Current News

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine State government officials are holding a press conference today to explain why the locks had been changed, documents seized and the executive staff was displaced at Q Burke Resort Wednesday afternoon. Governor Peter Shumlin's spokesperson Scott Coriell told WCAX, which first reported the action, that: "We're aware of the situation in the Northeast Kingdom. This is a coordinated effort. We are unable to comment until relevant information is made public."

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s tech sector makes up a quarter of the state’s workers and 40 percent of its wages, and generates higher pay and faster job growth compared to the state’s overall economy. These are some of the key conclusions from a new report released Wednesday by the Vermont Technology Alliance, a non-profit business association that represents Vermont’s technology sector. 

by Patrick Leahy Vermonters, like millions of Americans across the country, are preparing for another tax deadline.  Middle class families work hard all year and, come Tax Day, many of us question whether our tax system is fair.  And no wonder.  Billion-dollar corporations routinely write off their most egregious misconduct as nothing more than the cost of doing business, saving millions of dollars.  And, in some cases, padding the wallets of wealthy CEOs.  This is not only unfair to hardworking families who struggle to pay their monthly bills, it simply wrong as a matter of a fair tax policy.  We must close this tax loophole, and that’s why I authored the No Tax-Write Offs for Corporate Wrongdoers Act.

Vermont Business Magazine On Monday, April 11th the Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with CAT-TV, launched the first of a series of episodes for a show called “Bennington Made.”  The Bennington Made show will focus on locally made Bennington products and the owner, operators and staff that make these quality products.

by Mike Faher/The Commons Entergy wants additional disposal options for Vermont Yankee’s contaminated water, but federal regulators say they don’t yet know enough about the liquid to approve that request. Citing “uncertainty in the concentration of radionuclides in the water,” the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is holding off on allowing Entergy to ship Vermont Yankee water to a facility in Idaho.

Vermont Business Magazine Otter Valley Union High School in Brandon is the third district in the past three years in the Rutland region to undertake major building improvement projects paid for with energy cost savings through a partnership with Johnson Controls. The two are implementing a $3.6 million energy performance contract that will help the school make much-needed upgrades to the building and dramatically reduce its carbon emissions, while paying for the improvements over the next 18 years through substantial energy cost savings.

by Mike Faher/The Commons A developer says preliminary environmental studies — including detailed assessments of noise and visual impacts — have shown no “red flags” for the proposed 28-turbine, 96.6-megawatt Stiles Brook Wind Project in Windham County. But no scientific studies are needed to gauge the level of skepticism some residents feel about the project.

Vermont Business Magazine Orange County is Vermont's stealth agricultural county, flying under the radar as the county with the third most farms in the state (748), fourth in agricultural sales ($55 million), and fifth in land in agricultural production (105,235 acres). Beef and livestock farms are on the rise and the county is third highest in vegetable sales.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin provided the following update on PFOA private well and agricultural product testing results from North Bennington and Pownal. Three maple syrup samples were taken in North Bennington two weeks ago and tested for PFOA. All results came back clean with no detection of PFOA. The Agency of Agriculture has been working in tandem with the Department of Environmental Conservation to determine if the environmental contamination of PFOA extends to soils and the agricultural products produced in the area. Soil results are expected within a week. The “non-detect” result of the maple syrup testing is a welcome early sign.

Vermont Business Magazine In an effort to reduce overprescribing of opioid pain relievers, Vermont Health Commissioner Harry Chen, MD, and dozens of public health officials, health care organizations, medical experts, and consumer advocacy groups from across the country today petitioned the Joint Commission, an agency that accredits health care organizations, and to the federal agency that oversees Medicare. Signers are requesting changes to pain management requirements they believe foster dangerous prescribing practices.

Vermont Business Magazine Following up on previous guidance provided to solar projects this past December, the Vermont Attorney General’s Office and Department of Public Service provided additional guidance to all companies, including utilities, who market renewable energy projects in Vermont. “Today’s Guidance follows the earlier statement on solar energy projects and clarifies that all renewable energy projects must comply with the law and avoid deceptive marketing statements,” said Attorney General Sorrell.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), one of the core of congressmen who helped develop the US EB-5 immigrant investor program, is urging Congress today to reform the program. In his statement below, Leahy points out that wealthy areas of the country, in particular Manhattan, have benefited from the program that is intended to bring much-needed capital to rural and poorer areas of the nation. Developers have been able to do this by "gerrymandering" where they want to build with poor areas in the city to create EB-5 districts that qualify for the lower investor amount of $500,000. A wealthy district would require a $1 million investment from each immigrant investor.