Current News

SPARK-VT, an initiative that helps bring promising research discoveries to the marketplace piloted in 2012 by the UVM Department of Medicine, has been expanded to engage faculty across the University of Vermont, launching this week with a Call for Proposals to all UVM researchers. David V Rosowsky, UVM provost, and Dr Richard Galbraith, vice president for research, are champions of the SPARK-VT program, which will accelerate the translation of new knowledge into tangible benefits to society.

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org The legislative Joint Fiscal Committeee got a double dose of bad news Wednesday: The state faces shortfalls in the current budget cycle and an anticipated $100 million gap for the next fiscal year. That estimate is subject to change — and is likely to increase, further tightening the financial straits most agencies are facing as the state’s budget continues to grow faster than Vermont’s revenue base. Four months into the fiscal year, overall General Fund revenue is $12 million short, Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding reported Friday.

Higher than expected spending this year will require legislative action through the Budget Adjustment Act, to be taken up immediately when newly elected representatives and senators convene the next legislative session in January. And the $100 million gap for Fiscal Year 2016 will be taken up in 2015, too.

“In perpetuity” as it relates to conservation easements and the land trust movement is an issue people are thinking about in Vermont and across the country. An attorney with the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, DC, will provide the IRS perspective during two sessions, titled “Conservation Easements and the IRS,” November 17 at Vermont Law School and November 18 in Montpelier. Sponsored by the Environmental Tax Policy Institute at VLS, the sessions are free and open to the public and press.

The SBA Vermont District Office is accepting nominations for its annual small business awards. Previous Vermont winners include Ben and Jerry’s, Switchback Brewing Company and Vermont Teddy Bear Company.

The categories are as follows:

Small Business Person of the Year
Criteria: Individual or partners who own a small business, which has increased sales, profits and employees, and have been in business for three years.

Exporting Small Business of the Year
Criteria: Small business which has increased sales, profits and/or employees due to exporting and been in business for three years.

Family-Owned Small Business of the Year
Criteria: Small business must be family-owned for at least 15 years and ownership has transitioned to another generation.

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger and Burlington International Airport Director of Aviation Gene Richards today announced that Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded the credit rating of BTV by one level to Baa3 from Ba1. Moody’s action elevates the airport’s bonds from “junk” status to investment grade for the first time in more than four years. The rating outlook remains stable, having been improved to stable from negative in January 2014.

Mayor Weinberger explains the implications of a raised bond rating. Courtesy photo.

Today PC Construction hosted an awards ceremony to present three Waterbury-based nonprofits with donations totaling $15,000 as part of the company’s 2014 campaign “Building Communities: PC Construction Gives Back.” The first-place winner, Brain Injury Association of Vermont, received a $10,000 donation; the second-place winner, Green Mountain Club, received $3,000; and the third-place winner, Revitalizing Waterbury, received $2,000.

The announcement follows a month-long crowdsourced-voting contest. PC Construction’s employee-owners nominated 10 nonprofits based in the Waterbury, Vermont area. The contest was then opened up to a public vote to help determine the final winners.

During the four-week period concluding on October 31, more than 7,000 votes were cast.

Vermont Business Magazine In order to tie together more closely the University of Vermont Medical School, the university itself and Fletcher Allen Health Care, the Burlington-based hospital and health system will now be known as The University of Vermont Medical Center. New names for the four-hospital affiliation, known as Fletcher Allen Partners, and its individual members, were made official today in recognition that the partnership has become one organization focused on delivering academic medicine to the people of Vermont and northern New York more efficiently and as close to home as possible. Fletcher Allen Partners will now be known as The University of Vermont Health Network, while the other three Partner hospitals - Central Vermont Medical Center, Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital and Elizabethtown Community Hospital - will add that title to their existing names.

In federal fiscal year 2014, the Vermont EB-5 Regional Center ranked in the top 10 out of over 500 regional centers nationwide for I-829 approvals. I-829 approvals for permanent residency are granted to investors whose investments led to a project successfully creating at least 10 jobs. Peter Joseph, Association to Invest in the USA (IIUSA) Executive Director remarked, "It is an honor for IIUSA to celebrate the success of 17 Regional Center members with I-829 approvals over the last year, including the State of Vermont Regional Center, at our 2014 EB-5 Market Exchange Conference. The I-829 approval milestone means a Regional Center has delivered on using global vision to create jobs in their communities. The large Vermont delegation at the event was yet another demonstration of the importance of EB-5 as an economic development tool to the state, and the active roles its stakeholders take in the industry and IIUSA."

The David L Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry at Champlain College, dedicated Saturday, becomes the only academic center in the world focused entirely on Appreciative Inquiry. AI, as it’s known by practitioners across the globe, emphasizes a strengths-based approach to organizational development and management. Co-created by Dr David L Cooperrider, Appreciative Inquiry is embraced by a broad spectrum of business and social sector leaders and executives. The stated purpose of the Center is to educate leaders to be the best in the world at seeing the best for the world, in order to discover and design positive institutions – organizations and communities that elevate, magnify, and bring our highest human strengths to the practice of positive organizational development and change.

In a statement released Tuesday, Vermont Gas said it has reached agreements with 75 percent of the 220 landowners along the Phase 1 Addison Rutland Natural Gas Project corridor permitted by state regulators. An additional 20 percent of landowners are in negotiations that continue to progress. And while Vermont Gas has not reached agreements with 5 percent of remaining landowners, the company said it is committed to respectful discussions to reach a fair outcome.

Since introducing the opportunity for neutral, third party mediation in August, five landowners have elected that option. All five landowners have reached amicable agreements with Vermont Gas as a result. Another nine landowners have signed up for the next round of mediation.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed all the outstanding bonds for Vermont Student Assistance Corp. - 1995 Bond Resolution. The Rating Outlook is Stable. Fitch used its 'Global Structured Finance Rating Criteria', 'US Private Student Loan ABS Criteria' and 'US FFELP Student Loan ABS Criteria' to review the transaction.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Adequate Collateral Quality: The trust is collateralized by approximately $27.8 million of private student loans and $38.4 million FFELP student loans. The FFELP student loans have guaranties provided by eligible guarantors and reinsurance provided by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) for at least 97% of principal and accrued interest.

For the private student loan, Fitch projects the remaining default to be in the range of 20% to 23% as a percentage of the current pool balance. The recovery is estimated to be 10% based on information provided by the issuer.

The national preterm birth rate fell to 11.4 percent in 2013 – the lowest in 17 years – meeting the federal Healthy People 2020 goal seven years early. Despite this progress, the US still received a "C" on the 7th annual March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card because it fell short of the more-challenging 9.6 percent target set by the March of Dimes, the group said Thursday. On the 2014 Report Card, 27 states and Puerto Rico saw their preterm birth rates improve between 2012 and 2013, earning better grades for five of them: Iowa, Virginia, Arkansas, Nevada and Oklahoma. Five states earned an "A," including California, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and Vermont. Twenty states earned a "B," 20 states received a "C," two states and the District of Columbia got a "D," and only three states and Puerto Rico, received an "F" on the Report Card. The Report Card information for the U.S. and states are available online at: marchofdimes.org/reportcard.