Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Williston's iSun, Inc (NASDAQ: ISUN), a leading solar energy and clean mobility infrastructure company with 50-years of experience accelerating the adoption of innovative electrical technologies, today announced that it has received a 2.2 MW, $7.7 million contract to provide a solar carport to one of the nation’s largest financial institutions at a single location in Ohio.

Vermont Business Magazine The Literature discipline at Bennington College has received a grant from the Winston Foundation to fund a new class and reading from 2023 Ben Belitt Distinguished Visiting Writer Jonas Hassen Khemiri. The class, Writing a Life, is offered this term. A reading is scheduled for 7–8:30 pm on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, at Tishman Lecture Hall on the Bennington College Campus. Khemiri will read from his forthcoming novel The Sisters. “The Sisters is my longest and most personal novel yet, and I'm writing it in two different languages (Swedish and English) simultaneously,” said Khemiri. “It's by far the most inefficient creative process that I have been a part of. But strangely enough, also the most enjoyable.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the House gave final approval to S.37, an act relating to access to legally protected health care activity and regulation of health care providers, on a vote of 114 - 24. The bill will legally shield medical practitioners, insurers, and patients providing or receiving reproductive or gender-affirming care in Vermont. They will be protected from restrictions and professional disciplinary action by other states.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today issued the following statement: “Today, the House of Representatives passed S.5, which I believe will have significant impacts on Vermonters by orchestrating a system that will give people two options: pay significantly more in fuel costs or spend thousands of dollars to install electrical heating systems, when most don’t have the financial means to do either.

Vermont Business Magazine On Thursday, the House held its initial debate and voted 98-46 to approve the Affordable Heat Act, S.5. It then passed a third reading on Friday and sent it back to the Senate for review. The Affordable Heat Act requires fossil fuel corporations and utilities that import heating fuels into Vermont to reduce their climate pollution over time, in line with Global Warming Solutions Act requirements. This landmark legislation has two goals: to reduce climate pollution and to reduce the costs of home and building heating for Vermonters over time. Governor Scott on Thursday said in its current form he is likely to veto the legislation.

Vermont Business Magazine Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont actively promotes member access to preventative care. The health plan will continue to cover zero-cost share preventative services despite the recent ruling of the Texas Fifth Circuit in the case of Braidwood Management, Inc. v. Becerra. Heart disease and cancer screenings, reproductive health, family planning, vaccinations, and preexposure prophylaxis for HIV will continue to be covered for members in the same manner as they are today.

Public Assets Institute More Vermont businesses have become all-remote workplaces, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). But fewer allow hybrid arrangements, where some employees work from home some of the time. When the pandemic hit in 2020, about 30 percent of Vermont businesses—accounting for more than 150,000 workers—expanded opportunities for their employees to work from outside the office. As vaccination increased and the risk of COVID subsided, companies reassessed their telework policies.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) sent a letter this week to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Rural Development Xochitl Torres Small, uplifting the concerns of Vermont-based stakeholders in broadband deployment surrounding the USDA’s ReConnect Loan and Grant Program and the Community Connect Grant Program—two initiatives that provide essential support for rural broadband deployment. During a round table discussion on broadband access hosted by Sen. Welch and Undersecretary Torres Small in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, local stakeholders identified program application requirements that have limited Vermont’s access to both ReConnect and Community Connect and called for improvements to speed broadband deployment.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Personal income taxes, the most important General Fund revenue source, as well as corporate and the sales tax, all underperformed in March, according to Secretary of Administration Kristin Clouser. She released Vermont’s revenue results today. Clouser said she is uncertain whether a second straight month of disappointing personal income tax revenues was a trend foreboding a weakening economy, or whether it was a blip on the screen. The tax return season can result in uneven revenue results until the close of the fiscal year at the end of June. As for taxes, for the sixth month in a row, both the General Fund and the Transportation Fund ended with revenue above consensus expectations. The Education Fund, however, missed its target by just under $1.6 million. Year to date, only the Education Fund is lagging its respective target as adopted by the Emergency Board at its January 17, 2023 meeting.

by Roxanne Vought, VBSR Executive Director With nearly two-thirds of all energy currently used in Vermont to heat homes coming from fossil fuels, our thermal sector sits atop a list we might title "Unsustainable Status Quo." At Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) we have always called for bold climate action. In this moment, there are no bold ways forward on climate that don’t directly – and immediately – address how we and our neighbors heat our homes. Along with hundreds of members and partners, we are calling upon our elected officials to meet the urgency of the climate crisis with decisive legislation that gets to the heart of what needs to be done: lowering emissions and moving Vermont to a clean energy future. No single policy decision will get us there, but the Affordable Heat Act moves the needle in some very effective ways.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Department of Labor reported that the seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate for March was 2.7 percent. This reflects a decrease of one-tenth of one percentage point from the prior month’s revised estimate. The rate is based on household data. All three of the major indices showed improvement as the spring economy warmed up. The civilian labor force participation rate was 63.7 percent in March, an increase of one-tenth of one percentage point from the prior month. The comparable United States rate in March was 3.5 percent, a decrease of one-tenth of one percentage point from the revised February estimate. Inflation continues to fall significantly.