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Over the last few months, Congressman Andy Barr (R-KY) and Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin have met with Vermont Castings Group senior management team members at the manufacturer’s facilities in Kentucky and Vermont. The topic, among others, was increasing regulatory restrictions on the hearth industry and their effects on the welfare of the manufacturer, who has production facilities in Kentucky and Vermont employing over 600 people.

Citizens Financial Group has introduced a new way for student loan borrowers to manage the long-term cost of college – the ability to refinance federal student loans via its Education Refinance Loan, which Citizens launched earlier this year with an initial focus on private student loans.To date, Citizens’ Education Refinance Loan has helped private student loan borrowers lower their monthly payments by an average of $127 and lower their average APR by 1.5 percent, saving thousands of dollars in interest payments over the lives of their loans. Others have utilized refinancing to set consistent monthly payments for the duration of their private student loan by switching to a fixed rate.

Merchants Bancshares, Inc (NASDAQ: MBVT), the parent company of Merchants Bank, announced Friday that Janet P Spitler, Merchants Bancshares, Inc Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, is resigning effective December 31, 2014, to pursue other professional interests. "Janet has been a significant contributor to our company over the past 24 years. We are extremely grateful for her dedicated service and wish her the best in her future endeavors," commented Michael R Tuttle, Merchants Bancshares, Inc President and Chief Executive Officer.

A group of Vermont business, energy, and state leaders, including Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, Representative Tony Klein and Sugarbush owner Win Smith, joined Green Mountain Power today in criticizing Vermont Law School's Environmental Law Clinic for filing a Federal Trade Commission complaint that targets Vermont's renewable energy laws. The filing against GMP's sale of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) would lead to higher electric rates and discourage renewables in Vermont. State laws aimed at encouraging renewable generation, like the SPEED law, have helped Vermont create the highest number of solar jobs per capita in the country. Utilities like GMP, as well as solar and wind developers, utilize RECs to help expand renewable generation and keep rates low for their customers. The VLS group filed its petition Monday.

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Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for August 2014 was 4.1 percent. The number of employed fell 1,300 while the number of unemployed rose by 2,200. The labor force also fell by 800. These are all negative indicators. The rate itself represents an increase of four-tenths of a percent from the revised July rate (3.7 percent). The equivalent national average was 6.1 percent, which decreased by one-tenth of a percent from the previous month’s estimate. This is the third monthly increase to the statewide unemployment rate in Vermont in the past year. Vermont fell to the fifth best rate in the nation, down from fourth in July.

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There have been two USS Vermonts in US Navy history, the last of which was a battleship. But they do not make those ships anymore, so the Navy found another way to honor the state's important naval history. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus hosted a ship-naming ceremony Thursday in front of the Lake Champlain Navy Memorial in Burlington to announce that SSN 792, a Virginia-class attack submarine, will bear the name USS Vermont. Mabus named the submarine to honor the longstanding partnership its namesake state has had with the Navy.

Vermont Business Magazine New unemployment claims in Vermont edged down last week. Claims are typically low this time of year. They tend to rise in the transition from summer to back-to-school in early September. However, they fell under 400 as the school season begins. Levels this year have been running consistently lower than those of last year. For the week of September 13, 2014, there were 358 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is a decrease of 55 from the previous week's total, and 85 fewer than they were a year ago.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) Thursday joined the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) in announcing $650,000 in federal funding available to local watershed groups, towns and other organizations in Vermont and New York in the continued effort to implement a long-term management plan for Lake Champlain. The funding will play a key role in assisting local organizations respond to serious water quality and conservation concerns on the lake as well as working to enhance the region’s historic, cultural and recreational resources.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org The state took Vermont Health Connect offline because it was unable to meet a federal checklist of security requirements, officials said Thursday. Over the summer the federal government provided a timeline for reducing security risks, which expired 10 days ago, according to the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Information and Innovation. State officials interviewed for this story would not say what federal security requirements had not been met.

In testimony to lawmakers on Thursday, Lawrence Miller, chief of Health Care Reform, said the state had an agreement with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on “mitigating risks.”

Income levels and poverty rates were not statistically different for most states from 2012 to 2013, according to statistics released today from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey, the nation's most comprehensive data source on American households. Vermont remained above the US median for household income, but slipped 2 percent in one year. Poverty was up 1.2 percent in Vermont in 2013.

On his first day as mayor of the Queen City, Bernie Sanders shared a prediction with the alternative weekly Vanguard Press: “People will look back to Burlington, Vermont, 1981, and say: ‘It all started here.’” Sanders, who won the mayor’s seat by 10 votes, was likely envisioning some kind of populist revolution. Instead, what has turned out to be really popular is Bernie himself. Forty-three years and 18 elections after he first ran for US Senate on the Liberty Union ticket, Vermont’s outspoken independent is considering a run for president.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Thursday that four Vermont businesses and agricultural producers would receive $121,855 in grants to help them become more energy efficient or produce renewable energy. The grants will help sugar makers boil syrup more efficiently, help turn cow manure into electricity, and help a small firewood business switch to a renewable fuel source.

“This funding will help rural small businesses improve their bottom line and improve our environment with more energy efficient equipment,” said Vermont and New Hampshire State Director Ted Brady. “USDA Rural Development is helping to build sustainable rural communities one business at a time. These grants incentivize investment that helps businesses stay in the black and helps our country move towards energy independence.”