Current News

Sugarbush Resort announces the development of Gadd Brook Residences--new private, slopeside homes in Lincoln Peak Village. The construction of Gadd Brook is the next phase of construction in the resort’s Lincoln Peak Village master plan, concept approval of which was received in the summer of 2012.

Situated between historic Sugarbush Village and Lincoln Peak base area, the Lincoln Peak Village master plan envisions a 93-unit multi-phase residential development that provides a mixture of ownership opportunities. Rice Brook Residences--the first phase of the plan--created fifteen slopeside homes across three buildings, and was completed in late 2013. Based on the success of Rice Brook, Gadd Brook will be of similar design in that it will offer a mix of two-, three-, and four-bedroom privately-owned condominiums.

The University of Vermont and the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, Local 267 have reached agreement on a three-year contract, subject to ratification by UE membership. The union represents service and maintenance workers at UVM. UVM stated that ontract details will be available once ratification has taken place.

“I am very pleased that we were able to reach agreement on a new contract with the UE,” said Wanda Heading-Grant, Vice President for Human Resources, Diversity and Multicultural Affairs. “Our service and maintenance workers are essential to the successful operation of the University. They are important and vital members of the UVM community.”

Less than five months after breaking ground on a new 2 megawatt solar project in Brattleboro, Winstanley Enterprises on Wednesday was joined by development team members and supporters to officially mark the project’s completion. Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott and State Representative Mollie Burke headlined a group of dignitaries joining Winstanley Enterprises, Integrated Solar, REC Solar, Green Mountain Power and supporters and advocates of renewable energy to celebrate this project.

The newly constructed solar array sits on a 12-acre parcel owned by Winstanley Enterprises, and is the first project of its size in southeastern Vermont. Over 8,000 ground-mounted photovoltaic panels comprise the 2 megawatt system which on a clear, sunny day will produce 40 percent of Brattleboro’s electrical needs.

“Leading the Change in Energy” explores the challenges and opportunities of transitioning into an efficient, renewable energy future from the most critical aspect: human behavior. With the average American spending just six minutes per year thinking about energy, how do we encourage our society to move towards a clean energy future as quickly and efficiently as possible? From offering to empty attics to help weatherize a home, to showing the energy savings from solar hot water – numerous opportunities exist to engage the consumer.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) responded last week to a legal petition from 20 farm, consumer, and environmental groups, including NOFA Vermont, by reinstating some authorities of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), while continuing to limit the Board's advisory authority. The NOSB was established by Congress in 1990 to operate as a permanent independent authority. In May of this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reauthorized the Board under the Federal Advisory Committee Act as it is required to do every two years by law. Changes made to the charter, however, mistakenly re-categorized the NOSB as a time-limited Advisory Board subject to USDA's discretion and narrowed the Board's responsibilities.

Ensyn Fuels, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ensyn Corporation, has signed a contract with Valley Regional Hospital in Claremont, New Hampshire, for the supply of RFO, Ensyn's advanced cellulosic biofuel. Ensyn Fuels will provide the hospital with approximately 250,000 gallons/year of RFO for a renewable term of seven years, commencing deliveries by April 2015. This contract will allow Valley Regional to convert its entire heating requirements from petroleum fuels to Ensyn's renewable fuel, lowering the hospital's greenhouse gases from heating fuels by approximately 85 percent and reducing the hospital's operating cost.

Ensyn's RFO is a liquid fuel produced from non-food solid biomass including forest and mill residues. RFO, essentially "liquid wood," directly displaces petroleum fuels in heating operations and is also a renewable feedstock for refineries for the production of gasoline and diesel.

Energtek Inc (OTC BB: EGTK), a provider of natural gas solutions and Adsorbed Natural Gas (ANG) technology, has announced that the Vermont Public Service Board will allow Energtek North Country Inc to use "competitive market forces to control rates, service quality, and reliability" for ENCI's commercial and industrial natural gas customers, especially to small and mid-size enterprises, rather than using regulated rates. ANG is compressed gas that is trucked to customers who do not have access to a gas pipeline.

Fuse, LLC, a marketing agency specializing in connecting brands with teens and young adults, today was named to Outside Magazine’s seventh annual “Best Places to Work” list. Fuse was selected out of hundreds of companies across the US. 2014 marks the third year Fuse has been named to the list.

The full list is available HERE.

Outside’s “Best Places to Work” list is designed to acknowledge and celebrate innovative companies setting new standards for a healthy work-life balance.

Governor Peter Shumlin today appointed Jessica Holmes, a Middlebury College professor of Economics, including Health Economics, to serve on the five-member Green Mountain Care Board. She will serve a six-year term, replacing outgoing member Karen Hein of Jacksonville, whose term expired.

“Jessica has extensive academic and professional experience in health care economics,” Shumlin in a statement. “She comes to the board with an in-depth knowledge of how the health care system is funded currently, and the ability to analyze options for controlling costs now and into the future.”

Jessica Holmes. Middlebury College photo.

Approximately 45,000 Vermonters, who collectively lost an estimated $1 million, will benefit from a global settlement reached by 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission with AT&T Mobility LLC, Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell announced today. The settlement resolves allegations that AT&T Mobility placed charges for third-party services on consumers’ mobile telephone bills that had not been authorized by the consumers, a practice known as “mobile cramming.”

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont economy will continue to grow for the next several years, according to a report to be presented Thursday, but at a slower rate than for both the rest of New England and the rest of the US. Slow growth in labor and wages and an aging population are contributing factors to this forecast. The closing of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon will have a negative impact on the economy. The possible sale of IBM in Essex Junction and its resultant status creates an unknown.

Have your taste buds been craving something a little wild and crazy lately? Ben & Jerry’s fans are in for a “swinging” adventure with the newest Saturday Night Live-inspired flavor, Two Wild & Crazy Pies. With inspiration from the classic SNL sketch starring Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd, which first aired in 1977, Two Wild & Crazy Pies combines coconut cream pie ice cream, chocolate cream pie ice cream, and adds in a scrumptious chocolate cookie swirl. This is the third of four unique SNL-themed Ben & Jerry’s flavors to appear at the company’s Scoop Shops nationwide. The sketch features Yortuk and Georg Festrunk dressed in plaid slacks and polyester shirts as the two Czechoslovakian brothers who “cruise and swing so successfully” as they try their best to fit in with their new surroundings.