Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Democratic Candidate Sue Minter, announced that her campaign raised $405,452 for the July filing period stretching from March 13^th through July 12^th. Minter entered the final four weeks of the campaign with $278,447 on hand. Entering the final few weeks of the campaign, Minter has 4,300 contributions, 64% of which are from Vermonters. In addition, Minter’s field operation has made over 40,000 calls to Vermont voters. 

By Tera Dacek The name “Lawson” may make you think of Lawson’s Finest Liquids, one of Vermont’s most sought-after breweries. But when owner Sean Lawson returned to Vermont after living out West, it was to work in environmental science and forestry, not open up a brewery. We talked to Lawson, a UVM alumnus, about changing his career path to start a successful craft brewery.

Vermont Business Magazine Before leaving for the summer recess, the US Senate Thursday night approved legislation championed by Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy (D) to make needed and long overdue reforms to several federal housing programs.  The Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

Vermont Business Magazine SouthFace Village at Okemo, an EB-5 project in Vermont, has been working closely with the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) to secure the agency’s re-approval of its EB-5 offering. After a rigorous review process, DFR approved the EB-5 project’s updated Private Placement Memo (PPM). The $200 million project is the first year-round development at Okemo Mountain in a decade.  DFR requested that the SouthFace project undergo a regulatory review of its EB-5 offering documentation in May.  Such a review is a routine event when a PPM and other documents are updated.

“DFR does not have concerns about the economics of the EB-5 arrangement,” said Ted Rossi, CEO of the Rossi Group and a partner in the SouthFace project.  “They told us that they did not have any issues on that front.”

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont 2016 fiscal year ended June 30 and the final tax revenue report finished with a small shortfall, as expected. Personal Income taxes, the most important single revenue source, has been lagging all year, but finished the month ahead of its target. For the month overall, preliminary results show that General Fund revenue finished FY2016 1.13 percent below the revenue targets adopted by the Emergency Board in January 2016 (which had been lowered from the original targets last July). The numbers for the year would have been worse if an electronic tax filing glitch had not been rectified. In all, the total shortfall was not as bad as anticipated.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims fell deeply last week but remain slightly above typical summer levels. Claims in 2016 generally have been running above 2015 claims. For the week of July 9, 2016, there were 540 claims, down 199 from the previous week's total and 44 more than they were a year ago. By industry, claims edged down across the board; Service, as is typical, carried the most claims. 

Altogether 4,694 new and continuing claims were filed, an decrease of 131 from a week ago, and 104 more than a year ago.

The Department processed 0 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08).

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University signed a new agreement with Korea University and the Republic of Korea’s Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Cadet Command, for the semester long exchange of cadets between the two universities. This is the first agreement of its kind between the ROTC programs of the Republic of Korea and a foreign nation; until a recent change, the law in Korea did not permit cadets to study abroad for an entire semester. Norwich University will welcome the first two cadets from Korea University, a top university in the country, in the fall of 2016.

by Guy Page, Vermont Energy Partnership The asking price for the 13 TransCanada hydro dams on the Connecticut and Deerfield Rivers has passed $1 billion, Vermont Secretary of Administration Justin Johnson said Tuesday, July 12. The dams, totaling about 560 megawatts of power, were bought by TransCanada in 2005 for about $500 million. The State of Vermont considered making an offer in 2005, but eventually declined. TransCanada, a leading natural gas transmission company, said this spring it will sell its only hydro generation assets and a Maine wind turbine project to raise cash to buy 15,000 miles of natural gas transmission from a Texas firm.

Hydro facility on the Connecticut River in Bellows Falls. VBM file photo

Will help create opportunities for small and emerging businesses

Vermont Business Magazine The Northern Community Investment Corporation (NCIC) will strengthen its support of Vermont and New Hampshire’s small businesses thanks to a $605,000 funding package from the US Department of Agriculture. NCIC will use USDA Rural Development’s Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program to provide aspiring Northeast Kingdom and North Country businesses with financial support and technical assistance.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Public Service is developing a new protocol for handling complaints about the potential failure of a company to comply with the terms and conditions of a certificate of public good (CPG) issued by the Public Service Board under 30 V.S.A. §§ 248 or 248a.  The Department will follow the protocol to keep a record of these complaints, research and investigate, track progress and respond. The first report of complaints tracked under this new protocol is due to the legislature in January of 2017.  The purpose of this protocol is to ensure compliance with CPG conditions and to enable neighbors of projects to easily and effectively report on circumstances they feel may not be in compliance with applicable CPG conditions.

Vermont Business Magazine Community members, early depositors, and Gifford staff and board members gathered on July 12 to celebrate groundbreaking for 49 independent living apartments at the Morgan Orchards Senior Living Community in Randolph Center. Planning for the multi-phased project, the largest building project in Gifford Hospital’s history, began in 2010. The apartments are scheduled to open in late July/early August, 2017.

Vermont Business Magazine Calling it a testament to Sue Minter’s leadership and her ability to get things done, 79 past and present lawmakers including 14 committee chairs and 2 former Speakers of the House endorsed Sue Minter for governor. At the State House in Montpelier, several legislative leaders highlighted Minter’s commitment to renewable energy and cleaning up Vermont’s waterways, plan to provide two-years free tuition to Vermont Technical College and the Community College of Vermont, commitment to creating jobs and economic vitality, and more in offering their strong endorsement.