Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University Applied Research Institutes’ (NUARI) Distributed Environment for Critical Infrastructure Decision-making Exercises – Financial Sector (DECIDE-FS) risk resiliency response software has been nominated by FedScoop 50 as one of the best and brightest technologies implemented this year that make the federal government more efficient and effective. Online voting to select the top 50 awardees in the IT community will close September 16 and winners will be announced October 4. The FedScoop 50 Awards celebrate those people and products that make a positive impact in the government community and in public service. To vote for NUARI’s DECIDE-FS technology innovation, CLICK HERE.

Vermont Business Magazine World’s largest business networking organization posts significant gains in Williston, Vermont. BNI Vermont announced today that its Prosperity BNI Chapter in Williston, Vermont has exceeded 1 million dollars in business generated since its founding in September of 2013. “This is extraordinary.” said Vickie Wacek, Executive Director of BNI Vermont. “Prosperity BNI has done an outstanding job in cultivating and expanding its core membership and pursuing their chapter goals. They now join eight other BNI Vermont chapters to have achieved that milestone,” Wacek expanded.

Vermont Business Magazine More than 275 Vermonters who work with children and families will gather in Killington on Wednesday, September 7, for a conference designed to strengthen collaborations to support families affected by substance abuse, including opioid drugs. Sponsored by the Vermont Department of Health, Embracing Today, Empowering Tomorrow conference will be held at the Killington Grand Hotel from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The conference features keynote presentations in the morning, with workshops that highlight Vermont collaborations in the afternoon.

Secretary of Human Services Hal Cohen, Health Commissioner Harry Chen, MD, and Deputy Health Commissioner Barbara Cimaglio will welcome participants and provide the Vermont context. The morning features keynote presentations by two national experts:

Vermont Business Magazine The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Monday  $314,084 in grant funding to assist 58 homeowners preserve their homes during a news conference at the Vermont Center for Independent Living (VCIL) in Montpelier. Seven Vermont and New Hampshire non-profits will use USDA Rural Development Housing Preservation Grants to make loans and grants to homeowners and rental apartment owners to make life-safety and other needed repairs. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Attorney General’s Office has concluded that an email solicitation by Bernie Sanders’ campaign in May of this year that stated Sanders’ support for several state and local candidates around the country, including Vermont state senate candidate Chris Pearson, and encouraged recipients to donate to these candidates, did not violate Vermont’s campaign finance laws.

Vermont Business Magazine With a major turnover in political leadership in Montpelier this January,  the Montpelier-based Public Assets Institute issued a policy paper today called "A Framework for Progress: Investing in Vermont’s people, infrastructure, and good government." The specifics include eliminating school property taxes for all primary residences and basing all residents’ school taxes on income, publicly-fund health care, institute a carbon pollution tax and re-work the transportation fund to pay for infrastructure, increase "rainy day" funds equal to at least 15 percent of the budget (currently capped at 5 percent), eliminate business tax breaks, and add two years of college to public education.

Vermont Business Magazine The Pulmonary Rehabilitation program at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) is now accepting patients for their fall sessions.  People who have trouble breathing in the heat and humidity, who get short of breath walking long distances or upstairs, and who are struggling to quit from cigarettes are encouraged to seek a referral. SVMC Pulmonary Rehabilitation started in January 2015 with seven participants. Since then the program has completed nine sessions and has helped forty three patients improve their lung function and breathe easier. The success of the program prompted an expansion to morning and afternoon classes this past January, accommodating up to sixteen patients at a time.

Vermont Business Magazine OneCare Vermont, the state’s largest Accountable Care Organization (ACO), has been included in the Becker’s Hospital Review list of “100 ACOs to Know.”  To be included on the list, ACOs must “…stand out for their excellence in quality, achievements in driving down cost and ability to grow and take on risk.”  Becker’s Hospital Review has published a version of this list annually since 2012.

The Becker’s Hospital Review editorial team selects ACO’s for inclusion “…based on quality and cost performance, participation in CMS’ Next Generation Model, the Pioneer Model, advanced tracks of the Medicare Shared Savings Program and a number of recently formed commercial contracts.”

Vermont Business Magazine The federal receiver now running Jay Peak and Burke Mountain resorts stated Friday that former Jay Peak CEO Bill Stenger is no longer an employee at Jay. Stenger, the face of Jay for two decades who was embroiled in the EB-5 foreign investor scandal, had the previous day issued a statement to the media indicating that he had entered into a settlement with the Securities & Exchange Commission over the civil suit they had brought against him. Jay Peak owner Ariel Quiros separately faces charges of fraudulently taking money from investors for his personal use. He currently is fighting the SEC in court over the charges and over the freezing of most of his assets in Vermont, his home state of Florida and in other places.

Vermont Business Magazine The 21st Annual Southern Vermont Garlic and Herb Festival soared to record-breaking heights this past Labor Day Weekend on the grounds of Camelot Village.  With beautiful weather and over 100 volunteers helping the festival run smoothly, the two gates saw well over 15,000 people attend. Gates opened at 10am on both Saturday and Sunday and attendees ate garlic, shopped, strolled among the over 200 vendors, listened to eight live bands and enjoyed the last days of summer.

“We saw 8,000 festival-goers on Saturday and a little over 7,000 on Sunday,” said Matt Harrington the executive director of the Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce, the organization that coordinates the event. “We captured this by using a ticket process this year that helped us calculate the numbers.”

by Mike Smith It's hard to beat an incumbent politician, especially federal ones. In 2014, over 96 percent of incumbent members of Congress were reelected — this despite a collective approval rating of around 11 percent. This trend is true in Vermont, and especially for U.S. senators. Since voters began to directly elect senators beginning in 1913 (prior to that the Vermont Legislature decided who would represent the state in the Senate), no elected U.S. senator has ever lost a reelection in Vermont. Our senators are elected for life, or at least until they choose to step down.

Which takes us to the case of Sen. Patrick Leahy, America's longest-serving member of the senate. He's been in Washington for 42 of the 103 years Vermont voters have been electing senators. Leahy may hold the safest senate seat in the country.

Vermont Business Magazine Two major and anonymous financial commitments totaling $100,000 have been committed to Porter Medical Center in Middlebury in the form of “challenge grants” intended to encourage others to support the upcoming “People for Porter” annual campaign. Through these challenge grants, every donation made to Porter between September 15 and December 31 will be matched on a 2-1 basis by these donors according to Porter’s Vice President for Development Ron Hallman. 

“We are deeply grateful to these anonymous friends who have come together to offer this incredible challenge opportunity for our local supporters,” he said. “This is a unique opportunity for every member of this community to have their individual donation, regardless of the amount, to essentially be tripled thanks to the availability of these matching funds.”