Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Climate Solutions Caucus of the Vermont General Assembly today announced its leadership and initial membership for the 2017-18 legislative biennium. Founded in 2012, the non-partisan Climate Solution Caucus supports legislation that promotes Vermont's economy while reducing reliance on fossil fuels. In the 2017-18 legislative biennium, the Climate Solutions Caucus has doubled in size to 63 members and represents 34 percent of the House of Representatives and 40 percent of the Senate.

“In an era of rapidly rising temperatures and reality denial in Washington, DC, the need for Vermont leadership on climate solutions has never been more urgent,” said Sen. Richard McCormack, Caucus Co-Chair.

by Guy Page The advantage to Vermonters of the sale of Vermont Yankee to NorthStar can be summed up this way: sooner rather than later. As early as 2021, NorthStar, would begin a decade’s worth of decommissioning. By comparison, the original decommissioning plan as prescribed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission would begin no sooner than about 20 years from now, and more likely around 2072.

This advanced schedule means that sooner rather than later, NorthStar’s plan can stimulate broad-based employment and prosperity for retail, food and lodging, housing, and healthcare sectors, as well as government spending on schools, roads, public safety and other vital services in Windham County and throughout the state. Total estimated economic impact: $781 million [Brattle Group study, 12/15/2016].

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims edged up last week, but fell from the same time last year, which has been the pattern so far in 2017. By industry, Construction reported the most claims, as it has since the beginning of the new year. Most times of the year, Services record the most claims. The spikes in the graph below reveal the volatility in hiring and firing in Service positions around the holidays.

For the week of February 18, 2017, there were 571 claims, up 17 from the previous week's total and 272 fewer than than they were a year ago. Year-to-year claims have been lower the last several weeks.

Altogether 6,838 new and continuing claims were filed, an iincrease of 57 from a week ago, and 621 fewer than a year ago.

Vermont Business Magazine Community leaders gathered at 206 Park Street in Bennington to welcome Southwestern Vermont Health Care employees Russell Carrier and Leah Hart, along with their 9-month-old son Able, to their new home. The young family’s new home was provided by Healthy Homes for Bennington, LC3. The organization is a project of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC), in cooperation with The Bank of Bennington and the Town of Bennington. Healthy Homes’ mission is to enhance community health while revitalizing Bennington, Vermont’s downtown region by renovating distressed or vacant homes and facilitating home ownership.

Vermont Business Magazine In response to the President’s announcement that he intends to rollback protections for transgender students, Attorney General Donovan re-affirmed the commitment of his office and the State of Vermont, to protecting the civil rights of all Vermonters. Governor Jim Douglas signed Act 41, in May 2007, which prohibits gender identity discrimination in workplaces, housing, and places of public accommodation, including schools. Vermont students have been entitled to those protections even before the Obama Administration took a position on transgender rights. Those rights survive any decision by the current Administration.

Vermont Business MagazineTo help the public better understand the benefits of cover crops and other environmentally friendly farming practices, three Vermont farmer watershed protection groups have partnered to produce a short video.The video,Protecting the Soil: Cover Crops for Clean Water, was developed by the Champlain Valley Farmer Coalition (CVFC), Connecticut River Watershed Farmers Alliance (CRWFA) and Farmer's Watershed Alliance (FWA) in cooperation with University of Vermont (UVM) Extension. Itfeatures Vermont agronomists and farmers discussing strategies for using winter cover crops to help protect Lake Champlain and other state waterways.

Vermont Business MagazineThe Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation announced today that $600,000 is being awarded to Vermont municipalities for public outdoor recreation projects. The outdoor recreation grants are funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a program of the National Park Service.

LWCF funds are made available to municipalities around the state to conserve lands and develop infrastructure dedicated to outdoor recreation. Since 1964, the LWCF program has granted more than $48 million in projects and provided 27,000 acres of land for outdoor recreation in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Barre-based Northern Power Systems Corp.(TSX: NPS), a next generation renewable energy technology company, today announced that Mr.Kevin Kopczynskihas been appointed to the company's Board of Directors, replacingMarcus Baker, President of the Baker Companies, Inc. Kopczynski is Senior Director of Research and Development at First Solar. He previously served from 2013 to 2016 as President and CEO of Enki Technology, a solar materials company. He successfully guided Enki from the early development stage to the revenue generation stage and as part of that growth, established key customer partnerships in the US and China.This growth culminated with Enki's acquisition by First Solar.

Vermont Business Magazine More than 4,200 megawatts of generating capacity (primarily coal, oil, and nuclear) have retired or announced plans to retire since 2013, and more retirements are likely in the New England region, according to the just-released ISO New England 2017 Regional Electricity Outlook. The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, which closed at the end of 2014, had produced over 600 megawatts of electricity. ISO also reports that the regional electric demand is going down and is expected to continue on that trend, with Vermont expected to need 0.6 percent less electricity by 2025. ISO also expects the region to add significant solar electric generation.

WalletHub Often perceived as socially drab lawmaking centers, many state capitals actually are thriving hubs of activity and thus some of the most livable places in America. But not all state capitals are created equal. And though 17 of them are the largest cities in their states, the biggest population doesn’t always represent the best quality of life. Montpelier ranked 6th overall and Austin was first. In the sub-categories, Montpelier ranked first in both health and educational attainment.

by Robyn Freedner-Maguire, Let’s Grow Kids Campaign Director The recent closures of child care programs across the state are incredibly alarming. High-quality, affordable child care is foundational to supporting the healthy development of our children and to our state’s economy. Vermont’s children, families and businesses cannot afford to lose more programs when we’re already facing a serious child care shortage.

Some have pointed to Vermont’s updated regulations for child care programs as a reason for programs closing their doors. In many cases, though, the regulations were the final straw for businesses already on the edge. We need regulations to ensure the safe and healthy development of our children, but when child care providers can’t afford to invest in their programs for the sake of our kids, we know the system is seriously challenged.

Vermont Business MagazineThe Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing has announced that Vicky Tebbetts has been selected as the new chair of the Vermont Travel & Recreation Council (TRC). Tebbetts was elected to the post by a vote of current TRC Board members. The TRC is responsible for advising the Secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development on matters relating to state travel and recreation policy, state travel and recreation promotion programs, and other programs overseen by the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing.

Vicky Tebbetts, newchair of the Vermont Travel & Recreation Council.