Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Underscoring Vermont’s success in leveraging federal resources and partnerships to improve access to affordable housing in Vermont’s rural communities, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) Thursday hosted a public roundtable discussion with community leaders and US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Julián Castro. After the roundtable discussion, Leahy and Castro took part in the opening of the Bright Street Co-op, new rental housing developed by the Champlain Housing Trust and Housing Vermont with funding from VHCB. The Co-op is a 40-unit affordable housing cooperative in Burlington’s Old North End.

Vermont Business Magazine Faced with the imminent demise of an important resource in the fight against opiate addiction, the Green Mountain Care Board approved today Burlington Labs' Emergency Certificate of Need. The health care regulator agreed that it was urgent to approve the CON because of its tenuous financial situation and the important role Burlington Labs plays in opiate treatment statewide. It will also save 140 Vermont jobs. The GMCB approved the applicant's (Burlington Labs Acquisition, LLC) request for the CON, which will be issued upon the execution of a settlement agreement with the Vermont Attorney General concerning allegations of inaccurate or improper Medicaid claims reporting. The lead investor is former IDX Systems CEO James Crook and includes the UVM Health Network. UVMHN initially will own 15 percent of the lab and lend the new entity $3 million-$5 million.

by LCC Lake Champlain Committee For several years LCC has collaborated with Arrowwood Environmental to conduct surveys for aquatic invasive species in the Lake Champlain watershed. Our most recent efforts have focused on floating-leaved species like water chestnut. This year's work revealed two previously unknown populations of this pernicious invader: one on Alice Lake in Chazy, New York and the other in the marshes at the head of Vermont's St. Albans Bay. LCC Staff Scientist Mike Winslow removed 109 water chestnut plants from Alice Lake in the hopes of quashing the population before it becomes established. Soon he'll head to St. Albans Bay to undertake a removal effort there.

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.