Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Through a grant provided by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the Rutland Regional Planning Commission (RRPC) has launched a multi-pronged outreach effort focused on improving water quality in compliance with the Vermont Clean Water Act (VCWA) which was made law this past spring. The goal of the outreach is to address sources of water pollution in the Rutland Region which include local roads and farms. The RRPC will work with municipal staff and boards around the region to provide information about the requirements for municipalities triggered by the VCWA and provide assistance for stronger municipal protections against flood hazards and river corridor erosion, stormwater master planning, and other town plan or zoning changes to improve water quality.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Technical College will further its use of renewable energy and help reduce its operating costs while providing the institution new educational opportunities with the installation of a 500kW solar farm. This month, the 500kW project was awarded its Certificate of Public Good by the Vermont Public Service Board, green-lighting the project to begin construction immediately. It is scheduled to be complete by February. The project on Vermont Tech’s campus will consist of one hundred 5kW AllEarth Series 20 dual-axis solar trackers, manufactured by AllEarth Renewables, Inc. of Williston.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University’s College of Graduate and Continuing Studies (CGCS) is now welcoming students into the new online Master of Arts in International Relations program. The first cohort is set to begin classes in March 2016. The international relations program adds to Norwich’s global footprint – bringing together students from a variety of backgrounds and industries to blend real-world practice into the curriculum. This collaboration will help better equip students with a comprehensive understanding of the economic, cultural and political issues impacting today’s world and become effective global leaders.

Vermont Business Magazine The Burlington Electric Department (BED) and its 100 percent renewably-sourced power accomplishment have been featured internationally in connection with the 21^st Conference of the Parties (COP21) United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Paris. Broadcasts in France, Canada, and the United States have aired over the past week, and one in South Korea aired this past summer.

The media coverage included productions by the following media brands:

· The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) aired a story on August 22, 2015 that can be viewed here. KBS is the leading public service broadcaster and one of the largest networks in South Korea and operates multiple television, radio, and online channels both in South Korea and internationally.

Vermont Business Magazine Saint Michael’s College has been named to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance’s list of the Top 300 Best College Values of 2016. Introduced in 1998, the rankings highlight public schools, private universities and private liberal arts colleges that combine outstanding academics with affordable cost. In addition, Kiplinger has ranked the top 100 best values in each category. Saint Michael’s made the magazine’s list of “100 best values in private universities.”

Kiplinger assesses value by measurable standards of academic quality and affordability. Quality measures include the admission rate, the percentage of students who return for sophomore year, the student-faculty ratio and four-year graduation rate. Cost criteria include sticker price, financial aid and average debt at graduation.

Vermont Business Magazine The newly launched Vermont Small Business Training Center (vtsbtc.com) provides inexpensive, online, globally accessible, practical training modules that emphasize a philosophy and practices that highlight operational opportunities feasible only for small businesses. These competitively significant practices are unworkable in large corporations and thus are ignored by normal business training courses.

Contract Includes 10%-15% Wage Increase, Professional Development Fund, Improved Job Security

Vermont Business Magazine Adjunct faculty at St Michael’s College voted to ratify their first collective bargaining agreement between their union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 200United, and the Saint Michael’s Administration. Over a year ago, adjuncts at Saint Michael’s - along with their colleagues at Burlington and Champlain Colleges - voted overwhelmingly to join SEIU in order to address the growing crisis in higher education, which includes decreasing faculty salaries and rapidly increasing student debt and tuition prices. Today’s ratification is the first collective bargaining agreement reached at a private college in the Burlington region.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont joins the nation in the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign beginning Friday, December 18, through January 3, 2016, with a strong law enforcement presence on Vermont highways. Law enforcement agencies across the state include the DUI Task Force, local police, sheriff’s departments, and the Vermont State Police Operation C.A.R.E (Combined Accident Reduction Effort) will be conducting extra patrols and sobriety checkpoints to detect impaired drivers. In addition, Vermont will utilize law enforcement Drug Recognition Experts (DRE) to evaluate any suspected drug impaired drivers.

In 2014, 38% percent of fatalities were impaired driving related which includes both drugs and alcohol. To date, there have been 52 people die in highway crashes and 10 of those involving a driver with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher which is illegal in every state.

Vermont Business Magazine Capitol Grounds Café and Roastery today announced a new, special edition coffee called Bernie’s Beans, named after Vermont’s U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. The coffee is a Central American Arabica roasted at a full city plus, and is being sold in one-pound bags with the likeness of Sanders on the label, a drawing by local artist and bookseller Rick Powell. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Vermont Veterans Fund.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin and his longtime partner, Katie Hunt, were married Tuesday night at a small ceremony at their home in East Montpelier, Vermont. The couple were married by the governor’s sister-in-law, Evie Lovett. Attending the ceremony were the Governor’s two daughters, Olivia and Becca, as well as the governor’s brother, Jeff Shumlin.

The governor and Vermont’s first lady stated:

“We are so fortunate to have such a beautiful partnership and to be able to spend the rest of our lives together.”

Hunt and Shumlin were engaged in June. The couple plan to live in Southern Vermont, where they both grew up, following the completion of the governor’s third term in office in January 2017.

Source: Governor's office. Courtesy photo. 12.16.2015

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power was joined today with Franklin County leaders and champions of Lake Champlain to announce an innovative new project called Clean Power, Cleaner Lake. The program is the most substantive effort launched in the Lake Champlain basin to reduce phosphorous while generating electricity. Working with area dairy farms, this effort will significantly reduce phosphorus runoff while generating clean, local baseload power. This exciting initiative alone will achieve about 1/3 of the EPA’s goal for phosphorous reduction by farms in the St Albans Bay. GMP’s community digester will use technology to extract phosphorus from the manure stream, while generating renewable energy locally for customers.

St Albans Bay. GMP photo.

Vermont Business Magazine A study released today by Champlain College’s Center for Financial Literacy (CFL) shows that the financial literacy skills of high school students improved dramatically when they were taught by teachers who received specialized training in a graduate-level course on how to teach personal finance to teenagers. The Champlain study, titled “Prepped for Success,” notes that high school students taught by trained teachers were way ahead of their peers in financial sophistication skills. Students even outpaced more life-experienced Millennials (ages 18 to 34) and performed nearly as well as older, financially savvy Generation X individuals ages 35 to 49.