Current News

Vermont Business Magazine GMP announced today that five cutting-edge energy entrepreneurs have been named winners of the Company’s first ever Inspire Space Contest to collaborate with Green Mountain Power in its state-of-the-art, open concept workspace in Colchester, Vermont. The visionary companies were selected by a team of energy innovation leaders at GMP for their interest in Vermont. They will work alongside the GMP team to grow their companies, share ideas to help develop technology and clean energy solutions for GMP customers and beyond.

by Mike Smith It seems Donald Trump is doing everything possible to hand the presidency to Hillary Clinton, which only bolsters the belief by some that this has been the plan all along. These conspiracy theorists are convinced that Trump and Clinton are working hand-in-hand to make sure she wins. Trump’s role is to attract a base of supporters in the Republican primary so that he can win the nomination while simultaneously alienating large segments of the American population — including many traditional Republicans — making it impossible for him to win in a general election. For her part, Clinton’s focus is on fending off the challenge of a progressive socialist, by saying whatever needs to be said in order to secure the nomination.

by Jonathan Rose Whether you are a grocer, a prepared- or processed-food manufacturer, or a supplier, you should already be aware that Vermont’s first-in-the-nation GMO food labeling law, commonly known as “Act 120,” is slated to take effect on July 1, 2016.  By that date, food manufacturers and retailers will have to begin labeling most foods containing ingredients produced with genetic engineering.  The new law is likely to raise a host of novel and potentially complex questions for businesses responsible for complying.  For now, food producers and sellers should be thinking about how the law’s basic requirements might apply to them.

Vermont Business Magazine - Vermont philanthropists Holly and Bob Miller have capped decades of support to strengthen palliative care and clinical services in end-of-life care in Vermont with a $3 million gift to establish the Holly and Bob Miller Chair in Palliative Medicine at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. The gift was celebrated Friday  in a ceremony at the Dudley H Davis Center to install Robert E Gramling, MD, DSc as the inaugural Miller Chair — the 100^th endowed faculty position at the university. At the investiture, nationally recognized palliative care expert BJ Miller, MD, a close friend of Dr Gramling, shared his own near-death experience and how it fundamentally altered his views on living and dying well.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims fell last week and are now lower than the same time last year. For the week of June 4, 2016, there were 417 claims, down 73 from the previous week's total and 5 fewer than they were a year ago. By industry, claims were down for Trade, but were about the same for most industrial segments. 

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington’s community-owned food cooperative, City Market, is considering expansion into the city’s Old North End. For many years, members have asked the Co-op to open a City Market in this area of town, which was home to the Onion River Co-op, which opened over 43 years ago. The auto parts store located at 242-244 North Winooski Avenue (next to the Central Market and across from the McClure Multigenerational Center) closed several months back and the property is currently for lease. This spring, City Market worked with a consultant to forecast potential sales for a Co-op at this location and has been working closely with Redstone, who recently purchased the building.

Vermont Business Magazine A US Senate committee is advancing legislation co-authored by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to improve and boost access to the loan programs aimed at helping Guard members and Reservists facing financial setbacks.  Their bill, approved Thursday by the Senate Small Business Committee, makes improvements in the Military Reservists Economic Injury Disaster Loan (MREIDL) and Repayment Deferral for Active Duty Reservists programs. 

Leahy, the co-chair of the Senate’s influential National Guard Caucus, said:  “I have long believed that both the National Guard and small business communities are foundational threads in the fabric of Vermont.  Getting our bill through the committee brings us a step closer to providing additional support for veterans and service members wishing to turn their entrepreneurial goals into reality.”

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin provided an update today on perfluorocarbon testing results from water samples collected at three locations: Harbour Industries in Shelburne,the Vermont Air National Guard base in South Burlington, and the Pittsford Fire Academy. The three locations are part of a Statewide sampling plan to investigate sites where perflurocarbons, like PFOA and PFOS, may have been used. Private wells sampled near Harbour Industries in Shelburne tested clean for both chemicals. Results showed PFOA and PFOS to be present at the Vermont Air National Guard site, and in an underground storage tank at the Pittsford Fire Academy. Both sites have historically used firefighting foam in routine training exercises. No drinking water supplies have been impacted by PFOA or PFOS contamination at any of the three sites. The limited wells located near these sites are either inactive or have been tested previously and were not found to contain perfluorocarbons.

by Mike Faher/The Commons There has been much debate about how Vermont Yankee administrators are using the plant’s decommissioning trust fund. As it turns out, the federal government has been taking its share of that same pot of money. In response to an information request from the Vermont Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (VNDCAP), Entergy administrators have disclosed that they paid $34 million in federal trust fund taxes over a 10-year period. Those tax payments — the result of a 20 percent federal levy on trust-fund investment earnings — will continue throughout the decades-long process of decommissioning Vermont Yankee. And that has some wondering whether some sort of tax relief could help speed cleanup work at the Vernon plant.

by Representative Don Turner R-Milton When the House unanimously voted to pass Bill S230, it was a proud moment of bipartisan consensus. We worked tirelessly to find a fair balance between renewable energy development and the concerns of local communities, regarding the health and financial implications of siting these projects in their neighborhoods. Subsequent changes to the bill, including those suggested by Governor Shumlin at the end of the session, tilted the balance in favor of renewable energy. Nonetheless, we compromised because the final bill was a modest attempt to restore some regional and local control in renewable energy projects while addressing noise pollution by wind turbines.

by Mike Faher/The Commons State regulators have rejected an anti-nuclear group’s last-minute objections to spent fuel plans at Vermont Yankee. The Vermont Public Service Board still is considering Entergy’s plans to build a new storage facility for radioactive spent fuel at the Vernon plant. But in an order issued June 1, the board declined to admit new evidence offered by New England Coalition in the case. The Brattleboro-based coalition had asked the Public Service Board to consider information about the proposed fuel facility’s visibility and its potential to be built underground. The board, however, ruled that the coalition’s motions were too little, too late.

Vermont Business Magazine Matthew Wyman, 31, and Joey Wyman, 34, of Cavendish, Vermont, were arraigned Tuesday on charges arising from unlawful logging of trees on state land. Matthew Wyman was arraigned on two counts of unlawful mischief and Joey Wyman was arraigned on two counts of sale or possession of stolen property. According to documents filed with the court, a maple tree and a yellow birch tree were unlawfully cut down in Proctor Piper State Forest and removed and sold to a lumber yard for more than $1,200. The documents allege that Matthew Wyman cut down the trees without permission and Joey Wyman transported the logs for sale with his truck and trailer.