Current News

Vermont Business Magazine An analysis released by the National Partnership for Women & Families for Equal Pay Day Tuesday reveals the size of the gender wage gap and its detrimental effects on the spending power of Vermont women. Women employed full time, year-round in Vermont are paid just 84 cents for every dollar paid to men, amounting to a yearly gap of $7,787. That means Vermont women lose a combined total of nearly $1.5 billion every year – money that could strengthen the state economy and is especially significant for the more than 20,000 Vermont households headed by women, 23 percent of which are in poverty.

by Mike Smith According to Courthouse News Service, the state of Vermont has a problem: It lacks transparency.The California-based company says Vermont is the only state in the nation that doesn’t disclose lawsuits filed in court until they have been served on defendants. As a result, the average time for disclosure is 41 days, and almost one-quarter of these lawsuits are kept secret for months. In comparison, suits filed in the state of New York are made public immediately, or within, at least, a day or two later. The news service says this delay is unacceptable, and is suing Vermont in federal court. But this isn’t the only example of Vermont state government being less that forthcoming with information — information that is often readily available in many other states.

Leonine Public AffairsThe House passed its version of the budget this week and did so in convincing fashion. With a 143-1 vote in favor of the bill, it was the most lopsided vote on the budget in long time. The “big bill” now moves to the Senate where changes will be made. However, given the resounding victory in the House, it seems unlikely these changes will be significant. More details on the budget later in the newsletter.

Vermont Business Magazine Try bending your iPhone in half. Or roll up your tablet like a scroll. Or wrap a touchscreen TV around a pole. Didn’t work out so well, did it? That’s because the ceramic material used to make many of today’s touchscreens has only two of three needed qualities: it’s conductive, it’s transparent—but it’s not flexible. “It’s brittle and so if you bend it, it breaks,” says University of Vermont scientist Frederic Sansoz, a professor of mechanical engineering. But Sansoz and a team of other scientists have made a discovery that may change that. Working with silver at a vanishingly small scale—nanowires just a few hundred atoms thick—they discovered that they could make wires that were both super strong “and stretchy like gum,” he says.

Vermont Business Magazine April 1^st is the traditional date that the state’s winter manure spreading ban is lifted and farmers can get out on their fields and begin to apply those valuable nutrients to their cropland. However, with fresh snow expected for many parts of Vermont by April 1^st, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) is issuing a special ‘spring stewardship’ reminder for all Vermont farms: Even though the manure spreading ban will be lifted April 1^st, new statewide water quality rules – the Required Agricultural Practices (RAPs) – prohibit the application of manure on frozen or snow covered ground, in addition to any application that would result in runoff to surface waters.

Vermont Business MagazineBeginning in the fall of the 2017-18 academic year Castleton University will move to offer gender inclusive housing options, a concept that stems from work by the University’s President’s Council on Inclusive Excellence. Allowing residence halls to be a diverse living environment for all students, multiple halls both on and off campus and will feature gender inclusive bathrooms and bedrooms on a designated floor of select dormitory buildings.

“This concept began small but over the past year we have done the research and identified a need for students to have more inclusive living options that meet all students’ needs,” said Director of Residence Life Michael Robilotto. “Not all students are comfortable being housed based on their gender identity, and this option allows for students to choose roommates regardless of gender.”

Vermont Business Magazine In response to a press release issued yesterday by the Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), we have received reports that a Vermont insurance company is also being misrepresented in a series of phone calls to Vermonters. The company said several of its agents and consumers have received calls from a number that populates the insurance company's name in the caller ID and attempts to sell something – in several cases, the item is solar panels.

DFR wants to remind people to never give out personal information over the phone or transact unsolicited business the with an unknown third party.If you received one of these phone calls, please inform DFR by calling 802-828-3301.

Source: DFR 3.31.2017

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and Agency of Commerce and Community Development Secretary Michael Schirling today announced the appointment of Wendy Knight as Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing. Knight, a longtime Addison County resident, joins the Department from the private sector. Through her own marketing and communications firm, Knight and Day Communications, she developed strategic communications and marketing campaigns for a variety of international clients based in London, New York, Spain, and Italy, as well as Vermont organizations including the Vermont Grape and Wine Council, the Vermont Department of Health, and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. Knight is a former New York Times freelance writer who has written two travel books and produced online travel videos for ABC News Now.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power has lined up an army of crews to respond to outages expected from an extraordinary moisture laden spring storm already affecting parts of Vermont. The wet snow building up on tree branches is likely to cause outages across the state, especially in southern and central Vermont. “Preparing ahead for a storm like this means that we have hundreds of people in place to jump into action as soon as outages begin,” said Kristin Carlson, Green Mountain Power vice president of external affairs. “We’ve lined up outside crews to assist our team of GMP responders to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.”

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney Tom Csatari has announced that the Upper Valley office of Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC have moved to the Gateway I building at 67 Etna Road in Lebanon. The firm began welcoming clients at the new location last Monday. The relocation comes nearly 10 years after attorneys at the former Daschbach, Csatari & Young, PLLC agreed to form a combined practice with DRM in the Upper Valley.

Vermont Business Magazine Are we financially illiterate? Was our lack of financial acumen a cause of the Great Recession of 2008 and does it continue to undermine our nation's economic health? Unfortunately, the answer is yes to all of these questions, but until now, the extent of our financial ignorance had not been quantified. April is National Financial Literacy Month and a report issued by Champlain College's Center for Financial Literacy - " The 2016 National Report Card on Adult Financial Literacy" - shows that more than three-quarters of adults live in states with poor grades. This means that too many American adults are deficient in financial knowledge and skills, which leads them to make uninformed and often poor decisions about their money.

Vermont Business Magazine It was announced Thursday thatVolkswagen AG, Audi AG and Porsche AG, as well as their American subsidiaries, have agreed to pay over $157 million to 10 states – including $4.2 million to Vermont– to settle the environmental lawsuits first filed last summer by New York and Massachusetts challenging the companies’ secret use of unlawful “defeat device” software in their vehicles – software that caused tens of thousands of tons of excess harmful pollutants to be emitted into the air in New York and other states. Vermont AG TJ Donovan will lay out Vermont's more complicated settlement later Friday.