Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Education Child Nutrition Program will host more than 350school food service directors, managers and staff, principals, administrative assistants, business managers, superintendents, farm-to-school coordinators, and nurses who work on child nutrition at theChild Nutrition Programs Summer Institutein Streeter Hall at St. Johnsbury AcademyAugust 7-11, 2017.

Orientation for New Food Service Directors, cooking from scratch, menu planning, after school snack options, breakfast after the bell, cashier boot camp, and civil rights requirements in child nutrition programs are among the 40 courses offered during the five days.

by Paul Cillo Public Assets Institute Vermont is lucky. Even with divided state government and occasional partisan spats, our leaders on both sides of the aisle can agree that taking health care away from millions of Americans is a bad idea. At a conference I attended in Boise, Idaho last week, state-level policy leaders from around the country discussed the potential impact of the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Many of them were fighting to convince their governors, senators, and representatives that slashing Medicaid funding, disrupting the individual insurance market, and putting their constituents’ health in danger would be devastating.

Vermont Business Magazine Champlain College is one of the nation's best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company features the school in the new 2018 edition of its college guide, "The Best 382 Colleges." Only about 15 percent of America's 2,500 four-year colleges and two colleges outside the US are profiled in the book, which is one of The Princeton Review's most popular guides. Published annually since 1992, it has detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores in eight categories. The book also has ranking lists of top 20 schools in 62 categories. All of the ranking lists are based on The Princeton Review's surveys of students attending the colleges.

Vermont Access NetworkThe Vermont Public Utility Commission (formerly the Vermont Public Service Board) on Thursday refused Comcast Cable’s motion to make changes to its upcoming 11-year Certificate of Public Good (Docket 8301). Comcast claimed that the Commission lacked the authority or evidence to require the company to upgrade its interactive program guide (IPG), offer public cable drops, make line extensions, and offer institutional data networks. The Commission rejected all of Comcast’s arguments and will make no changes to its initial order issued in January 2017.

Vermont Business Magazine Students graduating veterinary school have an average student loan debt of over $162,000 according to a survey of the American Veterinary Medical Association. This is a crushing amount of debt for young veterinarians just starting out in their career and can take decades to pay off. The Vermont Veterinary Medical Association Foundation’s mission is to provide scholarships for Vermonters attending veterinary school to help lower the debt load they face upon graduation.

Vermont Business Magazine Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc, has admitted to violations of Vermont’s Hazardous Waste Management Rules at its Barre, Vermont location. Safety-Kleen has agreed to pay the State $25,000 in civil penalties for the violations. Under the court-approved settlement, Safety-Kleen admitted liability for nine separate violations of the Hazardous Waste Management Rules and related hazardous waste facility permits. These include rules relating to how hazardous waste is stored, record keeping, and facility maintenance. The Agency of Natural Resources discovered the violations during inspections in the summer of 2016.

After notice from the Agency, Safety-Kleen took corrective steps at the Barre facility to address the violations to the satisfaction of the Agency. The Attorney General’s Office notes that Safety-Kleen cooperated with the State on the settlement and acted swiftly to accept responsibility for its conduct.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Natural Resources Board (NRB), the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) and the Vermont Attorney General’s Office announced today that they have reached a settlement with the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers (VAST) that resolves VAST’s Act 250 challenge concerning the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail (LVRT). VAST maintains the Trail through a lease with VTrans. The settlement will allow the expeditious development of the LVRT into a multi-season recreation path and incorporate key elements of the Act 250 permit to ensure that the trail does not adversely affect nearby residents.

Vermont Business Magazine The abandonment this week of the VCSummer nuclear project inSouth Carolinaheralds the likely demise of "new" nuclear inthe United States(including the Vogtle project inGeorgiaandNorth Anna3 inVirginia) and also should put an end to state or federal bailouts for the failing nuclear industry, according to four experts who held a media briefing Thursday, sponsored by NIRS, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.

Nuclear economist DrMark Cooper, senior fellow for economic analysis, Institute for Energy and the Environment atVermont Law School, said the V.C. Summer shutdown should lead to a similar step at the Vogtle project inGeorgiaand to a renewed focus on renewable energy.

by Jack Hoffman Public Assets Institute Economist Art Woolf wrote recently that Vermont spends too much on education because taxes are too low for many residents. Woolf was referring specifically to resident homeowners who qualify to pay school taxes as a percentage of their income rather than on the value of their property. According to Woolf, because their income-based taxes are less than their property taxes would be, these homeowners feel like education in Vermont is on sale, so they’re buying more of it.

Vermont Business MagazineThose in search of awe-inspiring views during their travels this summer need not limit themselves to trails, lookout points, or observation decks, they can simply enjoy lunch at the Simon Pearce outlet in Quechee. OpenTable, the world's leading provider of online restaurant reservations and part of The Priceline Group (NASDAQ: PCLN), has unveiled the100 Most Scenic Restaurants in America for 2017. These awards reflect the combined opinions of more than 10 million restaurant reviews submitted by verified OpenTable diners for more than 25,000 restaurants in all 50 states and theDistrict of Columbia.

Vermont Business MagazineThe Vermont Department of Taxes is pleased to announce a statewide listening tour for small businesses. The public meetings, which will be held in St. Johnsbury, Montpelier, Burlington, Rutland and Bennington, are designed to let the department leadership hear from businesses. “We at the Department of Taxes are eager to hear from businesses across Vermont about how we can help them navigate the sometimes complex Vermont tax code,” said Commissioner Kaj Samsom. “This listening tour and the working group will result in a report to the Vermont legislature. This is an opportunity to express feedback to the department and also suggest larger scale changes for the legislature to consider.”

Vermont Business Magazine According to a statement from Enrique Corredera, news and public affairs director at the University of Vermont, a fire is in progress at Torrey Hall on the University of Vermont campus. The fire has been contained, and the Burlington Fire Department is actively working to fully extinguish it. The fire began at 8:10 am and was caused by the soldering of copper material on the roof as part of a renovation of the building taking place this summer.

No injuries have been reported.

The building houses two classrooms. No classes were being held in the building over the summer.