Current News

by CB Hall Vermont Business Magazine In collaboration with Troy's Couture Trucking, Burlington-based Vermont Rail System (VRS) has completed a new transload facility in Barton. The two companies will christen the new facility with an open house at noon on Thursday, December 8.

Vermont Business Magazine Trash disposal decreased 5 percent and recycling increased 2 percent between 2014 and 2015. Total waste also appears to have plateaued in Vermont to about 600,000, after closing in on 650,000 tons a year in 2007, just before the Great Recession hit. Vermont's Universal Recycling law (Act 148) was unanimously passed by the Legislature in 2012 in response to the state’s stagnant recycling rates that had hovered around 30-36 percent for nearly two decades. As much as 50 percent of Vermonts trash includes recyclable or compostable materials like food scraps and leaf and yard debris.

Vermont Business Magazine "We are very proud of the collaborative spirit and attention to detail our designers, contractor and resident engineer have utilized throughout the project. As laid clearly in the BPRW Master Plan (2015), BPRW pushed quality in everything we do. Meticulously hewn and installed steps of Barre granite, high grade carpentry at the decked overlook at Pause Place 3, and several examples of fastidiously fabricated metal work from a Burlington shop, Phase 1b of the Burlington Bike Path Rehabilitation represents a grand vision of industrial reclamation executed to the finest detail."

by Joshua Brown, UVM The ice sheet covering Greenland is four times bigger than California — and holds enough water to raise global sea-level more than 20 feet if most of it were to melt. Today, sea levels are rising, and the melting of Greenland is a major contributor. Understanding how fast this melting might proceed is a pressing question for policymakers and coastal communities.

Vermont Business Magazine Former state representative Michael Fisher will join Vermont Legal Aid as Vermont’s Chief Health Care Advocate on January 2. Fisher will lead the Office of the Health Care Advocate, which was established by the Legislature in 1998 to assist Vermonters who have questions and problems with access to health care services and health insurance and to represent the health care interests of all Vermonters in the legislature and before state agencies. 

Michael Fisher, Vermont Legal Aid Chief Health Care Advocate

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called Wednesday on President-elect Donald Trump to keep his promise to protect Medicare and Social Security. During his campaign for president, Trump repeatedly promised to protect Medicare. But he nominated Representative Tom Price (R-GA), who has a long history of supporting cuts to Medicare, to run the Department of Health and Human Services.

Vermont Business Magazine Devonwood Investors LLC, owner and developer of the Burlington Town Center (BTC), today announced that PC Construction of South Burlington has been selected as general contractor for the $200-plus million Burlington Town Center redevelopment project. The redevelopment will reconstruct much of the existing Church Street mall, rebuild Pine and St Paul streets and add an apartment and office tower. Construction is expected to commence in the first half of 2017.

Vermont Business Magazine Today Representative Peter Welch (D-VT) sent a letter to President-Elect Donald Trump outlining practical steps he can take to steady wildly fluctuating milk prices and restore stability to the dairy industry. “Dairy farmers are imperiled by wildly fluctuating milk prices that threaten the very existence of many farms. Just in the last two years, producers have experienced a 40 percent drop in milk prices. Many dairy farms are selling milk below the cost of production and are on the brink of selling their herds. This boom and bust cycle has taken a substantial toll on Vermont farmers,” Welch writes.    

The letter suggests the following steps for stabilization:

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) surpassed 5 million "likes" on his Senate Facebook page Tuesday. The enormous grassroots following is greater than any other member of Congress, according to Facebook data. It comes on the heels of his massive following during his presidential campaign, where he led all candidates in individual contributions.

Vermont Business Magazine South Carolina-based J M Smith Corporation has entered into a merger agreement with Burlington Drug Company and will also purchase certain operations assets of Pharmacy Health Services (PHS). Once the agreement is completed, in early 2017, they will operate as subsidiaries of J M Smith Corporation. Burlington Drug Company will continue to manage all operations, customer service and sales functions out of the current facility in Milton, Vermont. PHS facilities will continue to serve customers at their existing locations. Financial terms were not released.

This business combination will enable J M Smith Corporation to expand market offerings to the important Northeast market of the United States, while giving Burlington Drug Company customers access to a variety of new tools, services and products that w ill create additional growth opportunities for their businesses.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) proposed an amendment Tuesday to lower the cost of prescription drugs by letting Medicare negotiate drug prices and allowing for the importation from other countries of low-cost prescription drugs – both proposals advocated by President-elect Donald Trump. Republicans blocked the Sanders amendment.

Vermont Business Magazine The USDOL Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance in Washington, DC, issued a determination on November 15, 2016, approving the Vermont Department of Labor’s (VDOL) request for Trade Certification for the August 2015 laid-off workers from Keurig Green Mountain in Waterbury and South Burlington. Approximately 200 workers were laid off. The certification has authorized all workers of Keurig Green Mountain in Waterbury and South Burlington, who meet the eligibility criteria, to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance under Chapter 2 of Title II of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended.

Eligible workers include: