Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has approved a new plan to improve water quality and acquatic habitat in the Stevens, Wells, Waits, and Ompompanoosuc river watersheds, as well as those of several direct tributaries to the middle Connecticut River. The Tactical Water Management Plan was presents the recommendations of ANR in collaboration with other State and Federal resource agencies, watershed partner organizations, regional planning commissions, municipalities, and individual citizens.

by Mike Faher/The Commons, Brattleboro Not surprisingly, most scrutiny of the Vermont Yankee site in Vernon revolves around radiological concerns. But, as indicated by a recent, months-long process of violation notices and responses, state officials also are deeply interested in what plant owner Entergy is doing with its non-radiological waste — so much so that the state has threatened a civil complaint and associated, unspecified penalties in connection with an inspection earlier this year.

Vermont Business Magazine Within weeks after Attorney General William H. Sorrell and the Department of Public Service won a victory in a ruling by a three-judge Licensing Board of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on a request by Entergy to amend its license, Entergy seeks to abandon its request for a license amendment altogether. If the license amendment had been granted, Entergy would have stopped providing notification of withdrawals from the Vermont Yankee decommissioning trust fund. Entergy’s motion to withdraw, if approved, means that it must continue to provide notice to the State and others 30 days before it withdraws any money from the fund.

Vermont Business Magazine Castleton University's Castleton Polling Institute released its "Vermont Issues Poll" today. As is generally the case, jobs and the economy are seen as the most important problem facing the state of Vermont. The recent Castleton Poll found one-third of all respondents citing the economy as the most important issue facing the state. This is the issue most on Vermonter’s minds. The Poll also asked questions about a possible Ethics Commission, legalizing marijuana, and school district consolidation.

Figure 1 illustrates the range of responses to this open-ended question.

Figure 1. Vermonters views on the most important issue facing their state

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Volkswagen car owners headed by Charlotte resident Robert Turnau have sued Volkswagen companies in Germany and the United States over damages they suffered as a result of the company’s falsification of emissions testing equipment. The suit was filed today in Chittenden Superior Court by former federal prosecutor Tristram J Coffin of the firm Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC (See Complaint below).

Vermont Business Magazine Manor Resources, LLC (also known as “Turbo Title Loans”), an Illinois company that provides high-interest loans over the internet by requiring borrowers to assign their vehicle titles, will pay over $16,000 to five Vermont consumers and pay the State of Vermont $12,000 to settle claims that the company violated Vermont consumer protection and lending laws. “Vehicle title loans are a particularly harmful form of predatory lending,” said Attorney General William H. Sorrell. “These loans threaten an essential asset of consumers—their vehicles. We will continue to protect Vermonters from unlicensed lenders doing business over the internet.” More information on the Attorney General’s crackdown on illegal lending can be found here.

Vermont Business Magazine Merchants Bank announced today the anticipated consolidation of their Malletts Bay branch in Colchester, Vermont, as of January 15, 2016. Customers will continue to have access to their accounts across the bank’s branch network, including three nearby branches (North Avenue and College Street in Burlington as well as a branch in Winooski) in addition to an ATM located within Costco, in Colchester. The consolidation follows an evaluation of their retail branch infrastructure in the face of consumers’ ongoing migration to online and mobile banking technology. With 32 branches and 38 ATMs state-wide, Merchants Bank continues to maintain one of the largest branch networks in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont’s part-time faculty, who are represented by United Academics, have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement. Under the new agreement, the salary pool will be adjusted as follows: A 3.25 percent increase in fiscal year 2016; a 3 percent increase in 2017; and a 2.5 percent increase in 2018, totaling 8.75 percent over three years.

Bargaining with the part-time faculty union has been underway since late February of this year. Both parties agreed in May to enter mediation in order to reach an agreement.

Vermont Business Magazine By vastly reducing reliance on fossil fuels, increasing conservation and using more renewable electric, especially for transportation and heating, Vermont will reach its goal of meeting 90 percent of its energy needs through renewable sources by 2050. The Public Service Department today released the Public Review Draft of the 2015 Comprehensive Energy Plan. The draft, which weighs in at a governmental 386 pages, reaffirms Vermont’s 90 percent goal and provides additional details on how to get there. The PSD sought significant public and stakeholder input to inform the draft and has been working across state agencies – including the agencies of Natural Resources; Transportation, Agriculture, Food and Markets; Commerce and Community Development; and Human Services – to put the draft together.

Vermont Business Magazine Champlain College will celebrate the beginning of a new era of creativity and the arts on Saturday, Sept. 26 with the official opening of the College’s new Center for Communication and Creative Media (CCM) at 375 Maple St. The new facility will be open to the public for tours from 10 am to 1 pm during Family Weekend. An evening reception for alumni and other invited guests will be held from 5 to 8 pm.

“This is the gateway to the campus,” said President Donald J Laackman, “and will provide collaborate space for students, faculty and others to gather in and out of the classroom.”

by Patrick Leahy Pope Francis’s visit this week to Washington, including his address to a Joint Meeting of Congress, will make history. And for many Americans, including me, it stirs memories from an earlier chapter. Like millions of others, Catholic or not, I appreciate Pope Francis’s energetic message of compassion and justice for the poor, tolerance for the faiths and beliefs of others, sound stewardship of our planet, and peaceful co-existence in our troubled world. In the discussions that are leading to the normalization of relations between our country and Cuba, I was proud to have been able to act as an intermediary in the exchange of messages among President Obama, Pope Francis – who is the first Pope to have come from the New World -- and Cardinal Ortega of Cuba.

It is sometimes difficult to imagine it today, but a few short decades ago it would have been considered unthinkable that a pontiff would be invited to address the Congress.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin has again declared October as Manufacturing Month in Vermont to coincide with the fourth annual national Manufacturing Day initiative. The purpose of these events is to generate more interest in the manufacturing segment of the economy and to draw attention to high-skill jobs in the manufacturing arena. As members of Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC) and of the local community, Twincraft Skincare is inviting its neighbors to tour its manufacturing facilities in Winooski and Essex.