Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Two South Burlington high school students got a boost today in their efforts to help Syrian refugees from Governor Peter Shumlin and a number of Vermont ski areas and local businesses. The South Burlington students, Lena Ginawi and Kiran Waqar, were featured on Vermont Public Radio for their efforts to collect fleece blankets and warm clothing for those affected by the violence in Syria. Both are first generation immigrants to Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Mayor Miro Weinberger and project partners invite the greater Burlington community to attend a presentation on January 5, 2016 at 5:30 pm on the Burlington Town Center Mall’s redevelopment progress and the City’s work on this transformative public-private redevelopment effort. This public presentation is a significant step in the multi-year public process from adoption of planBTV Downtown & Waterfront to the redevelopment of this important downtown Burlington site. This event will take place in the lower level of the Burlington Town Center Mall, just past L.L. Bean.

Vermont Business Magazine “Ideas to Action” is the theme for the second Summit on Vermont’s Climate Economy, to be held at Vermont Technical College in Randolph on February 22, 2016. Anyone interested in the goal of reducing carbon emissions while stimulating economic development opportunities in Vermont is encouraged to attend. Participants will review a platform of actions towards this goal that are being developed by the Vermont Climate Change Economy Council (VCCEC). Breakout groups that day will consider strategies for implementation and the partnerships that will be needed to move them forward.

The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) is producing this event to bring together innovative business, non‐profit, and community leaders, elected officials, public policy advocates, students, and interested residents to advance this platform into action.

by Jasper Craven vtdigger.org Lawmakers are looking to reform the Vermont Department of Liquor Control. Revelations of significant lapses in oversight at the department last year have spurred a push to increase accountability and spur modernization. Michael Hogan, the previous commissioner, retired after 30 years in government service last year following revelations by the Burlington Free Press that he approved more than $100,000 in overtime for the department’s enforcement director without proper payroll documentation.

Sen. Dustin Degree, R-Franklin, who served on the Vermont Liquor Control System Modernization Study Committee last summer, said the department needs better oversight and operational improvements.

“I was really shocked to learn about some of the issues the Department of Liquor Control is having,” Degree said. “They have a point-of-sale system that is not being manufactured anymore.”

Vermont Business Magazine At a time when Entergy is reducing employment at the nearby Vermont Yankee plant as it winds down operations, the Brattleboro area is seeing significant investment at an important local manufacturer. Governor Peter Shumlin, US Senator Patrick Leahy, US Congressman Peter Welch, and local officials joined Norm Schneeberger, President and CEO of GS Precision, to break ground on a $17 million expansion that will bring 100 new jobs to Brattleboro in the next few years. The event capped nearly eight months of work by GS Precision, Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA), and the Town of Brattleboro to ensure that the company expanded its business in Brattleboro and not elsewhere.

by Mike Faher/The Commons Entergy is accelerating its plans to move Vermont Yankee’s spent nuclear fuel into more stable storage, with administrators saying they’ve developed a “safe and efficient” proposal for getting the job done on time. If a state permitting process goes as expected, crews will start transferring the Vernon plant’s spent fuel to dry cask storage in 2017 – two years earlier than initially planned. Entergy announced the change on December 16, but had first disclosed consideration of a schedule shift in an October regulatory filing.

The decision doesn’t raise the fuel project’s $145 million price tag, and it doesn’t mean the job will be complete any sooner than the original 2020 deadline. But it does mean Entergy administrators are giving themselves and a contractor more time to get through the painstakingly slow, closely monitored move of radioactive material.

by CB Hall vtdigger.org Middlebury residents are pressuring the Shumlin administration to back off plans to improve a rail line through the Addison County town. The Agency of Transportation plans to replace two deteriorating bridges in downtown Middlebury, and local residents have raised questions about improvements and the overall safety of the rail line. In a strongly worded letter, 65 business owners and residents told Gov. Peter Shumlin they are “aghast” at VTrans’ plans for $40 million to $50 million rail enhancements.

The nearly adjoining bridges, on Main Street and Merchants’ Row, “have been neglected for too long,” the letter states, “and present a serious threat to the safety of downtown motor and foot traffic.”

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General Bill Sorrell has announced that the final distribution of a $1.25 million settlement with Bank of America earlier this year will be distributed to Vermont Legal Aid and the Vermont Judiciary. The settlement resolved claims that Bank of America did not live up to the terms of agreements it made regarding treatment of homeowners during foreclosure proceedings and created a $250,000 fund to compensate affected Vermonters. As part of that settlement, BOA agreed that any money remaining in the fund after the Vermonters were compensated could be distributed to Vermont Legal Aid and the Vermont Judiciary to assist with foreclosure matters.

Vermont Business Magazine On December 18, 2015, Autumn Harp, Inc marked 500 days without a Lost-Time Injury (LTI) at its Essex Junction facility. With a total exposure of more than 450,000 employee hours worked in 2015, this is a significant milestone for the entire Autumn Harp team. During this LTI-free period, Autumn Harp has added three new pieces of production equipment, 51 new employees, and been engaged in a substantial number of new product launches. A contributing factor to this achievement is Autumn Harp’s adoption of its Operational Excellence program, which has its foundation in safety and focuses on employee engagement and participation in making systematic decisions.

Vermont Business Magazine Seven members of the Lyndon State College community were named the Annual Alumni Award winners this fall at homecoming weekend. Joe Benning ‘79, Miranda (Dwyer) Fox ‘11, Stu Farina, Cheri Goldrick, Bob McCabe, Sidney Patridge ‘59, and Adam Vigue ‘03 were this year’s award recipients. Joe Benning received the Distinguished Alumni Award, an honor presented to an alumnus who has achieved excellence in his or her profession and who has served his or her state and community. Benning is probably most well-known as a Vermont State Senator for the Caledonia/Orange district, a post he has held since 2010. Aside from his political career, Benning has also been practicing law in Vermont after graduating from Vermont Law School in 1983. His community service work includes work with the Lyndonville Rotary and Passumpsic River Clean-Up Initiative.

Vermont Business Magazine A new analysis of the fossil record shows that a deep pattern in nature remained the same for 300 million years. Then, 6,000 years ago, the pattern was disrupted -- at about the same time that agriculture spread across North America. "When early humans started farming and became dominant in the terrestrial landscape, we see this dramatic restructuring of plant and animal communities," said University of Vermont biologist Nicholas Gotelli, an expert on statistics and the senior author on the new study. In the hunt for the beginning of the much-debated "Anthropocene" -- a supposed new geologic era defined by human influence of the planet — the new research suggests a need to look back farther in time than the arrival of human-caused climate change, atomic weapons, urbanization or the industrial revolution.

Vermont Business Magazine Farmers and agricultural leaders from Vermont and New Hampshire gathered today at Norwich Farms to launch the Connecticut River Farmers’ Watershed Alliance (CRFWA), a new farmer led regional initiative that will work to sustain the environmental health of the Connecticut River watershed. The organization will work with local government agencies, extension organizations, researchers and public interest groups to help farmers implement beneficial environmental solutions and understand changing environmental regulations, including the upcoming Required Agricultural Practices aimed at protecting water quality in Vermont.