Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The US Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly, in a vote of 94 to 1, approved major legislation backed by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) that addresses the opioid/heroin crisis that has gripped Vermont and states across the nation. Leahy on Thursday praised the Senate’s passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), a bill which aims to tackle opioid and heroin addiction through the same kind of community-based approach that has made significant improvements in Vermont.  “Vermont’s experience and Vermont’s solutions have informed the writing of this bill,” Leahy said.  As Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Leahy helped shepherd the legislation through the Judiciary Committee and through the Senate.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Bernie Sanders today announced the Department of Health and Human Services awarded $1,240,794 to four community health centers in Vermont. The health centers will use this new federal funding to expand access to substance abuse treatment. The Vermont awards are part of $94 million to improve and expand the delivery of substance abuse services announced today by HHS for 271 community health centers in 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The funds were authorized by a Sanders provision in the Affordable Care Act that provided $11 billion in funding for community health centers across the country.

Vermont Business Magazine Republican Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott landed two high profile endorsements today in his campaign for governor. Former Republican Governor Jim Douglas and Democratic state Senator Dick Mazza (Colchester) sent a letter to supporters through Scott's campaign email listserve. The letter is penned by Douglas with both signing. Scott leads in early polling to win the election. A recent VPR poll has him ahead in the GOP nomination against businessman Bruce Lisman and in the general election against either of the two leading Democrats, former Transportation Secretary Sue Minter and former state senator and Google executive Matt Dunne. The letter also asks people to donate to the campaign and includes pictures of Douglas and his wife Dorothy and one of Mazza.

Vermont Business Magazine During the first official visit by a sitting Canadian Prime Minister in nearly two decades, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Thursday endorsed the US-Canada preclearance agreement to expedite travel and strengthen trade and national security between the two countries. The endorsement signals support of US implementing legislation introduced last week by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), joined by chief Republican cosponsor Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).  Prime Minister Trudeau’s endorsement also includes his intention to support bringing ratification legislation before the Canadian Parliament for approval.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Andrew M Cuomo of New York, Governor Peter Shumlin of Vermont, and Governor Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire officially requested in a letter dated Thursday that the US Environmental Protection Agency conduct a review of the best available science regarding perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), in order to assess and ensure the safety of drinking water exposed to the contaminant. Additionally, the Governors called for full federal funding of the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and the Clean Water Revolving Fund, which are critical tools for supporting state efforts to upgrade drinking water infrastructure.

Vermont Business Magazine Rymes Heating Oils, Inc, a New Hampshire company, has agreed to pay $31,949 to 387 Vermont consumers and $15,000 in civil penalties to the State of Vermont to settle claims that the company violated Vermont consumer protection laws. The Attorney General found that Rymes was not disclosing all fees in aFee Disclosure Form as required by Vermont law and had collected higher finance charges than allowed under Vermont law.

“Vermont law protects propane customers from hidden fees or unfair charges. This should be a warning to all propane companies: disclose your fees in the required forms and be sure your propane service agreements comply with Vermont law,” said Attorney General Bill Sorrell.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont is listed among the top 40 institutions in the U.S. for its pass rate on the Certified Public Accountants (CPA) exam in the latest rankings from the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. The university's 75 percent pass rate, based on the scores of 37 graduates of UVM's Master of Accountancy (MAcc) program in the Grossman School of Business, is among the top 4.9 percent nationwide and well above the U.S. and international pass rate of 49.8 percent. UVM's overall pass rate of was better than all but 39 of more than 1,000 institutions with 10 or more candidates included in the rankings. 

Vermont Business Magazine Lyndon State's Electronic Journalism Arts Program has been ranked by industry professionals and alums as one of the top 25 journalism education programs in the United States. This is the third year in a row Lyndon has received this distinction, with top ten rankings in the past two years. The 2015 survey by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) and Crain's TVNewsPro magazine puts Lyndon’s program in the same caliber as Kent State, Penn State, and Boston University. Lyndon State remains the smallest and one of the most affordable schools on the list. The 107-year old program at the University of Missouri at Columbia, the first journalism school in America, once again leads the list while the graduate schools at Northwestern and Columbia follow in the second and third slots.

Non-profit tech association CompTIA released its Cyberstates 2016 report Thursday, which provides a state-by-state analysis of the US technology job market, and found that Vermont’s tech industry employment ranked 46th in the country and employed 13,863 workers in 2015. These workers had an annual average salary of $78,878, which was 86% more than the average private sector wage in the entire state. 

So, why is the tech industry so important to Vermont? It means:

•304 net jobs added between 2014 and 2015 – a number that’s expected to continue to rise in 2016
•A tech payroll of $1.1 billion in 2015, ranked 34th nationwide, accounting for 5.4% of all private sector payroll in Vermont
•6.5% of the state economy is from the tech industry

Vermont Business Magazine Susan L Donegan, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation announced today that Travelers Insurance Company and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company have paid Vermont $154,000 in fines and repaid consumers another $54,500. The two insurance companies this week paid DFR fines totaling $154,000 for violating Vermont laws regarding the timing of policy cancellation and renewal notices, faulty practices when investigating auto liability claims and in one case, wrongly calculating auto accident deductibles.

Liberty Mutual Insurance paid an administrative penalty of $38,000 for inappropriately notifying consumers of the cancellation or non-renewal of homeowners’ policies in 2013-14. An administrative penalty of $20,000 was assessed for incorrectly calculating auto accident claims. The company voluntarily repaid policyholders more than $18,000 in addition to the administrative penalty.

Vermont Business Magazine BTV Ignite Executive Director Michael Schirling, along with local government and business leaders, on Wednesday announced that the City of Burlington has been named a White House TechHire community, part of a multi-sector White House initiative to link area employers with Burlingtonians, growing the local tech workforce and empowering community members with the skills they would need for well-paying jobs in innovation and technology. The City of Burlington and BTV Ignite will partner with local educational institutions and employers to train and employ 75 tech workers in 2016 and 400 tech workers through 2020. On Friday, an application will be submitted for the TechHire Department of Labor Grant — separate from the White House designation. That application is for $4 million.

by Jeffrey R. Wakefield UVM Vermont's maple industry contributed between $317 and $330 million in total sales to the state's economy in 2013, according to a recently completed economic contribution study conducted for the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association (VMSMA) by the Center for Rural Studies at the University of Vermont. The industry added between $140 and $144 million to Vermont in profits and wages, the study said, and supported between 2,735 and 3,169 full-time equivalent jobs. The study's conclusions are based on a survey of Vermont maple producers and telephone interviews with maple-related businesses in the state, including maple packers/processors, equipment manufacturers, and sales and installation operations.