Current News

The Vermont Community Loan Fund (VCLF) has announced the launch of the Food, Farms & Forests Fund, a new capital resource dedicated to investing in Vermont's healthy foods, sustainable agriculture and natural resources enterprises. A kick-off celebration is scheduled for the evening of May 20th at Shelburne Farms. A short program will outline the goals and opportunities the new Fund presents in Vermont’s food and farm financing landscape. The launch celebration will also showcase the work being done by current VCLF borrowers in this area, and feature foods produced by VCLF borrowers.

“The new Food, Farms & Forests Fund is an important extension of the work the Loan Fund has been doing for twenty years, providing flexible financing and financial services to Vermont’s family farms, food and working landscape businesses,” said VCLF Executive Director Will Belongia.

Expert Drain Care, LLC, a Brattleboro-based corporation that does business as Roto Rooter and Monadnock Septic, was convicted of three felony environmental crimes in Vermont Superior Court, Brattleboro Criminal Division last week. Pursuant to a plea agreement with the Vermont Attorney General's Office, Expert Drain Care pled no contest to one count of transportation of solid waste without a permit, one count of illegal disposal of solid waste, and one count of false claims. In addition to the three felony convictions, Expert Drain Care must pay a $5,000.00 fine and related court costs.

"This business tried to cut a few corners to save a few hundred dollars on permit fees and ended up with three felony convictions and thousands of dollars in fines," said Attorney General William H. Sorrell. "Vermont businesses should be on notice that we take the enforcement of Vermont’s environmental laws and regulations very seriously," he added.

by Don Turner Last November, Vermonters sent a clear message that the status quo no longer worked for them. Vermonters told us that we needed to get to work to return Vermont to a sound and sustainable fiscal path, work to make Vermont a more affordable place to live and work to grow our economy so that the next generation of Vermonters will have more opportunities than we have had.

Kathy Giusti, Founder and Executive Chairman of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) and a long time New Canaan resident, delivered the 214th Commencement Address to the graduating class of the University of Vermont (UVM) College of Life Sciences and Agriculture on May 17, 2015. Giusti graduated from UVM in 1980 and received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters in 2013. She received her MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1985.

Giusti spoke to a vibrant group of over 1,000 graduates, their family and friends, about preparing for the unexpected in life, and transforming these unexpected moments into the opportunities that will shape the future.

The Vermont Department of Health is offering grants to small businesses with between five to 50 employees to create worksite wellness programs. The Working Toward Wellness grants provide funding and technical assistance to develop seven workplace wellness programs at seven sites across the state: Bennington, Brattleboro, Burlington, Middlebury, Morrisville, Newport and White River Junction.

“Worksites are a great place to focus on changing health behaviors by encouraging and supporting healthy eating and physical activity habits,” said Health Commissioner Harry Chen, MD.

Worksites will be given a one-time award of $3,000 to help start up a wellness program with a focus on increasing the physical activity and healthy eating opportunities for employees. Worksites will be matched with Health Department staff from their area district office who will work closely with them throughout the grant year to:

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Monday joined local, state and federal officials to break ground on Burlington’s new Downtown Transit Center, a project 15 years in the making. Leahy, the most senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, played a pivotal role in securing $8 million for the long planed center, as well as nearly $40 million in federal funding for public transit stations and buses across Vermont over the past 15 years. Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, Vermont Transportation Secretary Sue Minter, Chittenden Country Transit Authority (CCTA) leadership and representatives of the Federal Transit Administration joined Leahy for the ceremony.

On Saturday and Sunday, May 16 and 17, Vermont Tech celebrated the college’s 149^th annual commencement ceremony. The Ceremony returned to Vermont Tech’s Randolph Center campus location for the first time in more than five years. Vermont Tech graduates students in both bachelor’s and associate’s degree programs.

“Leave here today with the confidence that graduates from this college will lead the way, because you know how to get things done,” said Vermont Tech President Dan Smith to the graduating class. “That is the exception in this day and age.”

NASA Flight Director Zebulon Scoville, a native of Middlesex, Vermont, and graduate of Union 32 High School in East Montpelier, returned to Vermont to inspire and encourage Vermont Tech’s graduates with this year’s commencement speech.

Given that she was sharing the speaker’s platform with Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Annie Proulx, a less confident person than Nina Totenberg might have had second thoughts about starting her speech at the University of Vermont’s 2014 commencement Sunday morning with two extended pieces of creative writing.

But courage, mixed with intelligence, verve and humor, has been the hallmark of Totenberg’s 40-year career covering legal affairs for National Public Radio, so she launched quite happily into two rhyming odes to graduates, one for the women and one for the men in the audience. Both were variations, in multiple stanzas, on the commencement-appropriate theme of wanting to have it all.

Proulx, a UVM alum who received an honorary degree at the ceremony along with Totenberg, wasn’t visible, but one can imagine her smiling at lines like:

I want to be Loretta Lynch and Loretta Lynn

Lock 'em up and sing a hymn.

Progress for Vermont

by Governor Peter Shumlin We convened the legislative session in January with the goal of making this economy work for every single Vermonter and resolving the challenges that undermine our quality of life. It was an agenda focused on jobs, quality of life, our environment, and making Vermont a place that works for everyone, not just those who are already doing well. Five months later, we have taken great steps toward that goal.

The University of Vermont officially broke ground May 15 on its $104 million STEM project, the largest capital project in UVM history. Speakers at the event included Governor Peter Shumlin, who has urged the university to produce more STEM graduates to meet the needs of Vermont’s high-tech sector, as well as Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, UVM Board of Trustees chair Deborah McAneny, president Tom Sullivan, doctoral student Lane Manning, and Richard Bundy, president and CEO of the University of Vermont Foundation.

Trustees chair Deborah McAneny aboard an excavator during the groundbreaking. Sally McCay photos.

Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott issued the following statement in response to the House and Senate passage of S138. “Paving the way toward a more prosperous future for Vermont requires putting our full focus on growing the economy," Scott said. "Today, with the passage of S138, the Vermont House and Senate took a solid first step down that path. This bill makes it easier for entrepreneurs to access capital, repeals the cloud tax, provides assistance to first-time homebuyers, invests in marketing Vermont as a place to live, work and play, facilitates the creation of a trained, modern workforce, and starts discussions at both the regional and statewide levels on a number of fiscal priorities.