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Vermont Business Magazine With an option to buy Vermont's iconic Woodchuck Hard Cider, Pabst Brewing Company has announced an exclusive long-term partnership agreement with Vermont Hard Cider Company, a leading American manufacturer, marketer and importer of cider, and a subsidiary of C&C Group plc, for the sale and distribution of Vermont’s cider brands within the United States. The agreement between Vermont and PBC will take effect March 1, 2016. Pabst, based in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest American-owned brewer with sales of over 5.5 million barrels in the United States.

by Mike Smith It’s about time. I think that’s what many Vermonters were thinking to themselves as some Vermont Republican politicians finally spoke out against the outrageous comments from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

With the exception of Lt. Gov. Phil Scott — who, in September, was among the first Vermont politicos to publicly denounce billionaire Trump as unfit for the office — it has been pretty lonely out here as I took Donald Trump to task in four separate columns for his frequently ridiculous, increasingly dangerous comments.

This week we finally saw more Vermont Republican politicians express outrage about Trump’s statement that, as president of the United States and leader of the free world, he would ban all Muslims from entering our country. My question to these politicians is, “Where have you been?”

Where were you when he promoted an unworkable plan to deport 11 million Mexicans?

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin issued the following statement after world leaders reached an historic climate agreement in Paris, which acknowledges the consensus of the 195 countries on the need to move away from carbon-based fuels and sets the goal of limiting rising global average temperates to below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

"Today is a day that should restore our faith in humanity. At this critical moment in history, world leaders put aside competing national interests to come to an agreement that gives us a shot at preserving the only home we have. The easy thing to do would have been to give into self interest and mistrust. That didn't happen. Instead, humanity's better side prevailed. That should serve as an example of how we should address the other global challenges we face now and will face in the future.

Vermont Business Magazine College of St Joseph has been awarded a grant by the Bowse Health Trust, a department of Rutland Regional Medical Center. The grant awards $88,400 over three years. Marble Valley Grows, the farm-to-school network run by Kimberly Griffin, College of St. Joseph’s farm manager and wellness coordinator, will use the grant to continue working within Rutland County schools to enhance education and access to healthy food choices. Griffin developed Marble Valley Grows last April, and has been working to educate children about healthier food options, to include them in the decisions about the food they are served, educate them on where food comes from, and to empower them to grow food themselves.

“Farm-to-school organizations are all over the state,” Griffin said. “But there was an obvious gap in Rutland County.”

by Erin Mansfield vtdigger.org Four pediatricians say they’re packing up and leaving Franklin County because the Medicaid programs that insure about half of the community’s children aren’t paying them enough. Two of the doctors work in St Albans for Franklin County Pediatrics, which will close down completely. Another is leaving Mousetrap Pediatrics in St Albans, and the fourth left Mousetrap earlier in the year and hasn’t been replaced. The American Academy of Pediatrics of Vermont, which is loosely affiliated with the American Medical Association, says that will leave the parents of 6,000 children “scrambling for primary health care” among the northern Vermont county’s seven remaining pediatricians.

Vermont Business Magazine ANEW Place homeless shelter in Burlington’s Old North End has received a $30,000 gift from the Hoehl Family Foundation. This gift will support ANEW Place’s 4-Phase process, which is designed to address the root causes of homelessness, helping homeless individuals to build a strong foundation with the tools needed to start ANEW life. ANEW Place, formerly Burlington Emergency Shelter, has expanded programs and services over the last few years to focus on long-term solutions. The goal of their programming is to foster personal long-term growth, so that each person can make a successful, sustainable transition toward wellness and independence. They aim to see lives changed and to see an end to the cycle of homelessness in which so many adults find themselves trapped.

by Mike Faher vtdigger.org Federal officials issued formal notification on Thursday that Vermont Yankee emergency operations can be drastically scaled back due to a “significantly lower” risk of radiological accidents at the shutdown Vernon plant. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s approval of plant owner Entergy’s requested regulatory exemptions – previously signaled in a filing obtained by VTDigger – means that the plant’s 10-mile emergency planning zone will disappear next year, as will millions in state and municipal funding that goes with it. Additionally, the NRC exemptions and an accompanying license amendment pave the way for the next big round of staff reductions at Vermont Yankee, where about 300 people are still employed. The changes will take effect in April 2016.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont's weekly unemployment claims, which have been steadily increasing since the end of the summer, rose only slightly last week, but pushed ahead of last year's totals. Generally, claims in 2015 have been running below last year's totals. For the week of December 5, 2015, there were 1,273 claims, an increase of 16 from the previous week's total and 203 more than they were a year ago. By industry, claims more than doubled for Construction, typical for this time of year. As has been the trend, Services led all categories with 40 percent of all claims, but were down significantly from last week.

Altogether 6,489 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 1,809 from a week ago, and 659 fewer than a year ago.

Vermont Business Magazine FirstLight Fiber, a facilities-based telecommunications service provider operating in Upstate New York and Northern New England, announced today that The Vermont Teddy Bear Co., the largest handcrafter of teddy bears in North America, has selected FirstLight’s fiber-based, high-speed Internet services for its corporate headquarters in Shelburne. FirstLight’s dedicated 100 Mbps connection will support The Vermont Teddy Bear Company’s business operations and represents a significant upgrade to the company’s prior Internet service provider.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Health Network – Central Vermont Medical Center Board of Trustees, based in Berlin, elected Mike Dellipriscoli as the new chair during their annual meeting on Wednesday. He will be joined on the board by two new trustees, Sandy Rousse and Marilyn White. Dellipriscoli has been on the CVMC board since 2012 and succeeds Greg Voorheis as chair. Dellipriscoli is Assistant Vice President – Strategic Analysis at the National Life Group in Montpelier. He joined National Life Group in 1988 and has over 35 years of experience in the financial services industry. A native of Philadelphia, Dellipriscoli graduated from Villanova University with a degree in mathematics and earned his MBA in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Vermont Business Magazine In the country’s annual health checkup, Vermont ranks #2 this year when compared with other states – according to United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings Annual Report. Hawaii was first; Louisiana was last. Vermont scored high rankings for its low violent crime rate, low infant mortality rate and low percentage of uninsured residents; the study said it faces challenges related to its disparity in health status by education levels, high prevalence of excessive drinking and high incidence of pertussis. Vermont joins other Northeast states in “Top 10” – Massachusetts (#3), New Hampshire (#5) and Connecticut (#6). Vermont was first in 2007, and again in 2009-2011 and has been second since. The state was #20 in 1990, the first year of the report.

Vermont Business Magazine Through a grant provided from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) 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 CCRPC will work with municipal staff and boards to provide information about the requirements for municipalities triggered by the VCWA and also work with them on options such as stronger municipal protections against flood hazards and river corridor erosion, stormwater master planning, and other town plan or zoning changes to improve water quality. CCRPC staff will also update fluvial erosion hazard/river corridor maps for the towns and assist them with compiling existing information to use in developing implementation plans under the municipal roads stormwater general permit.