Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Ben & Jerry's has chosen Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort, in Cancun, Mexico to host their annual Global Franchise Meeting of 2016 from January 14th-17th. Ben & Jerry's said that the Palace Resorts aligns perfectly with Ben & Jerry's mission and was chosen as the location to host over 400 Ben & Jerry's franchisees and staff due in part to the company's foundation, Fundacion Palace. The Palace Foundation's efforts are a testament of the company's commitment to positively impact the communities the properties are located in throughout Mexico and the Caribbean. Both businesses believe in more than simply making a profit, they support a sustainable business model, and strive to make an impact on addressing social needs.

Vermont Business Magazine The Greater Burlington Multicultural Resource Center, organizers of the annual Burlington Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Remembrance, have announced that Ilyasah Shabazz – civil right activist, author, and 3rd daughter of Malcolm X – will deliver the 2016 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day keynote address on Sunday, January 17, at 3PM at the First Unitarian Universalist Church at 152 Pearl Street in Burlington. Shabazz is known for her memoir, Growing up X for which she won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Nonfiction Literary Work. At the event, the Greater Burlington Multicultural Resource Center with honor this year’s recipients of the 2016 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Vermont Business Magazine Lake Sunapee Bank Group (NASDAQ: LSBG) has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of fourteen cents ($0.14) per share payable January 29, 2016, to stockholders of record as of January 25, 2016. Lake Sunapee Bank Group is the holding company of Lake Sunapee Bank, fsb, a federally chartered savings bank that provides a wide range of life-cycle banking and financial services. Lake Sunapee Bank Group, through its direct and indirect subsidiaries, operates 30 offices in New Hampshire in Grafton, Hillsborough, Merrimack and Sullivan counties and 16 offices in Vermont in Orange, Rutland and Windsor counties.

Vermont Business Magazine A statewide poster contest challenges Vermont students to illustrate how money is earned. The theme for the 2016 Be Money Wi$e Financial Literacy Poster Competition is: “I Am A Money Maker.” The contest is open to third through twelfth grade students.Grade division winners each win a $100 cash prize. “The theme this year challenges students to create posters that demonstrate ways to earn money,” said State Treasurer Beth Pearce. “It gives parents an opportunity to talk with their kids about how they earn money and share information on careers and salaries. The theme also provides the chance to explore the relationship between work and our purchasing decisions.”

Vermont Business Magazine A report from the Kauffman Foundation focusing on small business activity in states and metropolitan areas ranks Vermont number 1 among 25 smaller US states. Vermont is number 5 overall and moved up seven spots from 2014. The report also lists Vermont in the top five for female business owners, older business owners and younger adult business owners among smaller states. 2015 Kauffman Main Street Entrepreneurship Index finds that small business activity is on the rise in 49 of 50 US states. The index is an indicator of small business activity, presenting trends over the past two decades, focusing on established small businesses (firms older than five years with less than 50 employees) and trends in ownership rates.

Vermont Business Magazine The US Environmental Protection Agency yesterday released the 2012 Clean Watersheds Needs Survey. This survey compiles 2012 data for wastewater and stormwater projects planned for the five years following the survey. The five-year cost for these projects across the nation was $271 billion, of which Vermont’s share was $154 million. 

Vermont Business Magazine One of the most beloved and generous Vermonters and a Burlington native died Monday, January 11. Cynthia Hoehl, 73, was a noted philanthropist and with her late husband, Bob, established the Hoehl Family Foundation, which contributed to many causes and organizations here in Vermont, in Florida and internationally. Her obituary, which first ran in the Burlington Free Press on Thursday, is below.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont residents are the 5th-best at managing money in the US, according to a new CreditCards.com report. Vermont’s average credit score is 19 points better than expected (based upon the state’s median income). Vermont also has the nation’s 3rd-best credit score despite a median income that’s just 7 percent above the national median. Overall, Montana residents are the best at managing money and Marylanders are the worst, according to the CreditCards.com analysis. The study compared each state’s average credit score with its median income. Vermont's average credit score is 696 (best in New England, third highest in US) and average credit card debt is $4,371 (second best to Maine).

“Conventional wisdom is that people with more money have better credit scores, but we found this is not always the case,” said Matt Schulz, CreditCards.com’s senior industry analyst. 

by Mike Faher/The Commons, Brattleboro The next round of job cuts at Vermont Yankee has been scheduled for May 5, when 150 employees — roughly half the remaining workforce — will be laid off. Also, around that same time, plant owner Entergy will be vacating its offices on Old Ferry Road. Administrators are “looking at [their] options,” which could include selling the property, a spokesman said. Both the job cuts and the corporate relocation are directly connected to federally approved emergency planning cutbacks at Vermont Yankee. But company administrators are offering assurances that those changes don’t mean the end of safety measures at the shutdown nuclear plant, which ceases operation in December 2014.

“There will be an emergency-response organization,” Entergy VY spokesman Marty Cohn said. “It’s just that it will be reduced.”

Vermont Business Magazine Applications are now being accepted for the 2016 Governor's Awards for Environmental Excellence. The annual awards honor the actions taken by Vermonters to conserve and protect natural resources, prevent pollution and promote sustainability. The deadline for applications has been extended to Tuesday, March 15, 2016.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department says preliminary numbers show 12,710 deer were taken during Vermont’s 2015 deer hunting seasons. Reports from big game check stations indicate hunters had successful deer seasons in 2015, taking 3,398 deer in archery season, 1,277 in youth season, 6,592 in rifle season, and 1,443 in muzzleloader season.  The 12,710 deer brought home by hunters yielded more than 630,000 pounds of local nutritious venison. “Compared to the previous three-year averages, harvest numbers increased slightly during the archery and rifle seasons, but decreased during the youth and muzzleloader seasons,” said deer project leader Nick Fortin. “The legal buck harvest of 8,294 was nearly identical to the previous three-year average of 8,286.