Current News

VermontBiz and the Vermont Chamber of Commerce revealed the ranking of the top 57 Best Places to Work in Vermont 2023, at a ceremony on March 29th at the DoubleTree Hotel. There were over 450 people in attendance. “With Vermont’s tight labor market, businesses are finding it difficult to fill open positions. These businesses can say to prospective employees that their company has been chosen as a best place to work in Vermont. This will give them a leg up on recruitment,” said John Boutin, publisher, Vermontbiz. The number 1 companies in each category are: Small (15-99 employees) – Instrumart; Medium (100-249 employees) – NuHarbor; Large (250+ employees) - Stantec.

Vermont Business Magazine Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Ranking Member Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) today requested answers from Packers Sanitation Services, Inc. (PSSI) following reports that the company had employed more than 102 children between 13 to 17 years of age in hazardous conditions. This comes after the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) fined PSSI $1.5 million for employing children to work with “hazardous chemicals and cleaning meat processing equipment,” which reportedly led to the injuries of at least three minors. The violations took place at facilities located in Nebraska and Minnesota.

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are unchanged in the last week to $3.37/g today, according to GasBuddy. Prices are down 5 cents from a month ago and down 84 cents/g from the same time last year. The cheapest price in the state is $2.99 in Middlebury and the most expensive is $3.59 in Westminster. The national average price of gasoline rose 4 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.46/g today. The national average is up 14 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 78 cents per gallon lower than a year ago, as the national average is now higher than in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont's traditional trout fishing season is set to open on Saturday, April 8, and despite extended cold weather across the state in recent weeks, officials from Vermont Fish & Wildlife say anglers can be successful early in the season by following a few basic tips."Just like any other time of the year, anglers fishing early in the spring should adjust their tactics based on the conditions," said Brett Ladago, fisheries biologist with Vermont Fish & Wildlife. "Given the cold weather and runoff from recent storms and snow melt, water levels will be high, flows will be faster than normal, and water temperatures will be cold.

"As a result, anglers may want to target small to medium, low-elevation rivers and streams where flows slow and waters warm more quickly," added Ladago. "Finding water that isn't too muddy can be key, and slowing your lure or bait retrieval will help tempt sluggish trout into biting."

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont) on Wednesday voted in support of legislation led by Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Todd Young (R-IND) to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against Iraq. These authorizations grant broad power to the President of the United States to deploy military force in Iraq without further consultation with Congress. The Senate voted to repeal the authorization and the measure now goes to the House.

Vermont Business Magazine The House on Wednesday passed H.222 with tri-partisan support, an omnibus overdose response bill that seeks to reverse the trend of fatal overdose in Vermont. The bill seeks to address the state’s record-breaking amount of overdoses in recent years by decriminalizing buprenorphine, establishing a statewide syringe disposal program, increasing equitable access to treatment, and removing barriers to recovery housing development. This legislation makes buprenorphine decriminalization permanent and removes barriers to treatment for those on Medicaid. It also removes zoning barriers for recovery housing, establishes a statewide syringe disposal program, and funds services through updated fees on pharmaceutical manufacturers. The bill also strengthens liability protections for syringe service providers, modernizes the Narcan statute, and establishes a definition of recovery residence.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas is urging residential contractors to register with the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office of Professional Regulation (OPR). Pursuant to a law passed by the Legislature last year, residential contractors working in Vermont who perform $10,000 or more worth of work inclusive of labor and materials must register with OPR. The registration requirement applies to any contractor who performs residential construction where the estimated value is $10,000 or more, inclusive of labor and materials. Home contractors will also be required to maintain insurance and have a contract with the homeowner.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) will hold his first annual “Youth Chess Day” on Saturday, April 1. This event is part of a series of initiatives organized by Sanders to provide opportunities for civic engagement and community for Vermont youth, ranging from student town halls held virtually and in person, his State of the Union Essay Contest, Vermont Day at the Edward Kennedy Institute, and many more. This inaugural event will take place at Vermont Technical College in Randolph and will feature a learn-to-play session for students interested in trying out the game for the first time, as well as a recreational tournament for experienced players. Sanders will speak with the students and their families about the game of chess, education and after school activities, and other topics of importance to them.

Vermont Business Magazine In 2009, the US Preventive Services Task Force changed its mammography screening guidelines to recommend that routine breast cancer screening start at age 50 rather than age 40, recommending an individualized approach for women ages 40-49. The group cited insufficient evidence for screening women ages 75 and older. Researchers at the UVM Cancer Center, Sarah Nowak, PhD, and Brian Sprague, PhD, found that the change in guidelines led to a decline in mammography screening rates for all three age groups, including in the 50-74 group most at risk of developing breast cancer and most in need of screenings, an unintended consequence. The researchers coined the term "spillover" for this effect. Vermont had the second steepest drop of any state for all three groups.

Vermont Business Magazine 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 had secured five contracts covering 6.5 MW and valued at $5.1 million in Vermont, to provide expanded solar energy capabilities at five industrial sites. Projects scheduled to begin in spring 2023 and are expected to be completed in 2023 and 2024.