Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin and Health Commissioner Harry Chen, MD have announced that BAART Behavioral Health Services will open a new medication-assisted treatment center – or Hub – in the St Albans area, expanding the Care Alliance for Opioid Addiction's Hub & Spoke system of care. The new Hub will open by January 1, 2017, offering comprehensive addiction and co-occurring mental health treatment services for residents of Franklin and Grand Isle counties with opioid use disorders. The exact location was not announced. It is expected to serve at least 250 Vermonters in its first year of operation.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Health Network announced today that Moody’s Investors Service, one of the major New York City-based bond rating services, has revised upward  the institution’s bond rating outlook from  “Stable” to “Positive.” Moody’s based its decision not only on the UVM Health Network’s strong financial performance but also on the way that the network has continued to respond to the health care reform environment by successfully integrating regional hospitals and providers into the system.

John Brumsted, MD, president and chief executive officer, UVM Health Network. VBM file photo

Vermont Business Magazine Heat illnesses can be deadly. In extreme heat situations, sometimes your body's temperature control systems can't keep up. When that happens, your body temperature gets dangerously high. As a result, you are at greater risk of serious heat illness, such as heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps and sunburn.

Vermont Business Magazine The Stowe Area Association presented the Stowe Business Person of the Year award at their Annual Membership Dinner, which was held on June 15th at the Commodores Inn. The Annual Stowe Business Person of the Year 2016 honor was awarded to David Wolfgang, owner of Pinnacle Ski & Sports, SkiEssentials.com, and Inner Bootworks. Wolfgang has a long and eclectic history in the Stowe business community, and has proven to be an influential player in the development of Stowe as a tourist destination. 

Wolfgang began his career in the ski industry over thirty years ago.  He grew up in Great Neck, New York, but he could not ignore the call of the mountains. As a young ski bum in the 70’s, Wolfgang worked various odd-jobs around the town of Stowe (none of them for very long) and helped with his brother’s ski tour operation. In 1984, Wolfgang’s then-girlfriend and now-wife, Katrine, said, “You know, it would be nice if you got a job.”

Vermont Business Magazine Employees of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (BCBSVT) worked more than 2,000 hours at community events and BCBSVT devoted nearly $200,000 to community health and wellness initiatives in the last year. The company’s efforts included engaging 201 schools and 85 businesses on its 10th Annual National Walk@Lunch day on April 27, giving more than 50,000 Vermonters incentives to jumpstart their fitness routines in the spring.

Students at Crossett Brook School in Waterbury walk during National Walk@Lunch Day. Courtesy photo.

Vermont Business Magazine Jennifer Newsome, age 50, of Ludlow, Vermont, was convicted on June 23, 2016, in Vermont Superior Court for Windsor County on a felony count of Medicaid Fraud and a misdemeanor count of False Pretenses. The convictions arose from Newsome’s submission of claims, as the employer of record, for payments from the Vermont Medicaid’s Children’s Personal Care Services Program, for services purportedly rendered to two recipients by an acquaintance of Newsome when those services were not actually rendered. The acquaintance was not aware that the claims were filed, and Newsome received and deposited the checks for payment of those services herself.

Vermont Business Magazine E4H MorrisSwitzer Environments for Health, an architecture firm exclusively focused on the healthcare industry, joined its client Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system for a groundbreaking June 22 of the Jack Byrne Center for Palliative and Hospice Care. The new $22 million, 30,000-square-foot facility will incorporate special amenities designed to increase support for patients’ and families’ physical, emotional, and spiritual comfort. The Center, located on the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) campus in Lebanon, NH, will include education spaces for regional providers and caregivers to train in palliative and hospice care.

The main entrance is pictured here at sunset. The windows and chimney of the great room are visible on the left. Artist renderings.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Student Assistance Corp, based in Winooski, has been selected to receive two grants from the J. Warren and Lois McClure Foundation. A $15,000 grant will allow VSAC to launch a new pilot program in Franklin County to encourage low-income students or those who are the first in their family to pursue higher education (“first generation”) to participate in dual enrollment courses and early college. VSAC will provide personalized counseling and other social support that has proven successful with first-year college students with similar backgrounds. VSAC also will partner with Franklin County businesses and organizations to offer the opportunity for $1,000 scholarships for students who successfully complete the courses and enroll in college.

Vermont Business Magazine Builder Patrick O'Brien of SD Ireland just wants "to build homes faster and cheaper." He is not alone in Vermont's wealthiest – but housing starved – county. Dozens of Chittenden County leaders in the fields of housing, business, local and state government, and social services announced Monday morning the formation of a new campaign to increase the production of housing and setting a target of 3,500 new homes created in the next five years. This goal might be "pie in the sky," as one observer mentioned, but the general mood was that building more housing and more affordable housing must begin soon and that 700 units a year might not be enough. Some 600 units were built in 2014, which was a recent high-water mark. The trend has been closer to 450 units.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced that trash disposal throughout the state decreased 5 percent, while the recycling rate has increased from 33 percent to 35 percent since the new recycling services and requirements went into effect in July 2015. Over the past year, the Vermont Foodbank has also seen an increase in fresh food donations and in 2016, they estimate over 4 million pounds of food will be rescued from producers and retailers in Vermont, a 60 percent increase over 2015.

ANR Secretary Deb Markowitz pushing universal recycling at the Vermont Foodbank last year.

Vermont Business Magazine Special loan programs are now available for affected building contractors holding unpaid invoices for work done at Jay Peak and Burke Mountain Ski Areas. The Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) and the Northern Community Investment Corporation (NCIC) are collaborating to provide interim working capital financing to eligible and qualified affected businesses as they face a busy summer construction season. VEDA has created the Jay/Burke Contractor Assistance Loan Program, providing financing through the Authority's Small Business Loan Program; no State funding will be utilized. Loans typically will be made for up to six years, with payments in the first year made on an interest-only basis. Loans will be due at the earlier of collection of the contractor's receivables, or at loan maturity, which may be extended, if necessary. 

Business group says federal ‘compromise’ preempts Vermont’s stronger law

by Daniel Barlow Vermont should be incredibly proud of the work it has done to bring transparency to our food system. The state’s first in the nation GMO labeling law has sent ripples across the food industry and helped bring that same transparency that Vermonters demanded to food shelves across the country. Unfortunately, opponents of food transparency continue to try and undermine Vermont’s hard work. The latest draft of a so-called compromise bill in the U.S. Senate on GMO labeling would preempt Vermont’s law and limit consumers’ access to important information concerning the ingredients in the food they buy.