Current News

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a filmmaker and advocate for women and girls, challenged nearly 400 Vermont business, government and non-profit leaders to use their voices to create cultural change surrounding women in the workplace. Newsom spoke provocatively about “What’s Holding Back Women in the Workplace.” She spoke for 45 minutes and took questions from the audience before meeting with Vermont media. She then participated in a private panel discussion, “Becoming Women of Influence,” with 75 students from five Vermont colleges and universities, including the University of Vermont and Middlebury College, and two high schools, Rock Point School and South Burlington High School. Other panelists included former Governor Madeleine Kunin, Green Mountain Power CEO Mary Powell, and commando founder and CEO Kerry O’Brien.

Among Newsom’s messages for Vermonters:

HNI Corporation (NYSE: HNI) and its Hearth & Home Technologies business announced the acquisition of the Vermont Castings Group, a leading manufacturer of free standing hearth stoves and fireplaces. The Vermont Castings Group, headquartered in Paris, Kentucky and with plants in Randolph and Bethel, Vermont, has annual revenue of approximately $100 million. According to Vermont Business Magazine, Vermont Castings has about 170 employees in Vermont.

An HNI spokesperson told VBM in an email: "At this point, we will run the Vermont Castings Group as a standalone business unit for a period of time, during which we will focus on bringing our lean manufacturing and logistics expertise to their business, and VCG products will continue to be manufactured at their current locations."

Green Mountain Power is lowering rates effective Wednesday, October 1, 2014. Electric rates for residential and commercial customers decrease by 2.46 percent. The rate decrease is the second decrease by GMP in three years and is part of the company’s mission to deliver reliable, clean and cost-effective power to customers. The rate decrease was approved by the Vermont Public Service Board and comes at a time when other energy companies in the region are seeking double-digit rate increases to meet customer demand.

GMP President Mary Powell. Vermont Business Magazine file photo.

The 24 million dollar renovation of Brattleboro’s Brooks House will be celebrated on October 3 at 5pm in the Brooks House Atrium in downtown Brattleboro. Speakers will include Governor Peter Shumlin along with Brooks House Development Bob Stevens and Larry Cassidy. Additional speakers include Joyce Judy, president of CCV and Dan Smith, president of VTC. A ribbon cutting will follow the speakers and CCV and VTC will be giving tours.

A nationally recognized University of Vermont program bringing innovative, technology-rich teaching practices to Vermont middle school students will expand dramatically across the state thanks to a $5 million gift from the Richard E. and Deborah L. Tarrant Foundation. The gift is the second $5 million pledge the foundation has made to the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education, housed in the University of Vermont’s College of Education and Social Services. The earlier gift launched the institute in 2009. The foundation also funded a pilot version of the program from 2006 to 2009.

Institute co-founders Rich and Deb Tarrant joined UVM President Tom Sullivan to make the announcement at a press conference Wednesday morning sponsored by the University of Vermont Foundation.

Governor Peter Shumlin formally proclaimed October as “Manufacturing Month” in Vermont in conjunction with National Manufacturing Day, October 3. “Manufacturing is critically important to Vermont’s economy,” said the governor. “I encourage all Vermonters to learn about the innovation of Vermont’s manufacturers, and particularly for young people to pursue careers offering quality jobs here in our state.”

A wide variety of events are being held across the state on Friday, October 3rd in Vermont including:

Vermont’s Congressional Delegation – Senator Patrick Leahy (D), Senator Bernie Sanders (I) and Representative Peter Welch (D) -- and Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger Tuesday announced a US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant of $3.4 million to the Community & Economic Development Office (CEDO) for lead safety and to address home health and safety issues in low-income housing.

The CEDO Burlington Lead Program will be awarded $3 million in program funding, one of only 20 Lead-based Paint Hazard Control grant recipients in the nation. CEDO will also receive $400,000 under the Healthy Homes grant program. The funding comes from the HUD Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes, which promotes local efforts to eliminate dangerous hazards from homes, stimulate investment in lead hazard control and educate the public about the dangers of lead-based paint.

by John Herrick vtdigger.org Federal energy regulators have approved Vermont Gas’ request to construct a natural gas pipeline from Middlebury to Ticonderoga, New York, without a federal review of the project’s environmental impacts. Vermont and New York regulators now have full authority to review the the economic and environmental impacts of the pipeline. The Vermont Public Service Board this month postponed its review of that portion of the pipeline until January, in part because Vermont Gas had not obtained the waiver.

“This is really good news for the project,” company spokesman Steve Wark said Tuesday. “It clearly indicates that we have met the criteria for a waiver.”

The ban takes effect Wednesday, October 1, 2014 and covers all portable electronic devices, including, music players, laptop computers, and cellular telephones. Hands-free use is permitted under the law, and hands-free means without the use of either hand and outside the immediate proximity of the user’s ear, by employing an internal feature—such as Bluetooth, for example—or as long as the device is in a cradle or otherwise securely mounted in the vehicle.

Note that the ban is lifted when the driver needs to communicate with law enforcement or emergency service personnel under emergency circumstances.

Know the consequences.

A 500 kilowatt solar power project currently under construction on the grounds of National Life Group is expected to go on line by the end of the year and will generate a significant portion of the company’s electricity. The new project will be part of the state’s net metering program, as an existing 70 kW rooftop system on the company’s roof is, feeding power onto the electrical grid while replacing reliance on fossil fuel. The 10,000 megawatts per year that the two systems will produce represents more than 15 percent of the company’s power demand. And that represents about 3 percent of the 82,256 megawatts per year of power demand in the entire city of Montpelier.

Governor Shumlin and National Life CEO Mehran Assadi at the groundbreaking. Photo courtesy of National Life.

Winstanley Solar Development (WSD) and Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) have announced an agreement to collaborate on the construction and operation of a 500 kilowatt solar power array on land owned by Winstanley Enterprises. The electricity generated by this array will serve the main BMH hospital building, and generate significant savings for BMH over the 20-year term of the agreement.

This project is part of an initiative to bring solar power and utility savings to schools, municipalities and hospitals in the Windham and Windsor County region. WSD, a joint venture partnership between Winstanley Enterprises, LLC of Concord MA, Green Lantern Development, LLC of Waterbury VT and Powersmith Farm, Inc. of Guilford, VT, hopes to develop up to five 500kW net-metered solar arrays on individual lots in the North Springfield Industrial Park.

Vermont will collect $79,878 in restitution and other recoveries as its share of a national $56.5 million civil settlement with Shire Pharmaceuticals, LLC to resolve allegations that the company unlawfully marketed five of its drugs, Adderall XR, Vyvance, Daytrana, Lialda and Pentasa, resulting in overpayments by Vermont Medicaid and other government healthcare programs. Specifically, it is alleged that Shire: