Current News

A Buffalo, NY, manufacturer has acquired Vermont-based medical device maker Vermed Inc. Vermed, located in Bellows Falls, manufactures medical devices, electrodes, line care products, electrotherapy devices, urethral catheter support, topical skin adhesives and other similar products. The news was announced today by Citizens Bank, which arranged financing for Graphic Controls to acquire Vermed. Terms were not disclosed, including whether local staffing and operations in Vermont would change.

Graphic Controls is a leading supplier of consumable products for industrial, medical and gaming markets with manufacturing operations and sales offices in the United States, Canada, Europe and the United Kingdom.

A buffalonews.com story says that Graphic Controls is getting back into the medical device business and this acquisition allows them to do that with an established company. It also has acquired two other medical device companies in recent years.

Morgan True vtdigger.org The backlog of requested coverage changes at Vermont Health Connect has ballooned to more than 11,000 and completing the exchange is now projected to hit $200 million, according to state officials. Change requests range from updating an address to reporting new income, new dependents or even just terminating a plan after gaining health insurance through an employer. The exchange has carried a backlog since it launched and reached a high of 15,000 in August. That number was reduced to a manageable figure prior to this year’s open enrollment, but is now close to 11,200, officials said.

At 10:14 am this morning, a lone male suspect entered through the rear entrance of TD Bank in Enosburg Falls dressed in a black ski mask, dark jacket with blue stripes down the arm, a blue hoodie sweatshirt, black pants, black gloves, and white sneakers.
The suspect was a white male approximately 5'6" - 5'8" tall, with a slender to medium build. The suspect leaned onto the counter, verbally demanded cash, and put it into a plastic bag that he brought with him. The male then exited the bank with the bag and took off on foot, followed by a customer who witnessed the event. James Marshia, an off-duty Customs and Border Protection Officer, was able to track the suspect for about a quarter mile, where he lost sight of the male, who headed in an unknown direction of travel.

Governor Peter Shumlin issued the following statement on the death of former Governor Ray Keyser Jr. The governor has ordered that flags be flown at half-staff in honor of Governor Keyser. He died Saturday at his daughter's home in Brandon. He was 87.

"Vermont has lost a faithful public servant who showed his love for this state and its people through his years of service. My thoughts are with Governor Keyser's family and friends. I know I join all Vermonters in being thankful for Governor Keyser's dedication to Vermont."

Governor Keyser, far right, with, from left, Governors Douglas, Salmon and Kunin in 2012. VBM file

Congressman Peter Welch made the following statement on the passing of Governor Kesyer:

Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott and the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation are hosting the "Southern Vermont Economy Pitch" today, March 9, 2015. Windham and Bennington County legislators have been invited to attend the Economy Pitch at Vernon Elementary School to hear representatives from the region’s business community make short, five-minute pitches about the economy from their perspective. This is the fourth "Economy Pitch" held this year, following events in Montpelier, Rutland and St Albans.

DATE: Monday, March 9

TIME: 4:00 – 6:00 PM

PLACE: Vernon Elementary School cafeteria, 381 Governor Hunt Road, Vernon

Participants

Attendees will hear from representatives of the following organizations:
Storm Petrel LLC, Halifax

Vermont Technical College, Randolph Center

Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce

Bellows Falls Downtown Development

by Governor Peter Shumlin As we head into the second half of this year’s Legislation session, it’s a good time to evaluate the progress that has been made in the two months since the session began. In January, I laid out a number of priorities to keep Vermont moving forward that included cleaning up Lake Champlain and other waterways, investing in clean energy to create jobs and save people money, addressing the Medicaid cost shift to save individuals and businesses on rising health care premiums, working to reduce school spending to relieve the property tax burden on hard working Vermonters, passing economic development initiatives to help Vermont businesses continue to grow jobs, and developing a balanced budget that sets the state on a sound fiscal footing going forward. While we still have lots of work ahead, I am encouraged by the progress we have made on these priorities thus far.

Do you know who owns your beer? After a year of organization, planning, and home-brewing beer, the members of Full Barrel Cooperative Brewery & Taproom are one step closer to making the answer to be, as the founders put it, “you.” On Sunday, March 1, member-owners gathered in Burlington and voted to approve the brewery’s first bylaws, elect a board of directors, and select the brand’s first logo. The milestones come on the heels of the brewery receiving incorporation status from the State of Vermont in early February.

by Shawn Shouldice The Vermont General Assembly is dealing with a $120 million budget deficit, while the Governor is simultaneously recommending increased spending at many levels including a request for increased Medicaid spending to address a portion of the $135 million cost shift caused by the chronic underfunding of Medicaid. (The cost shift is considered by some to be the cause of higher than necessary private health insurance premiums). Some cuts have been proposed but for many legislators they appear to be too hard for legislators to swallow, as well as new and increased taxes, most, if not all of which, will take additional millions out of the pockets of small business owners.

Starting the year off strong, two of Maple Landmark Woodcraft’s newly developed products have been selected as winners of the Family Choice Children’s Products and Resource Awards for 2015. The Lift ‘N’ Learn Dinosaur puzzle and the Stack-a-Track proved to be favorites among the judges.

The online Master of Science in Information Security & Assurance program at Norwich University’s College of Graduate and Continuing Studies ranks seventh in a recent report compiled by TheBestSchools.org on “The 25 Best Online Master of Information Assurance and Security Degree Programs.” The selection was based on several factors, including academic excellence, course offerings, faculty strengths and reputation.

The new “sharing economy” is changing the landscape of small business in the US and Vermont. Opportunities to rent everything from rides to rooms, golf clubs to cameras, are popping up everywhere and while you may be tempted to take advantage of these money-making innovations, make sure you know what your insurance policy covers. The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation urges consumers to check insurance policies before sharing rides and rooms.

Transportation networking companies (TNCs) such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar and house sharing arrangements like Airbnb are household terms, but entrepreneurs are also lending vehicles, office space, parking spots, boats, bicycles, cameras and more. Although a smaller segment of the “sharing economy,” personal items like power tools, clothing, household items camping equipment, furniture, and even pets are being “shared” with complete strangers.

by Amy Ash Nixon vtdigger.org A spending cap added to the House Education Committee’s “big bill,” at the eleventh hour last week in an attempt to put the brakes on rising school budgets is drawing intense criticism.

H.361 calls on school districts across Vermont to merge into larger “integrated education systems” of at least 1,100 students — the cornerstone of the bill that will be scrutinized by the House Ways & Means Committee when the Legislature resumes Tuesday.

The bill also calls for a short-term annual spending cap increase of 2 percent on local per pupil expenditures, for school systems to work to increase staff- and teacher-to-student ratios, and more. The cap would expire Dec. 31, 2018.