees worked together to create recommendations and measurable outcomes for leveraging Vermont’s outdoor recreation assets, brand, and culture to sustain, grow, and drive economic development in the outdoor recreation sector and the Vermont economy as a whole.