Current News

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate fell one-tenth in December to 3.6 percent, the first time the rate has fallen since last April, when it fell two-tenths to 3.6 percent. The crucial numbers continue to show a falling Labor Force and number of Employed, as tourism hiring lagged with the slow start to the ski season. However, the number of Unemployed also fell, causing the rate to go down. The Vermont Department of Labor announced the results today. The national average in December held at 5.0 percent. Vermont’s unemployment rate was again tenth lowest in the country. North Dakota was lowest at 2.7 percent and New Mexico was highest at 6.7 percent. Based on preliminary 2015 data, eleven of twelve months during the calendar year were below four percent unemployment generating a preliminary seasonally-adjusted annual average Vermont statewide unemployment rate of 3.7 percent.

Vermont Business Magazine Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc (NYSE: BHLB), the holding company of Berkshire Bank, with branches in southwestern Vermont, reported a 13 percent increase in fourth quarter core earnings per share to $0.54 in 2015 from $0.48 in 2014. The earnings improvement was driven by 17 percent revenue growth produced by the company's expanded operations. Fourth quarter GAAP EPS increased to $0.52 from $0.46.  For the year, core earnings per share increased by 16 percent to $2.09 in 2015 from $1.80 in 2014, while GAAP EPS increased to $1.73 from $1.36. GAAP results in all periods included net non-core charges primarily related to acquisitions and restructuring activities. The dividend was increase one cent to $0.20. 

FOURTH QUARTER FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (comparisons are to prior quarter unless otherwise stated):

by Chris Graff Bernie Sanders’ closing television ad for Iowa is probably the best political ad I have ever seen. Superbly edited to Simon and Garfunkel’s song “America,” the ad brilliantly captures the difference of Bernie’s campaign. While all of the other political ads are mired in gotcha attacks and takedowns, “America” speaks positively and evocatively about the power of people to change the course of our history. The images are straight out of Norman Rockwell’s America: A farmhouse, small towns, farmers tossing hay bales, parents with their children, young people at work.

No words are spoken; the images change in concert with the strumming of the guitar. Sanders is shown on the campaign trail, with the images growing from small groups to rallies that have attracted thousands. The roars of the crowds fit perfectly with the music. At one point Sanders, at a podium, is gesturing in a way that makes it appear as if he is conducting the roars.

Vermont Business Magazine A group of Florida researchers has found a link between gardening and good mental health. Scientists at the University of Florida studied 23 healthy women and preliminary findings show the women who participated in group gardening activities twice a week reported profoundly reduced stress, anxiety, anger, confusion and fatigue. The women also reported significantly more vigor and friendliness than the women in the control group. Dr Charles Guy, who led the study, cautions that the findings are still being analyzed but he describes the early results as 'huge.' "The fact we could measure anything (in such a small study) in a statistically robust way is surprising," says Guy.

by Bill Schubart Robert Proctor, a science historian at Stanford, has coined a new word that’s getting lots of attention… agnotology. Agnotology is the study of efforts to spread confusion and deceive people in an effort to sell them on a policy or product. Examples given are tobacco, food, and pharma efforts to sell products inimical to our wellbeing or the absurd political solutions proposed by Donald Trump, most of which are either unworkable or unconstitutional. In a BBC interview, Proctor warns: “We live in a world of radical ignorance, and the marvel is that any kind of truth cuts through the noise. Even though knowledge is ‘accessible’, it doesn’t mean it’s accessed.”

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Health Care Foundation’s (SVHC) 2nd Annual Jingle Bell held on December 5 at the Hermitage Club in Wilmington, VT, hosted a sell-out crowd of 230 guests and raised $170,000 for the relocation of the organization’s Deerfield Valley Clinic, the new linear accelerator for the SVHC Regional Cancer Center, and other health care initiatives. The Jingle Bell included a cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing to the New York Players. The program also included a raffle and live auction.  

by John Brumsted, MD Together, we are writing a new prescription for the health of Vermonters: Pay health care providers for keeping people healthy instead of just treating them when they are sick. This is a change the University of Vermont Health Network is committed to making.  We recently set a goal of having 80 percent of our revenue tied to the overall health and wellness of our patients by 2018, rather than being paid for every test or procedure we perform or by our hospital admissions. Right now, less than 15 percent of UVM Medical Center’s revenue comes from payment arrangements tied to the quality, not the quantity, of care provided, so this represents a big change.

Dr John Brumsted, CEO of the UVM Medical Center

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin, his senior health care advisers, and Green Mountain Care Board Chair Al Gobeille today detailed how Vermont will seek to transform its health care system under the so-called All Payer Model from one that rewards fee-for-service, quantity-driven care to one that rewards quality-based care that focuses on keeping Vermonters healthy. That transition caps off years of work that will enable Vermont to address rising health care costs that are squeezing the budgets of families, businesses, and state government.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine Vermont State Auditor Doug Hoffer released an audit today on fees owed the state by criminal defendants using public defenders. Not only have state courts collected less than a third of what is owed, the courts are not trying hard enough to collect the fees either at the time of the initial assessment, nor later through common means like garnishing income tax refunds. “We found that the State’s processes to collect court-ordered payments are not effective,” Hoffer wrote in his report to the Legislature. “The State has collected less than a third of the $3.1 million in court-ordered assessments for public defender services due between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2014.”

The money owed just disappears. About $7 million in public defender fees that remained uncollected and referred to DOT were excluded from the State’s accounts receivable balance at the end of the fiscal year.

Vermont Business Magazine Public transportation services soon will be unified under one brand for most of northern Vermont. But the biggest development perhaps will be that a rider can check his phone to see when the bus he's waiting for will get there. In the coming months, the Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA) and the Green Mountain Transit Agency (GMTA) will rebrand to become Green Mountain Transit (GMT). In July 2011, GMTA and CCTA became one legal entity, which formalized the operating relationship between the two agencies that had existed since 2003. The rebrand is the last step in becoming one, unified, regional agency.

Vermont Business Magazine Advocates to legalize marijuana in Vermont are ramping up the pressure on the Legislature today by announcing an old fashioned marketing campaign. A new television ad featuring a former Vermont attorney general speaking out in support of regulating marijuana will begin airing statewide on Tuesday. Speaker of the House Shap Smith said earlier this month that he believes legalization will happen, but not this session. Governor Peter Shumlin, like Smith, supports legalization, but with very strict controls on availability, regulation and law enforcement. Pro-legalization advocates are pushing the issue now before the Legislature and the governorship turn over next year.

by Mike Smith The Washington Post editorial board recently criticized the details of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ single-payer health care plan. The Post said, “If Mr. Sanders is to close the sale with voters, he must show he has learned from socialism’s mixed history abroad and devised an updated version that will work in the United States. Judging by the sketchy single-payer health-care plan he unveiled just before Sunday’s Democratic debate, Mr Sanders is not up to the challenge.” The Post goes on to assail Sanders’ health care plan because it lacks cost containment details, is overly optimistic about savings and underestimates true costs.