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McClaughry: Heating fuel tax dead – for now

Tue, 05/17/2022 - 3:08am -- tim

by John McClaughry On May 11 the short life of the Clean Heat Standard (CHS), promising “clean heat for a cooler planet”, came to sudden but probably not final end. To understand how the CHS originated, let’s go back to September 2020. The legislature, over Gov. Scott’s veto, enacted the Global Warming Solutions Act. The Act declared that the “climate crisis is both caused by and exacerbated by greenhouse gas emissions that result from human activity.” Therefore Vermonters must be made to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide from combustion of fossil fuels – heating oil, natural gas, gasoline, diesel, and propane  – by 26% below 2005 levels by 2025, and by 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. 

VSC launches of new Workforce Development Division with Patricia Moulton as executive director

Mon, 05/16/2022 - 4:07pm -- tim

Vermont Business Magazine Today the Vermont State Colleges System announced the creation of a new Workforce Development Division designed to enable the VSC to build stronger collaborations between students and employers, and to strengthen the program alignment between Vermont State University and Community College of Vermont.  

A New Normal: The 2022 legislative session in review

Mon, 05/16/2022 - 3:57pm -- tim

​by Betsy Bishop, President of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, and Megan Sullivan, Vice President of Government Affairs Each year, the end of the legislative session coincides with warmer weather, signaling peak tourism season just around the corner. For many Vermont businesses, however, this will be the third summer in a row that they are overwhelmed with uncertainty instead of anticipation. While elected officials resumed in-person operations at the State House, the Vermont business community is still working to determine their “new normal.”

Castleton University celebrates 235th Commencement

Mon, 05/16/2022 - 3:54pm -- tim

Vermont Business Magazine Castleton University celebrated the accomplishments of members of the Class of 2022 at its 235th Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 14. This year marks the first in-person, university-wide commencement in three years. Mia Schultz, president of the Rutland Area Branch of the NAACP, addressed the more than 3,500 guests in attendance and those watching the ceremony live from home. She shared her journey to community activism and her lived experience with racism. She encouraged students to become leaders in their communities and push for positive change whenever they can.
 

Personal income tax blows past projections by over $117 million in April

Mon, 05/16/2022 - 3:29pm -- tim

Vermont Business Magazine Led by the personal income tax – the state’s most important revenue source – Vermont’s revenue results for April 2022 vastly exceeded projections. Fiscal year to date, General Fund revenues were $1,784.6 million, exceeding their target by $158.4 million or 9.7%. The exceedingly high cumulative receipts performance of the Personal Income Tax and the similarly positive cumulative performance through April of revenues in the Corporate Income Tax account for almost all the positive performance of the General Fund in April and year to date.

VDH: COVID cases down, four deaths, get boosted

Mon, 05/16/2022 - 2:40pm -- tim

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 166 cases of COVID-19 for Sunday (197 Saturday; 414 Friday). VDH also reported today four additional deaths from the virus. The total death toll is 652 lives lost. All four were at least 80 years old. There are 13 reported deaths in May so far. There were 18 deaths in April, which surpassed March's total (17). March saw the fewest COVID deaths since last July. Fatalities and hospitalizations increased the last part of April. According to health officials, nearly all recent deaths have been of the very elderly and/or people with underlying health conditions and "not up to date" on their vaccines, meaning that if eligible to have received a booster. 

EPA announces record $4.8 million brownfields investment in Vermont

Mon, 05/16/2022 - 1:38pm -- tim

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a $4,870,000 investment in Vermont, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to revitalize communities across the country by cleaning up contaminated and blighted sites and redeveloping them for productive uses. The funds will support under-served and economically disadvantaged communities around the state in assessing and cleaning up abandoned industrial and commercial properties and are part of a historic national EPA investment in Brownfields remediation. The Vermont projects are in Addison and Lamoille counties. 

Pulitzer Prize winning poet Jericho Brown to deliver 2022 commencement address at Bennington College

Mon, 05/16/2022 - 12:30pm -- tim

Vermont Business Magazine Bennington College today announced the selection of Pulitzer Prize winning poet Jericho Brown as the commencement speaker for the Class of 2022. The faculty speaker will be Elena Demyanenko, a faculty member in dance. The senior student speaker will be Sofia Pacheco Pardo ‘22. Jericho Brown will address the 87th graduating class at the conferring of degrees on Saturday, May 28, at 10 AM. The student speaker will address the class at a Senior dinner on Friday, May 27th at 7:15 pm, and the faculty speaker will address the community at both events. Jericho Brown has had a long and meaningful relationship with the college. In February, 2020 he delivered the 49th Bennington Writing Seminars Commencement address.

FEMA reimbursing Vermont $11.6 million for COVID testing

Mon, 05/16/2022 - 11:45am -- tim

Vermont Business Magazine The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $11.6 million to the State of Vermont to reimburse the costs of providing testing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The $11,640,655 in Public Assistance grants will go to the Vermont Agency of Human Services for contracting to provide testing services for the public at large and for those who needed tests to access state facilities.

Community Bank, NA completes acquisition of Elmira Savings Bank

Mon, 05/16/2022 - 11:37am -- tim

Vermont Business Magazine Community Bank System, Inc (NYSE: CBU), the parent company of Community Bank, NA, with branches across Vermont, announced today that Community Bank completed its merger with Elmira Savings Bank, a New York state chartered savings bank (NASDAQ-CM: ESBK) on May 13, 2022. Community Bank acquired Elmira in an all cash transaction representing total consideration valued at approximately $82.8 million. The merger added eight branch locations across a five-county area in the Central New York and Southern Tier markets. With completion of the merger, Community Bank System has over $16.2 billion in assets and over $13.8 billion in deposits.

Norwich receives DARPA grant to study effect of cockpit noise on pilots

Mon, 05/16/2022 - 9:25am -- tim

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University, in partnership with Spotlight Labs, has been awarded a three-year $371,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to continue work on the Impact of Cockpit Electro-Magnetics on Aircrew Neurology (ICEMAN) project. This grant will fund research on Phase II of the ICEMAN project after Norwich and Spotlight completed Phase I of the study.

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