Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Killington Resort, the largest ski and snowboard resort in Eastern North America and a POWDR company announces that Killington and Pico Resort Partners President and General Manager Mike Solimano has been named a recipient of the 2023 Sammy Leadership award. The 25th annual award honors innovative, inspiring, courageous, and passionate industry leaders making a difference locally and nationally. Recipients are determined based on nominations by members of the ski and snowboard industry, including many members of the Killington Team, who shared their thoughts.

Vermont Business Magazine Due to high demand and the second-highest rate of payments in the nation, the Vermont Homeowner Assistance Program (VHAP) will no longer accept new applications after Monday, June 12, 2023. All new or currently pending applications must be submitted to the applicant portal on vermonthap.vhfa.org by 5 pm on this date. VHAP provides grants of up to $30,000 per household towards overdue mortgage payments, utility bills, property taxes, and property association charges. Launched in January 2022, VHAP has now awarded $29.4 million in grants and received applications for an additional $8 million, accounting for about 90% of its available funding provided by the federal American Rescue Plan Act. The latest available data from the US Treasury shows that, as of September 2022, Vermont was second in the nation for the percentage of available Homeowner Assistance Program funds paid out to homeowners.

by Morgan Webster & Emma Paradis For decades, Vermont’s government has relied on nonprofits to provide vital services to communities. This social contract has been eroding with nonprofits increasingly filling the gap in state services while reporting funding for these services has not kept pace with rising costs. Wages and inflation continue to rise, yet many State-funded organizations have not seen their funding increase in years and most government funding agreements do not adequately cover the necessary administrative costs associated with implementing direct services to the community. Pandemic and economic pressures have exacerbated pre-existing challenges for nonprofits as organizations struggle to retain and recruit workers, keep up with rising costs, and meet increased demand for services while funding sources continue to stagnate. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Glen Buehler, 67, of Vernon, Vermont, is scheduled to appear this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle after his arrest for Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM). According to court records, on February 2, 2023, a Portsmouth, New Hampshire Police Detective was conducting an online investigation of the BitTorrent network, looking for individuals sharing CSAM. A BitTorrent user was identified as sharing likely CSAM files, and a download of some of those files occurred the evening of February 2, 2023. After the source of the files was determined to likely be in Vermont, the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force coordinated with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Derby, Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont as of Sunday were $3.43 per gallon, according to GasBuddy, up 5.2 cents per gallon from last week's $3.38/g. The lowest price in the state yesterday was $3.19/g while the highest was $3.55/g, a difference of 36.0 cents per gallon. The national average price of gasoline has risen 8.8 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.57/g today, as gas prices continue to edge up.

Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets Is your business looking for a fun way to connect with new customers across New England? Apply to sell your products during Harvest New England Day on the lawn of the Vermont Building at the Big E! The Vermont Building is one of six New England buildings on the Avenue of the States at the Big E, a 17-day fair and exposition that will take place September 15 - October 1 in West Springfield, MA.

by Joy Choquette, Vermont Business Magazine Spring has sprung and with it the sounds of the season: hammers pounding, trucks reversing, and voices of construction workers calling to each other over the hubbub. But the sounds this season are quieter than most. That said Richard Wobby, executive vice president of the Associated General Contractors of Vermont, (AGC) is because there are still challenges hurting the construction industry. “What’s concerning to us is that we’re not seeing a big commercial side,” Wobby noted. “This is usually a fairly robust time of year. I think it’s really the inflationary factor and interest rates that are playing into that,” said Wobby.

by C.B. Hall, Vermont Business Magazine Two major roadway improvement projects in the Burlington area — the Exit 16 Diverging Diamond Interchange in Colchester and the Champlain Parkway Project in Burlington — will continue apace this spring, despite pending litigation seeking to either halt or alter the plans. The $19 million DDI project, which aims to reduce traffic congestion along the US 2/7 corridor near I-89 Exit 16, is currently in the preliminary stage. For the next several months, workers from SD Ireland Brothers will move utility lines and install retaining walls under the interstate bridges “to provide room for nonvehicular users to stay clear of the roadwork coming in Phase 2,” according to Mike LaCroix, project manager at the Vermont Agency of Transportation. Motorists should expect significant impacts on traffic during daytime hours, he added.

Vermont Business Magazine Information on infrastructure projects courtesy of the Vermont Agency of Transportation. Dates reflect the time window for construction, not the precise time or duration of the work.

Vermont Business Magazine Scott Administration officials will be visiting Windsor County on Monday to continue their county tour to hear from community leaders about their unique infrastructure needs and to discuss the many funding opportunities available to them via federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021. Officials will offer guidance on how communities can apply for assistance with tangible economic development, housing, water and sewer, climate change mitigation measures, and broadband projects.