Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department has announced the syllabus of 2016-2017 migratory bird hunting seasons is now available. A printable copy of the regulations can be downloaded from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department website (www.vtfishandwildlife.com). A printed version also will be available from license agents and post offices by mid-July. A statewide Vermont open hunting season for Canada geese will occur September 1-25. The daily bag limit is five Canada geese in the Connecticut River Zone and eight in the rest of the state during this September season. The purpose of the September season is to help control Vermont’s resident Canada goose population prior to the arrival of Canada geese migrating south from Canada. 

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Wednesday announced that Vermont will receive more than $7 million in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to help Vermont communities with prevention and preparedness. Leahy said:  “Enhancing our security means supporting not only our border control and law enforcement, but also improving critical infrastructure.  First responders in Vermont are on the front lines every day, protecting our communities, securing our borders and ports of entry, and keeping Vermonters safe.  As our country’s infrastructure continues to feel the strain of budget constraints, these grants are an investment in Vermont’s safety and security.  Prevention and preparedness are vital to this mission.”

Vermont Business Magazine The City of South Burlington received word this afternoon that Judge Crawford approved the motion for the City of South Burlington to participate as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in the F35 National Environmental Policy Act Litigation—Zbitnoff et al v. Deborah Lee James. Pursuant to a resolution passed by the South Burlington City Council at a special meeting held June 22, 2016, the MEMO below was filed in Federal Court Tuesday. The MEMO sought entrance to the Zbitnoff et al v. Deborah Lee James litigation to participate as amicus curiae.

Vermont Business Magazine RSG has been named (#79) one of FORTUNE Magazine’s “100 Best Workplaces for Millennials” – a list determined entirely upon employees’ own feedback and selected from a database of more than 600 Great Place to Work-Certified organizations. To create the list, Fortune asked Great Place to Work to survey more than 88,000 millennials (born 1981 or later), who rated their organizations on 58 workplace quality questions. Employees considered the sincerity of managers’ support for people’s personal and professional lives, how transparent communication is, people’s ability to be themselves at work and to invest in their lives outside work, and the meaning they get from their jobs, among many other factors.

Vermont Business Magazine At its June meeting, the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board awarded $4,597,550 to conserve nearly 3,260 acres of farmland, recreational land and town forests in 20 towns and to provide for home ownership and housing accessibility around the state. VHCB commitments of state funds will leverage an additional $7.8 million in town funds, local fundraising, bargain sales, donations, mortgage financing and federal dollars. Fourteen of the farm projects include special water quality protections and three projects use federal funding from the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, focused on protecting and improving water quality in the Lake Champlain Basin.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Congressman Peter Welch (D-VT) today announced that Vermont has received $2.1 million in AmeriCorps funding. The grants are from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency for volunteering and service programs. See recipient list below.

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger with AmeriCorps volunteers in April. Vermont mayors honored AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and other service members. Weinberger joined volunteers at a Burlington waterfront clean-up service event. City of Burlington photo.

Vermont Business Magazine Martin Hahn, Executive Director of Community Capital of Vermont, announced in Community Capital's newsletter today that he is leaving the micro business lender and will become the Housing Director at the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board next month.

by Chris Pearson Voters have been clear they want property tax relief. Crystal clear. Voters also consistently support school budgets, which leads me to believe strong schools are a high priority. These two desires aren’t necessarily at odds and I’m pleased to tell you a solution is underway in Montpelier. The way we pay for schools today burdens low-income and middle-class families more than anybody. That’s because most of us, two-thirds of homeowners, pay under "income sensitivity" which brings our bill down to 3% of our income. This benefit is extended to everyone with a household income up to $135,000.

Further up the economic ladder families are paying just 1.5% or even 0.6% of their incomes to support schools. These are the families who've seen most of the growth in income since the 2008 recession. If most of us can afford to pay 3% of our income to support schools it seems fair to ask wealthy families to pay the same amount.

Vermont Business Magazine A newly released study, conducted by insuranceQuotes.com, compares Vermont’s auto insurance rates for parents of teen drivers to rates in the rest of the US. Vermont ranked ninth highest in the nation. Data shows that teenagers are risky drivers who are very expensive to insure, according to a new report released today from insuranceQuotes. That probably comes as no surprise to most parents, but they may be glad to learn that, on average, rates for insuring teens have come down. It can be helpful to understand why and what specific factors contribute to determining exactly how much your family will pay for adding a teen driver to an auto policy.

The study found:

Millman to be recognized for outstanding dedication to socially responsible business practices

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) is pleased to announce Paul Millman, co-founder of Chroma Technology, as the 2016 recipient of the Terry Ehrich Award for Excellence in Socially Responsible Business. Named for the late owner of Hemmings Motor News and a founding member of VBSR, the award is given to a VBSR member who best exemplifies Terry Ehrich’s commitment to the environment, workplace, progressive public policy, and community.

Vermont Business Magazine The State of Vermont will receive $300,000 from Wells Fargo Advisors as the result of a recent investigation conducted by the Department of Financial Regulation. Commissioner Susan L Donegan announced today that Wells Fargo will pay an administrative penalty of $270,000 to the general fund, $15,000 to reimburse the department for the cost of the investigation and $15,000 to the department’s education and training fund. The investigation stemmed from a customer complaint alleging that a Wells Fargo investment advisor had made unsuitable recommendations regarding investment accounts and that the company’s representatives were not adequately trained or supervised. In addition to the $300,000 paid to DFR, the complainant will receive restitution for all fees and commissions charged.

Vermont Business Magazine In the wake of the Orlando shooting the Vermont Mayors Coalition (VMC) today renewed its call for state action on universal background checks and to take critical steps to increase the efficacy of such checks. Speaking at the Burlington Police Department, where Vermont mayors first gathered over three years ago in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting to call for state gun violence reforms, the mayors together called for critical state action to improve the safety of Vermonters by: