Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain College has been ranked among the nation’s top “Cool Schools” by Sierra magazine, the national magazine of the Sierra Club. In a list made public today, Sierra places GMC at number ten among 201 schools surveyed. “These are the colleges working hardest to protect the planet in 2016,” the magazine says in its September/October issue. Green Mountain College is the only college that has ranked in the top 15 every year for the past seven years, and this is the fifth time the College has landed in the top ten.

Vermont Business Magazine King Arthur Flour, America’s oldest and most trusted flour brand, introduces Essential Goodness, its newest line of baking mixes offering consumers the taste and quality of homemade baked goods with the convenience of a mix. “King Arthur Flour’s 226 years of baking experience have taught us that ingredients are at their best when they’re pure and simple,” says Erika Randolph, Brand Manager, King Arthur Flour.  “With Essential Goodness we stick to the good stuff: real food, no preservatives or artificial colors or flavors, and no ingredients you can't pronounce.  These are delicious products you will feel good about feeding your family and proud to share with your friends.”  The mixes are also sourced non-GMO and certified kosher. 

Vermont Business Magazine - A $50,000 appropriation was approved in the last legislative session to purchase sound monitoring equipment for Lyndon State College. The equipment will be used in the classroom to conduct research in a variety of industrial settings. The funding will allow Lyndon State College to do exactly what it does best—provide hands-on, real-world experiences for its students. To receive the appropriation, LSC needs to raise $50,000 to match the award.

“Lyndon State is excited that our faculty will have the opportunity to conduct academic research with equipment purchased with these funds,” says Interim President Nolan Atkins. “As interim president—and as a scientist myself—I am confident that the appropriation will be used for the highest quality research.”

Vermont Business Magazine - Burke Mountain Resort today cut the ribbon on the first hotel to ever open on its slopes. The Burke Mountain Hotel & Conference Center debuted with limited operations last month with two soft opening weekends as staff prepared the $55 million facility for seven-days-a-week operations. Today’s formal ceremony, attended by Governor Peter Shumlin along with several of his commissioners, local officials, community members, and resort staff, celebrated the hotel’s official opening for daily operations.

Vermont Business Magazine - FirstLight Fiber (“FirstLight”), a leading fiber-optic bandwidth infrastructure services provider operating in New York and Northern New England, announced today that Oak Hill Capital Partners (“Oak Hill”) has completed the acquisition of FirstLight.  Oak Hill acquired the company from private equity owner Riverside Partners(“Riverside”), which is also investing in the deal and will continue as a minority investor in FirstLight. Financial terms of the completed transaction were not disclosed.

Vermont Business Magazine Today Vermont sued Volkswagen AG and its affiliates Audi AG and Porsche AG, as well as their American subsidiaries, for the sale and lease of diesel automobiles that were fitted with illegal “defeat devices.” The devices concealed the release of large amounts of nitrogen oxides (commonly referred to as “NOx”), a harmful pollutant, in excess of Vermont’s motor vehicle emissions standards. The state is asking for restitution for consumers who bought the cars in question, unspecified punitive damages and reimbursement of legal fees. The suit did not mention actual dollar amounts.

“For seven years, the defendants polluted our air, covered up their wrongdoing in order to mislead environmental regulators, and then sold their vehicles, at a premium, to unsuspecting customers. We will not tolerate blatant disregard of laws designed to protect our environment, the public health, and our consumers,” said Attorney General Sorrell.

Vermont Business Magazine A $50,000 appropriation was approved in the last legislative session to purchase sound monitoring equipment for Lyndon State College. The equipment will be used in the classroom to conduct research in a variety of industrial settings. The funding will allow Lyndon State College to do exactly what it does best—provide hands-on, real-world experiences for its students. To receive the appropriation, LSC needs to raise $50,000 to match the award. Wind power proponents raised concerns this week that the appropriation was for the benefit of wind opponents.

“Lyndon State is excited that our faculty will have the opportunity to conduct academic research with equipment purchased with these funds,” says Interim President Nolan Atkins. “As interim president—and as a scientist myself—I am confident that the appropriation will be used for the highest quality research.”

Vermont Business Magazine Vermonters are gathering at three events next week to celebrate the clean-air and cost-saving benefits of electric cars in support of the sixth annual National Drive Electric Week. Drive Electric Vermont is partnering with the Vermont Clean Cities Coalition and Burlington Electric Department to host three different electric vehicle showcase events in Williston and Burlington. Local electric car owners and dealers will attend each event to demonstrate the benefits of driving electric and provide helpful information about the high-tech vehicles to interested Vermonters. Many models, including the Nissan LEAF, the Tesla Model S, the Ford C-Max Energi, the Chevrolet Volt, the Ford Fusion Energi, and the Volkswagen e-Golf, will be on display and available for test rides and drives at the events.

Vermont Business Magazine Julie Bushey of Highgate, Vermont was convicted on September 6, 2016 on two felony counts of Medicaid Fraud. The charges were related to a personal care services scheme in Franklin County that resulted in over $100,000 in losses to the Vermont Medicaid Program over a nearly five-year period. Karen Tucker, who was convicted last month on four counts of Medicaid fraud, orchestrated the scheme and enlisted Bushey and three other women to submit false timesheets. All participants in the fraud have now been convicted and sentenced in connection with the fraudulent conduct.

by Joshua E Brown With nearly sixty percent of American adults now taking prescription medications—from antidepressants to cholesterol treatments—there is growing concern about how many drugs are flowing through wastewater treatment facilities and into rivers and lakes. Research confirms that pharmaceutical pollution can cause damage to fish and other ecological problems—and may pose risks to human health too. Scientists have assumed that people flushing their unused medications down the drain or toilet was a major source of these drugs in the water. But a new first-of-its-kind study tells a different story.

Vermont Business Magazine Picking up trash out of a river may not sound like the most fun way to spend a weekend morning, but the hundreds of Vermonters who annually participate in river cleanups would beg to differ. This September, join the fun by volunteering to clean up your local river as part of Vermont’s official River Cleanup Month. “Spending just a few hours one weekend picking up trash from a river can make a big difference,” said Lyn Munno, Director of Watersheds United Vermont, “River cleanup volunteers are critical in removing shopping carts, plastic bottles and tires from our waters. Many Vermonters are concerned about clean water, and river cleanups are a great way for citizens to get involved and make a visible difference in the health of their local river.”

by Michael Bielawski The town of Grafton will hold a vote on a 28-turbine wind energy plant proposed by Iberdrola Renewables. By a 3-to-1 vote Tuesday night, the Grafton Selectboard approved a townwide vote on the Stiles Brook Wind Project to occur in late 2016 or early 2017. Board Chair Ron Pilette advocated holding the vote during the November 8 election, when neighbors in Windham will vote on the same project, but the board ultimately voted against it.