Current News

VermontBiz It is with great excitement that VermontBiz celebrates the remarkable achievements of all the individuals chosen as the second year of 91 Influencers here in Vermont. This prestigious honor highlights their unwavering dedication, innovation, and impact in their field and within the community, as they also inspire and lead those around them.

VermontBiz Burlington's Main Street construction is almost complete, and it's time to celebrate! The City of Burlington invites residents, businesses, and visitors to the Main Street Block Party, a free, community-wide celebration on Friday, July 17, from 1:00-7:30 pm and Saturday, July 18, from 11 am-9 pm. The beautiful new sidewalks will be filled with live music, public art, family-friendly activities, local business activations, public art tours, and opportunities to experience Main Street in a whole new way. 

VermontBiz This weekly report is a list of planned construction activities that will affect traffic on state highways and interstates throughout Vermont for the week of July 12, 2026. Please remember to drive safely in all work zones. Lives depend on it.    

by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First  The lawyer for the woman facing a possible death sentence in the fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent in the Northeast Kingdom in January 2025 is asking a federal judge for a court hearing to ensure that evidence is properly maintained and shared with the defense team. Teresa Youngblut, 22, of Seattle, Wash., wants to make sure she can have a proper defense, Assistant Federal Defender Steven Barth said as part of a 16-page motion filed in U.S. District Court in Burlington this month. He said Youngblut is entitled to certain legal protections under the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Vermont Business Magazine On Saturday, July 4, 2026, Hot Air Balloon Pilots Joe Doerer and Hélène Viens inflated Joe’s Hot Air Balloon Dream Chaser to offer free tethered rides to people visiting Gardner Memorial Park in Newport, VT. The tethered balloon rides were an attraction that Newport Parks and Recreation Director Michael Brown and Joe Doerer planned to enhance the celebration for the Fourth of July and America’s 250th birthday. Over 100 passengers participated in a tethered ride.

VermontBiz The Attorney General’s Office announced that Shawn Rockwood, 38, of Bristol, Vermont, was arraigned today on five felony counts of Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Materials. The charges brought against Mr. Rockwood are the result of a criminal investigation, including the execution of a search warrant, conducted by the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (VT-ICAC).

VermontBiz The Vermont Agency of Transportation will implement overnight ramp closures on Interstate 89 southbound in Montpelier as part of the Montpelier–Waterbury I89 Southbound Resurfacing Project. 

Interstate 89 South Exit 8 on- and off-ramps will be closed to all traffic from 7:00 PM until 6:00 AM each night beginning Sunday, July 12, and concluding on the morning of Friday, July 17. 

VermontBiz U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Credit, alongside the Vermont Congressional Delegation, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and U.S. Representative Becca Balint (D-VT-AL), reintroduced the Building Up Farmland Frontiers for Ecological Resilience (BUFFER) Act. This bicameral legislation would ensure all states can access the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) funding to implement buffer zones, agricultural tools used by farmers to protect farmland from flooding, erosion, and water pollution. 

VermontBiz State Auditor Doug Hoffer released a report today that summarizes recent incidents that have occurred in various sheriff departments as well as the results of 20 years of financial audits completed by CPA firms working under the direction of the Auditor’s office.

“In recent years Vermonters have been confronted with one troubling story about a Vermont sheriff after another,” said Hoffer. “Obviously, some sheriffs do great work, but for those whose behavior pushes up against or goes beyond what’s acceptable, accountability has not been a straight path. I wanted my staff to produce this summary to give Vermonters a broad sense of what is occurring in these important offices, and how other states hold sheriffs accountable to live up to what should be expected, which is a high bar of service.”

VermontBiz Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today released the following statement:

This is the year 2026. One might have hoped that, after thousands of years of war, humanity could have come up with a better way to resolve conflicts than killing and mass destruction. Unfortunately, that is not the case. There is now more war and bloodshed raging across the world than at almost any point in decades.

In February 2022, Vladimir Putin, without provocation, invaded Ukraine. The result: hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians killed, millions displaced and a war that grinds on with no end in sight.

VermontBiz U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) joined U.S. Representative Becca Balint (VT-AL), Vermont State Senators Anne Watson and Andrew Perchlik, alongside the Climate Action Campaign (CAC) and its Vermont partners, at the Old Labor Hall in Barre for an Extreme Weather People’s Hearing.  

The event, through first person testimony, highlighted how climate change is fueling more dangerous and deadly extreme weather, and threatening the lives and livelihoods of Vermonters. Small business owners, public health experts, farmers, and community members testified about how their lives have been disrupted by climate change-fueled extreme weather, including the catastrophic flooding in July of 2023 and 2024.  

VermontBiz Vermont Gas (VGS) announced today that Lindsay Kurrle will become the company's next President and CEO, succeeding Neale Lunderville, who will step down at the end of 2026 after more than six years leading the company. Kurrle was selected by the VGS Board of Directors following a national search with an exceptionally strong applicant pool.