Current News

Lavallee Brensinger Architects and Engelberth Construction complete linear accelerator renovation/replacement in less than 2 weeks at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.  Courtesy photo.

Vermont Business Magazine Nine months of planning to replace a massive cancer treatment machine was required to compress a nine-week construction schedule into 11 days. The team of Engelberth Construction of Cochester and Lavallee Brensinger Architects of Portland, ME, was hired by Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) to renovate the patient treatment area and replace its linear accelerator.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Technical College (Vermont Tech) has received a $4 million US Labor Department grant to provide training and education to prepare low- to middle-skilled Vermont workers to enter the workforce with better-paying jobs in industries relevant to Vermont’s growth. Training and education will focus on the advanced manufacturing industry.

The US Department of Labor grant, awarded to Vermont Tech on Tuesday, is the only grant awarded in the nation that will serve an entire state. The grant will help support the Vermont Supported Training Education and Employment Partnership (VSTEEP), a comprehensive, statewide, public/private partnership focusing on building innovative and evidence-based practices, systems and protocols to remove barriers faced by working, low-income Vermonter families in accessing and succeeding in education and training to improve their job prospects and put them on a path to economic independence.

Vermont Business Magazine Employment was up, unemployment was down and the labor force even increased for the second month in a row. The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for May was 3.1 percent. This represents a decrease of one-tenth of one percentage point from the revised April rate (3.2 percent). Overall, Vermont’s unemployment rate is fourth lowest in the country, behind South Dakota (2.5 percent), New Hampshire (2.7 percent), and Nebraska (3.0 percent). The national rate in May was 4.7 percent. As of the prior month’s initial data, the Burlington-South Burlington Metropolitan NECTA had the second lowest unemployment rate in the country for all metropolitan areas at 2.1 percent (not-seasonally-adjusted). May is the 10th consecutive month reporting a decline to the number of unemployed persons in Vermont (seasonally-adjusted).

Vermont Business Magazine Information belonging to customers who purchased hunting or fishing licenses from the FWD website may have been accessed improperly. Although there is no conclusive evidence of a misuse of customer information, security monitoring by the company which manages the website, bolstered by 3rd party forensics audits, have found traces of unauthorized server access occurrences in 2015 and January 2016. This has prompted the Fish & Wildlife Department to notify seven (7) customers of potential exposure of their credit card number. The department also urges customers who have purchased licenses online in the past 14 months to be vigilant and monitor their financial reports as an extra precaution. Free credit reports are available if consumers are concerned about possibly suspicious activity on their cards.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Bernie Sanders announced Thursday that the US Department of Health and Human Services awarded $1.05 million to three community health centers in Vermont. The health centers will use this new federal funding to expand access to dental care. “We have a real crisis in terms of access to affordable dental care in our country,” said Sanders, who serves as the ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health.  “To my mind, it is unacceptable that millions of low-income children and adults – and many middle-class families, as well – go each year without seeing a dentist.” 

Northern Counties Health Care photo

Signs $5 million contract for tram upgrades beginning in 2017

Vermont Business Magazine Jay Peak Resort recently completed a three-day inspection of its aerial tram. The resort, in cooperation with the state, flew in an aerial tramway specialist and worked with state inspectors to examine the tram and its operating systems. Inspectors conducted a successful load test designed to ensure that all of the conveyance’s electrical, hauling and braking systems can function normally under strenuous conditions. After passing the load test, resort personnel successfully completed and passed an evacuation drill. The team also inspected the tram’s towers and its bolting structures. All were found to be operating normally.

Vermont Business Magazine The Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation (GBIC) presented its highest recognition award Thursday evening to United States Senator Patrick J Leahy, at its 62^nd  Annual Meeting on June 16, 2016 at the Echo Leahy Center on the Burlington Waterfront. Attended by approximately 300 members of the Northwest Vermont community, GBIC presented the 2016 C. Harry Behney Lifetime Economic Development Achievement Award our State’s Senior United State Senator and outstanding Vermont leader: to United States Senator Patrick J Leahy. Given each year since 1995 in honor of past GBIC president C. Harry Behney, the Behney Award recognizes Vermont leaders for their significant contributions to advancing the economic wellbeing of the people of our community and promoting a climate that enhances the economic vitality of the state of Vermont. GBIC is proud to award Senator Patrick J Leahy with the 2016 C. Harry Behney Lifetime Economic Development Achievement Award.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Family Network (VFN) has been awarded the $25,000 S. Whitney Landon Award by the Turrell Fund in recognition of the non-profit organization’s work with New American families with very young children who have special needs.  The Turrell Fund’s mission is to foster the creation and delivery of high quality, developmental and educational services to at-risk children, especially the youngest and their families, and the S. Whitney Landon Award specifically targets from birth through third grade.

Vermont Business Magazine At a groundbreaking ceremony held today in Burlington to mark the official start of construction on the new, $174.9 million inpatient bed building, John Brumsted, MD, chief executive officer, UVM Medical Center, announced the new building would be named to honor Bob and Holly Miller, two well-known area philanthropists whose focus has been to make life better for members of the community. There will be four patient floors, each containing 32 single-occupancy, medical-surgical rooms for a total of 128 inpatient rooms. This will not increase the net number of inpatient beds.

by Mike Faher/The Commons, Brattleboro Time constraints, regulatory issues, and competitive pressures will make it “extremely difficult” for Vermont to independently submit a purchase bid for TransCanada’s hydroelectric stations on the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers, a new document says. The Department of Public Service memo details several options by which the state still might partner with another entity or entities and “acquire some beneficial interest” in the dams. In fact, the memo — penned by Regional Policy Director Ed McNamara — says four companies already have contacted the state to explore such a partnership.

Vermont Business Magazine The People’s United Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of People’s United Bank, announced today that it has awarded $12,000 to the Vermont Community Loan Fund (VCLF) to support its Business Loan Program. The goal of VCLF is assist small businesses in qualifying for traditional financing. VCLF’s Business Loan Program provides access to capital for small and emerging businesses that cannot obtain sufficient credit from traditional lenders. VCLF targets loan capital to businesses that benefit lower-income residents, are women-owned, are located in a downtown area, or are related to agriculture.

The grant brings the total amount awarded to VCLF by the People’s United Community Foundation to more than $65,000 since 2009.

by Mike Faher/The Commons, Brattleboro On June 2 at a Boston hotel, a team of officials and experts spent hours dissecting a vexing question: What’s the best way to find a new home for the nation’s nuclear waste? The inquiry is vitally important for Windham County and the town of Vernon, where Vermont Yankee’s spent nuclear fuel will be stored for the foreseeable future.