Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The East Central Vermont Telecommunications District (ECFiber) has reached an agreement with Joseph D Fail Engineering, Inc to provide design and engineering services for extending the ECFiber network 250 miles to serve all premises in West Windsor, Pittsfield, Pomfret, Barnard, Thetford, and Strafford. Fail Engineering has extensive experience in providing design and engineering services for fiber to the home (FTTH) networks in rural areas. That experience will be instrumental in moving ECFiber forward in nearly doubling the size our FTTH network in east central Vermont.

ECFiber file photo

Vermont Business Magazine Some 5,000 emergency responders will take part in Vermont’s largest ever emergency exercise later this month.  Individuals involved in emergency response on the local, state, and federal levels will be tested in the face of extreme circumstances as part of Vermont’s Vigilant Guard catastrophic emergency exercise. The simulation will play out in 50 locations throughout Vermont and include state agencies, local communities, 16 hospitals, the Burlington Airport, and the Vermont National Guard among many others.  Three years in the planning, its goal is to evaluate performance and identify gaps that may exist in the state’s response to a catastrophic event.

Vermont Business Magazine EPA will award additional grants of nearly $2.6 million in supplemental funding for communities in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont to carry out cleanup and redevelopment projects at contaminated Brownfields properties. Vermont, with $850,000 will get the lionshare of the money. The projects will help communities create jobs while protecting people’s health and the environment.

The supplemental funding, ranging from about $200,000 to $500,000, will support an array of cleanup and redevelopment projects in the following New England locations:

Vermont Business Magazine - The People’s United Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Bank, announced today that it has awarded $5,000 to ReSOURCE, Easter Seals Vermont, and Camp Ta-Kum-Ta in South Hero.

Vermont Business Magazine - An equity crowdfunding portal for Vermonters, announces its first Invest Local campaign from Burlington Herb Clinic. Vermonters will have the opportunity to learn more about and invest in the Clinic via the Milk Money platform. The campaign marks the first Vermont Small Business Offering (VSBO) on Milk Money’s Vermont only platform giving Vermonters the opportunity to discover and invest in local businesses.

Vermont Business Magazine A few months ago, an upsetting story was making the rounds on social media: a woman with no maternity leave, the sole income earner in her family, journaled her return to work 20 days after giving birth. As mothers, and as women, we were saddened and angered by this story. How could this be happening in 2016 in the United States? Even more upsetting is the fact that this single story represents countless working mothers who are in the same or worse situations — no maternity leave, no job protection if they choose to take time off after welcoming a new baby, and certainly no paid leave to help support their growing family while they’re away from work.

Vermont Business Magazine In contrast to what he calls the misleading negative attacks of his primary opponent, Phil Scott today released a new 60-second web video reiterating his core principles and urging Vermonters to join his campaign to “make Vermont more affordable, the economy stronger and political campaigns an example for our children.” Scott opens the video by briefly addressing the tactics of his opponent, noting “what might pass for business as usual on Wall Street has never been in line with Vermont values.”  He goes on to say, “While my opponent’s misleading ads are disappointing, Vermonters know the truth.”

“I’m the candidate who knows what it’s like to live paycheck-to-paycheck while raising a family and working hard to grow a business and create jobs -- right here in Vermont,” Scott continues.

Vermont Business Magazine Although customer-reported monthly electric bills have fallen to their lowest levels in 10 years and overall satisfaction is on the rise, electric utility providers continue to struggle to match other industries in customer satisfaction, according to the JD Power 2016 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, released today. Green Mountain Power scored a 681, highest among midsized utilities in the East, and third overall in the East.

Vermont Business Magazine Today PC Construction announced the three recipients of donations totaling $15,000 as part of the company’s “Building Communities: PC Construction Gives Back” contest. The first-place winner, Camp Ta-Kum-Ta in South Hero, Vermont, received a $10,000 donation. The second-place winner, SAFEchild of North Carolina, received $3,000 and Atlanta Children’s Shelter of Georgia came in third to receive $2,000. The announcement of the three winners follows a month-long crowd-sourced voting contest. PC Construction’s 1,100 employee-owners nominated the initial 10 nonprofits from areas in which the company works. The contest was then opened up to the public and nearly 5,500 votes were cast to help determine the final three winners. Camp Ta-Kum-Ta captured 35% of the votes.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Foundation set new records in its fundraising activities on behalf of the university during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2016, surpassing historic milestones reached a year ago for both commitments and receipts from donors. New fundraising commitments hit an all-time record of $76,758,513, surpassing the prior record — $60,576,278 reached in fiscal year 2015 — by some 26.7 percent. Commitments include new gifts, new pledges, and new bequests documented during the year. Total receipts for the same period also reached a new record — $65,819,200 compared with the previous high of $40,457,925 set a year ago, a 62.7 percent increase. Receipts include new gifts, payments on current and prior years’ pledges, and realized bequests. A total of $3,051,193, or 4.6 percent of receipts, came in the form of realized bequests.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont received an Administration for Community Living grant that will provide $178,500 each year for three years to expand legal services for at-risk older adults. The Model Approaches to Statewide Legal Assistance Systems demonstration grant is a cooperative grant between the Vermont Agency of Human Services’ Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living (DAIL) and Vermont Legal Aid. The grants are designed to help states respond effectively to legal issues affecting seniors with significant social or economic needs. In Vermont, the funding will be used to develop services specifically for seniors at the statewide legal hotline, Vermont Law Help, as well as to provide legal training, to do outreach, and to build and strengthen partnerships throughout the state with the court system, Adult Protective Services, the Office of Public Guardian, the Area Agencies on Aging, and others.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin today said results from the groundwater testing at two industrial sites in Chittenden County showed perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in monitoring wells at both sites: IBM in Essex Junction, and the former Hercules Incorporated manufacturing facility in Colchester. The former Hercules site is on property now owned by Champlain Cable. The sites were included in a statewide testing plan for perfluorinated compounds due to the likelihood that PFOA and PFOS had been used in the manufacturing of semi-conductors or wire and cable coatings. Results showed PFCs to be present in groundwater wells at both locations. All groundwater samples were collected from existing monitoring wells on the sites. Drinking water contamination is not a major concern at this time, the governor said in a statement, as there appear to be very few drinking water wells in the vicinity of the tested sites.