Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Senators Peter Welch (D-VT) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Representative Julia Brownley (D-CA) today introduced legislation to lower costs for veterans traveling to receive medical care through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). By increasing the VA’s travel reimbursement rate, the Driver Reimbursement Increase for Veteran Equity (DRIVE) Act will make it easier for veterans to receive essential health care and ensure reimbursement rates keep pace with future inflation and fluctuations in gas prices. The bill is particularly important for veterans from small and rural communities, many of whom travel long distances to receive essential medical care through the VA.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Board of Trustees today re-elected Ron Lumbra to serve as chair and welcomed three new members following a special meeting. Lumbra, who is scheduled to serve on the board until March 2028, was re-elected as the board’s chair for a fourth one-year term. Lumbra is a partner in the CEO & Board Practice of Heidrick & Struggles and based in New York. Previously, Lumbra was managing partner of the firm’s Centers of Excellence Americas region. Lumbra has more than 22 years of executive search and succession consulting experience and an extensive track record of recruiting board directors and chief executive officers to a broad variety of clients. Born and raised in Vermont, in St Albans and Montgomery respectively, Lumbra completed his undergraduate studies at UVM, and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University.

Vermont Business Magazine Williston-based 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 preliminary revenue for the full year 2022 was approximately $74-76 million, 63%-68% higher than the $45.3 million reported for full year 2021, and at the high end of the revenue range of $70-75 million forecasted in November 2022.In addition, iSun expects total revenues for full year 2023 to be approximately $95-100 million, a 27%-33% increase over preliminary full year 2022 total revenues, reflecting the increased new business awards the company secured across its business in the second half of 2022 and its progress in working through its backlog.

Vermont Business Magazine The United States Attorney’s Office, the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, and the Rutland Area NAACP will be co-hosting a Hate-Free Vermont Forum in St Albans on March 13, 2023 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. This forum will be the third held in an ongoing series; last year, Hate-Free Vermont Forums took place in Rutland and Bennington.

Vermont Business Magazine Regarding S100 (An act relating to housing opportunities made for everyone) now being considered in the Legislature, Vermont Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Government Affairs, Megan Sullivan: “For an economically secure, sustainable, and equitable future, Vermont needs more people to be able to move here to live and work. S100, the ‘HOME’ bill, would make meaningful progress to create more housing, but only if the legislation is not stripped of its essential zoning reform elements.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Wednesday announced that next week the committee will hold a vote on issuing a subpoena for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to provide testimony about his company’s lack of compliance with federal labor law and to authorize a committee investigation into major corporations’ labor law violations. The subpoena and investigation votes will take place during an executive session of the committee on March 8 at 10 a.m. ET and will be followed by a hearing on defending the constitutional right of workers to organize a union and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. It will feature AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, SEIU President Mary Kay Henry, and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien.

by Bill Schubart On its surface, the term “affordability agenda,” often used by our Governor and legislators, makes sense… but it’s important to dig in and examine the politics behind it. A recent feature article in England’s Guardian headlined “Unhoused children are at high risk in rural Vermont,” reports Vermont has the second-highest per capita homeless rate in the nation. It further shows that a majority of Vermonters can’t afford to live here in reasonable middle-class comfort. Unfortunately, the administration and some legislators choose to see this only as the result of taxes, fees, and regulatory restrictions rather than inadequate investments in people, families, and communities.

Union Mutual Insurance Company was recently named one of the 2023 Best Places to Work in Vermont. This is the 10th consecutive year that the Company has received this award, which is based in part on anonymous employee surveys. The 17th annual list of the Best Places to Work in Vermont was created by Vermont Business Magazine, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, the Vermont Department of Economic Development, the Vermont Department of Labor, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) – Vermont State Council and Best Companies Group.

Vermont Business Magazine UnitedHealthcare (UHC) recently announced termination of its commercial insurance provider network contract with the University of Vermont Health Network. This contract non-renewal impacts providers and facilities in Vermont and upstate New York, including the University of Vermont Medical Center, Central Vermont Medical Center, Porter Medical Center, Alice Hyde Medical Center, Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital and Elizabethtown Community Hospital and takes effect April 1, 2023 for most affected plans. As a result, most non-emergency services will no longer be covered as an in-network benefit under commercial UHC plans. Only Commercial UHC plans, such as those provided by employers or purchased directly, are affected by the non-renewal.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles Enforcement & Safety Division can provide the following update on the collision that occurred Monday, February 27, 2023, between an Amtrak train and a commercial vehicle in Sharon, VT. The tractor-trailer unit was in motion as it crossed the tracks, at which point the Amtrak train collided with the trailer that was hauling stone. The trailer broke free from the truck at impact, keeping the truck from being dragged along the tracks. The driver of the commercial motor vehicle was issued a violation for attempting to cross the railroad tracks when unsafe to do so.

Vermont Business Magazine After decades of providing specialized educational services to pregnant and parenting teens, Lund has announced the discontinuation of the New Horizon Education Program (NHEP). Since the early 1990’s NHEP, a state of Vermont approved education program, has helped hundreds of young parents who were at risk of not obtaining their high school degrees. NHEP was originally launched to ensure that the educational needs of pregnant and parenting teens in Lund’s residential treatment program were addressed. At that time most parents in the Residential program were minors. Over the last decade, Lund has observed a change in the age of parents in the residential treatment program; and over the last several years, we have observed that more parents coming in to the program have already obtained their high school diplomas.