Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The following are Public Alerts submitted by Wastewater Treatment Facilities to Vermont Watershed Management in the Department of Environmental Conservation at the Agency of Natural Resources for prompt public awareness of untreated discharges and their locations. Most are in Rutland and Chittenden counties.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Rep Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) introduced legislation Monday to make public colleges and universities tuition-free for working families and to significantly reduce student debt. “Higher education in America should be a right for all, not a privilege for the few,” Sanders said. “If we are to succeed in a highly competitive global economy and have the best-educated workforce in the world, public colleges and universities must become tuition-free for working families and we must substantially reduce student debt.”

Vermont Business Magazine Pride Center of Vermont is pleased to announce the appointment of Susan L Hartman as Executive Director effective May 1, 2017. Hartman comes to the Pride Center from Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was most recently Executive Director of The Art Experience Inc, an organization that promotes healing and growth through expressive arts.

Hartman also served as Executive Director of the Northwest Arkansas Center for Equality, Director of Crisis Services for the Arkansas Crisis Center, Executive Director of Therapetics Service Dogs of Oklahoma, Food & Fund Drive Manager for the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, Director of Development for the North Arkansas Council of Girl Scouts of America, Executive Director of the NWA Rape Crisis Center and Manager of Volunteer Program & Communications for the Project for Victims of Family Violence in Fayetteville.

Vermont Business MagazineThe 2017 Best of Business Awards (BOB Awards) winners have been announced byVermont Business Magazine. This awards program celebrates the best Vermont companies in more than 100 business-to-business categories, as chosen byVBMreaders. Starting in January 2017 and closing on March 1st,VBMsurveyed its magazine and digital subscribers.

Vermont Business MagazineThe USSki and Snowboard Association announced today it is moving forward with hosting Audi FIS Ski World Cup stops at Killington Resort and Beaver Creek Resort during the 2017-18 season. Both resorts are part of a comprehensive USSA event calendar that will be presented to the International Ski Federation during its annual meetings next month in Portoroz, Slovenia.According toMountain Times,Killington PresidentMike Solimano announced to the local community Monday evening that the resort had signed a two-year deal to host a World Cup event. Last year's race saw Burke Mountain Academy grad, gold medalist and World Cup champion Mikaela Shiffrin win an emotional slalom at Killington.

Vermont Business Magazine A capacity crowd of employers, business leaders, wellness experts and human resource professionals attended Vermont’s annual Worksite Wellness conference held March 23 at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in South Burlington. Governor Phil Scott, Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD, and Janet Franz, chair of the Vermont Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, kicked off the sold-out conference, which features awards presented by the governor to 90 employers that have demonstrated excellence in worksite wellness.

Vermont Business Magazine COTS and Housing Vermont re-opened the COTS building at 95 North Avenue following an $8.2 million, extensive renovation. COTS and Housing Vermont partnered on the capital project to rebuild a permanent home for the COTS Daystation, the nonprofit’s daytime center for homeless adults to connect with services; create 14 affordable apartments; and renovate COTS’ program spaces for its homelessness prevention initiative (the COTS Housing Resource Center), and family and adult services, making them fully accessible and more energy efficient. COTS will annually serve more than 2,600 people facing homelessness from its new facility.

Mayor Miro Weinberger Delivers 2017 State of the City Address
Vermont Business Magazine Mayor Miro Weinberger on Monday evening delivered the State of the City Address in City Hall’s Contois Auditorium, during which he said that the State of the City is strong and advancing towards an even brighter, increasingly dynamic, and more just future. But he also warned of the negative impact that retrenchment by the federal government on immigration, environmental issues, including the cleanup of Lake Champlain, and funding for law enforcement could have on the city.

Vermont Business MagazineVermont’sKillington Resort, the largest ski and snowboard destination in Eastern North America, has partnered with Killington, Vermont-based Ottauquechee Realty Advisors, LLC to revitalize the resort’s Bear Mountain base area and South Ridge through a two-year development plan. Total project costs for the Bear Mountain Revitalization Plan are estimated at $60-70 million with a resulting retail value of $110 million once construction is complete.

Vermont Business Magazine BioTek Instruments was awarded the 2016 Governor’s Excellence in Worksite Wellness Award. This award recognizes Vermont companies that promote health and wellness in the workplace for the betterment of their employees. BioTek’s Human Resources team including, Vice President of Human Resources, Kathy Gendron, and Human Resources Generalist, Lilly Tarricone, were recognized by the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports as outstanding individuals in the leadership of BioTek’s wellness program.

BioTek’s wellness program includes a variety of activities and initiatives including onsite fitness and educational classes, subsidized gym memberships and smoking cessation assistance. The Company also declared its grounds a smoke-free campus as of January 2017.

by Bill Schubart Growing up in the transition from Vermont’s “Republican century” to the Democratic “sixties,” the political labels we used seemed meaningless in the many discussions I had with people of differing political ideals. I usually found commonsense and decency in their differing perspectives. The social compression of Vermont’s small towns, both in daily life and annually at town meeting, didn’t inhibit diversity of opinion on any topic. But the fact that we depended on one another in hard times, attended the same churches, traded in the same stores, and buried our dead in the same cemeteries meant we generally spoke civilly to one another, considered opposing opinions, and often found common ground.

by Jennifer Arbuckle, Partner, E4H Environments for Health Architecture There is a continuing trend throughout the country towards an integrated, “one-stop shop” medical village. The objective is to modernize and improve care delivery by integrating hospital care with retail, housing, elder care and living systems. As market forces drive the need to streamline, consolidate and achieve greater efficiencies, while consumers expect greater access and convenience, and as reimbursement models favor holistic care rather than periodic treatment incidents, a more comprehensive architectural design approach is needed. The healthcare village approach is evident in the new partnerships forming among healthcare providers, government agencies and real estate companies to pursue these projects, reflecting greater collaboration and a more coordinated way of delivering care.