Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Public has announced the first recipients of the Made Here Fund, an initiative to broaden and diversify storytelling in Vermont. Ten projects by content creators representing six Vermont counties will receive a total of $100,000 to produce pieces including short documentary and animated films, digital shorts and audio series. The fund was launched in 2022 to broaden and diversify Vermont storytelling. Makers from across the state were invited to apply for special funding, provided by supporters including current and former members of Vermont Public’s board of directors.

Vermont Business Magazine The American Red Cross will open a regional disaster shelter at the Brattleboro Union High School (131 Fairground Rd.) to provide safe shelter for residents in Brattleboro and surrounding communities affected by widespread power outages due to heavy snow and winds. The shelter will open at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, March 15th. Until then, given the hazardous travel conditions, those impacted by this storm are urged to shelter in place. This is a Red Cross managed shelter operating in coordination with the Greater Brattleboro community. The Red Cross is also working closely with local and state emergency management and government officials.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Medical Center has received a Certificate of Need from the Green Mountain Care Board to relocate and consolidate its existing outpatient Dermatology and Ophthalmology practices at its Tilley Drive campus in South Burlington. The project, estimated to cost $35 million, will allow UVM Medical Center to address longstanding access challenges to these services, based on historical demand and highlighted by the State of Vermont’s assessment in 2021. The plan brings together four existing Dermatology and Ophthalmology sites, two of the busiest specialty practices on the hospital’s main campus, which currently have limited physical space and cannot expand to meet demand. The new facility will make more efficient use of space and resources, and offer patients a location easily reached by car or public transportation, including the free shuttle operated by SSTA, which brings patients from the downtown Burlington transportation hub to all of the clinical sites at Tilley Drive.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the federal Environmental Protection Agency proposed its first national drinking water standards for six of the thousands of PFAS chemicals. The proposal would regulate two of these harmful chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, at 4 parts per trillion (ppt), and it also sets a hazard-based standard for a mix of four other PFAS chemicals - PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS and GenX. This rule is now open for public comment before being finalized later this year. Once this rule is adopted, water systems would have to monitor for these six specific PFAS chemicals. If they are detected, the public would need to be notified and work would be required to clean up the contaminated water. Vermont already has drinking water standards in place for five PFAS chemicals, at a combined limit of 20 parts per trillion. These new federal standards, if adopted, would be more health protective than the current Vermont regulations.

Vermont Business Magazine The need for more Service Supported Housing for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) is the centerpiece of a new study that will be released by the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council at a State House press conference on Wednesday, March 15 at noon in the Cedar Creek Room. Resources exist to build, rehabilitate, subsidize, and enhance housing for financially eligible Vermonters, including those with I/DD, but disability service providers and housing developers have not traditionally worked together in Vermont, according to the report. During the 2022 legislative session, parents of adults with I/DD came forward to advocate that more housing options be created for their sons and daughters. The result was Act 186, which commissioned the Council to prepare the report and set aside $500,000 for pilot planning grants for new housing models. The grants will be awarded later this spring.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets is now accepting applications for the Vermont Produce Improvement Grant program. Produce Safety Improvement Grants can support the costs of implementing on-farm food safety practices to help vegetable and fruit growers transition to compliance with the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule, address compliance with new Produce Safety Rule harvest and post-harvest water requirements, or meet market demands for on-farm food safety. Awards will range from $5,000 to $20,000. Applicants must grow, harvest, pack, or hold “covered produce” as defined by the federal FSMA Produce Safety Rule and have average annual produce sales of greater than $29,245 over the past three years.

Vermont Business Magazine Nutrition is important but it’s something that can be forgotten and taken for granted. “People can get on a good track, get healthy, then become overwhelmed,” said Community Health Dietician Maria Durkee, MS, RDN, CD. National Nutrition Month brings focus back to nutrition. “It’s a whole month to celebrate nutrition and it’s helpful for remembering to make healthy choices,” she said. “It’s also about recognizing nutrition around the world. It’s about cultures and eating patterns.” “Fuel for the Future” is the theme of National Nutrition Month 2023, a reminder to be resourceful and pay attention to the environment, reduce food waste, learn to eat on a budget and feed your community. “Eating what’s in season is cheaper and helps to sustain local growers and businesses,” Durkee said.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) on Tuesday announced David Reynolds, his former health policy advisor and a longtime health care leader in Vermont, has rejoined the office as Sanders takes up the gavel as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Reynolds will be focusing on policy to strengthen access to primary health care and address workforce shortages across the country. Reynolds founded and led Northern Counties Health Care (NCHC) in 1976, Vermont’s first Federally Qualified Health Center. Today, NCHC provides quality care to more than one-third of Vermonters in its region, including dental care, primary care, home health care, and hospice services.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and Agency of Commerce and Community Development today announced the first round of approved grant applications for projects that spur economic recovery through the Community Recovery and Revitalization Program. The program, being administered by the Department of Economic Development, aims to strengthen communities across the state by reversing the harm caused by the COVID-19 pandemic through assistance with capital investments that will help businesses, nonprofits, and municipalities to recover, retain existing jobs, and grow the economy. Thirty-one projects have been approved by an inter-agency committee, resulting in a proposed award amount of $10,328,196 which is expected to support $153,515,054 in total project costs. The 31 projects are expected to support 354 existing jobs and enable the creation of 205 new jobs, 79 new affordable housing units, and 196 new childcare slots for low- to moderate-income families.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) is alerting customers that forecasters have now expanded the Winter Storm Warning to a larger section of Vermont, including Addison, Lamoille, Essex, and Caledonia Counties with Advisories expanded to Eastern Franklin and Eastern Chittenden Counties, as a long-duration storm event dumps heavy, wet snow across the state and entire Northeast region. Crews have restored power to more than 21,000 customers since the storm began last night, as the water-laden snow from this region-wide Nor’easter takes down trees and lines. Travel is expected to be difficult throughout the day, and more outages are expected as the wet heavy snow is forecasted to keep falling into Wednesday. Windham and Windsor Counties have been especially hard hit.

Vermont Business Magazine Keri LeCompte of Hinesburg, Vermont has been named the first Program Director for Lifestyle Medicine at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont, the state’s only local, non-profit health plan. In this new role, Keri will lead the planning, development, evaluation and implementation of effective lifestyle medicine strategies, initiatives, programs, and procedures that address the root cause of the growing problem of chronic disease for our members. Lifestyle medicine is an evidence-based educational approach that can address up to 80% of chronic disease, while empowering and motivating patients to take control of their own health through sustainable behavior change. Implementing these practices have also shown a reduction in provider burnout.