Current News
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Vermont Business Magazine Bennington College has received a gift of some 500 works of art to benefit Art for Access, an innovative fundraising program launched in 2018. Art for Access celebrates the College’s pioneering legacy in the visual arts by pursuing dual goals: to expand and enhance Bennington’s art holdings for teaching, enrichment, and enjoyment and to raise funds for scholarships through the sale of art, advancing the College’s commitment to equity, diversity, and access.
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Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) and Northern Vermont University (NVU) are celebrating 15 years of working together to manage Vermont’s winter road conditions with public safety in mind. Students in NVU’s Atmospheric Sciences program provide daily weather forecasts for AOT maintenance districts from November through April. AOT uses this tailored weather forecast information to help with workforce management and strategies to tackle winter weather.
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Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Health Care has finalized an agreement with the Town of Bennington for the use and maintenance of playing fields at the former Southern Vermont College campus. The agreement covers the soccer and baseball fields, and is expected to remain in effect until at least December 1, 2021, when it will be reviewed by both parties.
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Vermont Business Magazine Health Commissioner Mark Levine said Tuesday that in addition to variants already identified in Vermont — B.1.1.7 and B.1.429 — we learned yesterday that the P.1 variant was found in one specimen. The Broad Institute sent 46 sequences from randomly selected samples. Of these, 23 were identified as variants of concern. “The P.1 variant may be twice as transmissible, like the others, and may have implications for reduced susceptibility to monoclonal antibody therapy,” said Dr Levine. Meanwhile, daily COVID-19 case counts fell to 106, with no new deaths which are holding at 229.
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Vermont Business Magazine Vermont State Auditor Doug Hoffer has appointed Tim Ashe as Deputy State Auditor. Ashe takes over from Andrew Stein, who served in the Auditor’s Office for almost five years. Stein is leaving for a position in the Vermont Department of Taxes. Ashe joins the Auditor’s Office having recently completed his second term as the President pro tempore of the Vermont State Senate and sixth term overall.
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Proposes investing $1 billion in federal American Recovery Plan funds for key infrastructure needs including housing, broadband, water and sewer projects, climate change mitigation and economic development
Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and his Administration today presented a plan to strategically invest $1 billion in one-time federal money provided to states to jumpstart recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic and support long-term economic growth. Adhering to the principles set in his Fiscal Year 2022 budget, presented in January, the package makes historic investments in projects and initiatives to address long-standing challenges and unaddressed needs, putting communities across the state on a path for recovery and setting course for a stronger economic future in every region. The governor has repeatedly urged that this one-time money be spent of one time investments, many of which are very expensive.
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Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and other officials today outlined the State’s stepped plan to methodically and safely ease mitigation measures as more Vermonters are vaccinated. The roadmap – which is subject to change based on real time circumstances - offers Vermonters, municipalities, non-profits, and businesses the ability to plan with greater certainty for the months ahead.
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Project to Identify New Targets for Drug Treatment That Could Prevent or Halt Disease
Vermont Business Magazine A team of University of Vermont scientists and physician investigators at the UVM Cancer Center and the Northern New England Clinical and Translational Research Network has been awarded a $9 million, five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to investigate the underlying causes of breast cancer with the goal of identifying new cellular-level targets that could be treated with drugs to prevent the disease or halt its progression.
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Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Foodbank commends the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s decision to expand Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, known in Vermont as 3SquaresVT, to an estimated 25 million people nationwide. Nationally, this increased benefit will provide about $1 billion per month in additional food assistance. In Vermont, the increase is estimated to be about $2 million per month.
Households receiving less than $95 in emergency allotment benefits under the previous policy will be eligible for this additional support, which supplements the lowest income households participating in each state.
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Vermont Business Magazine Effective April 2, 2021, adult sports leagues may resume the following activities: Individual skill-building exercises; Strength and conditioning sessions; and Drills involving incidental contact. In addition, adult outdoor sports teams and leagues may resume games, meets and competitions, subject to some restrictions. Governor Scott is expected to release his detailed Blue Print for reopening the entire economy later Tuesday.
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Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) has awarded almost $850,000 for TRORC to offer a second round of grant money to small businesses financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Caledonia, Chittenden (including Burlington), Grand Isle, Essex, Franklin, Orange, Orleans, and Windsor counties. Qualifying sole proprietors who seek funding will be able to apply from April 5th through May 26th of 2021.
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Vermont Business Magazine The Better Middlebury Partnership (BMP) announced today that as a result of generous donations from two community organizations, Kick Start Middlebury has doubled the size of the grants offered in its business recruitment effort, from $10,000 to $20,000 in start-up cash. Now with a total of $110,000 cash at its disposal, plus services donated by area businesses, the Kick Start Middlebury program is poised to change the town’s business and retail landscape.