Current News

by Seven Days Nearly 9,000 Vermonters weighed in on the state’s 2015 “best of Vermont” awards, with a whopping 590,000-plus individual votes in 171 categories.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General William H Sorrell joined with 16 other states and cities in announcing their intention to oppose a request that would stay EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan is a result of a decade-long effort by states to require mandatory cuts in emissions of climate change pollution from power plants – the single largest U.S. source of these emissions. Significant reductions in these emissions must occur to prevent increases in the adverse impacts of climate change such as heat-related deaths and illnesses, smog, asthma, pneumonia and bronchitis, extreme weather, threats to agriculture and forest productivity, and threats to our energy, transportation and water resource infrastructure.

Attorney General Sorrell and the other states and cities issued the following joint statement:

Vermont Business Magazine Marketers, including those focused on Gen Z and Millennials, routinely use demographic analysis to help craft a brand's message, positioning and marketing. By grouping consumers mainly by age, geography, ethnicity, gender, income and family status, marketers have been able to draw conclusions about that group's shared interests and consumption behaviors, according to Fuse, a marketing agency based in Burlington. But the assumptions we've grown to accept from traditional demographic segments are often no longer reliable. We've entered a new era of how we must study consumers -- what trendwatching.com calls "post-demographic consumerism."

Vermont Business Magzine Vermont Student Assistance Corp today announced it has selected Intuition College Savings Solutions to manage the Vermont Higher Education Investment Plan, the state’s 529 college savings plan. Intuition College Savings Solutions, located in Tallahassee and Jacksonville, Florida, has provided comprehensive, customized plan management solutions for over 25 years to 10 different 529 plans.

“Intuition offers VHEIP account holders some strategic advantages and we believe families will value lower investment fees, a wider range of investment choices from Vanguard, TIAA-CREF and others, as well as expanded online services,” said Scott Giles, president and CEO of VSAC. “All Vermonters will need some form of education or training after high school to be qualified for Vermont’s future jobs. And, we know that students from families that save even a small amount for education are three times more likely to go.”

Vermont Business Magazine The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making available for public comment the Phosphorus Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for the twelve Vermont segments of Lake Champlain. Too much phosphorus pollution is reaching Lake Champlain primarily from the streams and rivers draining into it. The primary concern is polluted runoff – rainwater or snowmelt that drains off of parking lots, roads and streets, logging roads, farm fields and croplands, and lawns. The runoff carries pollutants – sediment, nutrients such as phosphorus that are naturally present in soils, pet and animal wastes, fertilizers, and other pollutants – and deposits these pollutants into streams and rivers or directly into Lake Champlain. Phosphorus concentrations have not decreased significantly in any areas of Lake Champlain, despite reductions in the amount of phosphorus entering the Lake from several of its tributaries.

Vermont Business Magazine In celebration of National Breastfeeding Month, Seventh Generation, a leading household and baby care company, is turning to moms across the country to determine the location of two new Mamava pumping and nursing pods. The national crowdsourcing campaign aims to give moms more choices for breastfeeding on-the-go. Seventh Generation has opened a call to moms nationwide to submit the location they'd like to have access to a lactation pod. Created by Mamava, a company dedicated to transforming the culture of breastfeeding, the self-contained, mobile pods offer comfortable benches, an electrical outlet and door that can be fully shut for privacy.

Vermont Business Magazine All across Vermont, architects are playing with Legos. They are putting together models for the City Center: Creating Place booth at South Burlington’s upcoming CityFest, Saturday, August 15 in Veteran’s Memorial Park open from 11 am – 9 pm. The idea originated in a City staff member’s accidental engagement with Olafu Eliasson’s Collectivity Project in New York. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Vermont was excited by the idea of bringing architects into the City’s sesquicentennial celebration, and sent out a request on South Burlington’s behalf for voluntary participants. Within minutes, architects began responding, with Donna Church of StudioBlue the first, and Steve Roy of Wiemann Lamphere right behind.

Vermont Business Magazine The State of Vermont and UVM will be working together to reduce the harmful effects of stormwater runoff into Lake Champlain. The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Lake Champlain Sea Grant Program (LCSG) of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont are pleased to announce a new Green Infrastructure Collaborative (GIC). The Collaborative will promote Low Impact Development (LID) and Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) practices as the preferred methodologies to manage stormwater runoff from developed lands.

by Erica Houskeeper UVM The University of Vermont is offering a new Business of Craft Beer certificate program, which will focus on sales, digital marketing, and business operations. The 12-week online program, which starts in February, was developed in conjunction with the Vermont Brewer’s Association. The program will prepare participants with in-depth knowledge of the dynamics and trends within the U.S. craft beer market, its origins, key growth drivers, major players and steps for success.

(Photo: Ed Kohler/Flickr)

Vermont Business Magazine Addison County Transit Resources (ACTR) announces a major milestone in its service history. Ridership tracking indicates ACTR will deliver its two millionth ride on Tuesday, August 25, 2015. To thank riders, ACTR's buses will operate fare-free that day and each Bus System and Dial-A-Ride passenger will receive a gift, while supplies last.

Community transportation services have come far in the past twenty-three years. In the beginning ACTR had a handful of volunteer drivers who offered fee-based transportation services. Over time, ACTR expanded its volunteer workforce, began serving senior meal sites, made all services more accessible, created 6 public bus routes, grew to a fleet of 21 buses, created 32 jobs and built a Community Transportation Center.

Vermont Business Magazine And the winner is... But first a word about the organization. The Grand Isle Road Pitch was held on August 6th at the Snow Farm Vineyard and Winery in South Hero. The second annual Road Pitch, organized by Cairn Cross from FreshTracks Capital was a four day motorcycle ride throughout Vermont. The riders were made up of "business bikers" consisting of investors, business advisers, entrepreneurs and even Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott for part of the ride. At each stop during the week, several entrepreneurs and businesses pitched their ideas to the group of riders looking for investors. At the end of each stop they awarded a cash prize of $450 and a "Biker Bear," donated by Vermont Teddy Bear to the pitch they felt made the most compelling case for their proposed venture.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Thursday joined officials from the state of Vermont and the Waitsfield community to celebrate construction progress on Waitsfield’s new town office. The event marked a major milestone for the Waitsfield community, which recently broke ground on a new site to replace the town office building flooded by Tropical Storm Irene. A Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development largely supported the project, administered in Vermont by the Agency of Commerce and Community Development.