Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s fourth-and eighth-graders scored among the best of 46 states in the nation on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test of Science, the Agency announced today However, the 2015 test scores have essentially remained unchanged since the last NAEP science assessment was administered in 2011. This is contrasted by results in many other states that have seen significant increases in test scores compared to previous years. Scores on the 2016 New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP), Vermont’s statewide science assessment, also show little improvement compared to the 2015 results.

by Emma Lamberton Vermont Watchdog OneCare has contracted with Medicaid to transition providers into a global budget in 2017, and independent doctors have until November 4 to decide if they will participate in the agreement. “The Medicaid agreement moves away from fee-for-service to a global budget, consistent with the all-payer model,” Vermont Care Organization Chair and Rutland Regional Medical Center CEO Tom Huebner told Vermont Watchdog on Monday.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine ArcLight Capital Partners, based in Boston, announced Tuesday that its affiliate, Great River Hydro, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire TransCanada’s New England hydroelectric power portfolio for $1.065 billion. These dams include those on the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers in Vermont. All workers are expected to be retained. The state of Vermont formed a committee and briefly considered purchasing the dams itself after TransCanada announced in March of this year that it would sell the hydro plants to help it buy a Texas gas pipeline company. The state also considered buying the facilities in 2005, when USGen ultimately sold them to Calgary-based TransCanada for $505 million.

Vermont Business Magazine FairPoint Communications, Inc (Nasdaq:FRP), a leading communications provider, has announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2016. Revenue for the quarter was $207,141 versus $ 221,569 for the same time last year. Net income was $40,207 versus $ 53,054 last year.

Vermont Business Magazine The landscape of Northwest Vermont‘s property market continues to show healthy growth, with prices and sales rising at sustainable rates, according to the just released Coldwell Banker Hickok & Boardman Fall 2016 Northwest Market Report. The Northwest market is likely to continue to see similar trends within the next year, given growing local and national economies and low mortgage rates. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing has named 13 Vermont organizations and businesses as recipients of this year’s Market Vermont program’s matching grants, which total $75,000. Each grant recipient will receive between $5,000-$10,000 to promote themselves outside of the state. The Market Vermont grant monies are to be invested exclusively in out-of-state marketing, advertising, promotion, sales materials, publicity, trade shows, consumer events or other activities specifically designed to encourage out-of-state guests to visit Vermont individually or in groups.

The grant recipients were chosen by a panel comprised of members of the Vermont Travel and Recreation Council.

Vermont Business Magazine One of the nation's largest auto parts dealers is buying Vermont's largest one. Bond Auto Parts of Barre has entered into a definitive agreement to be purchased by O’Reilly Auto Parts, based in Springfield, Missouri. The deal was consumated on September 30 and announced on O'Reilly's Q3 report October 26 and then on Bond's website the next day. The agreement is for O’Reilly to purchase substantially all of the assets of Bond Auto Parts, Inc. Financial terms of the deal are expected after it closes. O’Reilly is a leading retailer in the automotive aftermarket industry and has a very similar strategy and management philosophy as Bond Auto Parts. Bond said in a statement that the acquisition will bring better inventory and availability to its customers and more growth opportunity and industry horsepower to its stores.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Oxford Network (VON) and the National Association for Neonatal Nurses (NANN) have announced that the acclaimed VON Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Universal Education and Training Program, available online to individuals, centers, states, and health systems, has now been endorsed by NANN as the new standard of care for opiate-exposed infants and families. This evidence-based program has already been completed by 52 centers who earned the VON Center of Excellence in NAS Education and Training designation by training 85 percent or more of their designated care team.

Vermont Business Magazine The secured creditor for the now defunct Burlington College has retained the Thomas Hirchak Company Auctioneers to sell assets of the former educational institution. Hirchak announced the auction today. The public auction is comprised of more than 600 lots to include equipment and furnishings, hearthstone hardwood executive desks with granite tops, credenzas, office and lounge seating, computers, digital and film cameras, AV equipment, flat screen televisions, contemporary computer desks, stage lighting, film production equipment, cafeteria seating, a library collection, office supplies, handmade hardwood furniture, shelving, a stainless steel 3-bay sink, an upright refrigerator and freezer,  a 3,600 sq. ft. tent, and much more.

Vermont Business Magazine Inntopia, the Stowe-based travel industry’s leading eCommerce and central reservation provider, has acquired Ryan Solutions, a leading customer relationship management (CRM) and database marketing provider for the travel industry. The acquisition brings together two companies with complementary products, shared customers, and most importantly, a similar vision and desire to develop the best technology solutions in the travel industry. The two companies already share roughly half their client base, which includes some of the best-known names in the ski industry, and more recently in golf, and parks and attractions. The acquisition brings Inntopia’s total employee count to over sixty five. Inntopia will continue to operate out of its headquarters in Stowe, Vermont, with an additional office in Burlington, Vermont, and now Edwards, Colorado, where Ryan Solutions is headquartered.

Vermont Business Magazine Yesterday the Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) submitted a report to the Health Reform Oversight and Joint Fiscal committees detailing DVHA’s increased Medicaid payments for the Enhanced Primacy Care Program (EPCP). The new payment structure results in a net increase of approximately 8.9 percent to eligible primary care providers.

Vermont Business Magazine The health of babies in the United States has taken a step backward as the nation's preterm birth rate worsened for the first time in eight years, the March of Dimes said today. The US earned a "C" grade on the latest March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card amidst widening differences in prematurity rates across different races and ethnicities. Vermont, which has the lowest rate in the nation at 7.3 percent, was one of four states, along with New Hampshire, to earn an "A" grade