Current News

Vermont Business Magazine GlobalFoundries (Nasdaq: GFS) (GF), a global leader in feature-rich semiconductor manufacturing, today announced that Vermont’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has issued a Certificate of Public Good (CPG) approving the formation and operation of GF Power LLC as the electric utility for GF’s facility in Essex Junction. GF, which consumes more electricity than the City of Burlington, will not retail or distribute energy like a traditional utility. Due to its size, GF is the only transmission class customer in Vermont, meaning it takes service at a higher voltage than all other GMP customers in addition to owning, maintaining, and investing in its own transmission and distribution system. This uniquely positions GF to take on the responsibilities of becoming its own utility, directly serving only the facility’s needs.

Public Assets Institute Despite a national pandemic, poverty fell in Vermont, New England, and the nation in 2020 and 2021. Vermont’s supplemental poverty rate dropped to just below 7 percent; approximately 14,000 fewer Vermonters were living in poverty in 2021 than in 2019. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) defines income and need differently from the official measure—and more realistically. The SPM factors in cash income as well as non-cash benefits and variable expenses including taxes, childcare, and medical care. SPM poverty thresholds are generally higher and based on the cost of food, clothing, shelter, and utilities. The official measure counts only cash income, and need is based only on the cost of food.

Vermont Business Magazine The Chamber & Economic Development of the Rutland Region (CEDRR) has secured a nearly $1.5 million Venture Challenge grant via the US Economic Development Administration (EDA) Build to Scale (B2S) program. The announcement came on October 5, 2022. CEDRR worked with the Center on Rural Innovation (CORI) to apply for this grant as part of CORI’s 2022 Rural Innovation Initiative, a technical assistance program empowering rural communities to create inclusive digital economies that support scalable entrepreneurship and tech job creation. The Initiative was launched in 2018 by CORI and its mission-aligned collaborating organization, Rural Innovations Strategies, Inc. (RISI). To date, this program has graduated 29 communities and helped rural organizations secure more than $29.9 million to develop strategies and build out programs that can accelerate their local digital economic development efforts.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont business Magazine Today, the Vermont Department of Labor reported that the seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate for September was 2.1 percent. This reflects no change from the last two months’ revised estimates. Vermont is tied for the second lowest rate in the nation. Minnesota is lowest at 2.0 percent. New Hampshire is at 2.2 percent, tied for fourth. Illinois (4.5 percent) has the highest rate. The civilian labor force participation in Vermont was 61.8 percent in September, no change from the prior month, after edging up the last few months. The labor force, total employed and total unemployed all increased slightly. The US rate in September was 3.5 percent, a decrease of two-tenths of one percentage point.

Vermont State Police Following an investigation that began in early August, the Vermont State Police on Friday, Oct. 21, 2022, cited John Grismore, 49, of Fairfax on a charge of simple assault arising from his conduct with a man in custody at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, which employed Grismore at the time as a captain. While at the facility, Burrows, who was intoxicated, became non-compliant despite being handcuffed and shackled, and had fallen while trying to walk away from a bench where he was secured. While Deputies Andileigh and Major worked to control Burrows, Grismore repeatedly kicked Burrows in the midsection.

Vermont Business Magazine The Montpelier-based National Coalition for Safe Schools (NCSS), a national movement founded by U.S. teacher leaders who are committed to ensuring schools are safe for students to learn, has named Dr. Sherry Earle as its new Executive Director. Earle is a lifelong educator who has taught in urban and suburban school systems in mainstream education, gifted education, and special education classes for over 30 years. She earned her Ph.D. in Gifted Education from Kent State University. Earle has spent the last fourteen years as a teacher and administrator in Newtown Public Schools. The district is home to Sandy Hook Elementary, which experienced a mass shooting in 2012.

by Christina Nolan In the wake of the shocking overturning of the 50-year precedent Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed all American women the right to an abortion in the first trimester, the U.S. Congress must act. It must pass legislation to restore early-term abortion rights nationwide. The vast majority of abortions occur in the first trimester, but not all of them. What we should not do is rush to an extreme “solution” in search of a problem that never existed. And that is exactly what Article 22 would do by changing the Vermont Constitution so that Vermonters could never again vote to regulate late-term abortion.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Vermont tax revenues for September were good and bad. The General Fund receipts were over 14% ahead of projections, pushing the entire first quarter to over 12% ahead. However, the Transportation had the opposite result, as revenues lagged 14% below expectations for the month and were nearly 4% below for the quarter, as both fuel taxes and vehicle sales, especially, faltered. The Education was just below breakeven for the month and is nearly 4% above expectations for the year-to-date.

Vermont Business Magazine Funding is now available for organizations and projects based in Vermont and Massachusetts that support watershed conservation, develop low-impact recreational and educational facilities, and/or plan, design, maintain, and monitor such facilities in the Deerfield River Watershed. Grants are awarded for new initiatives, one-time special projects, or continued funding for existing programs. Examples include, but are not limited to, volunteer monitoring projects, events, trail work projects, field trips, educational workshops, media campaigns, and improving public access sites. The review committee encourages applicants to consider projects that support marginalized populations and promote environmental justice.

Vermont Business Magazine The Southern Vermont Communications Union District (So VT CUD) recently received approval for its $9 million internet fiber construction grant from the Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB). The grant, along with a $3.3 million investment from Consolidated Communications, will cover 6,412 addresses across southern Vermont. The CUD, in partnership with Consolidated Communications, who will build, maintain and operate the network, expects all unserved and underserved residents in 14 towns in the CUD to have access to Fidium Fiber’s multi-gigabit speed internet in 2023 at competitive prices.