Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Christmas tree industry received one of its early customers yesterday when Governor Peter Shumlin arrived at Isham’s Family Farm in Williston to select and cut a tree for the state Pavilion Office Building in Montpelier. The Governor’s annual tree-cutting event not only signals the start of tree-hunting season for many Vermonters, but also draws some well-deserved attention to Vermont’s robust Christmas Tree Industry, which supplies over 134,000 trees to Vermonters and customers throughout New England and as far away as Bermuda.

Governor Shumlin, Chuck Ross and Mike Isham. Courtesy Vermont Ag Agency

Vermont Business Magazine Valener Inc (TSX: VNR), the public investment vehicle in Gaz Métro Limited Partnership based in Montreal, which owns Green Mountain Power and Vermont Gas Systems reported last week an increase in net income and normalized operating cash flows of $58.6 million for fiscal 2015, or $1.53 per common share, up 50% from fiscal 2014, easily covering the dividend payment of$1.022 per common share. The Energy Distribution Segment in Vermont recorded net income of $57.3 million in fiscal 2015, down $0.9 million, or 1.5%, from fiscal 2014. This decrease stems mainly from an after-tax allowance of $8.0 million (US$10.3 million before tax) recorded by VGS in the fourth quarter relating to costs associated with Phase I of the Addison project. However, the strength of the US dollar and the synergies of GMP's acquisition of Central Vermont Public Service in 2012 partly mitigated the decrease.

by Ryan Patch, VAAFM The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets (VAAFM) has released a draft copy of the Required Agricultural Practices (RAPs) for a period of public comment which will run through December 18, 2015. This is a pre-filing period which will afford the opportunity for all interested stakeholders to review the Draft RAPs and provide initial comment before VAAFM will formalize the draft this winter and will then enter into the formal rulemaking process in the spring of 2016. Additional public comment periods will follow both the draft rewrite as well as the formal rulemaking period.

For a copy of the draft RAP document, visit http://agriculture.vermont.gov/sites/ag/files/pdf/water_quality/VAAFM-Draft-RAP.pdf

Vermont Business Magazine Is college worth the cost? This question has been discussed for decades, but now it is in the national spotlight. For many young people, the rising costs of college have put the American dream out of reach. Both parents and students are hitting the ceiling when weighing the growing costs of higher education. Burlington College has been focused on affordability throughout its history. Recently, it was one of the first private colleges in the country to "freeze tuition." Four years later, the College is again addressing affordability for its students. It will reset tuition, making it among the lowest-cost private colleges in the region.

by Mike Smith According to recent polls, I am in the minority in this country and probably in Vermont too when talking about allowing Syrian refugees into this country, and eventually into our state. I support the Syrian refugee resettlement program. I have an appreciation of, and affinity for, the refugee and resettlement programs in Vermont since my days as secretary of human services. But approximately two-thirds of Americans do not share this opinion. And although I don’t agree with their position I can certainly understand their concerns.

These concerns are driven primarily by the fact that it is likely that terrorists slipped into Europe posing as refugees. Fear of an attack happening in the United States is not unfounded.

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) Renal Dialysis received a 2015 Quality Award from the Island Peer Review Organization (IPRO) and End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Network of New England at the Network’s Fall Meeting on Tuesday, October 27, 2015, at the Mohegan Sun Conference Center in Uncasville, CT.

The award was presented in recognition of high standards in data collection and submission. SVMC Renal Dialysis team’s reporting in CROWNWeb, the Center for Disease Control’s National Health Safety Network (NHSN) system, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Quality Improvement Program (QIP) in 2014 and 2015 has placed them in the top 15 percent of centers region wide.

by Elizabeth Hewitt vtdigger.org Vermont correctional officers are consistently working large amounts of overtime, raising familiar questions about balancing the budget and burnout. Figures from the Department of Corrections show that the officers inside Vermont’s seven prisons consistently work many hours beyond the typical 40-hour work week. Over the last six months, correctional officers worked a collective average of 5,894 hours of overtime every two-week pay period. That averages out to approximately 11.8 hours of overtime every two weeks for each of the state’s 501 correctional officers — sometimes it’s scheduled ahead of time, sometimes it’s not.

by Phil Scott At the start of every legislative session since being elected lieutenant governor, I’ve urged legislators to evaluate every proposal based on whether it helps our economy, improves efficiencies or reduces costs. If the answer to any of those questions is “yes,” then I suggested they put it on the front burner. If the answer is “no,” I suggested it go on the back burner. Last November, Vermonters once again said they want lawmakers to focus on the economy, fix property taxes, and mend a broken health care system. Each time they claim to hear the message “loud and clear,” and for a while, it even seems like they take it to heart. Unfortunately, they haven’t followed through.

The Legislature has an opportunity this winter to get back to the fiscal fundamentals. We’re all in this together, so I’ll start the discussion by offering my priorities for the upcoming legislative session.

Set a Clear Standard

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont's weekly unemployment claims, surged again to over 700 last week, but remain well below the same time last year, when they eclipsed 1,000. For the week of November 21, there were 795 claims, an increase of 129 from the previous week's total and 211 fewer than they were a year ago. Generally, claims have been running below last year's totals. Total claims were up in all regions of the state for the week, but down everywhere for the year. By industry, claims increased significantly for Manufacturing, and were again high for Construction, as its season wound down. As has been the trend, Services led all categories with 40 percent of all claims, which was down slightly for the week.

Vermont Business Magazine As a result of a claim filed by Langrock Sperry & Wool, LLP attorneys Emily Joselson and Michele Patton, the National Federation of the Blind and Scribd, Inc have agreed to work together to provide access and make content available in Scribd’s subscription reading service and website accessible to the blind by the end of 2017. Available on desktop and mobile devices, Scribd’s service provides users access to e-books, audiobooks and other published content for a flat monthly fee. As part of an agreement between the two organizations, Scribd will revise its website to make most subscription content compatible with screen access software for the blind. Screen access software converts text-based content into Braille or spoken words. Scribd will also facilitate access to other types of documents in its collection when requested by blind users.

Vermont Business Magazine Stratton Mountain will open for top-to-bottom skiing and riding on Saturday, November 28 with at least 5 trails ranging from novice to intermediate terrain. Stratton snowmakers took advantage of the window of cold weather and fired up over 250 HKD snowguns Sunday evening when the temperatures dipped as low as 12 degrees and have run at full capacity for over 24 hours straight.

by Mike Faher/The Commons As Vermont Yankee starts down the road of decommissioning, one of the biggest complaints has been the lack of a map. That’s about to change, as the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission on November 19 formally announced its intent to develop new, detailed regulations for decommissioning power plants. An initial public-comment period runs through January 4. Given their concerns about how the Yankee process has played out so far, Vermont officials say they will “lead the way” on pushing for stronger NRC regulations.

However, because the rule-making process will extend until 2019 — and maybe longer — there’s not much hope that the results will come in time to significantly influence Vermont Yankee’s decommissioning.