Vermont Business Magazine News

US Senator Patrick Leahy (D) and the US Army Corps of Engineers Tuesday announced plans to move forward with $1.65 million in storm water management projects in South Burlington. The Corps and the City of South Burlington have signed an agreement to develop the projects, which are authorized under a Leahy program enacted in 2000 to forge and help finance local-federal partnerships to ease local drainage problems and help achieve compliance with Vermont water quality rules, by reducing polluted runoff from developed areas reaching Lake Champlain and its tributaries.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org Entergy Corp filed a motion with the US District Court on Friday to recover $4.6 million in legal fees for its lawsuit against the state. The Louisiana company prevailed in federal court on January 20 when Judge J. Garvan Murtha struck down two state laws that required Entergy to seek approval from the Legislature to continue operating Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant past its 40-year anniversary and to store high level nuclear waste at the plant site. The state has 30 days to appeal the decision.

Gossens Bachman Architects in conjunction with Housing Vermont and the Rockingham Community Area Land Trust were recently recognized by the John M. Clancy Award for Socially Responsible Housing for the transformation of the historical NAMCO Block in Windsor, Vermont.

Six New England communities will benefit from EPA technical assistance through the “Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities” program.  The communities, Simsbury, Conn., Fall River, Holyoke, Northampton and Roxbury, Mass., and Burlington, Vt. were among 56 communities in 26 states that will receive technical assistance under this program.

NCO Financial Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of NCO Group, Inc, a provider of business process outsourcing services, announced that it has signed Assurance of Voluntary Compliance agreements (collectively, the "AVC") with the following States: Alaska, Arkansas,

Ledyard Financial Group, Inc. (ticker symbol LFGP), the holding company for Ledyard National Bank, today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2011. Net income for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, was $690,277, or $0.67 per share compared to $601,853 or $0.59 per share for the same period in 2010, an increase of $88,424 or 14.69%. Net income for the twelve months ended December 31, 2011, was $2,609,013, or $2.53 per share compared to $2,528,888, or $2.47 per share for the same period in 2010, an increase of $80,124 or 3.17%.

Green Mountain Power and Central Vermont Public Service have launched a new website, www.gmpcvpsmerger.com, packed with information on the pending merger of the companies. The joint GMP-CVPS site contains important information for customers, including the package of merger benefits, as well as a calendar highlighting the rigorous state and federal regulatory approval process now under way.

Joe Perrotto, President and CEO of Country Home Products (CHP), today announced the spin-off of its Sunward solar hot water division. The new company -- Sunward Systems, LLC -- will continue to offer residential solar hot water systems and be headquartered in Vergennes.

Vermont State Auditor Tom Salmon, CPA, CFE, today released the results of an audit that looked at how the state ensures that it does not pay Medicaid funds to providers that owe state taxes.  The Medicaid program is the largest human services program in Vermont. In fiscal year 2011, about $1.27 billion was spent on Vermont’s Medicaid program with about $412 million coming from state funds. 

 A St. Johnsbury Academy organization for Career and Tehnical Education (CTE) students has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation that will be used to build a new garage for the Lyndon Outing Club’s grooming and safety equipment.

 The partnership between Fletcher Allen Health Care and the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (VFNHP) Local 5221 is featured in a Feb. 15 report being released by the Healthcare Transformation Project at Cornell University’s ILR School. In addition to state health reform initiatives (Act 48), recent joint labor-management work at Fletcher Allen Health Care could provide a national model for labor-management partnerships, according to the report.

by Ed Barna  Back in 1993, state legislators approved the “Mack Molding Bill,” which created incentives to help keep the company expanding in Vermont rather than crossing the line and accepting offers from New York State.