Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont fell one cent per gallon from yesterday but were still up 5 cents/g from last week, up 18 cents from last month and up 55 cents from last year. The lowest price was $3.50/g in Hartford and the highest was in Addison at $4.19.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington residents will soon be able to enjoy a slate of wonderful new public activations, art, and amenities at the former Moran Plant site, now called The FRAME, thanks to a recently launched crowdfunding campaign. The campaign is sponsored by the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development’s Better Places program and led by Friends of The FRAME. If the campaign reaches its $20,000 goal by December 15, 2022 the “Activations, Art, and Amenities at The FRAME” project will receive a matching grant of $40,000 from DHCD’s Better Places program.

Vermont Business Magazine Commissioner of Finance & Management, Adam Greshin, has announced a public forum for comment on FY 2024 State budget development. Pursuant to 32 V.S.A. § 306(d) the Governor is required to enable public participation in the development of goals and in the general prioritization of spending and revenue initiatives. Members of the public with thoughts, comments, or suggestions regarding the development of the FY 2024 budget are invited to participate via an online survey or through a link to a brief budget presentation and public comment page.

by Elli Scott, University of Vermont The 2022 Eric Zencey Prize in Ecological Economics, which celebrates outstanding writing on the environmental limits of a finite planet, has been awarded to Post Growth: Life after Capitalism by UK-based writer and scholar Tim Jackson. The announcement was made today by the Gund Institute for Environment at the University of Vermont (UVM) and the U.S. Society of Ecological Economics, which award the Eric Zencey Prize in Ecological Economics every two years.

Vermont Business Magazine The Curtis Fund, a supporting organization of the Vermont Community Foundation, is pleased to announce a bold scholarship program for Vermonters seeking to become early childhood educators. The Curtis Fund Commitment: A Comprehensive Scholarship for Early Childhood Educators is a pilot program that will provide scholarships for the full cost of attendance (tuition, fees, housing, food, and transportation) to students who wish to earn a certificate in child care at the Community College of Vermont (CCV). The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that the median annual wage for a child care worker in Vermont is $29,430. The combined high cost of postsecondary education and low salary are discouraging people from becoming early childhood educators and creating financial hardship for those that do. The Curtis Fund hopes to address this by investing in a certificate program as a more affordable way to prepare early childhood educators. Most importantly, this program will allow students to graduate with the knowledge and skills they need to start their careers, debt-free.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and the Vermont Department of Labor visited GS Precision on Thursday to announce a more than $228,000 grant, which will support the establishment of a new Registered Apprenticeship Program with the company. The announcement comes as a part of Vermont’s efforts to promote apprenticeship programs in the state, before National Apprenticeship Week, which takes place November 14 – 20, 2022. GS Precision has been granted $228,061.33 of state funds appropriated to support advancing apprenticeship programs. The grant to GS Precision establishes a machinist apprenticeship program, the first Registered Apprenticeship Program in the company’s history. With the funds, G.S. Precision will add training staff, as well as update educational facilities and equipment to support the program.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance's (VOBA)) 2nd Annual Trailblazer Legacy Award will be presented to Marc Sherman and Mike Donohue, co-founders of the Outdoor Gear Exchange (OGE) in Burlington, by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy. Senator Leahy was the inaugural Trailblazer Award recipient in 2021 for his lifetime of work preserving and protecting Vermont’s remarkable outdoor places, foundational to the successes of outdoor businesses like OGE. The 2022 Trailblazer Legacy Award ceremony will take place as part of VOBA's Fourth Annual Meeting and Outdoor Economy Sessions at HULA in Burlington, Vermont. The award ceremony will be emceed by Lisa Lynn, Editor of Vermont Sports Magazine, and will be followed by an outdoor sector networking reception hosted by VOBA.

Vermont Business Magazine iSun, Inc (NASDAQ: ISUN) announced Tuesday that it has entered into a debt financing agreement for up to $25 million in Senior Secured Convertible Notes facility with a single institutional investor. The proceeds will be used for repayment of indebtedness, satisfaction of certain of the Company’s financial obligations, working capital and general corporate purposes. An initial funding of $12.5 million (less an original issue discount of 6% and transaction expenses) under the Notes will be immediately available to the company at the initial closing which occurred on November 4th, with an additional $12.5 million (less an original issue discount of 6% and transaction expenses) available in a subsequent funding, subject to the satisfaction of certain funding conditions. iSun is based in Williston.

Vermont Business Magazine Consolidated Communication's Fidium Fiber is celebrating one year of bringing a better internet experience to customers across Northern New England with a fun-filled celebratory tour throughout the region. Now through November 17, the Fidium truck will be posting up at local businesses, giving away prizes and helping people learn how they can get a better internet experience with Fidium Fiber. The tour kicks off in Bennington, Vt., and wraps up in Bangor, Maine, with stops in West Dover, Wilmington and Brattleboro, Vt.

Vermont Business Magazine The proposed merger of Vermont State Employees Credit Union (VSECU) and New England Federal Credit Union (NEFCU) was approved by VSECU members who voted during a period that began on September 20 and concluded November 8 at a VSECU Special Meeting held at the Barre Opera House. The final vote was 7,622 in favor and 7,304 opposed. The VSECU membership vote was the culmination of a months-long process that began in February 2022, when both credit unions’ Boards of Directors unanimously supported the agreement to merge. Although the merged credit union is effective January 1, 2023, uniting the two credit unions will be a gradual process over several months and a new name will be created and announced later in 2023 for the merged credit union. The merged entity will be Vermont’s largest credit union with 165,000 members, 460 employees, 17 local branches, and $3 billion in assets.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos this morning released the unofficial results of the General Election held Tuesday, November 8. The results become official after the Canvassing Committees meet to certify the election. They will meet on Tuesday, November 15, beginning at 10 am at the Secretary of State's offices in Montpelier. The public is invited. Below are the results for governor (Phil Scott), lieutenant governor (David Zuckerman), secretary of state (Copeland Hanzas), treasurer (Pieciak), auditor of accounts (Hoffer) and attorney general Clark), as well as US Senate (Welch) and US House (Balint) and the two statewide ballot items regarding Amending Article 1 (Slavery prohibition) and Adding Article 22 (Reproductive liberty), which both passed.

The results for all statewide and local races can be found HERE.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington voters have spoken and have approved moving forward with construction of a new high school and technical center. Burlingtonians overwhelmingly approved the $165 million bond measure, which passed with more than 75% of the votes. Flanagan noted that the positive vote clears the way for work to begin in earnest. The District plans to publish an RFQ on Wednesday asking for qualified subcontractors to begin working on the project and plans to move forward with plans to begin demolition by January. BSD will also continue to push for external funding to support the clean-up of toxic chemicals (like PCBs) and the construction of the new facility. Flanagan noted that he empathizes with those who voted against the bond and hopes those residents will help the District to identify those alternative funding sources.