Current News

VermontBiz The Agriculture Development Division of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets is seeking feedback on our weekly newsletter.

What started as a way to distribute up-to-date resources to the food and farm community during the COVID-19 pandemic has become a weekly newsletter highlighting funding and educational opportunities. As we move forward, we are looking for concrete feedback to inform the direction of the newsletter. We are also looking to better identify our audience so we can find and distribute content that is most relevant and useful to you!

Whether you love the newsletter, can't stand it, or think there's areas where we could do better, we sincerely hope you'll take a minute to help us improve this community resource.

VermontBiz U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy and GlobalFoundries (Nasdaq: GFS) (GF), a global leader in feature-rich semiconductor manufacturing, today announced the award of $30 million in federal funding to advance the development and production of next-generation gallium nitride (GaN) on silicon semiconductors at GF’s facility in Essex Junction, Vermont. With their unique ability to handle significant heat and power levels, GaN semiconductors are positioned to enable game-changing performance and efficiency in applications including 5G and 6G smartphones, RF wireless infrastructure, electric vehicles, power grids, solar energy, and other technologies.

VermontBiz This weekly report is a list of planned construction activities that will have traffic impacts on state highways throughout Vermont. Please remember to drive safely in all work zones. Lives depend on it.

Interstates

I-89 Richmond – A culvert repair project is underway. Motorists will encounter a mile-long lane closure in both directions just south of Exit 11 as southbound traffic is merged to the northbound lane using a crossover. A “zipper merge” traffic pattern is in place. Crews have begun building the culvert stream bed to get the stream flowing into the new concrete box culvert and will soon begin backfilling. Work hours are 24 hours a day, six days a week.

VermontBiz Near the end of the 2019-20 ski season, Vermont was thisclose to having a banner year. As has become typical over the last decade or so, the snow season has trended later and even into spring. March has become vital to the business of skiing in Vermont. And then COVID hit. Governor Phil Scott closed most businesses by executive order on March 14, 2020.

But despite ongoing restrictions at the Canadian border, a tight workforce and sketchy weather early last season, the ski industry did pretty well.

VermontBiz The history of alpine skiing in Vermont has been nothing short of breathtaking for skiers and journalists. Vermont was home to the first commercially available ski lift. Celebs came to ski at “Mascara Mountain,” the so-called “in” ski resort at Sugarbush frequented by New York fashionistas, led by Oleg Cassini.

Mount Snow, Stratton and Bromley were able to make fashion statements of their own. Ski resorts were playlands in the 1950s and ’60s. They featured gondolas and heated pools and ice rinks suitable for folks who preferred a leisurely weekend away from what was otherwise a leisurely life.

VermontBiz Talking to Matt Dunne, the founder and CEO of the national nonprofit Center on Rural Innovation, or CORI, which is based in an old general store in Hartland, is like hearing the history of economic development in Vermont — the one that is not based in Chittenden County.

Dunne, 52, and CORI are leaders in a growing national movement to develop rural entrepreneurship and, along the way, help end the digital divide. As consultants, they begin by helping a rural town increase its broadband and then go on to support business incubators — all of it designed so that tech development does not have to live and die in cities.

Vermont Business Magazine Guns are the leading cause of death for children in the United States. Thirteen children die from guns every day. To encourage parents, grandparents, families and community members to take action by asking about gun safety, the University of Vermont Health Network and University of Vermont Children’s Hospital join thousands of hospitals, health systems, American Hospital Association, Children’s Hospital Association and The Catholic Health Association of the U.S. in a nationwide public awareness and education campaign that encourages parents to ask if there are unsecured guns in the houses of their children’s friends.

Vermont Business Magazine Saint Michael’s College will host a senior staff attorney from the Innocence Project, a national nonprofit focused on exonerating people who have been wrongfully convicted and transforming the systems responsible for unjust incarceration. Jane Pucher will speak during an event on Monday, October 17 titled “The Role of Innocence in Criminal Legal Reform.” Her talk is free and open to the public, and it is being put on by the College’s Criminology Department.  Pucher will speak about her path to the Innocence Project, where she started work in 2016, and some of the cases she and her colleagues have undertaken. Pucher takes on post-conviction cases across the U.S. for people seeking access to DNA testing and relief from wrongful convictions.  

Vermont Business Magazine Dubbed the “Swiss Army Knife” for your vehicle’s hitch, Burlington's Sloggn Gear Company has introduced its innovative, multifunction, modular mount system. As a pioneer in the cargo, rack and personal transportation industry, Sloggn’s newest product is a must-have for anyone looking to get outdoors with ease. Designed with outdoor adventure and sporting in mind, the Base Deck System allows users to attach a limitless number of modular units to their vehicle. From camping to biking, to skiing, to the beach, and beyond, this one-of-a-kind system has the adaptability and versatility to take outdoor enthusiasts wherever they want to go.

VermontBiz Due to high patient volumes at UVM Medical Center’s main campus Emergency Department, patients with non-emergent medical needs are being encouraged to consider seeking care at UVM Medical Center’s Urgent Care Clinic on College Parkway or to contact their primary care physician for advice.

The Emergency Department was under pressure Friday as a large number of patients – many of whom were experiencing higher levels of medical need – sought care. A regional hospital bed shortage is also impacting health care organizations in Vermont, New York and New Hampshire, and has prompted some organizations to restrict or temporarily stop accepting medical transfers to inpatient care units.

VermontBiz V/T Commercial has released its third quarter commercial real estate transactions report.

John Beal of V/T Commercial assisted in the renewal of the lease on behalf of Artex Risk Solutions at 140 Kennedy Drive, South Burlington.

Key State Captive Management signed a five year lease for 1,073 square feet at 30 Main Street, Burlington. Pomerleau Real Estate represented the tenant, and Yves Bradley of V/T Commercial represented the landlord, Investors Corporation of Vermont.

Tony Blake of V/T Commercial, representing the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, assisted in the sublease of space at 261 Mountain View Drive, Colchester to Steep Hill Labs.

Vernal Biosciences Inc. leased 20,000 square feet of custom built lab and R&D space at 65 Red Pine Circle, Essex from Allen Brook Development, Inc. Tony Blake of V/T Commercial represented the team from Vernal Biosciences.