Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The number of contaminated wells has grown to 52, as testing has expanded in the area around the former Chemfab plant in North Bennington. Additional testing of the North Bennington public water system, including samples from the elementary school, have confirmed no PFOA contamination. Governor Peter Shumlin today provided the following update on the situation in North Bennington. The location of the community meeting scheduled for tomorrow has been moved. The meeting will be held at 6pm, Wednesday, March 16 in the Tishman Lecture Hall at Bennington College, 1 College Drive, Bennington.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin celebrated Vermont's 2016 maple sugar season Monday with a ceremonial tree tapping event at Sugartree Maple Farm in Williston.  The Governor was joined by Vermont Agriculture Secretary Chuck Ross, Consumer Protection Chief and state maple expert, Henry Marckres, Executive Director of the Vermont Sugar Makers Association (VSMA) Matthew Gordon, as well as 3rd and 4th graders from Williston Central Elementary school who aided the governor in the tree-tapping process, and accompanied him on an educational tour of the Sugartree Maple Farm facility.

Vermont Business Magazine For decades Merchants Bank and Merchants Bank employees have been pledging to United Way throughout Vermont. This year, Merchants Bank continued its tradition of running a successful campaign, with individual employee pledges of $55,000 and a corporate pledge of $35,000.  Merchants Bank employee pledges combined with the Merchants Bank donation, contributed to over $90,000 to United Way throughout Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The American Craft Spirits Association (ACSA), announced the winners of its Third Annual Judging of Craft Spirits on March 3, 2016. Caledonia Spirits, the Hardwick-based producer of Barr Hill, submitted three products to the competition. All three products earned awards. The leader of the pack, Barr Hill Gin, was awarded a gold medal with an additional “Best in Category” designation. Barr Hill Vodka received a silver medal, and a bronze medal was awarded for the category-bending Tom Cat Barrel-Aged Gin. The event was hosted at the Palmer House Hotel, in downtown Chicago. Winners were hand-selected among a record-breaking pool of nearly 450 entrants – up more than 30 percent over last year.

Vermont Business Magazine Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (ACPHS), with campuses in Colchester, Vermont, and Albany, NY,  announced Monday that it has received approval from the New York State Education Department to offer a Bachelor's Degree program in Public Health. Students will be eligible to enroll in the new program beginning in fall 2016. The Bachelor of Public Health represents the evolution of the College's current B.S. program in Health and Human Sciences. Whereas that program placed an emphasis on the basic sciences, the Public Health program will expand the focus to integrate a greater variety of coursework in areas that include social science, applied science, epidemiology, statistics, and research.

by John McClaughry Alert viewers of WCAX may have noticed a March 4 segment calling attention to my completion of fifty years’ service as Kirby Town Moderator. Please allow me to use those four minutes of media fame as a springboard for defending the merits of Vermont’s tradition of town meeting government. Early settlers from Massachusetts and Connecticut brought town meeting to the New Hampshire Grants before they created the Republic of Vermont in 1777. Unlike in most of the rest of the country, in Vermont – never a royal colony - the towns came together and created the state.

Both Federalist John Adams and Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson believed that Town Meeting ought to be the foundation of any democratic republic.  When asked the reason for the political strength of New England, Adams replied “town, school, congregation, and militia”, the institutions of civil society at the local level.

Vermont Business Magazine Popular New England Sports Network (NESN) Sportscaster and St Michael's College graduate Tom Caron will speak at Southern Vermont College (SVC) on Wednesday, March 30. His talk on life in one of sports hottest media markets and the perspective he found after a run-in with cancer will take place in the Everett Mansion Theatre at 6 p.m. for the general public and at 7:30 p.m. for students. The event is co-sponsored by Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.

Tom Caron

Vermont Business Magazine The Champlain Valley Newspaper Group is pleased to announce two promotions within its ranks that will strengthen its three weekly newspapers in the region. Co-publishers Emerson, Angelo and Suzanne Lynn have tapped Milton Independent editor/reporter Courtney Lamdin to serve as executive editor of the Indy, Colchester Sun and Essex Reporter. Indy reporter Abby Ledoux was promoted to associate editor of the three papers. The leadership change comes after the Reporter and Sun’s editor/co-publisher Maria Archangelo, with Lynn Publications since last April, announced her departure to take a publishing position in her home city of Philadelphia.

“This is a great opportunity for Courtney, Abby and the readers of all three papers in our group,” co-publisher Emerson Lynn said. “With their leadership and direction, we look forward to Milton, Essex and Colchester becoming a powerhouse for news in Chittenden County.”

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin on Saturday announced the results of further testing for the situation in North Bennington, where a number of private wells have tested positive for elevated levels of a potentially harmful chemical known as PFOA. Twenty-nine new sites have tested above the acceptable level. The public drinking supply has been tested and is not affected.

Vermont Business Magazine Jasper Hill Farm cheeses captivated judges at the 2016 World Championship Cheese Contest in Madison, WI, last week. Along with Jasper Hill Farm, three other Vermont Cheese Council members, Vermont Creamery, Cabot Creamery Cooperative, and Boston Post Dairy, also captured top awards in their categories. Jasper Hill Farm, located in Greensboro, won two “Best in Class” awards for “Winnimere,” a washed rind, seasonal cheese and “Moses Sleeper,” a brie style, bloomy rind cheese. In addition, its “Harbison” won a second place award and its much loved “Bayley Hazen Blue” won a third place award. “Winnimere” was one of four outstanding American cheeses that made the cut for consideration for Best in Show, but lost to the “Grand Cru Surchoix,” an Emmi-Roth USA cheese made in Wisconsin. This is the first American cheese to win the top prize in 30 years. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for January was 3.4 percent. This represents a decrease of one-tenth of a percentage point from the revised December rate (3.5 percent). The national average in January was 4.9 percent. Vermont’s unemployment rate was tied for seventh lowest in the country. 

by Senator Christopher Bray Vermonters want a greater voice in solving this century’s greatest challenge—how to change our economy from one powered by burning fossil fuels to one powered by clean, renewable energy. Over the past several years, the legislature has struggled to find the right way to promote this energy transformation while also empowering Vermonters to help determine how we make the transition. We have brought our hearts and mind to this work, and now we’re offering an answer.