Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Von Bargen's Jewelry has donated a gold pendant valued at $4,550 to Howard Center for the Creating Hope raffle to raise funds for Street Outreach. All 150 tickets sold out in the first 24 hours of the raffle. A winner will be drawn February 1. The raffle prize is a stunning piece of jewelry that was recently returned to Von Bargen's after a theft from their store on Church Street. Von Bargen’s staff hope to turn a challenging situation into an opportunity to benefit Howard Center’s Street Outreach team whose work supports the downtown district every day.

by Brian Leffler and Nikki Tetrault Instrumart is a 34-year-old Vermont-based company that was recently voted one of the Best Places to Work in the State of Vermont. Happily calling ourselves an employee-focused company, we are keenly interested in the health and well-being of the families which make up our collective Instrumart family. For example, Instrumart provides 100% employer-paid health insurance benefits for our employees and their families. This is an investment that we make in our employees and their family's well-being and, we think this investment and our return on this investment are well worth the cost.

by Dr Michael G. Leichliter We’ve all seen the egg story — a dozen eggs is, at its cheapest, more than five dollars in Vermont stores currently. For the two in five people who experience hunger in our state, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The looming end of SNAP Emergency Allotments from the federal government, one of several COVID-19 pandemic federal nutrition supports that have been withdrawn, means that about $6 million that has sustained so many of our neighbors - and many of my district’s students and their families, will leave an impossible hole to fill. All this is to say that now is the time to celebrate Vermont’s successes and continue to work toward solidifying the supports we have in place now — like Universal School Meals.

by Devon Green, VP of Government Relations, Vermont Association of Hospitals & Health Systems With all the new legislators, I worried about endless introductory presentations and a slow start before delving into the issues. I’m happy to report that I was wrong. Whether it’s the joy of being back in person, or the infusion of new members, or the sheer amount of work that needs to be done, there’s a new energy in the building. Legislators get that the “village is on fire” and they’re getting down to work.

Vermont Business Magazine Christopher Petry, RN, a nurse in the Emergency Department at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), was the December recipient of the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC). Petry grew up in Manchester, VT, and received his nursing degree as a part of Army training and through Weber State University in Utah. He was stationed at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX, and in Utah before returning to Vermont to work at SVMC in 2015.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported January 18, 2023, that hospitalizations have fallen, as have overall COVID-19 cases. COVID-19 activity had risen to a "Medium" level during the holidays after being in the "Low" range in the late fall, according to the VDH. Hospitalizations fell to 31 last week (they were as low as 30 last fall). Total cases fell to 423. The total number of COVID-19 deaths in Vermont is 884, as of January 17. Of those, 699 have been of Vermonters 70 or older. There have been 3 deaths of Vermonters under 30. With 3 deaths in the last week and 8 so far this month, January is on pace to have the fewest COVID-related fatalities since the summer of 2021.

by Steven Berbeco The Vermont Mayors Coalition recently announced a 2023 legislative agenda that supports the eight communities represented in the coalition, from Vermont’s largest, Burlington, to some of the smallest, Winooski and Vergennes. It’s exciting to see our elected officials coming together over a priority that has been on the minds of many of us: Mental Health. As we emerge from the pandemic, again and again our communities have identified access to effective and appropriate mental health services as essential to all of us.

Vermont Business Magazine For the past 12 years, the organization working to promote St. Johnsbury as a destination, to support its business community, and to develop its cultural vitality has been called the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce. The organization announced last week in a letter to the St. Johnsbury business community that it will be known under a different name going forward. Discover St Johnsbury will become the outward-facing name for an organization that is officially incorporated as St Johnsbury Works! Inc., with the additional trade name St Johnsbury Business Alliance used for internal organizational purposes.

by John McClaughry The bulk of the draft bill spells out the procedures the new Commission must follow to collect the required over-order premiums from the handlers, who of course will add the cost to the price of the milk they sell to retailers that is then marked up to their customers. The over-order price must of course not create an incentive for Vermont’s 583 surviving producers to produce more milk. The Commission is authorized to declare what above-market price the handlers must pay to producers – a hidden tax on milk. The price increase will eventually be charged to consumers, and anybody offering milk for less will be hammered with “administrative penalties.” This is nothing less than a price control takeover of the Vermont dairy industry.

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are up 10 cents in the last week to $3.51 per gallon today, according to GasBuddy. They're up 14 cents over the last month and are 15 cents higher than they were one year ago. The cheapest price is $3.21/g in Brattleboro and the highest is $3.69/g in Milton, Morrisville, Richford and East Berkshire. The national average price of gasoline has risen 10 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.39/g today.