Current News

by Mike Smith Some political candidates may wish Tuesday’s election is about something else; but the most important issue on the minds of a majority of Vermonters is the economy. WCAX-TV reported that 21.6 percent of those Vermonters polled want the next governor to focus on the economy and jobs, followed by 14.8 percent who said health care was a top priority, while 13.8 percent said taxes. If you combine these top three issues (health care concerns are probably driven by the cost of health care coverage) just over 50 percent of Vermonters are concerned about economic issues when they think about the race for governor. Other issues such as marijuana legalization were far behind these major economic concerns. Castleton Polling Institute reported similar results last year. There are probably three primary reasons for this continued economic angst.    

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Teddy Bear Company proudly announces its inclusion in the November 3, 2016 edition of The Washington Post, in an article entitled “Toy Animals Come to Life on a Factory Tour of the Vermont Teddy Bear Company,” written by travel writer Andrea Sachs. “We are so excited to be highlighted with other great Vermont companies in such a highly-regarded newspaper,” says Shouldice. “Ms. Sachs truly encapsulated what a visit to Vermont Teddy Bear is all about.”

Big Picture Farm: A Newfane farm (Snow Farm) parody of Shake it Off by Taylor Swift.

Vermont Business Magazine Last year, Lake Region Union High School in Orleans was named State Winner in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest for developing a website where the community can post to if they have excess produce to share with those in need. Today, other local schools can enter the 2017 contest for a chance to win part of the $2 million prize.

by Joshua E. Brown, UVM In Africa, tens of thousands of elephants are killed by poachers each year. Now a new study shows that this poaching crisis costs African countries around $25 million annually in lost tourism revenue. The research was published November 1 in the journal Nature Communications. The research, undertaken by scientists at the University of Vermont’s Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the University of Cambridge, represents the first continent-wide assessment of the economic losses that the current elephant poaching surge is inflicting on nature-based tourism economies in Africa.

Vermont Department of Economic Development The Economic Development Department released its monthly newsletter Friday. It talks about the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Blake Hill Preserves in early October, in Windsor’s Artisans Park. The park represents a combined investment of the private sector, VEDA, the Springfield Regional Development Corporation, and the town of Windsor. It is where you can find — Harpoon, VT Farmstead Cheese, Silo Distillery, and now, Blake Hill.

Vermont Business Magazine Accessing health care and health insurance are significant challenges for farmers in Vermont and nationwide, creating obstacles for farm viability, health and well-being, job creation, business expansion and the ability to farm full-time. A day-long summit at the University of Vermont on Thursday brought together key stakeholders in Vermont’s health, agriculture, tax, government, and Extension sectors to share perspectives and discuss opportunities for collaboration and integration of the spheres of health and agriculture to better serve Vermont’s farmers.

The intended outcome is to develop a statewide coordinated approach to addressing health and health insurance in the Vermont farm sector. This event is part of the ongoing USDA Health Insurance, Rural Economic Development and Agriculture research project (HIREDnAg).

Vermont Business Magazine Five Rutland-area businesses have been awarded a total of $104,141 in Regional Economic Development Grants sought by Rutland Economic Development Corp. (REDC) and provided by the State of Vermont. The awards were announced at REDC’s annual meeting last week. REDC applied for the grants on behalf of Carpenter & Costin, Awesome Graphics, Ann Clark Cookie Cutters, Vermont Maple Sriracha, and BalanceWorks, all businesses located in Rutland County.

“Investment spurred by the grants will create 20 new jobs in the area and increase productivity through the purchase of equipment and facilities improvements,” said Lyle Jepson, executive director of REDC.  “The recipients of the grants are businesses from a variety of sectors, each one in a position to grow due to the success they’ve generated.  The grants will help facilitate that growth.”

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims fell last week for the first time this fall and are below levels from a year ago. Among industrial sectors Manufacturing claims fell by more than half from previous week, while Construction was up slightly. After running at a very low level during the latter part of the summer, overall claims have increased during the fall and have been running steadily ahead of 2015. Looking ahead, the holidays typically produce wild swings in unemployment claims, because of an increase in hiring in the Service sector, from retail to delivery-related businesses, and then an abrupt round of layoffs after Christmas.

For the week of October 29, 2016, there were 544 claims, down 74 from the previous week's total and 83 fewer than than they were a year ago.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow is changing ownership as part of what is reported as the largest ski resort sale in history. Okemo, along with New England resorts Sunday River and Sugarloaf in Maine and Loon Mountain and Mount Sunapee in New Hampshire are being sold to a New York hedge fund as the former Florida company that owned them is liquidating. The total deal is valued at over $800 million and includes properties across the country and into Canada.

Vermont Business Magazine Dealer.com is reporting today that car shopping behavior in battleground states is suffering, largely because of advertising costs. Identified through vehicle detail page (VDP) views from its dealership network, shopping behavior was down 9 percent year-over-year (YoY) [Dealer.com hosted site data, September 2015 –September 2016]. Battleground states, or states in which no single candidate or party has overwhelming support to secure electoral votes, include Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Attorney General’s Office has concluded that Planned Parenthood Vermont Action Fund IE PAC (“PPVTAF PAC”) did not engage in coordination with the Sue Minter gubernatorial campaign. The Vermont Republican Party filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office requesting an investigation into the activities of PPVTAF PAC, an independent expenditure-only PAC. The complaint asserted that PPVTAF PAC’s candidate survey questionnaire and endorsement of candidate Minter indicated that the PAC was not conducting its activities entirely independent of candidates within the meaning of Vermont campaign finance law. The complaint also pointed to PPVTAF PAC and Minter’s alleged use of the same media vendor and substantially similar video footage as evidence of coordination. Upon investigation of the complaint, the Attorney General’s Office found there was no violation of Vermont’s campaign finance laws.