Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Representatives Matt Trieber (D-Bellows Falls), Sam Young (D-Glover) and Sarah Copeland-Hanzas (D-Bradford) will file a bill today that would create a statewide family and medical leave insurance program for all working Vermonters. The insurance plan would be separate from insurance one has from an employer. The bill has more than 40 cosponsors, including House Majority Leader Jill Krowinski, Assistant Majority Leader Tristan Toleno, and Deputy Assistant Majority Leader Emily Long, as well as five committee chairs. The proposal would give Vermonters up to 12 weeks of paid, job-protected leave to welcome a new child or care for a seriously ill loved one or themselves.

Vermont Business MagazineApplications are now being accepted for the 2017 Governor's Awards for Environmental Excellence. The annual award honors the actions taken by Vermonters to conserve and protect natural resources, prevent pollution and promote sustainability.

Vermont Business MagazineHill Farmstead Brewery has been named Best Brewery in the World for the year 2016, as well as Best Brewery in the United States and Vermont, by RateBeer, the world’s largest, most popular beer review and rating website. This is the third year in a row and the fourth time in the past five years that the brewery has been honored as Best Brewery in the World, United States and Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine FairPoint Communications has announced the completion of broadband expansion projects in 20 Vermont towns that extend and enhance FairPoint’s approximately 17,000 mile fiber optic network, which is the largest, fully-owned and managed fiber-based network in northern New England. As a result of these completed projects, improved broadband speeds are available to more than 5,100 locations in Vermont -- in some areas for the first time.

By Scott Giles Governor Phil Scott’s budget request to invest an additional $1 million in the nondegree grant program will pay off in real opportunities for Vermonters who need education and training for jobs that are waiting to be filled. In fact, over the next decade, seven out of 10 of the high-pay, high-demand jobs created in Vermont will require education or training after high school, according to Vermont’s Department of Labor. Education is the key to a better and more prosperous life and it’s the most powerful tool we have to end generational poverty and reverse social inequities.

But too many Vermonters don’t have the education and training they need now and that will be required in the future for the new workplace. For Vermonters, continuing education or training after high school isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity.

Preparing Vermonters for the future

Vermont Business Magazine Sterling College has once again been confirmed as the top college in the United States that serves food on campus that is local, sustainable, humane, and fair-trade. This is the third consecutive year Sterling has had this achievement. This classification comes from the Real Food Challenge, which surveyed over 200 colleges and universities throughout the United States. After reviewing all of the food used in the Sterling College kitchen from July 2015 to June 2016, the college found that 65% of its food met the real food qualification for production methods.

This year’s survey also revealed that 53% of Sterling’s food comes from farms within a 150-mile radius of the College; this includes the 35% of food that comes from its own on-campus farm, one of the first collegiate farms in the country. The campus-grown food is up from 20% last year.

Vermont Business Magazine The region’s premier design and construction event kicked off today in South Burlington. More than 1000 building, design, and clean energy professionals gathered for Efficiency Vermont’s 16^th Better Buildings by Design Conference taking place over the next two days. This year’s conference kicked off with keynote speaker Ann Edminster, an award winning author and international sustainable residential construction and zero-net energy expert.

The winners of Efficiency Vermont’s Best of the Best Awards were announced during the opening remarks of the conference. Given annually, the awards recognize high achievement by architects, engineers, builders, and contractors using energy efficiency and sustainability practices to construct or renovate Vermont buildings.

Vermont Business MagazineLast week, the Vermont Department of Taxes and the IRS began accepting tax returns for the 2016 tax year and there are a few changes the department would like taxpayers to know about. The department continues to experience a rise in attempted tax refund fraud, an alarming trend that mirrors what is happening in other states and at the federal level. State revenue departments and the IRS are implementing procedures to help protect the taxpayer’s money. Vermont taxpayers will be asked to provide a Vermont driver’s license or state-issued identification card number when filing. If the information is not provided and the department cannot verify your identity, this may delay the processing of a refund.

Vermont Business MagazineVermont business associations representing small, medium and large, businesses and their employees across Vermont find the recent Executive Order signed by President Trump to be contrary to the economic and humanitarian values that have defined our state and our country since its inception. The statement was issued jointly by the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce (LCRCC), the Vermont Business Roundtable (VBR), the Vermont Chamber of Commerce (VCC) and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR).

As a state whose history is steeped in the legacy of those fleeing religious and political oppression, and as a state whose history is woven throughout the American Revolution's fight for personal liberty and freedom, our Associations reject the underlying assumption that one's race, religion or culture should create an automatic bar to entry into our country.

Senator Bernie Sanders The Supreme Court plays an enormously important role in American life. Unfortunately, in recent years, that role has been largely negative. I look forward to questioning Judge Gorsuch about his positions on the most important issues that impact Vermonters and all Americans and his views on recent Supreme Court decisions. In recent years, the disastrous Citizens United ruling opened the floodgates on campaign cash and let corporations and millionaires buy elections. The court tore up the Voting Rights Act and cleared the way for Republican governors and state legislatures to suppress the vote and make it harder for poor people, people of color, young people and senior citizens to vote. This is the court that in a long string of cases was far friendlier to big business than to the needs of workers. This is a court that let Exxon off the hook for $5 billion in fines for a disastrous oil spill in Alaska and stymied efforts to combat global warming. This is a court that has chipped away at a woman's right to control her own body.

Senator Patrick Leahy In light of the unconstitutional actions of our new president in just his first week, the Senate owes the American people a thorough and unsparing examination of this nomination. I had hoped that President Trump would work in a bipartisan way to pick a mainstream nominee like Merrick Garland and bring the country together. Instead, he outsourced this process to far-right interest groups. This is no way to treat a co-equal branch of government, or to protect the independence of our Federal judiciary.

by Leigh Cole Dinse Knapp McAndrew You may be getting questions about the Executive Order (EO) "Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals” affecting citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. With the caveat that events are changing rapidly, here are my immediate recommendations with respect to individuals from these countries: