Current News

Vermont Business Magazine As Vermont WIC is moving from a home delivery system to a retail eWIC card system, the Health Department is leading learning sessions throughout October in Brattleboro, Wilmington, Westminster and Townshend. Starting in November, new Brattleboro WIC participants will have one card they can use to choose all their WIC foods at the grocery store.

"It is like a food package on a card," said Prudence MacKinney, Brattleboro district director. "WIC participants will have greater flexibility and convenience with the new system."

At the 20 minute learning sessions families can find out what to buy, where to shop, and how to keep track of purchases. Families will have new options for foods available through WIC including yogurt, whole wheat pasta, and tortillas and an expanded variety of brands for current WIC foods such as eggs, dairy, cereal, whole grains, and peanut butter.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vermont) announced today that three Vermont organizations received more than $3.1 million in federal grants from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. The CDFI Fund awarded $202 million in grants and loans to 195 community credit unions and loan funds across the country that provide affordable financial products and services in economically distressed areas.

Three Vermont programs received funds through these awards.

· Community Capital of Vermont Inc. in Barre received $700,000

· Opportunities Credit Union in Winooski received $1,653,000

· Vermont Community Loan Fund Inc. in Montpelier received $786,840

by John McClaughry The founding fathers of Vermont inserted into our 1786 Constitution the prescription that “The Legislative, Executive and Judiciary departments shall be separate and distinct, so that neither exercise the powers properly belonging to the others.”This reflected the writings of the French Baron Montesquieu, whose 1748 book The Spirit of the Laws profoundly influenced American republican thinking.

Although not so clearly stated, the same premise underlies the Constitution of the United States (1787). James Madison, a Montesquieu admirer and the principal figure of the Constitutional Convention, argued that the Congress, the President and the Supreme Court were separate, with distinctly different powers, but necessarily interrelated. He argued that the constant tension among the three departments would work to prevent any one of them from overriding the others and creating a despotism.

Vermont Business Magazine As the director of public works for the Village of Enosburg Falls, Garry Atherton knows every street, every intersection and every sidewalk. What he wants to see is more sidewalks, and many more walkable connectors to recreation fields, boat launches, existing trails, and parks.

As public works director since 1998, Atherton said he is proud of the way the village has come together to support how Enosburg addresses recreation and biking and walking paths.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s clean energy economy continues to grow and create good jobs for Vermonters, according to a report released by Governor Peter Shumlin and the Department of Public Service (DPS) today in Williston. At Building Energy, the governor was joined by Vermonters employed by the clean energy sector to outline results of the 2015 Vermont Clean Energy Industry Report, which shows that the sector grew by 6.2 percent last year and now supports 16,231 jobs.

“This report shows what we know to be true: moving to a new energy future is not just the right thing to do for our planet, it’s the right thing to do for our economy,” Shumlin said. “Over 16,200 Vermont jobs are now supported by this thriving sector of our economy. Its continued growth will help pave the way for economic opportunities for Vermonters and a planet that is livable for future generations.”

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine Deputy Housing Commissioner Jennifer Hollar is leaving her position in state government to work for the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board in Montpelier. Already experienced in community housing efforts, Hollar was among the first appointments of the Shumlin Administration and an important member of the team dedicated to the recovery efforts after Tropical Storm Irene hit in late August 2011. Hollar is stepping down at the end of September and will join VHCB November 1.

by Mike Smith There is nothing quite like the experience of bicycling past the glistening shores of the Champlain Islands, pedaling through Smugglers’ Notch or over the covered bridge in Woodstock. You don’t get the same sights, smells and exhilaration of accomplishment riding in a car as you do riding a bicycle. For these precious opportunities, we endure long, dark winters and the challenges of a rural state. Tragically, for four Vermonters this year, the joy of bicycling took a deadly turn as they were hit and killed by cars while bicycling the state’s roads. These deaths play out quickly in the media, but they will impact families, friends and communities forever. I know. I felt the impact two weeks ago.

Chances are you never knew Tim Holden. But you have a friend like him.

Vermont Business Magazine Anyone driving anywhere near an apple orchard these days has noticed trees heavy with fruit. In preparation for a banner year, Vermont's pick-your-own orchards will offer a chance to win an Apple product during the "Apples to iPods" promotion that kicks off today. “We're looking at one of the best crops in years-- possibly topping one million bushels,” said Steve Justis, Executive Director of the Vermont Tree Fruit Growers Association. “We had heavy rain early in the season, but the honeybees stepped up to provide excellent pollination and fruit set. The rest of the summer has given us excellent growing conditions.”

Justis went on to say the annual Apples to iPods contest has been an effective promotion for Vermont’s apple industry.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor (VDOL) is hosting a Job Fair with 90 Vermont businesses on Tuesday from 10 AM to 5:30 PM at the Sheraton Inn & Conference Center on Williston Road in South Burlington. More than 90 employers will have booths and will meet and greet the job seekers who attend. Some of the largest employers in the state will be attending, including Dealer.com, Ben & Jerry’s, Darn Tough Socks, Comcast, State of Vermont (multiple departments and agencies), General Dynamics, GMP, Keurig, Lane Press, Cabot, Mylan, Perrigo, National Life, UVM and UVM Medical, Revision, US government (TSA, Homeland Security), Peoples United, Rhino Foods and many others.

by Erin Mansfield vtdigger.org GlobalFoundries, the company that acquired IBM’s Essex Junction plant on July 1, said Friday it is offering retirement incentives to an undetermined number of employees across the company. The buyouts were first reported by the Albany Business Review. Company spokespeople confirmed the “voluntary separation program” as a retirement program but declined to say how many people would be leaving the company as part of the buyouts. They are part of company-wide “cost-savings measures to help us achieve a more competitive cost structure while our industry is in a downturn” according to James Keller, a spokesperson for GlobalFoundries.

by Beth Fastiggi Having spent nearly 30 years as part of the telecommunications industry in New England, one thing is clear to me: the industry has changed tremendously and now there is vigorous competition and more customer choice than ever before. This is good for consumers here and elsewhere. I grew up in Vermont, received my Mechanical Engineering degree from UVM, and have been working in telecommunications ever since, now serving as FairPoint’s Vermont president. As a former engineer, I’ve enjoyed seeing the game-changing technological advances in telecommunications over nearly three decades. I could not have imagined, when I began my career, the amazing convergence of computing and communications that anyone with a smart phone or a tablet now takes for granted.

by Erin Mansfield vtdigger.org Doctors are buried in paperwork, overburdened by student loans, worried about patients finding doctors and concerned about the shortfalls of the state’s mental health system. That’s according to a recent survey by the Vermont Medical Society, the state’s largest member organization for primary care doctors. The organization has about 2,000 members, or about three-quarters of doctors in the state, and is loosely affiliated with the American Medical Association.

Because it’s a survey, the Vermont Medical Society data contains response bias, whereby the most agitated members tend to submit responses. But many of the 117 doctors who completed the survey clearly agreed on issues related to administrative burden, student loans, access to primary care physicians and beds for Vermonters in psychiatric crisis.

Among the findings: