Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today reported 238 of COVID-19, the second consecutive day with 200+ cases (268 Thursday). The VDH also reported three more deaths, for 304 statewide. There are 42 people hospitalized (up two from yesterday) and 15 in the ICU (up one). Case counts in the southern counties and in the Northeast Kingdom are among the most stubbornly high, with Rutland County reporting 42 new cases today and Windsor and Orleans County each reporting 32 cases of COVID-19.Additionally, Vermonters 80 years of age and older are now eligible to schedule and receive boosters as of today, September 24.

Vermont Business Magazine The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated Jason Graham, 24, of Holland, Michigan, pled guilty today to making a 2019 threat over Facebook to “shoot up” Green Mountain Union High School located in Chester, Vermont. At the plea hearing, the government noted that more than half the GMUHS student body skipped school in response to Graham’s February 4, 2019 Facebook threat, and that the subsequent bomb threat to GMUHS drew a massive law enforcement response.

​Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Farm Fund, a non-profit revolving loan fund for local farmers and food producers, has launched a new loan program for start-up farmers and food businesses. The VFF’s New Producer Loan will provide access to no-hassle, friendly-term loans up to $20,000 at a low 3% interest rate. A true revolving loan fund, as the community of recipients pays back their loans, funds are replenished for the next cycle of borrowers.

Vermont Business Magazine Vail Resorts, Inc has announced an unprecedented number of on-mountain projects planned for the 2022-23 North American ski and ride season in what will be Vail's largest single-year investment into the guest experience. The sweeping set of 19 new chairlifts, including 12 high-speed lifts, a new 8-person high-speed gondola and 6 new fixed-grip lifts, is part of Vail Resorts' $315 million to $325 million capital investment plan for 2022, which is designed to materially reduce wait times, increase uphill capacity and create more lift-served terrain. The projects span 14 resorts coast-to-coast including Stowe Mountain Resort and Mount Snow. Also, Vail previously announced that Okemo's Quantum lift is being upgraded from a quad to a high-speed 6-person lift – now named Quantum Six.

Vermont Business Magazine Find a great job, meet collaborators and be inspired at the 2021 Vermont Tech Jam. This annual career and tech expo, powered by Seven Days newspaper, is back — in person, and in Burlington — on Saturday, October 23, at the new Hula lakeside tech campus. Dozens of local startups and technology companies will be exhibiting and hiring.

Vermont Business Magazine RCxRules, a provider of revenue cycle and HCC coding automation based in Burlington, today announced a partnership with athenahealth, Inc through the company's Marketplace program. As part of the athenahealth Marketplace, this newly integrated application is now available to athenahealth's growing network of healthcare providers to automatically review 100 percent of charges from the athenahealth EHR, lab systems, and other clinical systems to reduce customer claim holds.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Supreme Court issued its ruling today in an appeal brought by ACLU of Vermont on behalf of a Vermont couple who were charged with possession of marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms, following a warrantless search by Border Patrol agents during an August 2018 “roving patrol” stop on Route 105 in Jay, Vermont. Specifically, the Court ruled that “where federal border officials on roving patrol obtain evidence in a manner that violates Article 11, that evidence may not be introduced at trial in a state criminal proceeding” because “[t]he intrusion into defendants’ privacy was not somehow lessened because the search was conducted by a federal agent,” and “such evidence ‘eviscerates our most sacred rights, impinges on individual privacy, perverts our judicial process, distorts any notion of fairness, and encourages official misconduct.’”

Vermont Business Magazine Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health (D-HH), OneCare Vermont and the University of Vermont Health Network (UVMHN) today announced a governance change that will make the UVMHN the sole parent organization for OneCare’s work moving forward. Until now UVM Medical Center shared that role with D-HH. OneCare, a Vermont-based statewide accountable care organization (ACO), will remain its own legal entity and will maintain a governance board that includes managers from throughout the state that represent the full continuum of care and consumers.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott, the Agency of Human Services and the Department of Health on Thursday night announced that Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine booster doses will be available starting today to people in Vermont who are 80 years of age and older. The announcement follows the Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) expanded emergency use authorization for the Pfizer vaccine, to permit a third booster shot to be administered 6 months after certain individuals received their second dose. Following this morning’s announcement from CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, the state will expand eligibility for booster shots to people aged 18 to 64 with underlying medical conditions on Friday, October 1. It is anticipated these conditions will be more specifically defined by the CDC later today.

Vermont Business Magazine For the eleventh year in a row, Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel, Darn Tough Vermont and Smartwool have teamed up to donate over $13,500 worth of socks and support to local nonprofits serving the area's homeless. This fundraising event is a joint effort to help provide warm Merino wool socks and much-needed support to people experiencing homelessness in preparation for the colder months.

Vermont Business Magazine More Vermonters than ever have made the switch to an electric vehicle, taking advantage of incentives and the many cost-saving advantages of driving electric. Drive Electric week begins Saturday, September 25 and concludes Saturday, October 2.

Vermont Business Magazine In a recent meeting of the Okemo Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce, Holger Stoltze, a representative of Yamaha Unified Communications, Inc, and member of the chamber’s board of directors, announced an important and timely product donation of Yamaha’s YVC-300 Portable USB & Bluetooth Speakerphones. These YVC-300 systems are intended to be used with online conference applications like Zoom or Microsoft Teams and are ideal for small business settings of up to 10 participants.