Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The following are Public Alerts submitted by Wastewater Treatment Facilities for prompt public awareness of untreated discharges and their locations. The most recent was Wednesday in St Albans. These alerts have been directly reported by Wastewater Treatment Facilities and may have not yet been reviewed by the State. Wastewater Treatment facilities are required to submit a public alert as soon as possible, but no longer than one hour from discovery of an untreated discharge from the wastewater treatment facility. This time requirement is extended to no longer than four hours if the operator does not have telephone or internet service at the location or they are working to control or stop the untreated discharge. Additional details regarding sewage overflows and incidents are required to be reported within 12 hours of discovery and available below.

Vermont Business Magazine During a grand opening celebration of Randolph’s new wastewater facility Thursday, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials announced that 18 communities across Vermont are receiving a total of $17.9 million in loans and grants to improve water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure through the USDA’s Water and Environmental Program. The funding is the largest single-year investment the agency has made in Vermont’s environmental infrastructure since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. 

Vermont Business Magazine US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced today the award of nearly $10 million in grants under two funding opportunities to 46 organizations that will help permanent residents prepare and apply for US citizenship.  Located in 21 states, organizations will receive federal funding to support citizenship preparation services for permanent residents through September 2018. Of the $10 million, a grant of $100,000 has been awarded to US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Inc. – Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program.

Vermont Business Magazine As Vermonters face issues of drug crime and opiate addiction, correctional housing, and other criminal justice concerns, Vermont representatives have been selected to participate in a summit that will give state leaders new perspectives on potential solutions to these challenges. The National Governors Association (NGA), through its Center for Best Practices (NGA Center), and the National Criminal Justice Association, through its Center for Justice Planning (NCJP), have launched an initiative to support sustainable system-wide criminal justice reform called the National Criminal Justice Reform Project (NCJRP). Vermont was chosen as one of 19 states to participate in the NCJRP State Strategic Planning and Leadership Summit taking place on October 17-19 in Denver, Colorado.

Vermont Business Magazine Gov Peter Shumlin announced that August Burns of Middlesex has been commissioned to paint his official portrait, which will be donated to the State House collection. Vermont has a tradition of displaying the portraits of governors throughout the State House.  Working with Vermont State Curator David Schutz, the Governor and his wife Katie Hunt reviewed samples of work submitted by a number of Vermont artists, before selecting Burns.

Governor Shumlin, VBM file photo

“I am very excited to be working with August on this portrait,” Shumlin said. “She has incredible talent as an artist and I admire her work.”

Vermont Business Magazine BioTek Instruments is pleased to congratulate Christopher Ziegler as the recipient of the 2016 Norman R Alpert Research Prize. Ziegler is a graduate student in the Cellular, Molecular and Biosciences (CMB) program at the University of Vermont (UVM), and was responsible for characterizing a new aspect of virology that helps to explain the basis for production of defective interfering viruses. This is detailed in his March 2016 PLoS Pathogens publication, “The Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus Matrix Protein PPXY Late Domain Drives the Production of Defective Interfering Particles”.

Vermont Business Magazine State officials recently discovered the presence of an invasive clam species in Lake Bomoseen. The Asian clam has been documented in surrounding regions like Lake George, NY, but has not been found in Vermont until now. Asian clams, like zebra mussels, are filter feeding organisms that can deplete resources needed by native species and increase algae blooms. They can also form dense populations very quickly, clogging intake pipes to lakeside homes, industrial water systems, and irrigation canals.

ANR photo of Asian Clams taken from Lake Bomoseen.

Vermont Business Magazine As a percent of US adults, Vermont ranks #1 in reading literature, #2 in performing or creating artworks, and #2 in attending art exhibits. However, Vermont ranks well below average for going to the movies. The National Endowment for the Arts has released new research that for the first time offers a complete state-by-state perspective on how American adults participate in the arts, including activities in Vermont. The new research comes in the form of an “arts data profile,” an NEA collection of statistics, graphics, and summary results from data-mining about the arts. This profile is titled State‐Level Estimates of Arts Participation Patterns.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power has wrapped up its fourth summer of public tours at Kingdom Community Wind in Lowell. Each summer since the project came online, the Company has invited visitors and Vermonters alike to tour the working wind farm. Green Mountain Power offers the free tours once a week during the summer months. This year more than 600 people visited from all around Vermont, including several school groups, as well as from across the country and Canada. The addition of tourists benefits the local economy, from local bed and breakfasts to restaurants.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s congressional delegation – Senator Patrick Leahy (D), Senator Bernie Sanders (I) and Representative Peter Welch (D) -- announced Wednesday that Vermont will receive $371,616, the maximum grant award possible, of about $9 million awarded nationwide in federal opioid abuse prevention grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The grant award, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is part of the Obama Administration’s Opioid Initiative to strengthen drug abuse prevention efforts across the country. Vermont is one of only 21 states to be awarded a Strategic Prevention Framework Partnership For Prescription Drugs grant.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin joined four other New England governors and five eastern Canadian premiers to sign a resolution this week committing to conserve three major multistate and provincial forests and waterways in the face of climate change.  Together they resolved to work across borders to maintain connected forests from the northern Appalachian Mountains through the Gulf of St Lawrence. These intact forests foster a healthy working landscape and strong rural economy, as well as provide habitat for irreplaceable native fish, wildlife and migratory species while helping to reduce the effects of climate change.

Vermont Business Magazine Kiplinger has released its ranking of the best and worst states for taxes. Kiplinger’s fourth annual Tax Map reveals income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, “sin” taxes (for products such as alcohol and tobacco) and other tax rules and exemptions across all 50 states and Washington, DC. Vermont is among the Top Ten Least Tax-Friendly states, with relatively high income and property taxes leading the way.