Current News

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.

Vermont Business Magazine U.S. News & World Report has named Rutland Regional Medical Center a “Best Regional Hospital” for 2017-2018. Out of 4500 hospitals evaluated nationwide, only 545 achieved “Best Regional Hospital” status, and Rutland Regional was the only “Best Regional” in the state of Vermont. Additionally, Rutland Regional was the only hospital in the state to achieve “high performing” status in four procedures and conditions which include: Heart Failure, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Hip Replacement, and Knee Replacement.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Arts Council announced 71 grants totaling $438,408. Awards were given in the categories of Cultural Facilities, Arts Impact, Arts Partnership, and Creation. Through these programs, a college will receive assistance in providing a physically accessible ramp, a choreographer will have support to create a new work, and a rural arts organization will offer ticket subsidies to make their programs available to all. The projects funded through these grants are as varied as the state's creative sector.

Vermont Business Magazine Meeting in Waterbury today, the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, Thomas D. Anderson, and the Director of the Vermont State Police, Colonel Matthew T. Birmingham expressed their sincere condolences to the families who have lost loved ones on Vermont’s highways this year. Of the 9 fatalities that occurred over the last 4 days, 7 occupants were not wearing seatbelts, with 1 ATV death. Law enforcement can point to many studies that indicate when a seatbelt is used, occupants of a vehicle are more likely to survive a traffic crash.

The Vermont State Police recognize the following critical areas as priorities within Vermont’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan:

by Louis Josephson, PhD For nearly 200 years the Brattleboro Retreat has been a valuable healthcare resource and an important economic driver here in southern Vermont. That’s why one of my primary goals as hospital CEO is to ensure that the decisions we make today will allow the Retreat to continue serving the mental health and addiction treatment needs of people for generations to come.

Recently our board of trustees approved our new three-year strategic plan, which represents the culmination of lots of hard work over the previous winter and involved the energy and talents of many individuals. Together we gathered input from a variety of sources including our employees, community supporters, consumers/patients, other hospitals and providers, elected officials and government stakeholders. What we learned became the roadmap for our new strategic plan.

Vermont Business Magazine Susan Rand, owner and founder of Sojourn Bicycling and Active Vacations, announced the acquisition of this leading North American active travel company by fellow Vermonters, Raja and Bibi Mukherjee. Founded in 2004, Sojourn Bicycling and Active Vacations is an award-winning company specializing in exceptional active vacations in extraordinary destinations throughout the United States and Canada. The Vermont-based company currently offers nearly two dozen boutique active vacations and has garnered accolades from Condé Nast Traveler, Forbes, Frommer’s, and Fodor’s.

Raja and Bibi Mukherjee at the Hacienda Del Sol on a Sojourn Arizona bicycling vacation