Current News

Vermont Business Magazine State Treasurer Beth Pearce has announced that the per participant fee for the State of Vermont 457 Deferred Compensation Plan has been reduced by 30 percent. The deferred compensation plan is a supplemental retirement savings program available to members of the Vermont State Employees’ Retirement System, and those within participating municipalities and school supervisory unions.

“I am committed to implementing cost-saving measures for our customers whenever possible,” said Pearce. “It was determined that administrative fees could be reduced based upon future projections of fee collections and expenses.”

Vermont Business Magazine After a baffling Super Bowl advertisement promoting a drug to help Americans take more opiates, Gov. Peter Shumlin is calling on the two drug companies that paid for it to pull the ad off the air and instead use the money to fund opiate and heroin prevention and treatment programs. In a letter to the drug makers, the Governor called the ad poorly timed and a shameful attempt to exploit America’s addiction crisis to boost corporate profits.

Vermont Business Magazine At its February meeting, the UVM Board of Trustees approved two much-anticipated undergraduate degree programs – a bachelor of science in biomedical engineering and a bachelor of science in data science – and heard an encouraging report on UVM’s comprehensive campaign.

The new degree programs support UVM’s efforts to expand STEM education, with a goal of doubling enrollments in STEM-related programs by 2020. The programs in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences will be housed in the new $104 million STEM complex of laboratories, classrooms and research facilities scheduled for completion in May of 2019.

Vermont Business Magazine The Keurig® KOLD™ Drinkmaker, by Keurig Green Mountain, Inc., (Keurig) (NASDAQ: GMCR), has been named a 2016 Award Finalist by the internationally renowned Edison Awards™. The distinguished awards, inspired by Thomas Edison's persistence and inventiveness, recognize innovation, creativity and ingenuity in the global economy.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160211005227/en/

Vermont Business Magazine President Obama announced plans to request full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund in his FY17 budget request. This includes more than $1 million for the Silvio O Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge (Connecticut/Massachusetts/New Hampshire/Vermont). According to theannouncement from the Department of Interior, in 2017, the President's budget calls for $900 million in conservation and recreation projects, through a combination of discretionary ($475 million) and mandatory ($425 million) funding, and pursues permanent authorization in annual mandatory funding beginning in FY18.  

National Wildlife Refuge Association President David Houghton had this to say:

Vermont Business Magazine. The facts on wasted food are staggering—Americans generated 37 million tons of food waste in 2013 alone, with only five percent diverted from landfills and incinerators for composting, according to US Environmental Protection Agency. EPA’s cost estimate of this waste is about $165 billion a year. 

Reducing, donating, and diverting wasted food offers multiple benefits for business, including savings from reduced commodities purchased and potential disposal cost reductions. Businesses receive recognition for their environmental action, potential access to tax credits through donation of wholesome food, along with additional community and social benefits through donation.

Vermont Business Magazine. Steven Judge, a well-known Micro Dairy farmer with over 50 years of experience in the dairy industry and founder of Bob-White Systems, has always been an advocate for environmentally responsible farming, community-based farms and farmers. He has turned that advocacy into a new campaign to support small farms in Vermont and ensure that new legislation, ACT 64, doesn’t put small farms out of business.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power filed a new report with the Vermont Public Service Board outlining the positive impact of the Company’s laser focus on reliability. The report shows decreased outages in 2015 and increased system reliability.

“Keeping the power on and restoring it quickly is one of the most important things we do for our customers,” said Mary Powell, President and Chief Executive Officer. “As Vermont’s Energy Company of the Future we are always focused on what we can do to improve reliability in an era of more erratic weather and an increasing number of storms all year long.”

As part of its reliability report, Green Mountain Power measures the number and length of outages. In 2015, customers saw the average time without power all year drop to 3.5 hours, significantly lower compared to a five year average of nine hours. Also in 2015 customers saw the average length of each outage decrease to less than two hours.

Vermont Business Magazine When I was first elected to public office at the age of 37, I was lucky enough to have a mentor, Tom Lehner, who had spent most of his career in public administration.  I first met him when I was a young law clerk to Supreme court Justice Louis Peck and he was the Court Administrator.  Tom took seriously the obligation of government to look out for all Vermonters – especially those who could not easily speak up for themselves. I remember how he would raise his eyebrows at me when I was about to move ahead without fully considering all of the unintended consequences of a decision. He would say, “Remember Deb, what you see will depend upon where you are sitting.”

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) is seeking director candidates for three positions on the Board of Directors that will open in May of 2016. VEC's twelve-member board is responsible for setting policy for the member-owned electric distribution utility, which serves approximately 32,000 members in northern Vermont. Board members are elected by VEC members in their district or zone and are expected to represent the interests of the members.

"This is an exciting time to be involved with energy issues," said Christine Hallquist, CEO.  "Our Board plays a critical role in setting policy and direction for VEC's future. I encourage interested members to consider running for an open seat in their district."

Vermont Business Magazine VSECU, a credit union for everybody in Vermont, today announced a partnership with Vermont-based equity crowdfunding company Milk Money L3C, designed to empower entrepreneurialism and drive local business development.