Current News

Vermont Business MagazineCampaign for Vermont Prosperity (CFV), a non-partisan advocacy and policy development group, today released a plan that could save property taxpayers as much as $350 million per year.CFV is encouraging lawmakers to further investigate attracting international students to Vermont’s secondary public education systems. It says Vermont is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the increased demand for American education internationally and that the state can be on the leading edge of public education systems serving international students.

Vermont Business Magazine Merchants Bancshares, Inc (NASDAQ: MBVT) today announced that its stockholders have voted to approve the previously announced merger of the Company with Community Bank System, Inc of Syracuse, NY. Consummation of the merger is subject to regulatory approval and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. On October 24, 2016, Merchants and Community Bank System announced that they had entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Community Bank System will acquire Merchants in a cash and stock transaction for total consideration valued at approximately $304 million.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont House today unanimously passed what the lead sponsor calls important legislation designed to provide social media privacy protection measures for Vermont workers. The bill, H462, prohibits employers from requiring or requesting that an employee or job applicant share their social media account information. This stipulation applies to the employees’ personal accounts, not accounts that are provided by or used for an employer.

“I'm very pleased the House passed H462. It provides social media privacy for employees and provides guidance on how to handle a sensitive situation for employers. This bill is a very small, but important, step in bringing Vermont into the 21st century.” Said the lead sponsor of the bill, Representative Matthew Hill of Wolcott.

Vermont Business Magazine Comcast Business today announced the availability of SmartOffice, a video surveillance solution designed to improve efficiency for small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) through advanced monitoring. With SmartOffice, SMBs can record, store, access, and share surveillance video on a 24x7 basis to oversee their organization. It provides secure cloud storage and instant access via mobile devices, and is professionally installed by Comcast Business and backed with 24x7 customer support.

Vermont Business Magazine Maple technology company Lapierre Equipment and the University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center have announced a research collaboration to investigate new methods of maple sap processing that could dramatically increase productivity. The research partnership will focus on developing and testing a newly developed piece of equipment developed by Lapierre called a HYPERBRIX RO (reverse osmosis) and evaporator.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott has selected Karen Russell Carroll of Vernon to serve on the Vermont Supreme Court. Carroll will be appointed on April 1 to replace retiring Justice John Dooley. Carroll must be confirmed by the Vermont State Senate. In December 2000, Judge Carroll was appointed a Superior Court Judge and has since presided in the Family, Criminal and Civil Divisions of the Superior Courts in Windham, Windsor and Bennington Counties.Prior to that, she worked for six years with the Vermont Attorney General's Office as the prosecutor for the Southern Vermont Drug Task Force.During this time, she was also cross-designated as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Vermont and prosecuted serious drug cases in the US District Court.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Business Magazine and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce announced today the ranking of the top 45 Best Places to Work in Vermont 2017. All the companies were honored Wednesday evening at a sold-out awards ceremony at the DoubleTree Conference Center with over 400 attendees. All the companies represented have the honor of saying they are a Best Place to Work in Vermont. The 45 winners set a record at the 11th annual event, surpassing last year's 38 winners.

The awards program was created in 2006 and is presented in partnership with the Society for Human Resource Management, Vermont State Council, (SHRM), the Vermont Department of Labor and the Vermont Department of Economic Development and Best Companies Group.

This statewide survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Vermont, benefiting the state's economy, its workforce and businesses.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont is launching a new program aimed at helping incarcerated men and women take coursework towards a college degree while serving their sentences. The UVM Liberal Arts in Prison Program (LAPP), administered by the university’s College of Arts and Sciences, will begin offering courses to qualified prisoners in cooperation with the Vermont Department of Corrections beginning in the spring 2018 semester.

Vermont Business MagazineMarch is Women’s History month, and Vermont’s Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets is taking advantage of the occasion to highlight the important role women play in Vermont’s Ag community.Women represent about22.3%of the principal farm operators in Vermont, according to the most recent USDA agricultural census. That number is significantly greater than the national average, which is14%. Vermont ranks 9thin the nation for percentage of principal farm operators that are women.

Vermont Business MagazineVermonters who participate in 4-H attend college at higher rates than average, according to an assessment of student data conducted by the University of Vermont. Of the 87 Vermont students who graduated from high school in 2015 and 2016 and participated in 4-H, 66 percent went on to college, the assessment found.

Vermont Business Magazine Esri, the global leader in spatial analytics, recognized Stone Environmental this month at the Annual Esri Partner Conference for its exceptional contribution to spatial analysis technology. Stone said in a statement that it is "humbled and excited" to receive the Best Use of Story Maps award for taking data visualization to the next level by using ArcGIS story maps to engage a wide-variety of stakeholders in the revitalization of downtown areas with underserved, abandoned or contaminated brownfield properties. David Healy, Vice President and Senior GIS Applications Specialist of Stone, accepted the award on behalf of Stone's work on the Bennington Downtown Area-Wide Plan Story Map on March 6, 2017 in Palm Springs, California.

by Paul Cillo Public Assets Institute It should be obvious by now: You can’t provide property tax relief by raising property taxes. In fact, it should have been obvious long before now. Yet that is exactly what the Legislature included in Act 46, the school consolidation bill, in 2015. (It then repealed that provision in 2016.) And that is exactly what the House Education Committee is proposing again this year. The committee voted on Friday to introduce a committee bill (H.509).