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Vermont Business Magazine "The Minuteman Scholarship Campaign was introduced in 2015 with the intent to enhance the National Guard's ability to recruit highly qualified Cadets on a recurring annual basis. All of the qualified applicants for Reserve Officers Training Corps scholarships were eligible to for consideration for the 4-year Minuteman Scholarship. In early February of this year, the Vermont National Guard was authorized to nominate six Cadets for up to a 4-year Guaranteed Reserve Forces Duty (GRFD) scholarship, the Vermont National Guard is excited to have a talented pool of young men and women whose desire to serve their community, state and nation," said Maj Gen Steven Cray, adjutant general of Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine For the second year in a row, the University of Vermont welcomes an incoming class with record-breaking academic credentials. Topping the Class of 2019's high scores, the incoming Class of 2020 earned an average 3.64 GPA and SAT scores in critical reading and mathematics of 1206. Additionally, a record 39 Vermont students who earned Green & Gold Scholarships, offered to the academically strongest rising senior at 68 state high schools, have chosen UVM.

Vermont Business Magazine NMC was recently named one of the 2016 “Most Wired” Hospitals, using technology to improve the efficiency of care delivery and  create a new dynamic in patient interactions. Most Wired hospitals are redefining the way they provide care in their communities, using technology to build patient engagement with the individual’s lifestyle in mind, which includes electronic access  to their care team. These innovations are shown by the results of the annual Health Care’s Most Wired survey, released by the American Hospital Association’s Health Forum. 

Northwestern Medical Center photo

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont is recovering more slowly than most states from mortgage failures as part of the Great Recession. Vermont had fewer foreclosures than most states, but is also working through the process of reconciling non-current mortgages more slowly. Vermont now is at about the national average for non-current mortgages after having been on the low or very low end of the range for most of the period starting in 2008.

Vermont Business Magazine Top RN to BSN (www.toprntobsn.com), a leading nursing school search resource, has published its 2016 ranking of the best residential BSN programs in the United States. The University of Vermont program ranked 46th in the nation. The reviewers cited UVM's clinical program and in particular its practicum in conjection with the UVM Medical Center as one of its strengths. UVM is also among the most expensive for out-of-state students at $39,130 tuition and fees, with the University of Michigan the highest at $45,410 tuition and fees.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Department of Public Service filed expert testimony in the Vermont Gas Systems (VGS) rate case recommending a 5.68 percent rate decrease. Vermont Gas had requested a rate decrease for its customers of 3.3 percent. The testimony filed today with the Public Service Board recommends that no more than $112.5 million of the Addison Expansion Project costs be allowed in rates at this time. The Department also recommends that $5 million from the System Expansion and Reliability Fund (SERF) be returned to ratepayers as part of this rate reduction as soon as the Project is in service. Vermont Gas has said the project will be completed by the end of 2016.

Vermont Business Magazine Joined by Vermont State Police Commander Matthew Birmingham, US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Monday announced that six new positions – including five detectives – have now been added to the Vermont Drug Task Force to strengthen heroin trafficking investigations in Vermont. This expansion of the Task Force was made possible with a $1.4 million grant from the Department of Justice’s Anti-Heroin Task Force program that was awarded last September. The program, administered through DOJ’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), was created by Leahy as a result of Senate Judiciary Committee field hearings he held to examine heroin and opioid abuse in Vermont. The program targets areas with high rates of primary treatment admissions for heroin and other opioids. Vermont was one of only six states to receive the grants, which totaled $5.8 million.

Vermont Business Magazine The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) recently awarded the Castleton University Polling Institute a $400,000 contract to develop and pilot test an interactive health-related survey and journal system. Director of the Polling Institute Dr. Rich Clark and Associate Director Amanda Richardson will lead a team of experts from major research universities. The international team of researchers was assembled by YMG survey group, owned and managed by Yasamin Miller, former director of Cornell University’s Survey Research Center.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Community Loan Fund (VCLF) announced today a new partnership with Cabot Creamery Cooperative and eight local co-operative food stores to benefit Vermont farmers and food producers. A portion of the proceeds from sales of Cabot products at these stores will go to the Food, Farms & Forests Fund, a loan fund dedicated to meeting the capital needs of small farms, food producers, and working lands entrepreneurs.  Items bearing the VCLF sticker are available now at participating food co-ops.

Participating food co-ops include: City Market (Burlington), Hunger Mountain Co-op (Montpelier), Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op, Putney Food Co-op, and the four Food Co-op Store locations in White River Junction and nearby Hanover and Lebanon, NH.

Public Assets Institute Vermont added jobs in July, but half of that growth reflected seasonal adjustments in the number of teachers on local government payrolls. Private employers increased their payrolls by 1,800—the second best month this year—mostly just offsetting June’s losses. So far this year Vermont has added about 3,000 private sector jobs, but month-to-month growth has been volatile.

by Mike Smith Donald Trump blasted the media on Twitter last weekend, saying: “If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and didn’t put false meaning into the words I say, I would be beating Hillary by 20 percent.”    
Trump was angered by media reports describing turmoil in his campaign and saying that advisers, including family members, were urging him to stay focused on the economy and public safety rather than getting sidetracked on other, sometimes trivial, issues.    

Vermont Business Magazine More than 45 motorcycle riders circumnavigated Vermont from August 1st through August 5th as part of the third annual FreshTracks Capital Road Pitch. The riders (comprised of investors, entrepreneurs and business advisors) each travelled more than 550 miles and stopped in 10 towns to review 50 business pitches from local entrepreneurs. Each entrepreneur had seven minutes to present their business concept or plan and eight minutes to answer questions from the group of riders. In each town, a Riders’ Choice Winner was selected and the winner received $500, and a special edition Vermont Teddy Bear biker bear and an entry into the Road Pitch statewide “Pitch-off” to be held on October 18th at Champlain College.