Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s jobs outlook continues to slowly improve. The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for February was 3.0 percent. This reflects a decrease of one-tenth of one percentage point from the revised January rate, as all the key indicators improved: the rate was down, the labor force and number of employed increased, and total unemployed fell. Vermont ranked sixth best, while New Hampshire had the lowest rate in the nation at 2.7 percent and New Mexico was highest of any state at 6.8 percent.

Vermont Business Magazine The Senate Finance committee voted 5-1-1 Thursday to add a $2 fee on top of the 9 percent "rooms" tax to raise $7.2 million for affordable housing and for other vulnerable Vermontes, such as victims of abuse. Governor Phill Scott on Friday issued a statement saying this new fee would be a detriment to the tourism industry, while jeopardizing broadly-supported affordable housing efforts. The Finance committee is responsible for tax policy.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott called the JobLink data breach "appalling" at a press conference Thursday at the State House with Labor Commissioner Lindsay Kurrle. While 180,000 or more Vermont Labor Department accounts could be affected, the extent of the damage is not yet known, or even whether any Vermonters were actually victimized. The state has been using the third party vendor, America'sJob Link Alliance, since 2003, as a way for job seekers, including those on unemployment, to find work. It does not effect all those who have filed for unemployment and does not require everyuser to include a social security number, though it is an option on the online form. The breach affects several states and officials are urging anyone who has used the system to check their credit and debit cards, bank accounts and credit report (see information below).

Vermont Business Magazine Comprehensive guide to online MBA programs, Online MBA Today (http://www.onlinembatoday.com/) has published a new ranking of the 50 best online MBA programs in Human Resource Management (http://www.onlinembatoday.com/rankings/best-online-human-resource-management-mba/) and Champlain College in Burlington was one of the top.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims jumped last week after falling the week before. This suggests that the winter tourism season is winding down just as the best snowfall of the year covered the state with deep powder. Claims were also higher than a year ago. As expected, by industry, Services reported the most claims with 597 (67 percent of the total), all the other sectors were similar to the previous week's totals. Services typically report the most claims. The spikes in the graph below reveal the previous volatility in hiring and firing in Service positions around the 2016 holidays.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Health Network – Central Vermont Medical Center (CVMC) in Berlin has been named one of the nation’s Top 20 Rural Community Hospitals by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). This follows the Top 100 Rural and Community Hospital honors awarded in February by iVantage Health Analytics and The Chartis Center for Rural Health.

Top 20 Rural Community Hospitals are those achieving success in overall performance based on a composite ratingfrom eight indicators of strength — inpatient market share, outpatient market share, quality, outcomes, patient perspectives, costs, charges and financial stability.

“Our results as a top health care provider mean our community can count on us to deliver the services they need now and in the future,” said Nancy Lothian, CVMC’s Interim President and Chief Operating Officer.

Vermont Business Magazine The scheduled vote on House Republican leadership’s American Health Care Act was just postponed and will no longer be taking place this evening as previously scheduled. Representative Peter Welch (D-VT) this morning spoke during the House debate on the legislation that would replace the Affordable Care Act. In his remarks, he said the bill would result in the GOP turning its back on the people who did the most to elect them.

Representative Peter Welch Remarks March 23, 2017:

“Mr. Speaker and my friends on the Republican side:

You’ve got the perfect bill. It cuts taxes $800 billion, largely at the high end. It cuts 24 million people off of healthcare. And, it ends the Medicaid entitlement. What’s the problem? Bring your bill up here!

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.