Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced the appointment of Sarah George as Chittenden County State’s Attorney. George has served as the County’s Deputy State’s Attorney since 2011, where she prosecuted thousands of cases, including aggravated assault, domestic violence, attempted murder and murder. She has been a leader in seeking justice for victims of domestic violence, serving as Lead Prosecutor for domestic violence cases in Chittenden County for over two years, and serving as a domestic violence investigator for the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office in 2010.

“It is an honor to appoint Ms George to this role, as she has demonstrated a commitment to justice and public service throughout her entire career,” said Gov. Scott. “She is a strong, decisive prosecutor who came highly recommended from many respected community voices and colleagues. I am confident she will serve the people of Chittenden County well.”

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine State economists downgraded on Thursday Vermont’s current fiscal year tax revenue expectations as well as next year’s (FY 2017 & FY 2018) and largely blamed the suddenly moribund Corporate Income tax. The Corp tax is below its target by over $9 million halfway through FY17. Economists Tom Kavet and Jeff Carr expect the total shortfall for the year to be $24.6 million for the state’s General Fund when all factors are figured in. Governor Phil Scott wondered whether even that was too rosy a projection.

by CB Hall Vermont Business MagazineRepresentatives of Vermont's solar industry are for the most part looking to the future with cautious optimism, hoping that the established nature of the no-longer-novel industry will serve as a bulwark against policies that the administration of President Donald Trump, with its skeptical view of renewable energy, might impose.

Vermont Business Magazine CE Bradley Laboratories, a Brattleboro company that manufactures coatings, will design and install a system that captures and controls solvent vapors at its plant, ensuring that workers are protected from solvent emissions and that the environment is protected from a possible release of solvent emissions. In an agreement with the US Environmental Protection Agency, CE Bradley will spend $272,711 on an environmental project that consists of designing and installing a solvent emission capture and control system in the manufacturing area of its Brattleboro facility. The company will also pay a penalty of $71,000 to settle claims by EPA that it violated federal and state hazardous waste laws.

CE Bradley Laboratories, Brattleboro. VBM file photo.

Vermont Business MagazineAsGrow Compostheads into 2017, it is focusing on three priorities to help businesses meet the requirements ofAct 148, the state’s Universal Recycling Law -- diverting liquid organic wastes from breweries and distilleries, diverting food scraps from businesses, and helping businesses cut the amount of food scraps they throw away.Grow Compost’s expansion plan is being funded through the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund,Flexible Capital Fund.

Vermont Business MagazineSunCommon of Waterbury and Sustainable Energy Development (SED) of Ontario, New York, have announced a new partnership, bringing SunCommon’s brand residential solar expertise and innovative Community Solar program to Western NY markets.

Vermont Business MagazineThe Champlain College Center for Financial Literacy has received a $120,000 challenge grant from Next Gen Personal Finance, a non-profit organization that connects educators and students with free financial literacy resources. According to an announcement Wednesday,Champlain's CFL is one of the few places in the nation that offers educators a three-credit graduate summer residency course. This nationally recognized training program was last held during the summers of 2011-2013.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Business Magazine and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce have announced the top forty-five Best Places to Work in Vermont 2017. The awards program was created in 2006 and is presented in partnership with the Society for Human Resource Management, Vermont State Council, (SHRM), the Agency of Economic Opportunity and Best Companies Group.

By Jim Condos, Vermont’s Secretary of State The Vermont Constitution (Chapter 1, Article 6) demands that our elected officials are open, transparent, and accountable. The authors understood how transparency in government is the very basis of trust. State statute also demands access and accountability:

It is the policy of this subchapter to provide for free and open examination of records consistent with Chapter I, Article 6 of the Vermont Constitution. Officers of government are trustees and servants of the people and it is in the public interest to enable any person to review and criticize their decisions even though such examination may cause inconvenience or embarrassment. (1 V.S.A. § 315)

Vermont Business Magazine Jay Peak Resort announced Tuesday it has been named among the Top 10 (#5 on the list) Best Ski areas by Liftopia, which operates the largest consumer marketplace and resort technology platform for ski lift tickets and other mountain activities. Voters in Liftopia’s 2016-17 Best in Snow Awards specifically touted Jay Peak Resort’s “tremendous amount of back country” with “New England-style skiing at its best including tight, twisty runs and challenging glade skiing that is far enough from the coast and gets tons of snow.”

Vermont Busness MagazineNational Life employees pumped nearly $289,000 into local nonprofits through their own payroll deductions and a matching program offered by the company’s charitable foundation in 2016. In its annual Community Giving Campaign, National Life gives employees the option of donating to nonprofits through payroll deduction. And for the second year, the National Life Group Foundation matched donations up to $1,500.

Employees responded by donating to more than 200 organizations in amounts ranging from $15 to $1,500. The organizations were primarily in central and northern Vermont and in the Dallas region, where National Life’s primary offices are located.

by John McClaughry Six years ago a Democratic Congress and President enacted ObamaCare. Whatever one may have thought about its merits, after six years it is unmistakably clear that it cannot continue without heroic, disruptive interventions in 2017, costing many billions of dollars. Congressional Democrats, who have taken serious beatings at the polls for championing the act, argue that its salvation consists of creating the government-run “public option” health insurance company. President Obama rejected that idea in 2009, telling Congress that “My guiding principle is, and always has been, that consumers do better when there is choice and competition.”

The Democrats also want billions of new tax dollars for larger premium subsidies and more multibillion dollar insurance industry bailouts. Their too-clever new slogan is that the Republicans will “make America Sick Again.” None of that will fly.