Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Over the past six years, Retreat Farm has become a vital and beloved community resource. During the pandemic, the organization expanded its operations rapidly to meet emerging community needs – including investing in the trail network, building artistic and interpretive resources, establishing the Community Food Project, making the grounds free for all to access, and leveraging our resources to support the growth of the SUSU commUNITY Farm and Atowi Project. Retreat Farm will transition to a community-based organization that will rely heavily on volunteers and an active Board of Directors for fundraising, community relationships, and its long-term operating strategy.

Vermont Business Magazine The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Sean Fiore, 38, of Burlington, Vermont, was sentenced Wednesday in United States District Court in Burlington, Vermont to 27 years in prison following his guilty pleas to the following charges: murder for hire, conspiracy to kidnap and murder a person overseas, conspiracy to produce child pornography, and possession of child pornography.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Department of Corrections (DOC) Commissioner Nicholas Deml issued a statement following the Thursday arrest of Northeast Correctional Complex (NECC) Shift Supervisor Benjamin Mallery on charges of possession of child sex abuse material: “The criminal allegations facing Benjamin Mallery are beyond concerning; they are abhorrent. I have zero tolerance for those who endanger vulnerable populations here in Vermont or anywhere in the world."

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 171 cases of COVID-19 for Wednesday (200 Tuesday, 87 Monday, 56 Sunday, 104 on Saturday and 143 Friday.) Cases have fallen by 11 percent in the last week (131 cases). The VDH reported no additional deaths today for 617 statewide. There have been 13 fatalities in March. The state is well on pace for the fewest COVID-related deaths since last July.

Vermont Business Magazine Sister Janice Ryan, a leader for education equity in Vermont, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, at the age of 86. “She was a beautiful force for good and a social justice icon in Vermont,” said Mercy Connections’ Executive Director, Lisa Falcone.

by Joyce Marcel, Vermont Business Magazine, November 2007 During her long and distinguished career in public life, Sister Janice Elizabeth Ryan, RSM, has never had a game plan. "The road always seemed to be opening up in front of me," she says. "I never had time to plan it. It kept happening." Let's look at some of the things that have happened to "happen:" she spearheaded the drive which created the first special education mainstreaming law in the country - in 1972! Her work made Vermont a model for the national and states' laws that followed. For 17 years, Ryan was president of the now-shuttered Catholic women's school Trinity College in Burlington. Among other things, she successfully carried through the college's first capital campaign.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Senate voted unanimously to advance S.286, Public Pension and Postemployment Benefits. Supporters call this balanced legislation where all sides contribute to the sustainability of our public pensions systems. Also today, Governor Scott's veto of H.361. An act relating to approval of amendments to the charter of the Town of Brattleboro, was sustained. That bill would have lowered the voting age in Brattleboro to 16. The vote was 15-12 in favor with 20 votes needed to override the veto.

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Office announced that Benjamin G Mallery, 30, of Sheffield, Vermont, was arrested and arraigned today on five felony counts of Possession of Child Sex Abuse Materials and one misdemeanor count of Possession of Child Sex Abuse Materials. The Caledonian Record is reporting that Mallery is a corrections officer at the Northeast Correctional Complex in St Johnsbury. The charges brought against Mallery are the result of a criminal investigation – including the execution of residential and online data search warrants—conducted by the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (VT-ICAC).

Vermont Business Magazine Up to $550,000 in Federal grant funding is available in Vermont for the development of innovative conservation approaches and technologies through the USDA-administered Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program. Grant proposals are due by April 8, 2022. Funded through USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), CIG helps stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies in conjunction with agricultural production. CIG projects are expected to lead to the transfer of conservation technologies, management systems, and innovative approaches (such as market-based systems) to agricultural producers, into government technical manuals and guides, or to the private sector.

​Vermont Business Magazine At Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont we take a whole-person approach to health, and fundamentally believe that people should have a sense of well-being in both their body and their mind. We oppose the actions taken in Texas, Florida and ten other states that criminalize parents for seeking health care for their children, silence teachers in their classrooms, restrict transgender and gender non-conforming kids’ access to sports, counseling and mental health resources, and marginalize an entire population simply for being who they are—we reject hate in all forms. We invite Vermonters on Transgender Visibility Day to consider ways to speak out against the alienation of difference.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Technical College partnered with Earthwise Global Inc., a Northfield, Vt.-based AgriTech company, on a 6-week preliminary feasibility study that evaluated the use of a nanobubble technology to grow hydroponic crops more efficiently and abundantly. Vermont Tech’s study employed Earthwise’s advanced water aeration technology and resulted in a 25% net yield in both basil and lettuce weight with additional analysis of plant health and nutrient value forthcoming.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Department of Corrections Commissioner Nicholas Deml is announcing key leadership changes at Northeast Correctional Complex (NECC) in St. Johnsbury, Northern State Correctional Facility (NSCF) in Newport, and the Central Office. At NECC, Superintendent Norah Quinn will retire from Vermont DOC in April after 29 years of State service. Superintendent Quinn began her career as a correctional officer and served in numerous roles with the Department.