Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Student Assistance Corp has announced it will award over $700,000 in scholarships to college-bound seniors who graduated from high school last month. Funded by VSAC’s federal GEAR UP grant, each of these 350-plus high school graduates who enroll at a postsecondary institution in the fall will receive the $2,000 scholarship. GEAR UP, or Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, is a federal grant program of the US Department of Education designed to increase the number of students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.

Vermont Business Magazine The Waltham, VT selectboard Tuesday night unanimously approved a resolution supporting the Vermont Green Line and allowing the project to be located along a specified route on Route 7 within the town. Project developers Anbaric Transmission and National Grid have proposed to construct the 60-mile cable project, which would bring 400 megawatts of onshore wind and hydropower from northern New York and Canada to New England. The project will originate in Beekmantown, New York; cross under Lake Champlain, and terminate in New Haven, VT. Both the land and lake portions of the project will be completely buried.

The agreement includes a commitment by the town to file comments of support for the project, including the route in Waltham, with the Vermont Public Service Board.

Vermont Business Magazine Pharmaceutical manufacturer Wyeth, Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer, Inc, has paid $6,029,003.35 to Vermont to resolve allegations that it knowingly underpaid drug rebates to the Vermont Medicaid Program. The payment is part of a joint multistate and federal settlement totaling $784.6 million. The settlement primarily reimburses the Medicaid Program for the overpayments made to Wyeth, but also included nearly $900,000 in civil penalties and additional recoveries.

The settlement resolves claims that Wyeth knowingly engaged in a scheme to reduce the amount of rebates it was required to pay to state Medicaid programs between 2001 and 2006 for the sales of its products Protonix Oral and Protonix IV. The drugs are in a class of drugs called Proton Pump Inhibitors that are used to treat symptoms of acid reflux.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) was joined by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and others on Wednesday to say legislation that could soon come to the floor of the US Senate would undermine efforts in states around the country to help Americans stay informed about what goes into their food. In 2014, Vermont became the first state in the country to mandate labeling for food that contains genetically modified ingredients. The law went into effect last Friday. Due in part to the state’s bold action, many large companies such as Campbell’s, Frito-Lay, Kellogg, and ConAgra are already labeling their products nationwide.

Press conference begins at the 14 minute mark of the video below.

Vermont Business Magazine - The Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) yesterday identified OneCare Vermont as the successful bidder in its procurement seeking an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) to provide certain Medicaid services as part of the State of Vermont’s efforts to move away from the current fee-for-service payment system to one that pays doctors and providers for keeping people healthy. 

The selection means that the State will enter negotiations with OneCare Vermont; however, it does not bind the State in any way.  “These negotiations are another step toward creating an integrated health care system that pays for value, not volume of services,” said Department of Vermont Health Access Commissioner Steven Costantino.  “The contracting process will ensure that this potential arrangement will benefit Vermont and Vermonters.” 

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin joined local, state and federal partners in front of the historic Bradley House on Wednesday to announce more than $2.8 million in community development grants to eight communities. A $450,000 community development grant was awarded to the Bradley House, a licensed Level III senior residential care home serving lower income seniors. The critical funding will help with a $5.3 million project made possible through public sources and private fundraising efforts, that will modernize and add seven new housing units. Originally built in 1868 the Bradley House has been serving seniors in the Brattleboro region since 1964.

Vermont Business Magazine - During the Senate-House negotiations Wednesday on legislation to combat the nation’s epidemic of opioid abuse, Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) urged lawmakers to pass legislation that provides real support for rural communities fighting this epidemic.

Members, including Leahy, met for Senate-House discussions on Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. Leahy offered three additonal ammendments to strengthen Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act for rural communities (see below).

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) has approved financing of $15.2 million to help Vermont commercial, agricultural and renewable energy economic development projects move forward. The projects total nearly $41 million. Agricultural loans totaling $5.9 million also were approved through the Authority's agricultural loan program, the Vermont Agricultural Credit Corporation (VACC), which provides financing for Vermont farmers, agricultural facilities and forest product businesses.

Vermont Business Magazine - The Clean Water Fund Board is holding a 30-day public comment period on staff's proposed budget for next year's Clean Water Fund using an online survey. The Board will accept comments from June 30th until 4:30 pm on July 30th. Please see below for a link to the questionnaire and supporting documents.

Vermont Business Magazine - Tax payers affected by vendor software issue receive reimbursement. Intuit is contributing $2.375 million, and H & R Block is contributing $44,000 in efforts to amend the inconvenience. 

The Vermont Department of Taxes announced on Tuesday that taxpayers whose 2015 returns were impacted by certain commercial vendor software issues (related to itemized deductions) will not be required to amend or pay any additional tax. The department stopped processing any such amendments that it received after June 29, and any payments received related to such amendments prior to that date will be refunded. A good faith contribution by two of the tax preparation software companies, Intuit and H&R Block, has allowed the department to take this extraordinary action.

Vermont Business Magazine - Daniel P. Jantzen, Executive Vice President of Operations and Chief Operating Officer for Dartmouth-Hitchcock, has been named Chief Financial Officer for the health system, Dartmouth-Hitchcock CEO and President Dr. James N. Weinstein announced today.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin has appointed Michael Pieciak as the Commissioner of the Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), replacing Susan Donegan whose last day on the job was June 30. Pieciak previously served as Deputy Commissioner of DFR’s Securities Division. In that position he played a lead role in the investigation into the Jay Peak EB-5 projects, which culminated in the State, in coordination with the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), filing charges against those projects. Pieciak has been called as an expert witness as the federal case unfolds in federal court in Miami.

Michael Pieciak