Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The JWarren & Lois McClure Foundation, a supporting organization of the Vermont Community Foundation, has announced $381,395 in grants for the 2017-18 school year to programs promoting career and college education for Vermonters with a focus on low-income students, first-generation college students, adult learners, and veterans. The McClure Foundation is guided by a vision of a vibrant Vermont economy in which no promising job goes unfilled for lack of a qualified applicant.

Vermont Business Magazine1,225 Vermonters were found to be literally homeless on a single night in January. The 2017 Point-in-Time Count Report, released by the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness and the Chittenden County Homeless Alliance, showed anoverall increase inhomelessness by 11%compared to the 2016 Point-in-Time Count.While there was an overall statewide increase, there were striking regional differences, including decreases in Chittenden (-12%) and Franklin (-17%) counties. Included in the total were 306 children, representing 25% of the entire homeless population counted.

Vermont Business Magazine Bluehouse Group, a digital marketing and web design firm, has hired Michelle Massa as the company’s marketing director. Massa brings nearly 20 years of marketing and business development experience in local and global markets. She will manage marketing operations within Bluehouse Group and provide expanded online marketing services to help clients reach their marketing goals.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today issued Executive Order 11-17, establishing the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative (VOREC), a task force to strengthen and expand Vermont’s $2.5 billion outdoor recreation economy. The governor announced the initiative at a press conference Thursday, which highlighted the decades-long work of land managers, nonprofit recreation and conservation groups, and outdoor recreation businesses to build this important industry.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) will deliver the commencement remarks during Champlain Valley Union High School’s graduation early afternoon on Friday at the University of Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine A Utah firm is the latest national solar firm to enter the Vermont market. Vivint Solar, Inc, (NYSE: VSLR), a leading full-service residential solar provider, today announced that its residential solar energy systems are now available toVermontresidents.Vermontranks number 2 on the Union of Concerned Scientists' Clean Energy Momentum State Ranking, and is noted for leading the country in clean energy jobs per capita and for its carbon reduction target.Vermonthas committed to attain 90 percent of its energy from renewable energy sources by 2050.Vermontresidents who wish to install solar energy systems can currently interconnect to the grid under traditional net metering.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont skier visits finished this past season at nearly 4 million, well over the previous season's disappointment of 3.2 million. Friends and supporters of the Vermont ski and snowboard industry gathered at Killington Resort for the Vermont Ski Areas Association’s 48th Annual Meeting Wednesday evening. Alpine and Nordic members, marketing partners and associate members were among those who celebrated the 2016-17 comeback season.

Vermont Business Magazine The Public Service Department today announced the next meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel will be held on Thursday, June 22, 2017, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM at the Governor Hunt House, 322 Governor Hunt Road in Vernon.The Panel will receive presentations from AREVA and Burns & McDonnell, NorthStar’s partners in the Vermont Yankee decommissioning.

Representatives from Entergy and the State of Vermont will provide updates on the decommissioning activities at Vermont Yankee. In addition, the Vermont Public Service Department will provide a status report on the Certificate of Public Good petition that Entergy and NorthStar have filed with the Vermont Public Service Board.

Vermont Business MagazineVermont Attorney General TJDonovan and four Vermont state agencies led a coalition of four northeastern states in filingCommentson the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) proposed decommissioning rulemaking. The States contend that the proposed rules fail to take into account the interests of states, like Vermont, which are home to nuclear power plants. The States suggest specific changes that would ensure rules to protect the health, safety, environmental, and economic interests of host communities during the decommissioning process.

Vermont Business Magazine BioTek Instruments, based in Winooski, continues to strengthen its commitment to sustainability by joining the over 1,200 governors, mayors, businesses, investors, and colleges and universities from across the US who have voiced their intent to continue to ensure the US remains a global leader in reducing carbon emissions. By declaring that ‘we are still in,’ BioTek and the other signatories are putting the best interests of their constituents, customers, students and communities first while assuring the rest of the world that American leadership on climate change extends well beyond the current federal government.

The science is clear. The planet’s environment is changing, and this is largely due to human activity. It is also clear that the impact on earth’s inhabitants, including people, will be negative. The only question is the magnitude of the impact, and exact timing.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Medical Center has removed traditional “visiting hours” limitations in favor of giving patients control over who comes to see them, and the timing of those visits. Research indicates patient outcomes improve when they are allowed to choose how and when their loved ones can be present and involved in their care. Former patients played a key role in developing the new Welcoming Policy as members of the Patient- and Family-Centered Care Steering Committee. More than 100 community members serve as patient and family advisors at the UVM Medical Center, helping to develop improvements in care that are grounded in understanding the patients’ point of view.

Senator Patrick Leahy The budget submission from the Department of Health and Human Services would reduce discretionary spending by nearly $8 billion – that is a 12 percent cut. This includes cuts to virtually every agency under HHS, including a 17 percent cut to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a 21 percent cut to the National Institutes of Health, and a 23 percent cut to mental health programs in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. This budget also targets women’s health by discriminating against providers that serve low-income women, and by eliminating funding for teen pregnancy prevention. And it would leave people in the cold, by eliminating the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) — a program thousands of Vermont families depend upon year after year.