Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Arts Council announced today that Executive Director Alex Aldrich will step down on April 14 after more than 20 years leading the nation’s only nonprofit state arts agency. The board of trustees has begun transition planning as part of the organization’s ongoing strategic planning process. They have hired an interim executive director, Teri Bordenave, who will oversee day-to-day activities as well as assist in a national search for a new executive director.

“For many years, Alex has been at the center of arts funding and arts advocacy in Vermont,” said Bob Stannard, chair of the Vermont Arts Council board of trustees. “We will recognize his service at our annual meeting on June 5.”

Vermont Business Magazine On Saturday, March 25, the lights of iconic sites like The Empire State Building and the Space Needle will be turned off between 8:30 and 9:30pm to show solidarity in the fight against climate change as people around the world celebrate the 11^th annual Earth Hour. Mayor Miro Weinberger and Burlington Electric Department General Manager (GM) Neale Lunderville are encouraging Burlington homeowners, renters, and businesses to join City Hall, the Church Street Marketplace, and the Unitarian Universalist Church (UU) in turning off non-essential lights during that special hour to symbolize their commitment toward addressing climate change.

Vermont Business Magazine Howard Center announced today that Deborah Richter, MD, was recently hired to provide services and supports to those in recovery from alcohol and substance use. The appointment follows the recent closure of Maple Leaf Farm, as Howard Center and other providers seek to provide continuous service for individuals who previously had been enrolled at Maple Leaf. Richter was employed by Maple Leaf Farm and, post-closure, continuously served her clients through a temporary placement at the Vermont Department of Health. Richter will be working at Howard Center’s Pine Street Counseling two days a week and will soon be joined by a nurse and a licensed alcohol and drug counselor.

Deborah Richter, MD. Howard Center photo.

Vermont Business Magazine To recognize excellence in the teaching of Vermont’s young children, the Permanent Fund for Vermont’s Children announced the third annual Early Educator of the Year Award. In the third year of this award, the Permanent Fund will be accepting nominations for an outstanding home-based child care professional who has demonstrated a commitment to quality early childhood education.

“We want to recognize the unsung heroes that work so hard for Vermont’s children,” said Rick Davis, president and co-founder of the Permanent Fund for Vermont’s Children. “Besides parents, these individuals are a child’s first teacher. This award will honor an individual who has truly gone above and beyond to positively impact the lives of children, and has been a valuable resource for families.”

byEmma LambertonVermont WatchdogA prominent Republicanconsultant and local columnist is allegingthatGovernorPhilScott’s administration sought to prevent herfrom writingabout GOP dissent overtheRepublican governor’s immigration policies.

In recent years, Meg Hansen has earned areputation as aconservative consultant to theVermont House Republican Caucus. She also writes a conservative column that appears in the Eagle Times, the Rutland Herald and the Times Argus.

Montpelier, Vt. – America’s Joblink Alliance – a provider of the nationwide web-based database Joblink, which is used by the State of Vermont – has notified the State that the job seeker functionality of its website was compromised by a malicious software.

The Joblink system, which is also used by nine other states, is a standalone system and is not linked to any other State of Vermont systems. Initial details indicate this was a systematic breach designed to extract data from Joblink, and it is unknown whether the software was deliberately inserted or the result of an unintentional introduction by a jobseeker with an infected computer.

A national celebration and proclamation of the success and impact the SBDC programs have on economic development! Did you know that the Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC) is part of a nationwide network of Small Business Development Centers? For the first time ever, we are all teaming up to celebrate #SBDCday on March 22, 2017. America’s SBDC is the largest technical assistance program for small businesses in the country with nearly 1,000 centers providing no-cost advising and low-cost educational workshops for entrepreneurs and business owners.

Nationally, a new job is created every 5 minutes by an SBDC client. The average SBDC client business experiences sales growth 4 times greater than the national average and $100,000 in new capital is secured every 11.4 minutes.

Vermont Business Magazine In a development with direct implications for future work at Revision Military Newport, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) announced today that the US Army awarded Revision Military a contract for as much as $98 million to produce the next generation of combat helmets for soldiers. The announcement follows an intense competition for the project.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University has received $20,000 from the Olmsted Foundation to send 10 students along with Peace and War Center Director Professor Travis Morris to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa, for two weeks in May for cultural immersion and to study the conflict there firsthand. The trip is organized and planned by the students, who are all cadets on track to commission into the US military. The Olmsted Foundation provides opportunities for US military officers to travel for cultural immersion to enhance the American military.

Senator Leahy,Senator Sanders, Representative Welch We have expressed our serious concerns to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about these arrests of several farmworkers and farmworker advocates. We are also reaching out to ICE about the potential impact in Vermont of President Trump’s executive order calling for increased immigration enforcement. Instead of focusing on removing those people who pose a threat to public safety or national security, the Trump Administration is targeting all undocumented persons, including the people that help keep our dairy farms and rural economy afloat.

Vermont Business Magazine A study by researchers at the University of Vermont has revealed a link between adult opioid misuse and childhood emotional abuse, a new finding that suggests a rethinking of treatment approaches for opioid abusers. To uncover the link to emotional abuse, the study, published in the current issue of Addictive Behaviors, analyzed and cross referenced the results of a series of psychological tests administered to a sample of 84 individuals with a history of problem opioid use who had also suffered trauma during their lives.

Vermont Business Magazine Combined wages and benefits in the Northeast are nearly $7 per hour higher (19.4 percent) than the next highest region of the United States, and 39 percent higher than the lowest. Private industry employer costs for employee compensation among the four regions of the country ranged from $29.59 per hour in the South to $40.55 in the Northeast during December 2016, the USBureau of Labor Statistics reported Monday. In the other two regions, hourly employer costs for employee compensation stood at $30.23 in the Midwest and $33.97 in the West. The Northeast is comprised of the New England states, plusNew Jersey, New York andPennsylvania.