Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Emerge Vermont announced Wednesday that 18 of 24 women who have trained with the organization won their elections to local office during the Town Meeting Day 2023 election cycle. Fifteen of the candidates who ran are alums of the Signature Training program and eight have participated in other campaign trainings offered by Emerge Vermont. Of the 24 alums and trainees on the Town Meeting Day ballot in communities across Vermont, 18 won their elections, a 75% win rate.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Public has partnered with the award-winning PBS science series NOVA, a production of GBH, to produce and distribute multiplatform, climate-focused content as part of the series’ national Climate Across America initiative. Vermont Public is one of 10 public media stations working closely with NOVA to create, share, and amplify solutions-oriented climate content including short-form videos, audio stories, articles, e-newsletters, and social media posts. Vermont Public has produced two short digital films as part of this project. In the first, climate reporter Abagael Giles visits Panton, Vt., which hosts a community microgrid able to run exclusively on renewable power, without backup from fossil fuels. The piece is available now at vermontpublic.org and on the station’s YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department has released the Vermont Master Angler Program 2022 Annual Report with 1,064 entries and 79 Master Angler Award recipients. Vermont’s wealth of waters and abundant fish populations provide many opportunities to experience outstanding fishing. The Vermont Master Angler Program recognizes the achievements of anglers who catch trophy-sized fish from Vermont waters and celebrates the clean water and healthy habitats that allow these fish to survive and grow to exceptional sizes. The Vermont Master Angler program is a length-based program that sets “trophy sized” benchmarks for 33 eligible fish species.

Vermont Business Magazine This Earth Month, show the planet some love by keeping old, unwanted clothes out of the landfill. Casella Waste Systems, Inc, a regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company, in partnership with TerraCycle, an innovative recycling company that specializes in hard-to-recycle materials, is offering consumers a sustainable way to dispose of well-loved clothing and shoes that local recycling services won't accept curbside. In America alone, an estimated 11.3 million tons of textile waste – equivalent to 85% of all textiles – end up in landfills on a yearly basis. Casella and TerraCycle have announced a subscription-based pickup home service for all brands of well-loved clothes and shoes that can no longer be passed on or donated.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington-based Pomerleau Real Estate has reported their first quarter transactions. Pomerleau announced that 520 Avenue D in Williston has been leased. This 11,600 SF warehouse building will be fully occupied by HWPO Training. Matt Fraser and his team are planning to open their doors in Spring 2023. Kendra Kenney represented the Tenants and John Beal of Vt Commercial represented the building owner.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, well over 500 children, parents, grandparents, early childhood educators, employers, and community leaders packed the Vermont State House steps and lawn to rally with dozens of lawmakers from every corner of Vermont and of every political affiliation, uniting together to show support for solving Vermont’s child care crisis. According to Let's Grow Kids, today’s Courage to Care Rally was among the largest legislative rallies in recent years and a testament to the growing and intensifying support for progress to address the state’s child care crisis. The rally which took place in Montpelier today, comes on the heels of the Vermont Senate’s historic passage of S.56, the 2023 Child Care Bill earlier this month. The bill, if passed, would be the state’s most significant step towards solving the child care crisis by making child care more accessible and affordable for thousands of Vermont families and by improving program quality by increasing compensation and professional training for early childhood educators.

Vermont Business Magazine Barr Hill Gin, the most awarded gin in the United States and #1 gin in Vermont, whose product is distilled by Vermont-based Caledonia Spirits, announces the launch and distribution of its first-ever canned cocktail — a Gin & Tonic – through a partnership with The Beer Guy, the distribution arm of the revered Vermont brewery Lawson’s Finest Liquids. The canned cocktail will only be available in Vermont starting the week of April 17, 2023. Barr Hill Gin’s canned Gin & Tonic will be the first non-beer, non-Lawson’s Finest product to be distributed by The Beer Guy.

Vermont Business Magazine Cathedral Square announced that they met their $1 million fundraising goal for Memory Care at Allen Brook, their Williston-based residence for very low-income Vermonters on Medicaid and the only truly affordable memory-care residence in the state. The capital campaign was created last October to pay off the remaining debt on the property, a need identified when the pandemic caused unprecedented increases to their operating budget. Now that the debt is paid off, Allen Brook will remain sustainable into the future. The campaign launched thanks to support from the families of Holly & Bob Miller and Lois & J. Warren “Mac” McClure. The two families pledged to match every donation to the campaign, dollar for dollar, up to $500,000. Following this pledge, the campaign received generous matched gifts from the Hoehl Family Foundation, the Amy E. Tarrant Foundation, the M&T Charitable Foundation, Nancy Wright and Steve Lidle, NFP Property & Casualty Services, Inc., and the Fountain Fund.

Vermont Business Magazine At his weekly press conference today, Governor Phil Scott addressed areas of agreement with the Legislature and paths forward to responsibly achieve common goals. He previously has expressed his concerns over the level of spending put forth so far in the $8.5 billion budget bill, as well as new payroll taxes proposed for legislation related to childcare and universal family leave. At his press conference held today, he offered something of an olive branch to legislators as they begin the process of finalizing legislation. Among the collaborative bills he mentioned were ones dealing with public and school safety, mental health, and he said he's hopeful that a mutually beneficial housing bill (S.100) can still include some updating of Act 250.

Vermont Business Magazine For the second time in as many years, New England has seen record low demand for grid electricity, as sunny skies, mild temperatures, and a Sunday holiday combined for a historic day on April 9, 2023, according to ISO New England. Preliminary data shows that demand for grid electricity hit a low of approximately 6,814 MW between 2 and 3 pm, nearly 750 MW less than the previous record of 7,580 MW set on May 1, 2022. Production from behind-the-meter solar resources (net metering) was estimated to be more than 4,500 MW throughout much of the afternoon, tempering demand on the bulk power grid.

Vermont Business Magazine LaunchVT, a division of the Lake Champlain Chamber, has selected eight Vermont startups to participate in its 2023 Accelerator. This is the eleventh cohort to come through LaunchVT’s flagship program. Over the past ten years, LaunchVT has provided business development support, strategic coaching, and over $1 million in cash and services to accelerate 71 Vermont startups statewide. Entrepreneurs in the LaunchVT cohort will work with a dedicated business coach and strategic advisors to address their startup’s most pressing needs. They will also participate in peer sessions, office hours with business advisors, and workshops with content experts over the 12-week program, which begins today.

Vermont Business Magazine The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending almost $22 million to the State of Vermont to reimburse the costs of providing hotel lodging and wraparound services to the homeless and other vulnerable Vermonters during the COVID-19 pandemic.The $21,969,452 Public Assistance grant, announced Tuesday, will go to the Vermont Agency of Human Services for contracting with hotels to provide non-congregate shelter to high-risk homeless people, people exposed to COVID-19 who didn’t require hospitalization, and asymptomatic high-risk individuals needing to quarantine between May and July 2022. During that time the agency utilized 90 hotels and 1,465 rooms for the non-congregate sheltering of 1,907 adults and 564 children, and contracted for wraparound services such as food and room cleaning.