Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) has been named one of “100 Best Corporate Citizens” by Corporate Responsibility Magazine. The “100 Best” list is known as the world’s top corporate responsibility ranking based on publicly-available information. The 100 Best Corporate Citizens List is based on over 360 data points in seven categories: Environment, Climate Change, Human Rights, Philanthropy, Employee Relations, Financial Performance, and Governance. “It’s rewarding to have the passion and work of GMCR employees recognized, and gratifying to see how our efforts contribute to positive change in the world,” said Larry Blanford, President and CEO of GMCR.

Vermont tries to attract business through a variety of tax programs and economic inducements. One program - called the Vermont Employment Growth Incentive -- pays companies that add jobs. But the program is capped at $10 million a year. Tayt Brooks is the commissioner of housing, community and economic development. He says the cap needs to be lifted because three companies that qualify would put the state over the $10 million limit this month. Brooks says the businesses are ready to add about 800 new jobs.

Update on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 11:00AM by VCF Staff

A solar company is considering opening a factory in Chittenden County, where it would create hundreds of jobs. But the company says an economic incentive program that the Legislature is debating will play a key role in whether it moves to Vermont.

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The Senate Economic Development Committee approved a measure Thursday night that would repeal the state's estate-tax provision enacted last year, said Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, who chairs the committee. The measure taxes estates in excess of $2 million. That's a lower level than the federal threshold, which begins to tax estates at $3.5 million. The proposed elimination of state's estate tax on inheritances between $2 million and $3.5 million is a way to show the business community "we hear them loud and clear --and we are responding," Illuzzi, R-Essex/Orleans, said Friday. The proposal would have Vermont law mirror the federal estate-tax exemption, he said.

A free forum on entrepreneurship and small business ownership will be offered at Southern Vermont College on Monday, Feb. 22, from 5 to 8 p.m. in the College’s Everett Mansion. The forum is targeted towards aspiring individuals and small business owners from the southern Vermont region who are interested in exploring business ownership or seeking expansion ideas for a current business.

The Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) approved $48.4 million in financing for commercial, agricultural, technology, educational, renewable energy, and small business projects throughout Vermont. “VEDA is pleased to provide financing support to such a variety of new business projects, especially during what remains a difficult economy,” said Jo Bradley, VEDA’s Chief Executive Officer.  “Jobs will be sustained and new jobs created, and that growth is critically important for Vermonters.”

Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., on Monday concluded a series of roundtable discussions with business leaders in four parts of Vermont. The conversations, he said, have offered input to recalibrate his legislative focus. Welch said there "is a disconnect of public policy" and the needs in communities throughout the country. At each session, Welch said he found that the business community felt there was limited access to credit and a "frustration that too many policies focused on Wall Street."

Environmental issues are of critical concern in the 21st century. In the coming decades, the public — youth and adults alike — will more frequently be called upon to understand complex environmental issues, recognize how individual decisions affect the environment and evaluate proposed solutions. All sorts of Vermont businesses, organizations and communities are already incorporating a variety of innovative environmental programs and education initiatives in their practices.

A group that advocates economic fairness and human rights has released a study that attempts to refute long-standing claims that Vermont is anti-business. The Peace & Justice Center study found that despite its high marginal tax rates, from 1998 to 2007, the state ranked 17th among the states (percentage change) in job creation and the highest in New England. It beat out five of the nine states with no income tax, including New Hampshire, the report said.

Social entrepreneurs, scholars, lawyers, students and others will gather Feb. 18-19 at Vermont Law School to explore the growing trend of hybrid organizations that use for-profit business practices to achieve nonprofit goals. The event, which is free and open to the public, starts at 2:45 p.m. on Feb. 18. The Vermont Law Review's 10th Annual Symposium, "Corporate Creativity: The Vermont L3C and Other Developments in Social Entrepreneurship," will discuss legal structures and methods for achieving nonprofit goals with for-profit mechanisms, both domestically and abroad. The event also will examine low-profit limited liability companies (L3Cs), an organizational form that Vermont was the first in the nation to adopt.

The Senate Thursday night unanimously passed legislation introduced this week by Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to assist trademark owners in maintaining the protection of their brands.  Last year, Vermont’s Rock Art Brewery, a small micro-brewery in Morrisville, Vermont, was the subject of such a threat.

Join Vermont business leaders, educators, and non-profit organizations to celebrate National Entrepreneurship Week at the Vermont Statehouse.  Entrepreneurship Week is a nationwide recognition of the heritage of entrepreneurial leadership in America, and encourages entrepreneurship education as a lifelong learning process.

Vermonters who earned less than $50,000 in 2009 might be eligible for free tax preparation. IRS-certified volunteers working in Burlington and Winooski offer a variety of evening, weekend and weekday hours to fit your schedule, and can file your return electronically to speed your refund.

The pledges and prognostications were unequivocal: Hundreds of jobs would be created by capitalizing on an emerging niche market. Six years later, however, the Bennington Microtechnology Center, a project heavily subsidized with state and federal funds, has yet to find secure footing. The center was created to manufacture micro devices at low-volume. The hope was that companies would turn to BMC to have their concepts put into working prototypes. The center has completed some work, but only seven employees -- three full-time and four part-time -- are on the BMC payroll.

The US Department of Agriculture has awarded Vermont’s Rhino Foods, Inc $1.2 million in loan assistance through the Rural Development’s Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program, Senator Patrick Leahy, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Peter Welch announced Thursday.  The loan guarantee was made possible through funding available in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

With commercial and residential construction at a virtual standstill, “these are scary times” for Vermont builders, says the chief financial officer for one of the state’s biggest general contractors. Employment levels have been reduced at almost every one of the 140 businesses that are members of Associated General Contractors of Vermont, reports Cathy Voyer, the association’s executive vice president. One company slashed its payroll by 25 percent in 2009, she notes.