Current News
by og
Vermont is home to some of the most vibrant locally made products in the country. Vermont Business Magazine, the Vermont Agency of Commerce & Community Development and the Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets are presenting the First Annual Made in Vermont Marketplace tradeshow on April 12 & 13 at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex.
Vermont Business Magazine Publisher John Boutin said, “The Made in Vermont Marketplace trade show will feature a great variety of Vermont made products. From furniture, wine, spirits, specialty foods, and crafts to home goods and fine art, and so much more. You will be amazed at what you can find in your own backyard!”
Why Attend
by og
by John Herrick vtdigger.org The Shumlin administration has stepped in to soothe contentious right-of-way negotiations between Vermont Gas Systems and a group of Monkton landowners.
Vermont Gas recently sent letters to several landowners along the company’s proposed natural gas pipeline extension stating that their land will be taken by eminent domain if they fail to negotiate an easement agreement. On Thursday evening, state officials assured residents the rhetoric would be toned down.
“We’re not happy with that process. They are going to restart that process,” Public Service Department Commissioner Chris Recchia told the group.
Vermont Gas plans to break ground on a 41-mile, $86 million natural gas pipeline extension from Colchester to Middlebury this year. The Public Service Board, the state’s utility regulator, approved the project last year.
by og
by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org Vermont has one of the most extensive private land conservation efforts in the country. Over the past 30 years, the Vermont Land Trust, community land trusts and The Nature Conservancy have preserved hundreds of thousands of acres in Vermont.
The cornerstone of the land conservation movement has been the notion that property — working forests, farms and ecologically important lands — would remain undeveloped in perpetuity.
One of the tools used to conserve parcels is a legally binding land covenant known as a conservation easement. An easement eliminates a landowner’s interest in “development rights.” Those rights, which have monetary value, are transferred to a land trust that holds the easements in perpetuity.
by og
AT&T has invested nearly $60 million its best-in-class wireless and wired networks in Vermont between 2011 and 2013, driving a wide range of upgrades to enhance speed, reliability, coverage and performance for residents and business customers.
Advancing its Project Velocity IP (VIP), an investment plan to expand and enhance its wireless and wired IP broadband networks, AT&T in 2013 made nearly 80 network upgrades in Vermont, including new cell sites, addition of wireless and wired network capacity, and new broadband network connections.
by og
As the Legislature returns from their Town Meeting Week sabbatical, Vermont Business Magazine is offering this review of recent vermontbiz.com poll questions, featuring Governor Shumlin's effort on reducing heroin and opiate addiction, the Legislature's rally to make hand-held cell phone use illegal while driving (the governor opposes the bill), and a recent push by lawmakers to use the rooms and meals tax to help pay for the cleanup of Vermont's waterways, most notably Lake Champlain.
What follows are the poll questions, their results and some comments from those who participated (to access the poll click HERE):
The Legislature is actively considering a bill that would ban hand-held cell phone use while driving. New York currently has such a law. How do you stand?
would this include GPS devices?
ban cellphones that can text while moving over 20mph!
by og
General Fund revenues totaled $60.12 million for February 2014, $1.88 million or 3.23 percent ahead of the monthly target. Year to date, General Fund receipts are now $833.64 million, -$.26 million or -0.03 percent below the cumulative target. Year to date revenue is +$27.20 million (+3.37 percent) ahead of the same period for the prior fiscal year (FY 2013). Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding released the February 2014 General Fund (GF) revenue results Thursday. February is the eighth month of fiscal year (FY) 2014.
by og
Senator Patrick Leahy on Friday announced the witnesses who will testify at the US Senate Judiciary Committee’s field hearing, in Rutland on March 17, on “Community Solutions To Breaking The Cycle Of Heroin And Opioid Addiction.”
Leahy, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, released this list of witnesses for the rare field hearing: Tristram Coffin, US Attorney for the District of Vermont; Chief James Baker of the Rutland City Police Department; Dr Harry Chen, Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Health; Mary Alice McKenzie, Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Burlington; and Colonel Tom L'Esperance, Director of the Vermont State Police.
by og
by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org Vermont’s 72-year-old junior senator told The Nation that he has begun meeting with political strategists, traveling to southern states and entertaining the logistics of a run for president in 2016.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, a devotee of Eugene Debs, a socialist reformer who lost five bids for president at the turn of the last century, says he has nothing against Hillary Clinton, the presumed Democratic nominee, but he believes she will not adequately address climate change and fight for working Americans. Democrats, in his view, are too beholden to corporations and special interest groups to implement needed political reforms, in his view.
by og
To provide additional support to Vermonters signing up for April 1 health coverage, Vermont Health Connect is extending the Customer Support Call Center hours this weekend and next. The Call Center will be open:
Saturday, March 8 – 8 am to 5 pm
Sunday, March 9 – 11 am to 5 pm
Monday, March 10 to Friday March 14 – 8 am to 8 pm
Saturday, March 15 – 8 am to 8 pm
The Customer Support Call Center is a place where Vermonters can ask questions about Vermont Health Connect or their applications or complete an application over the phone. To contact the call center Vermonters should call 855-899-9600.
by og
Vermont Business Magazine and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce are soliciting Nominations for the 24th Annual Deane C Davis Outstanding Vermont Business Award. Given to the Vermont Business whose outstanding accomplishments in 2013 complement its history of success and awareness of what makes Vermont unique. Nominations close on March 7.
The award will be presented at the Vermont Chamber Business and industry EXPO on May 21, 2014, at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel & Conference Center. The theme of this year's Expo is Business Innovation: Media, Workforce, and Finance.
by og
by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org
Last fall, Governor Peter Shumlin publicly supported an initiative that is supposed to make it easier for the state to keep guns out of the hands of alleged domestic abusers. A fee mechanism to pay for safe storage facilities is part of that initiative.
Ann Braden speaks at a gun safety rally in the Statehouse. Photo by Anne Galloway
The Shumlin administration brokered an agreement to work language into a broader fee bill, H.735, instead of creating a separate bill that could become a vehicle for any number of gun control amendments.
by og
Making ski-industry history, The Intrawest Passport will offer children 12 and under free skiing, as well as redefine what a “Family Pass” is all about. Intrawest Resorts Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Stratton Mountain Resoprt along with several North American ski resorts, announced today the introduction of The Intrawest Passport, a season pass that includes six days of skiing at each of six participating North American ski resorts. The Intrawest Passport™ is designed to make destination skiing easier and offer more flexibility and value for families in the 2014-2015 season. The game-changing pass is a first of its kind in the industry as it changes the rules on the definition of family.