Current News

Vermont Business MagazineGil Livingston, president of the Vermont Land Trust (VLT) for the past 10 years, will be leaving the organization at the end of 2017 to continue meaningful, focused work in the national conservation arena. Livingston has been with the land trust for 26 years; in that time he has contributed greatly to the conservation of farmland, forests, and land important for recreation and community, the VLT said in a press release.

Gil Livingston, left, with Mayor Miro Weinberger at the proposed Burlington College park in February 2016. Photo courtesy City of Burlington.

Vermont Business Magazine and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce have announced the three finalists for the Deane C Davis Outstanding Business of the Year Award: Marathon Health, Union Mutual and Vermont Creamery.One of these impressive finalists will be named the Deane C Davis Outstanding Vermont Business of the Year on Thursday, May 11 in an awards presentation ceremony at the Sheraton Burlington Conference Center at 7:30 pm. The announcement will come during the 2017 Best of Business (BOB) Awards.

This year’s finalists exemplify the resourcefulness, innovation and success of Vermont’s businesses. They all share a dedication to their employees, communities and Vermont’s natural environment. Each represents a unique story of vision, commitment and growth.

Marathon Health

Vermont Business Magazine House Speaker Mitzi Johnson wants to finish the legislative session by as early as next week, if not by this weekend, but Governor Phil Scott is continuing to push his plan for a statewide teacher health insurance contract, which he says will preserve benefits for teachers and save the state $26 million a year by creating one, large risk pool out of the new, lower ObamaCare health premiums. The House Republicans are standing with the governor even as Senate Democrats have dismissed the plan. The ultimate leverage the governor can employ is use of the veto, but in the meantime he is still trying to convince at least enough House Democrats to join him. The teachers union opposes the plan because it contends it will harm local control of the collective bargaining process.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont House on Tuesday gave approval to the Paid Family Leave insurance bill on a voice vote. The bill, H196, enables Vermonters to take time off from work to care for an infant or an elderly relative without balancing that family need against the necessity of a paycheck. It creates a Family Leave Insurance Program within the Department of Labor that will provide employees with up to six weeks of paid family leave through employee contributions through a payroll deducation of just under 1 percent of wages.

Vermont Business Magazine Ledyard Financial Group, Inc(ticker symbol LFGP), the holding company for Ledyard National Bank with an office in Vermont, today reported quarterly earnings nearly unchanged for the first quarter of 2017. Net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2017, was $1,006,669 or $0.99 per share compared to $1,005,045 or $0.98 per share for the same period in 2016, an increase of $1,624.

Vermont Business MagazineThe House gave preliminary approval to ethics legislation Monday (S8). The bill debated on the floor establishes a State Ethics Commission and standards of governmental ethical conduct. The bill creates new requirements for personal financial disclosure, including for the official or lawmaker's domestic partner. The legislation is also intended to reduce the "revolving door" between lobbyists and government officials, as they hop back and forth between public and private jobs. An elected official would have to wait a year to become alobbyist.

Vermont Business MagazineSpider silks, the stuff of spider webs, are an engineer’s dream: they can be stronger than steel at a mere fraction of weight, and also can be tougher and more flexible. These silks also are nearly invisible to the human immune system. Some even inhibit bacteria and fungi, making them potentially ideal for surgery and medical device applications. However, exploitation of these natural marvels has been slow, due in part to the challenges involved in identifying and characterizing spider silk genes.

Vermont Business MagazineOn April 26, 2017, Gifford Health Care Pediatrics was recognized by the Vermont Immunization Program for achieving high immunization coverage rates and meeting CDC’s Healthy People 2020 goals for all recommended vaccines for children two to three years of age. Jan Eberly, Public Health Nurse for the State of Vermont, presented thePediatrics team with a framed certificate and a copyofEpidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine Preventable Diseases.

Gifford was one of nine practices in the state to receive recognition for exceeding the Healthy People 2020 target of 90 percent immunizations coverage for two to three year olds. Appropriately, the recognition came on National Infant Immunization week,an annual national observance to promote the benefits of immunizations and improve the health of children two years old or younger.

by Rob RoperFolks celebrated Earth Day this year with a “March for Science” around the nation. The marchers’ message is, ostensibly, that policy should be based on science and not things like emotion, morality, or politics. But is this really what they’re after? Or is this more of an attempt to legitimize their own emotions, morality, and politics by claiming for them the label of “science”?

It’s ironic that nationally and locally the science marchers’ most visible spokespeople, Bill Nye and Bill McKibben respectively, are not actually scientists (nor is Al Gore for that matter). McKibben is a journalist, and Nye got his big television break performing as a stand up comedian. Nye calling himself “the Science Guy” instead of “the Scientist” is kind of like the cereal Froot Loops using creative spelling to avoid a fraud lawsuit over the fact that there isn’t any real fruit in them.

Vermont Business Magazine In an address to the Brattleboro Area Chamber of CommerceMonday, Governor Phil Scott highlighted an opportunity for the state to realize up to $26 million in savings a year. The federal Affordable Care Act signed by President Obama put high valued health plans at risk of a Cadillac tax. The Vermont Education Health Initiative (VEHI) is transitioning to new plans, which are projected to cost substantially less than existing plans and will not be subjected to the federal penalty.

Vermont Business MagazineBrattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) and Community College of Vermont (CCV) are launching an accelerated program to prepare qualified candidates for jobs as Certified Medical Assistants. Enrollment in the one semester program will be limited to twenty participants. Classes will be held on the CCV Brattleboro campus, and all clinical aspects of the course work will be completed at BMH. As part of the joint initiative, BMH is providing full scholarships for eight successful applicants to the program. Scholarship recipients will have their CCV tuition covered and will be hired as Medical Assistants at BMH upon successful completion of the academic program and licensure exam.

Vermont Business Magazine BioTek Instruments continues to strengthen their commitment to sustainability by announcing the opening of their second solar facility. In addition to the company’s existing 500 kilowatt solar farm in Whiting, Vermont, a new, 88 kilowatt photovoltaic solar energy farm is now on line in Milton, Vermont. The new facility was developed in agreement with ABJ Property Management, LLC, and installed by Norris Brothers Solar Development, LLC.