Current News

With the state’s unemployment rate the second lowest in the nation, Governor Peter Shumlin said today it’s key that Vermont’s high school and college students have access to and experience with some of the top employers, and exposure and training in the good-paying, in-demand jobs across the state.

The governor, several Vermont businesses and lawmakers today announced the recipients of federal and state grants through two important internship programs to provide that experience – the federally funded Summer Opportunity Employment program, and the state-funded Internship Program. In addition, Governor Shumlin thanked legislators for their hard work on the Vermont Strong Scholars initiative, which is pending in the Legislature and would help families pay for college and provide more internship and workplace options for students.

SBA Microloan Program. Community Capital is Vermont’s largest volume Microloan lender. After just one year of becoming certified as an SBA Microloan lender, CCVT has originated over 60 percent of Microloans in Vermont over the last two quarters. These are just a few of its SBA borrowers:

♦ Sarah DeFelice is the proud owner of Bailey Road, a new women’s clothing store in Montpelier

♦ Maureen Driscoll Morey has opened Maureen’s Sweet Treats in Barre

♦ Ryan and Jessica Bunce grew their business Barrio Bakery & Café in Burlington with a loan for working capital

During the week of April 27 – May 3, the Vermont Dept. of Forests, Parks and Recreation’s Urban and Community Forestry Program, in coordination with the UVM Extension, the U.S. Forest Service, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, USDA APHIS, and many dedicated volunteers, will host a series of events that celebrate the valuable contributions that ash trees make to Vermont’s environment and economy, and to the quality of life of Vermonters. Ash Tree Awareness week will kick off on Sunday April 27th, with guided nature walks in nearly every Vermont county. The walks are scheduled to take place throughout the day, and in addition to celebrating ash trees are meant to raise awareness about the non-native Emerald Ash Borer. (EAB)

City Market is continuing its work to increase environmental sustainability this month by joining with the EPA’s GreenChill Partnership and by working with Seventh Generation and Cabot Creamery to give away free, reusable tote bags to customers in celebration of Earth Week.

The Vermont Community Foundation has hired Kilawatt Technologies to slash its energy use. With its sophisticated suite of hardware and software tools, Kilawatt will remotely monitor the energy use patterns in the Community Foundation’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and identify areas of hidden waste. Then, it will eliminate that waste and save the Foundation a significant amount of money.

Kilawatt will install a highly advanced wireless control system in the Community Foundation’s facility. This control system will allow Kilawatt to make HVAC operations transparent to the Foundation so that both the Foundation and Kilawatt can see precisely how the equipment is operating, what the environment is in the room, and what the energy use patterns are.

The Vermont Women’s Fund, a component fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, awarded $105,098 through its competitive grant round this spring to 13 organizations working to improve the lives of young women and girls in Vermont. The grants support programs that provide young Vermont women ages 15-25 with positive relationships and role models; development of self-advocacy skills; and opportunities to learn life-skills, job-readiness, and traditional and non-traditional education and vocation.

The programs range from health career exploration programs for high school juniors and seniors to a visual art program aimed at building self-esteem, communication skills, and independence.

The House Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a medical marijuana dispensaries bill, endorsing an amendment that will study potential tax revenue from legalizing and taxing pot. Another amendment, which would have added post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of conditions that qualify a person to obtain medical marijuana, was withdrawn on the floor.

Both the Senate and the House committees decided not to include PTSD. Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn, whose agency runs the medical marijuana program, lobbied against it.

After some back-and-forth, the House included an amendment to study potential revenue that could be gained by taxing and regulating marijuana in Vermont. Some worried that even a study is a step toward legalization.

The Boards of Directors of PMH Credit Union in Bennington, and Vermont State Employees Credit Union, a statewide credit union for everyone who lives or works in Vermont based in Montpelier, have announced a plan to merge the institutions. According to the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, VSECU is the second largest credit union in the state with over $600 million in assets and PMH is the 22nd largest and has about $4 million in assets (New England Federal Credit Union is the largest with about $1 billion in assets).

In a joint statement released Wednesday afternoon, Janet Hollner, Chair, PMH Credit Union, and Kimberly B Cheney Chair, VSECU, said: "We believe the strategic decision to unite for the good of our members will provide mutual support for growth and an improved member experience for both memberships.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University Applied Research Institutes (NUARI) has been named to the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium (NCPC) as part of a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced earlier this month.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Vermont Attorney General William H Sorrell launches a sweeping effort to address the growing problem of illegal and predatory online lending. “Online lenders are taking advantage of thousands of low and moderate income Vermonters. They offer illegal short-term, very high-interest loans via the internet.” said Attorney General Sorrell. “These predatory loans are designed to entrap consumers in long-term debt. Fortunately, we have strict lending laws to combat such schemes and we are announcing an aggressive, comprehensive effort to keep these lenders out of Vermont.”

The Attorney General announced actions against lenders and their payment processors under Vermont’s Consumer Protection Act, because the lenders are unlicensed and charging interest of up to 600-700%; 300% on average.

Joined today by lawmakers and others who supported Vermont Olympians at the 2014 Winter Games in February, Gov. Peter Shumlin hosted five athletes in his State House Ceremonial Office and thanked all 19 Vermont Olympians for their strong performance in Sochi, Russia.

“You made your state proud,” the Governor told the five -- Hannah Kearney of Norwich, Ida Sargent of Orleans, Sophie Caldwell of Peru, Liz Stephen of East Montpelier, and Susan Dunklee of Barton. “We cheered for you, celebrated your performances, and were thrilled that such outstanding athletes represented Vermont in the Winter Olympics.”

The athletes were also recognized on the floor of the House of Representatives by the Legislature, and presented medallions created by Simon Pearce artisan glassblowing company headquartered in Windsor, Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin and Vermont Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Director Joe Flynn today asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to conduct a damage assessment in areas of Vermont impacted by flooding from April 15-18. The assessment is to determine if counties in the state qualify for federal Public Assistance disaster funds to help repair public infrastructure damaged in the floods.

“Following a cold and snowy winter, a period of warm weather was followed by a heaving soaking rain starting April 15. This caused flooding and flash flooding which resulted in significant damage to roads and other infrastructure until April 18th, when waters receded allowing state and local roads to be opened and repairs to begin.” Flynn write to FEMA’s Acting Regional Administrator Paul F. Ford.