Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Last month, staff of Early Intervention/Children’s Integrated Services—part of Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC), and the Vermont Department for Children and Families—gathered for a photo in their new office space, which is located in Suite 200 of 339 Main Street in Bennington. The building was among those renovated during the Putnam Block Project. The program provides resources for families of children from birth to age 3 who have questions about their child’s development.

Vermont Business Magazine Available in Vermont, he US Postal Service is working with WeAreTeachers to introduce The USPS Pen Pal Project, a free educational program for students in grades three to five, this 2021-2022 school year. The USPS Pen Pal Project will provide 25,000 classrooms across the country the opportunity to partner with matched classes to write 1 million letters with the goal of building friendships and understanding diverse perspectives.

Vermont Business Magazine Tove Wear was established in 2017 and built around an innovative wrap-around denim skirt dubbed "The Maker Skirt." Locally designed by Tove Ohlander, a glass factory owner at AO Glass who wanted women's work-wear with personality, these skirts jumped into a movement already in full swing: women making stuff and/or making a difference. Tove is now opening a retail store in Burlington's South End.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) on Friday announced the largest ever investment of federal funds, both in Vermont and across the country, to bolster health care workforces in rural and underserved communities through loan repayments and scholarship programs. The historic $1.5 billion – made possible largely by the $1 billion in supplemental funding authorized through the American Rescue Plan (ARP), which was passed by the Senate and signed into law earlier this year – more than doubles the number of health care professionals around the country who will benefit from the programs.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today reported 482 cases of COVID-19. While this is down from Thursday's record, this is still a historically high number. Dr Levine has said he's concerned that the holiday would lead to higher case counts, which appears now to be the situation.

Citing outrageous costs and safety concerns around Alzheimer’s drug, Sanders calls for Medicare to negotiate drug prices

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) on Friday sent a letter to President Biden urging his administration to delay an increase in Medicare premiums coming in 2022 following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the outrageously expensive Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, which costs $56,000 per person each year.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont State Police is assisting federal law-enforcement authorities investigating a kidnapping that was interrupted Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021, at the US border with Canada on Interstate 89. State police investigators are asking that anyone who saw something out of the ordinary at the Exit 16 Champlain Farms or Maplefields convenience stores in Colchester between 3 am and 7 am Thursday contact the authorities.

​Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott, the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD), and the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) announced today that more than $7 million of the $25 million appropriated for brownfield site remediation has been committed to 10 projects across the state. The funding was previously announced by Governor Phil Scott as part of Act 74 and represents the first-time state dollars have been allocated to brownfield sites. Historically, remediation projects have been funded exclusively by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Vermont Business Magazine As the 2021 mountain bike season comes to an end, the Vermont Mountain Bike Association has just announced the recipients of their annual naming grants, highlighting some of the new trails we can expect to see in 2022. One of these naming grants is going to Richmond Mountain Trails (RMT) to launch a new trail network, “The Driving Range”, located off route 2 in Bolton. The network is named for the driving range that was once at the base of the property. The grant is provided by local solar installer SunCommon, covering roughly half of the anticipated costs of the first uphill and first downhill on the property.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Technical College’s Architectural and Building Engineering Technology Department at Vermont Technical College had both its bachelor’s degree and associate degree accreditations extended for an additional six years, the longest term that the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) grants. The programs, assessed under ABET’s Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission, received a final evaluation of “no findings,” which means the programs had no deficiencies, weaknesses, or concerns.

by Catherine Coteus, Board Member, Vermont Access to Reproductive Freedom The future of reproductive freedom is at stake. This week, the US Supreme Court heard arguments in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case, which challenges the constitutionality of Mississippi’s law banning abortions after 15 weeks. The Mississippi law is part of a growing trend among states to restrict, dismantle, hinder and eliminate abortion access that was firmly established in the US through extensive case precedent that bases the right to an abortion in the constitution.

​Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Patrick Leahy (D) and Vermont Governor Phil Scott (R) on Thursday announced that Vermont will be receiving $63,041,000 in funding for drinking water systems and wastewater treatment as a result of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed by President Biden late last month. The funds will go into the State’s revolving loan funds for drinking water and wastewater. Those funds are loaned or granted to municipalities for constructing, improving or expanding public drinking water and wastewater systems.