Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power crews worked through Friday night to restore power to 15,000 customers following a severe wind storm that devastated many areas of the state, especially southern Vermont and the City of Rutland. About 5000 werewithout power Saturday.

Crews from Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont Electric Cooperative, Burlington Electric and Stowe Electric assisted GMP crews in the restoration effort, and additional crews from Canada and New Hampshire are arriving today. More than an army of 500 lineworkers, tree trimmers and support staff are involved in restoring power.

Vermont Business Magazine Phoenix Books Burlington will host journalist Garrett Graff for a talk on Raven Rock, the eye-opening new title that explores the government’s secret plans to survive a catastrophic attack on US soil, on Thursday, May 25th at 7pm. Every day in Washington, DC, the blue-and-gold 1st Helicopter Squadron, code-named “MUSSEL,” flies over the Potomac River. As obvious as the Presidential motorcade, most people assume the squadron is a travel perk for VIPs. They’re only half right: while the helicopters do provide transport, the unit exists to evacuate high-ranking officials in the event of a terrorist or nuclear attack on the capital. In the event of an attack, select officials would be whisked by helicopters to a ring of secret bunkers around Washington, even as ordinary citizens were left to fend for themselves.

Vermont Business Magazine Dealer.com, a Cox Automotive brand, today announced it has been awarded with the 2017 Global Channel Partner of the Year North America Award by Microsoft at its inaugural Global Bing Partner Awards ceremony. The awards honor individuals and organizations behind some of the most impactful, innovative and performance-driven work from Bing Ads' Partners inNorth America,Europeand APAC.

Vermont Business Magazine The Office of Undergraduate Research has announced the first two winners of its new Mentoring Award: Robert Hondal, associate professor of biochemistry and chemistry, and Denise Youngblood, professor of history. “Both faculty members have been outstanding scholars, teachers and mentors for many years,” said Ann Kroll Lerner, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research. “It’s a privilege to be able to give them this recognition.” Hondal came to UVM in 2002. Youngblood began at the university in 1988. She is retiring this year.

Vermont Business Magazine Efficiency Vermont, Vermont’s statewide energy efficiency utility, has proposed a decreased budget for its next three-year performance period. The utility’s proposal aims to cut the Energy Efficiency Charge by 5 percent in 2018 and hold it flat for the remainder of the three-year period while delivering the same level of savings. The rate decrease comes as Efficiency Vermont is aiming to meet growing demand from customers and address unmet needs across electric and heating and cooling efficiency.

“We’re filing this budget decrease as part of our mission to deliver maximum value to ratepayers,” said Efficiency Vermont Director Liz Gamache. “We will provide the same level of service and savings at a time when Vermonters are feeling financial pressure and uncertainty about their economic futures. This rate cut is one way Efficiency Vermont can provide some predictability for customers and help them save money.”

Vermont Business Magazine Michael S Pieciak, commissioner of the Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), announced a settlement today in which LPL Financial (LPL) will reimburse $460,000 to eight Vermont investors and has paid the state a penalty of about $11,000. The settlement was the result of a multi-state investigation conducted by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA).

Vermont Business Magazine Despite a big decline in weekly unemployment claims last week, claims over the last six weeks are still trending up overall, as the economy edges out of the ski season into mud season. Claims spiked to over 1,100 the previous week but remain relatively high at over 700 and are well over the same period last year. Claims typically have been running below last year.

For the week of April 29, 2017, there were 759 claims, down 382 from the previous week's total and 236 more than than they were a year ago.

Altogether 5,959 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 289 from a week ago, and 584 fewer than a year ago.

As expected, by industry, Services reported the most claims (56 percent of the total), while most other sectors saw a drop. Services typically reports the most claims.

Vermont Business MagazineVermont Technical College student and TRIO participant Kara Polito has received the Vermont Educational Opportunity Program Scholarship. Her nomination came from Sue Polen of the Center for Academic Success. With her narrative, Kara won first place for TRIO Student Support Services and is the first Vermont Tech student to do so.

Vermont Business Magazine Casella Waste Systems, Inc(NASDAQ:CWST), a Rutland-based regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company, today reported its financial results for the three month period ended March31, 2017. Casella will hold a conference call to discuss these results on Friday, May5, 2017 at 9am. “We had another strong quarter as we continued to execute well against our key management strategies and benefited from stronger recycled commodity pricing for fibers,” said John WCasella, Chairman and CEO of Casella Waste Systems, Inc.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont's political leaders reacted swiftly and with horror as the replacement bill for the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) was whisked through the US House Thursday. It now faces a showdown in the US Senate. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) issued statements remarking on how Medicaid will be devastated and tens of millions will lose health insurance.

Leahy said in his statement: "This Trumpcare bill is a cruel and cynical hoax, played on millions upon millions of Americans who would lose all or some of their health insurance protections under this plan. From clumsy start to appalling finish, House Republicans have shown no shame in advancing a bill that, in truth, is intended to give a massive tax cut to the wealthiest Americans, in the guise of a health care plan. It’s only gotten worse as House leaders have had to bargain for votes."

Vermont Business Magazine The Personal Income tax, by far the state's most important General Fund revenue source, was below its target by over $25 million for April. The PI had been running ahead of annual projections, but has now fallen over $11 million behind with only two months left in the fiscal year. The Sales and Rooms & Meals taxes also were below targets. The only component now ahead for the year is the Corporate tax, which was up for the month over 34 percent and for the year nearly 19 percent.

Vermont Business Magazine The East Central Vermont Telecommunications District (“ECFiber”) has completed a $14.5M revenue bond financing to complete its construction providing universal broadband coverage for 6 entire towns – Pittsfield, West Windsor, Pomfret, Barnard, Strafford and Thetford. The $14.5M financing will also allow ECFiber to begin the process to cover several additional towns (350 miles) in 2018, refinance higher cost debt, and connect over 800 subscribers in 2017.

“This is the second step in a four step financing process that began in 2016,” said Irv Thomae, Chairman of ECFiber and Governing Board delegate from Norwich. “We’re excited that more residents in these areas can now enjoy the benefits of locally controlled, state-of-the-art real broadband. Our plan is raise additional capital in 2018 and 2019 to fully cover 21 of our 24 towns by 2019.”