Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Three state troopers have resigned following allegations related to fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards. The three former troopers are suspected of having varying roles in the creation of fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards, which may be a violation of federal law. The details surrounding this incident, reported to supervisors by other troopers, were immediately reported to federal law enforcement authorities.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Department of Health is reporting 114 new cases of COVID-19 but no new deaths, which are holding at 282 statewide. There are 33 hospitalized and 13 in the ICU. Hospitalizations have remained relatively high the last few weeks. Walk-in vaccination sites are listed below.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Department of Corrections (Vermont DOC) is reporting five new COVID-19 cases across three facilities. Testing has found five new incarcerated individuals and staff positives in Newport, Springfield, St Albans. Northern and Northwest are both on full lockdown; the entire facility in Newport is testing today, as well as NWSCF staff. All staff and incarcerated individuals at SSCF are testing tomorrow, September 8.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development announced today $500,000 in available funding to support statewide municipal bylaw modernization grants for Vermont’s cities and towns. Municipalities can use this new and innovative funding to hire regional planning commission or consulting staff to collaborate with local stakeholders and prepare bylaw updates that expand opportunities for new homes, confront the State’s housing crisis, and ready communities for unprecedented investments in housing and infrastructure.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor has been informed that it will not be allowed to administer a supplemental unemployment insurance benefit that was passed during the 2021 legislative session. Act 51 of 2021 authorized a $25 per week supplemental benefit for all unemployment claims beginning October 3, to individuals receiving unemployment benefits in the regular state unemployment insurance program.

Vermont Business Magazine The Burlington City Council plans to vote on consolidated waste collection this coming Monday, September 13th. Local waste haulers will be holding a public press event at 220 Flynn Avenue in Burlington (near the World’s Highest Filing Cabinet) tomorrow Wednesday, September 8th at 1PM to draw attention to this rushed decision.

Joe Trask, Duffy’s Waste and Recycling, said in response to the planned vote: “I am shocked that the City Council plans to vote Monday on a consolidated waste collection plan that was put together without involving local haulers. If this proposal moves forward, it will hurt local businesses and eliminate jobs for blue-collar workers. It feels like we are expendable, and the City Council doesn’t care.”

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and the Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) on Tuesday announced the opening of an additional 6.3 miles of the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail (LVRT) between Sheldon and Highgate. This section of trail begins at the intersection of the LVRT and the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail and extends westerly approximately 6.3 miles to its intersection with Gore Road in Highgate Center. This new section of the LVRT is now open to the public.

Vermont Business Magazine Lawson’s Finest Liquids is excited to announce that it is accepting applications for its “Super Sessions” mini grant program. As one of the pillars of the company’s Social Impact Program (SIP), the Super Sessions initiative was created to motivate people across the Northeast region make a positive impact in their communities through pint-sized grants.

UVM President Suresh Garimella As we begin the new academic year, I feel enormous pride in the students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends, families, community members and leaders in our state government and Congressional delegation who supported one another so well through the toughest year many of us have ever known. Yes, we were fortunate to be able to maintain in-person classes and many other activities for which I am thankful, but our usual routines and enjoyable rituals of campus life were disrupted or significantly modified. Such times can be unfamiliar, even disorienting. But I remain confident that we are better poised than most in higher education to handle the “next normal,” and indeed, to thrive through it.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) held five outdoor town meetings across Vermont over Labor Day weekend – with live music, food, and free COVID-19 vaccine services made available – in Springfield, Newport, St. Johnsbury, Brattleboro, and Middlebury. The town meetings were an opportunity for communities to come together, celebrate, and discuss the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, including how it will combat climate change and make critical investments in working families in Vermont and across the country.

Vermont Auditor Doug Hoffer Imagine you need a joint replacement. You live equidistant between two Vermont hospitals, each of which performs knee replacements with no significant difference in the quality of their performance. In fact, procedures performed at the two hospitals are identical in all ways but one – the price. One facility typically charges $26,000 for a joint replacement, and the other charges $36,000. You have good employer sponsored health insurance that will pay nearly the entirety of the cost of your joint replacement regardless of which hospital performs the operation. Which facility will you choose?

Vermont Business Magazine The Brattleboro Retreat has reopened its popular Uniformed Service Program (USP) as a remote telehealth service for uniformed professionals who are dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other duty-related mental health and addiction challenges. In light of ongoing concerns about COVID-19 and the rise of viral variants, USP has re-launched as a remote telehealth service where clients enjoy secure internet access to USP staff for individual therapy and medication management, and engage in group programming as virtual peers.