Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) announced tdoay that it has approved financing of $6.8 million to help Vermont economic development projects totaling $21.4 million move forward. “VEDA is pleased to help Vermont businesses and farms bring their startup and expansion plans to fruition,” said VEDA CEO Jo Bradley.  “The breadth of economic development projects approved for VEDA financing is impressive, covering everything from manufacturing to farm projects, small business startups and energy generation projects.”

Loan approvals by VEDA include:

Vermont Business Magazine In response to reports of Governor Shumlin’s Administration trying to transfer exempt appointees into full-time classified positions, Lieutenant Governor Scott, Senator Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) and Representative Don Turner (R-Milton) wrote the following letter  to Vermont Department of Human Resources Commissioner Maribeth Spellman requesting an immediate halt to any such action. In their letter dated today they write: "We write to share our concerns that an attempt to re-classify positions in order convert the current Governor’s employees into full-time, classified positions is outside the scope of good government. The next Administration—whether Democrat or Republican—should make these decisions in cooperation with the new Legislature."

LETTER

May 23, 2016

Maribeth Spellman

Vermont Department of Human Resources

120 State Street

Montpelier, VT 05620

Vermont Business Magazine The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Monday it has awarded 19 essential community anchor organizations with more than $8 million in direct loan, guaranteed loan and grant funding. Vermont and New Hampshire USDA Rural Development State Director Ted Brady announced the recipients during a ground breaking for an expansion of the Poultney Public Library, which received a $50,000 grant.

“These loans and grants will help towns and non-profit organizations provide essential community services, including emergency medical services, education, and public works,” said Brady. “The investments vary from multi-million dollar modern wood heat systems to a few thousand dollars to help a small library install new insulation. The essential community facilities receiving funding this year will help make rural Vermont a safer, more sustainable and more vibrant place to live and work.”

Vermont Business Magazine Heidi Scheuermann (R-Stowe) announced today that she will run for re-election to the Vermont House of Representatives. Scheuermann had in past years considered a run for statewide office. She said there is much work to do in Montpelier in regards to state spending and management. With a new governor, lieutenant governor, Speaker, and Senate president coming in, as well as several new legislators, Scheuermann said she's looking forward to working with the new leadership.

Heidi Scheuermann

Vermont Business Magazine With important Obamacare provisions that ensure no-cost birth control for women being challenged nationwide, Governor Peter Shumlin today signed a law to codify and expand access to those services in Vermont law. Importantly, the law will ensure that vasectomies for men are available with no charge, making Vermont the first state to extend no-cost birth control protections to men.

"While Republicans in other states and the US Congress are working to roll back reproductive rights, I am proud to sign this law to expand them," Gov. Shumlin said. "This law will ensure that Vermonters will be protected from efforts to undermine important birth control provisions in the Affordable Care Act. And Vermont will now be the first state to make it easier for men to be involved in birth control decisions. Once again, Vermont is leading the way on reproductive rights."

by C.B. Hall Vermont Business Magazine With a frustrating ski season receding into the past, Vermont's tourism sector is turning attention to how well it will fare as the rest of 2016 unfolds. Were there underlying factors this winter, beyond the weather, that are poised to take a bite out of summer travel, too? Or will tourism rebound as the gray landscape takes on a vernal green?

by Mike Smith Being a US senator is a heady job. It provides stature, power and privilege that few Vermonters will ever enjoy or can even relate to. In fact, it is such a lofty position senators are often insulated from the public and media by large staffs and the considerable geographic distance between the home press corps and their official duties. As a result, US senators can become easily annoyed when challenged or just routinely questioned by the media, a constituent, or even a political opponent, and sometimes can lose sight of what is the right thing to do. This seems to be the case with Senator Patrick Leahy and the call to release his EB-5 emails.

Senator Leahy — who has written numerous endorsements of the media’s “Sunshine Week” to promote government transparency — flatly refused a request by his presumptive general election opponent, Scott Milne, to release all of Leahy’s (and his staff’s) emails related to the federal EB-5 program.

Vermont Business Magazine On Thursday, May 12th more than 325 business and nonprofit leaders, legislators, students, state employees, and activists came together for a day of education around socially responsible practices in the workplace. Gathering the LEED certified Davis Center at the University of Vermont in downtown Burlington, attendees of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility’s (VBSR) 26th Annual Spring Conference experienced a robust and varied agenda.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont College of Medicine has announced the winners of the 2016 Medical Alumni Association Awards to be presented during its annual Medical Alumni Reunion, Friday June 10, 2016, on the UVM College of Medicine campus. The Medical Alumni Association of the College of Medicine has, for four decades, honored the accomplishments of its members for their work caring for patients, creating new advances in the laboratory, and contributing to their communities. The A Bradley Soule Award, established in 1983, honors an alumnus/a whose loyalty and dedication to the College of Medicine most emulate those qualities found in its first recipient, A Bradley Soule, M.D.'28. The 2016 award winner is John Jerome Saia, MD ’66.

Vermont Business Magazine The USDOL Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance in Washington, DC, issued a determination on April 20, 2016, approving the Vermont Department of Labor’s (VDOL) request for Trade Certification for the laid-off workers of NTT Data, Inc, in Montpelier, Vermont. The number of laid off workers was not immediately available to VBM. NTT does IT work for National Life Group on a contract basis. NTT acquired Keane Inc in 2011, which had been doing IT work for National Life. Subsequently, NTT, an international company based in Japan, laid of some workers in Montpelier, where National Life is headquartered.

The Trade Certification refers to jobs lost to foreign trade or to jobs moved offshore. The certification has authorized all workers of NTT Data Inc in Montpelier who meet the eligibility criteria, to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance under Chapter 2 of Title II of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended.

Eligible workers include:

Vermont Business Magazine Billing Tree, Inc, an Arizona company that processes electronic payments, will pay $178,000 to settle claims that the company violated Vermont consumer protection laws. Between 2012-2014, Billing Tree processed debits from 3,903 consumer bank accounts in Vermont on behalf of at least 43 online lenders of high-interest loans. The annual interest often exceeded 100-300% even though Vermont law prohibits annual interest above 24%. None of the 43 lenders had a license to make loans in Vermont. As of May 2014, Billing Tree ceased processing payments in Vermont involving any online consumer loans.