Current News

Vermont Business Magazine A national Veterans Administration program that keeps disabled veterans out of the hospital and improves their quality of life is coming to Vermont and New Hampshire. The Medical Foster Home program, based at the regional VA headquarters in White River Junction, is aimed at veterans who are no longer able to live independently, placing them in homecare settings with a qualified single adult or a family. Sponsored by 113 VA’s around the country, the program has served over 3,100 veterans since it was created in 2000.

A key part of the program is the Home Based Primary Care team, which provides all primary medical care for the veteran in the MFH program. The team also educates the caregiver and provides care and support for the veteran and the caregiver.

Caregivers’ homes must be located within an hour’s drive of a Home Based Primary Care team.

Vermont Business Magazine Colchester-based NG Advantage LLC, a majority-owned subsidiary of Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE), today announced that it has signed an 18 month contract extension with International Paper. Under this extension, NG Advantage will continue delivering clean-burning compressed natural gas (CNG) to International Paper’s Ticonderoga, NY, paper mill using its "virtual or mobile pipeline" of tractor-trailers that deliver 24/7. This is the largest mobile pipeline project in the US and showcases the scalability of NG Advantage’s service to deliver natural gas as an alternative fuel choice for even the largest industrial energy users.

Tom and Mary Evslin at the Milton depot. VBM file photo.

Vermont Business Magazine House Speaker Shap Smith and Senate President Pro Tempore John Campbell today announced the first ever “Legithon,” an intensive policy collaboration conference that will bring together Vermont students, academic leaders, business people, legal professionals and lawmakers to develop technology and economic development proposals. Drawing on models from events like Hackathons and the Start Up Weekend, the Legithon will bring together a diverse group to participate in an exciting weekend of work and learning. The goal is to educate the public on legislative processes by developing model proposals for economic development policy and legislative action.

Shap Smith and John Campbell at a Vermont Chamber event in February 2014. VBM file photo.

Vermont Business Magazine WhistlePig opened its brand-new distillery Wednesday in a converted 100-year-old barn on the WhistlePig Farm in Shoreham, Vermont. The distillery will make WhistlePig one of the few American whiskey companies to conduct the entire whiskey-making process in one place, from harvesting the rye fields to distilling, barreling, aging, and bottling the liquid. WhistlePig is the leader in the rapidly growing American rye whiskey market, and the opening of the distillery marks the culmination of its 5-year effort to transform WhistlePig Farm into the nation’s premier single-estate, grain-to-glass rye distillery.

Vermont Business Magazine Each year the Vermont Recreation and Parks Association presents the coveted Theresa S. Brungardt Awards to a professional, friend and organization who has made significant contributions to parks and recreation in Vermont. At the recent Vermont Conference on Recreation held at Lake Morey Resort, Brungardt Awards were presented to Thomas Hark of Williston (Friend), Local Motion based in Burlington (Organization), and Hartland’s recently deceased Recreation Director Ray Sapp (Professional).

Vermont Business Magazine Keurig Green Mountain, Inc (Keurig) (NASDAQ: GMCR), a personal beverage system company that has revolutionized the way consumers create and enjoy beverages, and The Nature Conservancy, the leading conservation organization working around the world to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends, announced their collaboration to address water quality issues for people and nature across North America. The collaboration is part of Keurig’s water stewardship goals and the Conservancy’s water conservation objectives. In 2014, Keurig established a new 2020 sustainability target to balance, ounce for ounce, the water used in all its beverages through projects that restore an equal volume of water for natural and community uses.

Vermont Business Magazine Dynapower Company, the global leader in energy storage inverters based in South Burlington, announced that it is supplying a newly designed 1 MW energy storage inverter to Ecoult as part of an Ecoult UltraBattery installation. The inverter is a 1 MW model from Dynapower's new Generation 3 Compact Power System (CPS™) product line, designed to provide greater power density and performance at competitive price points. The Ecoult system will be installed in the PJM grid-operating region, and is scheduled for commissioning in mid-2016.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain College has been recognized as a national sustainability leader in the 2015 Sustainable Campus Index released yesterday by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). GMC achieved the top spot for curriculum and air quality achievements, and the school was ranked #2 in the area of socially responsible investment strategies. The 2015 Sustainable Campus Index highlights top-performing colleges and universities in 17 areas, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) developed by AASHE.

Green Mountain, which received a “gold” designation by AASHE in 2014, ranked first in the curriculum category, which recognizes institutions with education programs and courses that address sustainability. GMC declared its environmental mission in 1995 and has built its curriculum and campus culture around sustainability.

Vermont Business Magazine In 2007, Jack Brennan, then the president of Green Mountain College, became one of the first signatories of the American College & University President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), a signature program of Second Nature. At the time the world was experiencing the second highest global temperature readings for any year on record. On October 5, amidst what might shape up as the warmest year since temperature records have been recorded, GMC’s president Dr Paul Fonteyn signed Second Nature’s Climate Commitment. He was among 45 university presidents to sign the commitment during a ceremony in Decatur, Georgia, on the campus of Agnes Scott College.

Vermont Business Magazine Farm to Feet, makers of 100 percent American socks made with US sourced materials, in US factories, by US workers, is celebrating the communities that support the brand by naming new styles for the fall season after those towns. The North Carolina brand named one of its new ski socks after Waitsfield. Farm to Feet socks are made completely with US materials via a transparent US supply chain ensuring the highest quality of materials and end products, while having as little impact on the environment as possible.
“From Vermont to Alaska to Oklahoma to Georgia, we are proud to honor the communities that support us,” said David Petri, Farm to Feet Marketing VP. “These communities provide the jobs that help keep the U.S. economy rolling and keep domestic manufacturing alive and thriving.”

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin released the following statement following the decision of the Non-Management Bargaining Unit (NMU) of the Vermont State Employees Association (VSEA) to walk away from the bargaining table during contract negotiations. The Corrections and Supervisory Bargaining Units remain engaged in talks with the State. A letter dated October 14 from the State’s Chief Negotiator requesting that the NMU return to the table is below. For its part, the union said later Wednesday that the state is forcing it to "bargain in the press."

by Jasper Craven, VTDigger Senator Bernie Sanders introduced himself to millions in Las Vegas Tuesday night in a high-stakes matchup that saw the Vermont Senator hit his policy points hard, though he leveled little criticism of his main contender, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who aggressively exploited Sanders’ weaknesses to shore up the perception that she is the inevitable Democratic candidate.