Current News

Vermont Business Magazine NicolasFabien-Ouellet, a Master’s degree student in UVM’s Food Systems Graduate Program, has been all over the news recently, both in his native Canada and in the US. The cause of the media’s feeding frenzy? A savory Quebeçois concoction made of french fries, gravy and cheese curds called poutine, which Fabien-Ouelette says has been the victim of cultural appropriation.

Vermont Business Magazine On Friday a new type of home was delivered to the North Avenue Co-op, a resident-owned manufactured home community in Burlington. An alternative to manufactured housing, this modular home came from the VERMOD factory in Wilder, VT, where it was designed and built for maximum energy efficiency, affordability, durability, and health.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims fell again last week to just over 300, which is low even for the typically low summer-time number. There still could be some volatility coming soon after school lets out. Claims spiked to over 1,100 six weeks ago and then again two weeks ago before falling steeply. Claims are lower than they were the same time last year, which has been the usual case for most weeks in 2017. For the week of May 27, 2017, there were 329 claims, down 60 from the previous week's total and 88 fewer than than they were a year ago.

Altogether 3,933 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 416 from a week ago, and 507 fewer than a year ago.

Claims during the summer usually hold at a relatively low level because of vacation hiring, until the next transition when school resumes in September.

Vermont Business Magazine Known for offering wages and benefits that are higher than the national average for the retail industry, discount supermarket ALDI will host a hiring event for its stores in the southwest Vermont area onSaturday, June 10, it announced in press release. Opportunities within ALDI include Store Associate positions.The hiring event is in support of the ongoing growth of ALDI in the area, offering customers the ALDI brand promise of high-quality grocery items at impossibly low prices.

What: ALDI hiring event for its stores in Rutland and Bennington, VT, as well as Queensbury, NY

When:Saturday, June 10, 2017 8amto 1pm.

Where: ALDI - 263 South Main St., Rutland, VT 05701

Positions:

• Store Associate - $12.75 per hour

Job Requirements:

• Must be 18 years or older to apply

• High school diploma or GED preferred

Vermont Business Magazine Country Home Products, Inchas notified the state it will close its facility in Winooski byDecember 31, 2017, and will lay off 67 employees. Country Home Products manufactures, and direct-sells its own line of DR Power Equipment property-care machines, including mowers, trimmers, log splitters and cordless lawn mowers. It is based in Vergennes where it was formed in 1985and as of August 2015 is asubsidiary of Generac Power Systems, Inc. Generac makes backup power generation products based in Wisconsin. Generac said in a statement that it was consolidating manufacturing at a plant in Wisconsin.

Before the layoffs Country Home has 200 employees. CHP was named a VBM "Best Place to Work"earlier this year. Companies receive this designation based on company benefits and employee feedback.

Vermont Business Magazine Following is the comment of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Attorney General Sessions’ scheduled testimony next week, on Tuesday, before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science. Leahy is the Vice Chairman of the Appropriations Committee and a leading member of the Judiciary Committee.

Vermont Business Magazine The law firm Dunkiel Saunders of Burlington announced Thursday that Elizabeth Miller has joined the firm as a partner. Miller served as Chief of Staff to former Governor Peter Shumlin and as Commissioner of the Vermont Public Service Department, where she led the state’s energy and telecommunications policy. More recently, she has maintained her own practice as a strategic consultant and lawyer to a variety of companies, nonprofits, and educational institutions.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) issued the following statement Thursday after James Comey, the former FBI director, told the Senate Intelligence Committee he was fired by President Donald Trump over an investigation into Russian interference in last year’s presidential election.

Vermont Business Magazine Joined by legislative leaders at the Downtown and Historic Preservation Conference, Governor Phil Scott signed S135 into law Thursday to expedite state permitting for housing and increase public investment in buildings and infrastructure in state-designated centers, among other pro-growth initiatives. Elements of the law includeincreasing downtown tax credits by $200,000 to $2.4 million annually, exempting housing projects in state-designated centers from a redundant Act 250 review; and enabling six new Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts.

Vermont Business MagazineIn order to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment at the Fair Market Rent in Vermont, renters need to earn$21.90 an hour, or$45,545. This is Vermont’s 2017Housing Wage,revealed in the annualOut of Reachreportreleased today by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a Washington, DC-based research and advocacy organization, and the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition. At Vermont’s current minimum wage, individuals would need to work 88 hours per week, or 2.2 full-time jobs, to afford a two-bedroom rental home. Vermont has the 5thlargest affordability gap for rentersof any state in the nation. Vermont has nearly 75,000 renter households. Kentucky is the most affordable ($13.95/hour or 77 h/w) and Hawaii is least ($35.20 or 152 h/w).Overall, Vermont is the 13th highest rental market.It ranks 20th for median household income($56,990).

Vermont Business Magazine ALEC-Laffer “Rich States' Poor States” was released earlier this spring with Vermont ranked in its usual spot: Next to dead last. In the 10 years of the ranking, Vermont has finished in the penultimately worst position every year but one and New York has finished last in every year but one, 2013, when the two states briefly switched positions.

The “Rich States” report in authored by Reagan-era economist Arthur B Laffer. The report is not a report of each state’s wealth, but of its economic competitiveness based mostly on its tax policy. The American Legislative Exchange Council itself attempts to influence legislative policy on taxes, workers compensation and union laws, etc, on behalf of economic opportunity.

The report judges economic performance by state GDP, migration and employment growth. It does not factor in other outcome measures, such aseducational attainment, unemployment rate or median household income.

Vermont Business MagazineThe newUVM Health Network/Porter Express Careclinic will open on Tuesday, June 13, in the Collins Building on the main Porter campus in Middlebury. “This location offers easy access to a variety of hospital support services including lab and radiology, while providing convenient, high-quality healthcare services to our community, said UVMHN-PMC President Dr Fred Kniffin. “We have been working diligently for months to design and build a comfortable 5-bed clinic with all of the resources to streamline care for our community, and it is an exciting new service for Porter and our community.”