Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont has joined a new national scholarship  program aimed at motivating students to do well in high school and prepare better for college.  Through an online program platform called Raise.me, students can now earn “micro-scholarships” from UVM starting in 9th grade for a wide range of individual achievements. Students applying to UVM, for example, receive scholarships for taking advanced courses, raising their high school GPA and engaging in community service or leadership.   

Vermont Business Magazine The Thomas Hirchak Company, of Morrisville and Williston, wants every consumer in the area to know a simple buying and selling message: Auctions Work. That's why the company has taken part in the #AuctionsWork campaign during National Auctioneers Week, April 11-17. The campaign relies on the power of hashtags and the efforts of NAA members like Hirchak, who have tagged social media posts with #AuctionsWork and #NAAPro. The second tag designates Hirchak's standing as part of an NAA network of auction professionals that believes in continuing education and ethical auction practices.

Vermont Business Magazine Champlain College President Donald J Laackman will confer more than 450 associate and bachelor degrees on May 14 during the College's 138th Undergraduate Commencement. The Saturday morning ceremony will include presenting honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees to musician Grace Potter, and author Katherine Paterson. Both women will address the graduating Class of 2016.

Grace Potter

Vermont Business Magazine Dr Robert Larner, University of Vermont Class of 1939 and UVM College of Medicine Class of 1942, and his wife, Helen Larner, say their philanthropic support for UVM is intended to ensure that the medical education provided by the University of Vermont College of Medicine is recognized as "second to none." The couple's latest gift, $19.7 million in commercial property and cash – is the largest one-time gift in the University’s history – and establishes them as second to none in their philanthropic support for UVM. The Larner’s lifetime giving to UVM now tops $33 million, a figure ranking them as the most generous donors in the 225-year history of the institution. The commercial property, valued at $18.7 million, will be held and managed by the UVM Foundation, with the income it generates directed to the College of Medicine to invest in its medical education programs. A $1 million cash gift was also included.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) Friday joined Vermont and Canadian officials and business leaders in Essex Junction, to mark progress on facilitating travel and commerce between Vermont and Canada.  Leahy, long an advocate for the return of the “Montrealer” rail line and easing air travel to Vermont from airports like Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, said legislation he introduced earlier this year would make important strides toward making these a reality.

Vermont Business Magazine Each of the three key metrics showed improvement as the March unemployment rate fell one-tenth to 3.3 percent. The Labor Market and Employed increased, while the number of Unemployed decreased. The Vermont Department of Labor announced the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate today. The national rate in March was 5.0 percent. As of the prior month’s initial data, the Burlington-South Burlington Metropolitan NECTA, at 2.6 percent, had the lowest unemployment rate in the country for all metropolitan areas. Overall, Vermont’s unemployment rate was tied for seventh lowest in the country. Northern New England rates were among the lowest in the nation. New Hampshire was second at 2.6 percent and Maine was eighth at 3.4 percent. South Dakota was overall lowest at 2.5 percent and Alaska was highest at 6.6 percent. March is the eighth consecutive month reporting a decline to the number of unemployed persons in Vermont (seasonally-adjusted).

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims rose again last week and are well ahead of numbers from the same time last year. For the week of April 9, 2016, there were 959 claims, up 221 from the previous week's total and 192 more than they were a year ago. By industry, claims fell steeply for manufacturing, in contrast to Services, which was up, likely due to the end of the disappointing winter hospitality season. 

Altogether 7,025 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 167 from a week ago, and 77 more than a year ago.

The Department processed 0 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08).

Gender barriers in work and politics need policy action 

Vermont Business Magazine Women are closing the education gap with men, but a University of Vermont global study of gender equality shows these advances are failing to bring equal access to quality jobs and government representation. The study, which explored decades of data from more than 150 countries, finds that women have reached 91 percent of the education that men have — but only 70 percent of their rate of employment, and just 25 percent of political representation.

Vermont Business Magazine A moving violation ticket brings many hassles, but none is more severe than the effect it can have on your auto insurance premium. A national research firm has released its annual analysis of the impact on insurance rates because of a driving ticket. Vermont made the top 10 in two categories: DUI and reckless driving. However, even relatively minor violations, like failing to signal and drving too closely, can drive up insurance rates. For Vermont residents, failure to signal can increase rates by 14 percent. For the third year in a row, insuranceQuotes commissioned a Quadrant Information Services study that found auto insurance rates can climb by as much as 94 percent on average after a single moving violation.

Senator Patrick Leahy "I’m shocked and saddened by what state and federal investigators have found. I’m especially heartbroken for the people of the Northeast Kingdom, whose high hopes for these projects have been dealt a harsh blow.  My thoughts are with the many families impacted by this.  It is a good sign that both the federally appointed receiver and the state are doing what they can to keep these businesses open and to keep these Vermonters employed."

Vermont Business Magazine Calling it a "Ponzi-like" scheme, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, in a filing in US District Court, Southern District of Florida unsealed a blistering civil suit against the owners Jay Peak Resort and Q Burke Resort about noon today. The case was filed April 12. In part it says (see document below) that, "This is an emergency action the Commission is bringing to stop an ongoing, massive eighht-year fraudulent scheme in which the Miami owner and the chief executive of a Vermont ski resort have systematically looted more then $50 million of the more than $350 million that has been raised from hundreds of foreign investors throught the US Citizenship and Immigration Service's EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine State and federal officials revealed Thursday that a massive fraudulent scheme was undertaken at Jay Peak Resort and Q Burke Resort that involved hundreds of millions of dollars and which goes back to 2008. The Securities & Exchange complaint alleges that the developers, Ariel Quiros and Bill Stenger, engaged in a "Ponzi-like" scheme that "looted" foreign investors in the EB-5 program. Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell in an analogy likened it to a "bank robbery." But so far only civil complaints have been filed on both the state and federal level. Criminal charges could come eventually. About $400 million in 10 developments, along with hundreds of jobs, are at stake.