Current News

by Sarah Olsen vtdigger.org The bargaining team of the part-time faculty unit reached a tentative agreement with the University of Vermont Thursday. Since February, the bargaining team of United Academics has been working with UVM to agree on the terms of its next collective bargaining agreement. Both parties agreed to enter mediation in May in a continuing effort to produce an agreement. This tentative agreement will soon be submitted to the members of the Part-Time Bargaining Unit for a ratification vote.

Under the new contract, 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.

by the Lake Champlain Committee (LCC) This week's heat wave brought with it numerous reports of blue-green algae blooms. St Albans Bay and Missisquoi Bay were hit the hardest but blooms also showed up in the northern part of the Main Lake, the Alburgh Passage, and on Lake Carmi. With few exceptions, waters generally remained clear from the Islands south. Thursday's (8/20) high winds may have moved scums around and changed conditions but cyanobacteria will be present for some weeks yet. Anyone on the water and shorelines, particularly in Missisquoi Bay and St Albans Bay should be on the lookout and avoid contact with blooms. Algae conditions can vary widely over short time frames and short distances. Some blooms persist for days while others pop up and disappear within a span of hours. Blooms are pushed by prevailing winds, leading to denser shoreline accumulations downwind.

Vermont Business Magazine A University of Vermont-led research team has received approval for $18.5 million in funding to study whether patients with both medical and behavioral problems do better when their primary care physicians work in combination with behavioral health professionals including psychologists and social workers.

Benjamin Littenberg, MD, professor of medicine and Henry and Carleen Tufo chair in general internal medicine, gathered colleagues at UVM and across the country for a five-year research project, titled "Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care." The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) selected Littenberg's project as one of four out of 124 original applications to receive funding. Based in Washington DC, the organization seeks to answer questions that patients and their clinicians face daily and find approaches to health care that work best for the end user.

Vermont Business Magazine The Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District (CVSWMD) will increase outreach into the nine most rural communities among its 18 member municipalities thanks to an $89,000 grant recently awarded by the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development program. The grant will fund a series of presentations, workshops and webinars that will help businesses and residents learn to recycle, compost, and understand Vermont’s Universal Recycling Law.

“The US Department of Agriculture is committed to supporting rural infrastructure providers as they develop more sophisticated methods to serve rural communities and conserve our rural environment,” said Ted Brady, USDA Rural Development State Director. “USDA Rural Development is excited to partner with the Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District as they work to help their communities utilize Act 148 compliance to improve local environmental sustainability.”

Vermont Business Magazine. On the heels of announcing it has the World’s Best Foliage, the state of Vermont is gearing up for a leaf season full of of fairs, festivals, and fun events. Visitors and Vermonters alike can celebrate fall’s abundance with everything from an Open Studio Weekend, to a “pumpkin chuckin’” contest. Harvest festivals abound throughout the state, and there are at least 11 beer events in the months of September and October.

At least 11 fall beer fests are scheduled throughout Vermont for September and October. Photo from the Burlington Brewers Festival in July: VermontVacation.com/David Burnell

by Bill Stenger, President, Jay Peak Resort The August 19 VTDigger article (JAY PEAK FAILS TO MEET WATER QUALITY TARGETS IN SETTLEMENT WITH STATE, ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP) falls short in providing timely, accurate and balanced reporting concerning the ground-breaking Settlement Agreement reached in February between Jay Peak Resort, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and the environmental group Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC). The article focuses on the past and provides little insight to the present.

Bill Stenger

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for July was 3.6 percent. This represents no change from the revised June rate (3.6 percent). The national average in July was 5.3 percent, which also experienced no change from the previous month’s estimate. Vermont showed only modest gains in the Labor Force and number of Employed from June but greater gains from last July. Vermont’s unemployment rate is tied for third lowest in the nation with Utah, behind only North Dakota (3.0 percent) and Nebraska (2.7 percent). New Hampshire is tied for fifth with Hawaii at 5.7 percent. West Virginia was last at 7.5 percent.

by Julie Pukas TD Bank There's been much discussion surrounding the Payment Networks' Liability Shift associated with Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) that's due to take effect in the United States this fall. EMV chip-enabled cards add an additional layer of fraud protection for consumers. The cards contain an embedded microchip that turns cardholder information into a unique code every time the card is inserted into a card reader. Overall, the goal of EMV technology is to decrease the potential for counterfeit card transactions, enable secure transactions and prepare for contactless payments.

by Erin Mansfield vtdigger.org The renovation of the Waterbury State Office Complex is almost complete, and state employees are on track to move back at the end of 2015. The facility will house about 850 state employees, most of whom work for the Agency of Human Services, the largest agency of state government, and the Department of Public Safety. The project has been in the works since Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011 damaged the complex. Heavy rainfall led to severe flooding and the evacuation of psychiatric patients at the Vermont State Hospital. About 1,500 state employees worked at the Waterbury complex at the time.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont home sales were again up by double digits year-over-year in July, but median home price was lagging again and actually dropped last month by 7 percent versus July 2014. For New England overall, year-over-year sales increased by 17.8 percent according to The RE/MAX INTEGRA, New England July Monthly Housing Report. Pending sales were up 19.9 percent over July 2014. And average days on market was down 9.7 percent. However, in every measure, Vermont's home sales were below that of every other New England state, except for median price, where Maine was the lowest. For the region, 21,108 home sales were recorded in July, accounting for over 22 percent of this year’s total transactions.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin announced a number of staff appointments today, incluidng Frank Reed, Christopher Herrick, Tom Cheney, Laura Gray, James Pepper and Jahala Dudley. Frank Reed will become the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health (DMH), effective August 21. Reed has been the Department’s Deputy Commissioner since 2012. Reed became the Department’s Interim Commissioner when the position was vacated by Paul Dupre who retired in June. Reed brings extensive experience to his role; experience gained from more than 30 years as a clinical social worker and mental health professional. Prior to joining DMH in 1999, Reed spent many years in clinical positions at Rutland Mental Health Services and Rutland Regional Medical Center.

Vermont Business Magazine Dynapower Company, the global leader in advanced energy storage inverters baed in South Burlington, Vermont, is expanding its operations by opening a new sales, service and warehouse facility in the San Francisco Bay Area. The new facility, which opens next month, comes as a result of continuous growth in the company's energy storage inverter sales across the US.