Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and members of his senior staff and cabinet will travel to Quebec City today for the governor’s first official meetings with their counterparts in Quebec, Vermont’s largest trade partner. Scott will also meet with several businesses with current and prospective ties to Vermont.

“A strong collaboration and partnership with Quebec is essential to strengthening Vermont’s economy, security and environment, so it was important to visit the province early in my term, along with members of my team, to meet my counterpart and discuss how we can work together in support of shared goals,” Scott said.

The trip will include meetings with Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard and multiple members of his Cabinet, as well as business and industry groups in the Province. Scott and Premier Couillard will host a joint press conference onWednesday, February 15 at 3 pmat theÉdifice-Honoré Mercier, Premier’s Office.

Vermont Business Magazine South Burlington-based PC Construction, among the nation’s largest employee-owned construction companies, announced today that it has opened its second Florida office, located in Pompano Beach at 1100 Park Central Boulevard South. This office, combined with the Coral Gables office opened in 2015, will supplement the company’s construction operations in Florida and provide additional support for clients and partners. Five new team members are now based in the Pompano Beach office and provide key estimating and operations support functions for Florida projects.

PC Construction’s Florida operations dates back over 20 years and primarily encompasses work in the water and wastewater treatment industry with a significant emphasis on design-build delivery.

Vermont Business Magazine Merchants Bank and Merchants Bank’s customers around Chittenden County donated hundreds of items to the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS) at the end of 2016, along with a check for $1,250. The Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS) is the largest service provider for the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless in Vermont. COTS offers emergency shelter, prevention assistance, support services, and transitional and permanent housing for those who are homeless and marginally housed.

Vermont Business Magazine More than 400 mothers skied at Vermont’s Bromley Mountain in Peru on Friday, February 3 to support the Southwestern Vermont Regional Cancer Center in Bennington, part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC). Each received a $20 lift ticket when they presented a photo of their children at the resort’s ticket window. SVHC’s President and CEO Thomas A. Dee, FACHE; Vice President for Corporate Development Leslie Keefe; Cancer Center Nurse Manager Jennifer Coutu; and Breast Health Navigator Rebecca Hewson-Steller attended. The first 100 participants received an SVHC gift bag. All ticket revenue, a total of $8,140, was donated to the Cancer Center.

Vermont Drug Task Force On February 14, 2017, 26 individuals were arrested in Orleans County for various offenses related to heroin and opiate trafficking. These arrests stem from an ongoing investigation established by the Vermont Drug Task Force in cooperation with the Vermont State Police, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Newport City Police Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont and the Orleans County State’s Attorney’s Office, and the Vermont Attorney General’s Office. Over the course of seven months the Vermont Drug Task Force conducted multiple drug investigations focusing on heroin and opioids. The investigations were in response to multiple opiate related overdoses in Orleans County.

Senator Patrick Leahy Serious questions remain unanswered about whether the President knew of Flynn’s conversations with the Russians, and about Vladimir Putin’s relationship with other individuals close to the President. It should comfort no one that the people who seem to be the most upset today are the Russians.

Vermont Business Magazine VPR Classical, Vermont’s 24-hour classical music network, is now available in Waterbury, Stowe, Morrisville and Hyde Park at 96.5 FM.The new station reaches a population of more than 16,000 and is broadcasting from the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe. Because of its location and elevation, the 250-watt signal reaches Stowe, Morrisville, Waterbury and Hyde Park.

In 2014, VPR was awarded a permit from the FCC to build a translator to serve Waterbury. After an engineering study, VPR asked the FCC to relocate the translator to Stowe while still meeting the requirement to cover Waterbury. The FCC granted the request in November 2016. The Trapp Family Lodge is allowing VPR use of the site in exchange for underwriting in lieu of rent.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott Monday evening announced the re-appointment of Rebecca Holcombe as Secretary of Education, and the appointment of Terry Norris as Representative for the Addison-Rutland District, encompassing the towns of Shoreham, Orwell, Whiting and Benson. With the appointment of Secretary Holcombe, who was selected from a list of candidates recommended by the State Board of Education, Governor Scott has now filled all Cabinet-level positions. She was first appointed by Governor Shumlin to the role in January 2014.

Rebecca Holcombe with Governor Shumlin in 2013.

Vermont Business Magazine All this week, Green Mountain Transit will be collecting items at its new Downtown Transit Center in Burlington and administrative offices in Burlington, Berlin, and St Albans to donate to Canal Street Veterans Housing. Canal Street Veterans Housing is an innovative approach to veterans’ assistance that COTS hopes will serve as a national example – creative housing, not shelter, for formerly homeless veterans. The program provides veterans with time to transition back into the community, allowing participants to stay up to 24 months with their families.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Community Loan Fund is now accepting applications for Building Bright Spaces for Bright Futures (BBSBF) 2017 grants. BBSFBF grants can be used for assistance in starting, relocating, expanding, or improving a Vermont child care program’s physical facility and/or accessibility. BBSFBF grants also may be used for real estate purchase, facility construction and renovation, as well as pre-development costs, interest rate subsidies and costs in meeting child care licensing facility requirements.

Vermont Business Magazine The Chittenden County Homeless Alliance announced today a $60,000 grant from Delta Dental Plan of Vermont awarded to fund a collective impact approach towards making homelessness in Chittenden County both rare and brief. The award will help expand and coordinate the involvement of government, business, philanthropy, non-profit organizations and citizens through the hiring of backbone support. This support will better organize local efforts around homelessness, to reinforce successful strategies and to ensure that success is measured consistently through systems of reliable shared data.

Vermont Business Magazine Only one new drug has become available over the past 50 years for the estimated 1.5 million Americans and five million-plus people worldwide suffering from lupus, but new research has identified a previously unknown mechanism involved in the immune response that could provide an alternative therapy target.

Lupus (also known as systemic lupus erythematosus) is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the immune system is unable to distinguish the difference between foreign invaders, such as viruses and bacteria, from its own healthy body tissue, so it attacks itself, damaging skin, joints, and kidneys – among other organs – in the process. The disease is also marked by elevated levels of type I interferon, a substance normally secreted by immune cells in response to viral infections. The origin of the interferon signature in lupus has remained a mystery for years.