Current News

Vermont Business Magazine - The U.S. government recently expanded its Historically Underutilized Business Zones program in Vermont. The HUBZone program assists small businesses gain preferential access to federal contracts due to limited economic development in rural communities.

The SBA changed its regulations to implement certain sections of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016.  Among other things, these sections expanded the definition of "base closure area" under the HUBZone program.  As a result, Addison, Bennington, Orange, Rutland, Windsor and Windham counties have been designated as HUBZone due to the 2011 closures of Courcelle Brothers U.S. Army Reserve Command in Rutland and Chester, Vt.

Orleans County is an existing HUBZone based on unemployment data, and Essex County continues to be designated as a HUBZone based on and income and unemployment data.

Vermont Business Magazine - Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Wednesday morning met with his staff to inform them of his decision about the Senate committee on which he has chosen to serve as Ranking Member in the new115^th Congress, which convenes in January.  Leahy has the most seniority of all members of the Senate and currently serves as the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee.  Leahy has chosen to serve as Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee in the new Congress (in the Appropriations Committee, the title of the post is “Vice Chairman”).  Leahy will continue to have the most seniority overall on all the committees on which he serves: Appropriations, Judiciary, and Agriculture.

Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)

Vermont Business Magazine - U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) launched his seventh annual State of the Union essay contest Tuesday, calling on Vermont’s high school students to address what they view as the major issues facing the United States.

Last year, nearly 800 students from 39 Vermont high schools wrote essays detailing their own view of the “state of the union.” 

The U.S. Constitution calls for the president to “give to the Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” Sanders is again asking Vermont’s high school students to consider writing an essay of 250 to 500 words detailing their own view of the state of the union.

How about some smoked maple syrup with that yakitori? And some Vermont hard cider to wash it down? Japanese consumers may soon see more Vermont products on the menu, thanks to a successful trade mission led by Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Jolinda LaClair. Eight of Vermont’s premier specialty food and beverage companies, including maple, cheese, cider and spirits traveled to Tokyo with the Deputy Secretary during the last week in October. The trip was co-organized by Susan Murray, Director of the U.S. Commercial Service Vermont Export Assistance Center, and Food Export USA, a non-profit trade promotion organization based in Philadelphia.

Bipartisan legislation will direct calculation of job creation and consumer spending

Vermont Business Magazine - The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved bipartisan legislation authored by Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) that would direct the Department of Commerce to assess and quantify the contributions to job creation and consumer spending of the outdoor and recreation industry. The Outdoor Recreation’s Economic Contributions (REC) Act would ensure that outdoor recreation jobs are counted by the federal government and would be measured as part of the overall GDP, for the first time ever.

Welch introduced the REC Act in March with Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA), Dave Reichert (R-WA), and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA). 

Vermont Business Magazine - “Voting is at the very basis of our democracy and every vote counts,” stated Secretary of State Jim Condos.

Secretary Condos chaired the statewide canvassing committee for the General Election at 128 State Street, Montpelier this morning at 10 a.m. This Canvass is to certify the votes for the November 8 General Election as reported to the Secretary of State.  The statewide canvassing committee is set by state law and is composed of the Secretary of State and the chair of the state committee of each major political party or his/her designee. Although the Canvass only requires statewide results, the committee is provided town by town vote counts as well as county and statewide total vote counts.

Vermont Business Magazine - During a ceremonial groundbreaking for a new, world-class community waterfront campus and sailing education center, the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center (CSC), a nonprofit with a mission to provide community access to Lake Champlain, today announced two anchor gifts, each for $1 million, in their $5.75 million Love Your Lake Capital Campaign. The gifts, one from the Pomerleau Family Foundation, and the second from family and friends in honor of Raymond P. Sullivan, will help to support the construction of The Pomerleau Community Waterfront Campus and Raymond P. Sullivan Sailing Education Center.

Vermont Business Magazine - Usherwood Office Technology, a leading regional provider of Information Technology solutions and services throughout the Northeast, has been officially named a Xerox Authorized Solution Provider. Usherwood will offer Xerox’s line of industry leading technology solutions across a five state region. Usherwood presently has nine offices and projects to open many more in the next five years. The company is committed to offering best in class solutions.
“We are excited to have Usherwood representing Xerox products and solutions. They represent best in class solutions backed by a 40 year legacy of service. This makes us ideal partners,” says Darren Cassidy, President of Xerox US Solutions Group.
Usherwood recently earned recognition for the fourth consecutive year by being named one of Central New York’s Best Places to work as well as named an Elite Dealer by ENX Magazine for the second year in a row.

Vermont Business Magazine - #Giving Tuesday is a national movement created to inspire people to take collaborative action to give back to the charities and causes they support, and takes place on the Tuesday after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This year #Giving Tuesday falls on November 29.  Please join Rutland Regional Medical Center in this giving initiative, as we are raising money to purchase 25 new advanced technology defibrillators.

More than 500,000 children and adults in the United States die each year due to cardiac arrest. According to the American Heart Association, “A victim’s chance of surviving drops by seven to ten percent for every minute a normal heartbeat isn’t restored. The most effective therapies during resuscitation are technically proficient CPR and rapid defibrillation.” A Defibrillator can stop sudden cardiac arrest.

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Medical Center and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Putnam Physicians have expanded their orthopedic practice, located at 332 Dewey Street in Bennington, with the addition of three outstanding orthopedists. Beginning January 1, 2017, patients with painful joints, complex fractures, and sports-related injuries will find greater access to an exceptional physician group, enhanced services, and a renovated office environment at SVMC Orthopedics.

The new orthopedic physicians include: Jonathan Cluett, MD; Suk Namkoong, MD; and James R. Whittum, MD. Together, they were in practice at Orthopedic Associates of Northern Berkshire, in North Adams, Massachusetts. They join Matthew Nofziger, MD, who has been on the medical staff at SVMC since 2004. All four physicians are certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery.

Vermont Business Magazine This week is National Hunger and Homelessness week and Vermonters across the state are participating in the 3SquaresVT Challenge to help raise awareness about the challenges of eating healthfully on a limited food budget and the importance of protecting 3SquaresVT (formerly known as Food Stamps and known nationally as SNAP). Participants can take the Challenge for the whole week, a day, or a meal — approximately $37 for the week for one person, $5.29 for a day, or $1.76 per meal. The purpose of the Challenge is not to emulate the reality of food insecurity for Vermonters — many of whom may rely on a variety of programs and resources to meet their families’ needs — but to instead draw attention to the experience of living on a strict food budget and how that may or may not change your daily life both physically and psychologically as a participant.