Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Below is an op-ed from Governor Peter Shumlin and a list of bills passed by the Legislature and signed or vetoed by the governor. All bills passed during the 2016 Legislative session have now been acted upon by the governor.

Vermont Business Magazine Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sue Minter has announced her plan for "Vermont Promise," which will provide two years tuition-free at Community College of Vermont (CCV) and Vermont Technical College (VTC). The plan is modeled on the widely hailed Tennessee Promise and will ensure Vermont students the education and training required to access livable wage jobs. Speaking at CCV Winooski last week, Minter was joined by former Chancellor of Vermont State Colleges Tim Donovan, former President of CCV and Johnson State College Barbara Murphy, Representative Clement Bissonnette, former Representative George Cross and former Representative Jason Lorber.

Minter campaign photo.

Vermont Business Magazine Mayor Miro Weinberger today announced that the next phase of the Burlington Bike Path has broken ground. Bike Path Phase 1b construction will update and realign about one mile of the path from the new Andy A_Dog Williams Skatepark to North Beach, and will include the construction of three new pause places, intended to provide expanded recreational opportunities, including new fitness equipment provided by UVM Medical Center, along the path. Phase 1b rehabilitation will last through this December, with landscaping and finishing touches completed early in the spring of 2017.

Vermont Business Magazine The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) will be hosting its annual Summer Meeting in Burlington on June 21. Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell will welcome the nation’s State Attorneys General. The three-day Summer Meeting is an opportunity for attorneys general to convene with key staff, other government officials and academic, corporate and association representatives to discuss legal issues on a number of topics to include consumer credit reporting, veterans in the workforce, health insurance coverage and mental health treatment, and keeping children safe.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington-based Sustain, the first sustainable, non-toxic, Fair Trade Certified brand of condoms in the United States announces the launch of its line of organic personal lubricant on Amazon. Sustain's lubricant consists of a long-lasting, premium, mess-free formula, free of harsh and potentially harmful ingredients such as parabens, glycerin, petroleum and propylene glycol.

Vermont Business Magazine FleetPride, Inc, the nation's largest independent distributor of aftermarket heavy-duty truck and trailer parts based in Texas, has announced that it has acquired the assets of Vermont-based Charlebois Truck Parts locations owned by Roger Charlebois in the Vermont and New York markets. Terms were not released. The Charlebois Truck Parts acquisition builds upon FleetPride's record-setting growth in 2015 with sales that surpassed $1 billion. With their Burlington, Rutland, Swanton, VT, and Plattsburgh, NY, locations added to FleetPride's northeastern US network of 79 locations, customers will have easy access to FleetPride's national parts inventory, heavy duty expertise and efficient distribution network.

by Jennifer Nachbur Climbing suicide rates over the past 10 years have prompted three Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alerts – the most recent in February 2016 – urging health care organizations to step up screening and detection of those individuals most at risk. But due to a shortage of both time and psychiatry staff, complying with this mandate presents a challenge. A tablet-based suicide risk assessment tool developed by researchers at the University of Vermont may provide clinicians in the hospital with a solution. Results from a study of this promising tool’s effectiveness are reported in the June 7 Online First edition of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide ranks among the top four leading causes of death in individuals between the ages of 10 and 54. Suicide claims 25 percent more lives annually than motor vehicle accidents.

by Secretary of State Jim Condos Records management is not exactly an exciting topic, but when a particular record is the focus of a request or controversy, it becomes critically important in that moment. Those records are owned by the State of Vermont and are incredibly valuable for a variety of reasons, not the least of which are accountability and preserving confidence in state government. Moments like these are opportunities to talk about the importance of records and information management and what it means for Vermonters.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Retail & Grocers Association, Vermont’s leading trade association solely representing the retail and grocery industries, announced today the election of Allison Weinhagen of City Market to the association’s Board of Directors and the re-election of Todd Keyworth of Harborside Harvest Market as Chairman of the Board and Marc Sherman of Stowe Mercantile as Vice-Chairman of Legislative Affairs.

Current directors Heather Tremblay of University Mall and John Dubie of Pearl Street Beverage will assume new roles as Vice-Chairwoman of Operations and Vice-Chairman of Membership, respectively. 

Vermont Business Magazine A report released today by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) confirms that Vermont continues to be a national leader in the fight to end childhood hunger, especially during the summer months when free school meals are not available. The “Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation” report shows that Vermont has improved its national rank from 4^th to 3^rd in serving kids summer meals, with an average daily participation of 8,779—a 14% increase in average daily participation over summer 2014. With outreach and assistance from Hunger Free Vermont, Vermont also increased its number of summer meal sites by 6%. Meanwhile, average daily participation in summer meals has plateaued on the national scale with just 1 out of every 6 kids from low-income households getting summer meals.

Vermont Business Magazine The DC Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Open Internet rules. The Open Internet rules, which were adopted in 2015, ban all domestic broadband providers from blocking or throttling lawful online content and engaging in paid prioritization agreements through which websites could be charged for priority access over the Internet. On September 21, 2015, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and 27 other members of Congress filed a brief with the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the FCC’s Open Internet rules.

Vermont Business Magazine Steven Jalbert of Barre was convicted on June 10, 2016, in Vermont Superior Court, Washington Criminal Division, of two counts of reckless endangerment. Jalbert was a certified Vermont State Inspection Mechanic in May 2014 when he recklessly engaged in conduct that placed others in danger of death or serious bodily injury by allowing a vehicle to pass the annual safety inspection when its brake lines and rocker panels were rusted, corroded and in a visibly unsafe condition. Allowing the vehicle to pass inspection risked harm to the operator, any passengers and other persons using Vermont’s roads. The vehicle was subsequently involved in a crash in July 2014 during which a passenger, Elizabeth Ibey, 82 of Barre Town, suffered fatal injuries.