Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Lyndon State College’s Center for Rural Entrepreneurship has created a Hospitality and Tourism Business Management Certification Program. The program is designed to meet the workforce needs related to the hospitality, tourism, and recreation industries that are important drivers of the area’s rural economy. The new certification program aims to close the divide between employer expectations and motivated employees looking to move to the next level. The program offers the opportunity to upgrade hospitality and tourism skills without the commitment or expense of a full degree program through certification trainings online, on-site with employers, or in LSC’s state-of-the-art classrooms.

Vermont Business Magazine As part of its ongoing effort to promote Vermont to Quebec-based companies and networks, the Vermont Quebec Enterprise Initiative (VQEI) welcomed over two dozen companies from the Sherbrooke region to Vermont for a two-day event at Jay Peak Resort. In partnership with CQI, an economic development organization from Sherbrooke, the program featured a panel of local business leaders from the Northeast Kingdom that offered specific advice in areas of banking, trade compliance, insurance, logistics, and more. 

Vermont Business Magazine X-rays have long been used to make pictures of tiny objects, even single atoms. Now a team of scientists has discovered a new use for X-rays at the atomic scale: using them like a radar gun to measure the motion and velocity of complex and messy groups of atoms. “It’s a bit like a police speed trap — for atomic and nanoscale defects,” says Randall Headrick, a professor of physics in the University of Vermont's College of Arts and Sciences who led the research team. The new technique was reported on March 28 in the journal Nature Physics.

by Patrick Leahy Senate Republicans are creating a toxic dynamic that ensures outside interest groups have the floor to themselves. Rather than rolling up their sleeves and considering Chief Judge Merrick Garland’s record for themselves, Republicans have outsourced their job to moneyed interest groups whose only goal is to smear the nominee’s admirable record of public service. These outside groups are not accountable to the American people. Nor do they have the American people’s interest in mind. They are private, powerful groups whose only goal is to advance their own special interests at any cost.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) today published a Request for Proposal (RFP) to contract with one or more Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) to provide certain Medicaid services. The goal of the RFP is to continue to build an integrated health care system that improves the quality of, and access to, care for all Vermonters. The RFP furthers this goal, the DVHA said in a statement, by creating the opportunity for health care providers to get paid in a way that rewards quality, care coordination, and early intervention. 

Specifically, the RFP seeks to make a regular, predictable, and prospective payment to ACOs for Medicaid services.  Rather than being paid for every service, an ACO would be paid in advance for their entire population.  Predictable payment should allow providers to focus on quality of care, innovation, and making long term investments in their practices. 

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin provided the following update today on results from an additional 50 private well samples collected last week in North Bennington. Twenty-two samples showed non-detect results, and 19 samples showed concentrations of PFOA over the Vermont Health Department advisory limit of 20 parts per trillion (ppt), ranging from 22ppt to 471ppt. The remaining nine results were below 20ppt. Five monitoring wells surrounding Bennington Landfill were also tested and showed PFOA levels ranging from 18ppt to 140ppt.

Vermont Business Magazine The first batch of Barr Hill Reserve Tom Cat Gin aged in 100 percent Vermont oak barrels will be released at the Made in Vermont Marketplace show at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction on April 16 & 17. The Marketplace show is open to the public, and tickets are $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, and children under 12 are free. Tom Cat Gin is distilled and barreled at Caledonia Spirits in Hardwick, Vermont. The quality of the barrel significantly impacts the flavor and color of the emerging spirit. The cold climate of the Northeast leads to slow growing, tight grained white oak. This along with precision and craftsmanship results in the highest quality barrels.

Vermont Business Magazine A new study from New York financial technology company SmartAsset shows where people can get the most out of their money thanks to a favorable cost of living. Residents of Addison County get the most bang for their buck in Vermont, while those in Essex County get the least. Chittenden County, which is the overall wealthiest, has the second best buying power. The study compares median income and cost of living data nationwide to find the counties where people hold the most purchasing power. The study aims to find the places where average living expenses are most affordable to the people who live there. The study looked at the cost of living relative to income to determine  purchasing power.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy today recognized Art Woolf, University of Vermont Associate Professor of Economics, as the 2016 Financial Literacy Champion. The award recognizes leadership and outstanding innovation and achievement in the effort to advance the financial literacy of Vermont youth. The honor comes with a $1,000 cash award.

UVM Professor Art Woolf

Vermont Business Magazine From coin identification to how our banking system works, Vermont students were challenged this year, through two financial literacy programs, to learn more about how our economy works. State Treasurer Beth Pearce today recognized student achievement in the Reading is an Investment program and the Be Money Wise financial literacy poster contest. Both programs are administered by the Treasurer’s office.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Economic Development Authority has approved $10.6 million in economic development financing for commercial, agricultural, small business and energy projects totaling $23.5 million. Projects include: Coffee Lab International, Inc, Waterbury; Lucky’s Trailer Sales, Inc, Colchester; Wilcox Ice Cream, East Arlington; Green Mountain Harley-Davidson, Essex Junction; Black Lantern Inn, Montgomery; Mad River Garden Center and Mad River Property Management, Waitsfield; Maple Leaf Solar’s, Bennington; Bright Star Solar, LLC, Benson; Killington Mountain Lodge; and Summit Lodge, Killington.

by Mike Faher/The Commons Brattleboro As states like Vermont push for more say in nuclear-plant decommissioning, an industry group is pushing back. Rod McCullum, a senior director at the Washington, DC-based Nuclear Energy Institute, says the state’s demands for more public input and more financial regulation could have a negative effect on cleanup efforts at plants like Vermont Yankee. During a March 30 visit to Brattleboro, McCullum also said the state’s concerns about being left with a big bill at Vermont Yankee are unfounded.