Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims in Vermont fell below 400 again last week, consistent with typically low summer totals. There were 364 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont, a decrease of 55 from the previous week's total and 15 more than they were a year ago. Generally, claims have been running below last year's totals. Claims were down slightly in nearly all regions of the state and in most industry categories.

Vermont Business Magazine The Chittenden County Sheriff’s Department and the Vermont Attorney General’s Office are warning consumers about a jury duty telephone scam. Many consumers in Chittenden County have reported receiving calls from a person claiming to be a Deputy Sheriff with the Civil Division of the Chittenden County Sheriff’s Office or an Elected Official in the Vermont court system; names of actual local deputies or local elected officials are being used in the calls. This is not a call from law enforcement; it is a scam call.

The caller claims that the consumer has missed jury duty, that an arrest warrant has been issued, and that the consumer must pay a several hundred dollar fine via wire transfer or a prepaid money card or face arrest. The scam callers direct the consumer to go to a local pharmacy or store to buy the debit card or wire the money (using MoneyGram or Western Union).

Vermont Business Magazine Marathon Health, one of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies, will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary during a forum next week focusing on ways to improve employer-sponsored healthcare in America. The forum, “Back to the Land - Back to the Future of Medicine” runs Sunday through Tuesday at the Woodstock Inn and Resort. More than 130 people will be at the forum including representatives from leading national and local employers, including Vermont Country Store, Sonnax, and PC Construction. Highlights include a keynote speech by bestselling author Chris Bohjalian Monday at 9 am, and Marathon Health founder Richard Tarrant delivering a 10-year company retrospective Tuesday at 7 pm.

Vermont Business Magazine Verizon customers in Vermont are enjoying all of the benefits of America’s most reliable network, according to the Vermont RootScore Report, conducted by Seattle-based RootMetrics.

Vermont Business Magazine In a decision that could mean a substantial increase in high-paying jobs and the retention of 300-plus existing jobs for the Brattleboro region, GS Precision President and CEO Norm Schneeberger today announced that the company is exploring potential expansion plans at the Exit One Industrial Park that would include additions to its two facilities located in the park. Upwards of $5.5 million in local and state financing was packaged into an incentive plan to keep one of state's largest companies (Ranked 49th on VBM's Vermont 100, $65.2 million in 2014 revenues, 323 employees).

Vermont Business Magazine The Springfield Steampunk Festival is a perfect example of the creative economy at work. Springfield is recovering from the loss of manufacturing and the economic recession. The festival highlights Springfield’s rich history of industry and innovation as part of the Precision Valley. The festival highlights Springfield's creative ingenuity and a renaissance in the town. The Springfield Steampunk Festival, an official Vermont Arts 2015 event, slated for September 11-13, is a region-wide event and beyond including one presenter from as far away as Colorado. As a first-time event the number of volunteers, presenters, bands, vendors and variety of events is impressive.

“We are a small but hardworking committee,” says Sabrina Smith, festival coordinator, “And while we have a great number of volunteers, we can always use more. Volunteers who work with us for four hours will receive a full weekend pass.”

Vermont Business Magazine Airmen from the 158th Fighter Wing in Burlington, Vermont, have changed locations supporting the Pacific Command Theater Security Package, moving from Japan, where they were deployed in June, to South Korea. Approximately 150 personnel and 10 F-16 Fighting Falcons have deployed to Kunsan Air Base in South Korea. The TSP deployment is designed to provide the PACOM region with forces capable of a variety of operations, including disaster relief, global situational awareness, combating piracy, active defense and power projection.

"The Vermont Air National Guard is very proud of their contribution to regional security and stability in the Pacific," said Maj. Gen. Steven Cray, the adjutant general. "The versatility of our Airmen to shift quickly between domestic and overseas mission sets is a testament to the strength, professionalism and readiness of our National Guard as an asset to the Total Force."

by Rob Roper Vermont is a tougher than average place to make a living. No secret there. One of the first questions you get from folks you meet is, “You live here full time? How do you make it work?” Some of the answers are necessarily creative. Vermont is a great place to live, but it comes with sacrifices. There are fewer career paths, a lack of high paying jobs overall, and lower pay here for doing the same job in another state. So, lots of people telecommute. Many work multiple jobs. Some rent out their homes over the holidays to generate extra income (or, more likely, to pay their exorbitantly high property taxes).

According to an analysis by the Small Business Administration, in 2011 small businesses represented 96.3% of all employers in Vermont, and of them 76.3% had no employees (other than the owner). We have a lot of entrepreneurial people working for themselves.

by Allison Teague/The Commons Windham Superior Court Judge John Wesley has sided with the town of Rockingham in a lawsuit against TransCanada, affirming the Grand List valuations set in 2012, 2013, and 2014 for the utility’s hydroelectric facility in Bellows Falls. “The Court finds that the Town has produced sufficient reliable evidence of its fair market value assessment of the Bellows Falls hydroelectric facility at $130,000,000, yielding the value of the portion in Rockingham at $108,495,400,” Wesley wrote in the Aug. 21 court ruling.

The company has owned the facility in downtown Bellows Falls since 2009. It was on the 2012 grand list at $108.11 million, the same value at which it had been listed for 2010 and 2011.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermonters now have a short-time frame before the new year to capitalize on a incentive offering to help them save money on home heating, while supporting Vermont jobs and sustainable forests, while making sure they stay warm this winter. Vermonters can get up to $5,500 to help switch from fossil fuel to local wood heating. Cash incentives are available from the Clean Energy Development Fund and Efficiency Vermont. Renewable Energy Vermont and the Renewable Energy Resource Center have partnered to help promote the incentives.

“We’ve been very happy with our decision to switch to a wood pellet boiler. Not only do we save money every year on our fuel bill, but we also love the fact that we’re helping to keep forests intact and logging jobs going,” says Mark Bushnell of Middlesex.

Vermont Business Magazine A record number of students applied to the University of Vermont this year, and this week, UVM welcomes its new class — the most academically talented in school history. Incoming students earned an average GPA of 3.53 on a 4.0 scale and an average SAT score of 1197, a 12-point increase over last year. The Class of 2019 also boasts a record number of Green & Gold Scholars — top students from Vermont high schools. Thirty-four of these talented students have enrolled at UVM.

Vermont Business Magazine Less than a month before Congress votes on whether to reauthorize a controversial program mandating healthier school lunches, a new study confirms the suspicions of school officials - many students are putting the fruits and vegetables they're now required to take straight into the trash, consuming fewer than they did before the law took effect. The new study, published online in Public Health Reports on August 25, is the first to use digital imaging to capture students' lunch trays before and after they exited the lunch line.