Current News

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.

Vermont Business Magazine On March 1, 2017, the Board of Directors of Northwestern Counseling & Support Services, Inc(NCSS) selected Todd Bauman as the agency’s next executive director. Starting in July, Bauman will follow in the footsteps of Ted Mable, who has served as the agency’s leader since 1998. Bauman was recommended to the Board of Directors by the hiring committee after a nationwide search and vigorous review of 68 applications. Bauman’s 28-year career in mental health and government—12 of which have been at NCSS as the director of Children, Youth & Family Services—has more than prepared Bauman to lead the organization.

Vermont Business MagazineGifford Medical Center’s Nuclear Medicine and Mammography Departments have each received a three-year accreditation renewal after reviews by the American College of Radiology (ACR). These accreditations are awarded to confirm for patients that a facility meets quality assurance and safety guidelines, meets nationally accepted standards of care, and that the staff is well qualified.

Vermont Business MagazineSugarbush Resort has received both the Governor’s Wellness Award and the Vermont Leadership Award from the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Sugarbush wins its third Governor’s Wellness Award in recognition of the resort’s Safety, Environment, Wellness Committee (SEW). The award highlights worksites around the state and their efforts to promote the health and wellness of employees. Initiatives undertaken by the SEW Committee include having staff complete Personal Safety Plans, educating staff and guests on recycling and composting, creating fitness opportunities for staff, implementing an Employee Wellness Meal Program, and introducing a staff hydration plan with reusable water bottles and filling stations.

Vermont Business Magazine Capstone Community Action in Barre has announced the results of its first-ever winter fundraising campaign, Fuel Your Neighbors, designed to raise critical funds for fuel and food assistance for Central Vermonters in need. The campaign, launched on Giving Tuesday in November 2016, set a lofty fundraising goal of $50,000. With the support of general community donations, including a $10,000 initial matching donation from VSECU, the organization surpassed its fundraising goal and raised $65,000.

Children and seniors are the most vulnerable to the high costs of winter, and are the most adversely affected this time of year. One in five central Vermont children goes to school hungry and many retired seniors struggle with high heating costs and faulty furnaces that need repair.

Vermont Business MagazineBlue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT) and Terry Bicycles (Terry) are back with the fourth running of Wellness Revolution, a program designed to promote healthier lifestyles for Vermont women through cycling. Registration for the eight-week program begins on March 20 and ends onApril 7.