Current News

by Heather Lemon, Retirement Plan Consultant, NBT Investment Services Vermont’s small-town feel and picturesque beauty make it an ideal place to escape the hustle and bustle of a big city. If you’re looking for a place to retire with natural surroundings and a strong sense of community, Vermont should be on your list. If you are considering retiring in Vermont, planning your path is important.

Vermont Business Magazine The 2021/22 ski and ride season is officially underway, and Vail Resorts' annual Cyber Sale offers travelers a limited-time opportunity to save on lodging rates at hotel rooms, condos, and chalets across its portfolio of premier destinations in the United States and Canada. From Tuesday, November 23 through Tuesday, November 30, guests can book midweek stays discounted up to 40% throughout the entire ski and ride season. Vail owns Mt Snow, Okemo and Stowe Mountain resorts in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power and VERMONT Magazine are urging writers to get their entries ready for one of the state’s premiere literary contests, the Vermont Writer’s Prize. The prize is awarded in two categories – prose and poetry. Each winner receives $1,250 and their works will be published in VERMONT Magazine’s Summer 2022 issue.

Vermont Business Magazine The Accreditation Committee of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) has awarded accreditation to the laboratory at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC). The laboratory is staffed by a team of phlebotomists, technical laboratory technologists, medical technologist, cytologist, and pathologists who work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to deliver laboratory results to the patients of SVMC.

“Laboratory accreditation ensures accuracy,” said Karen Bond, the department’s director. “CAP’s vigorous inspection confirms that SVMC is delivering high quality results that patients and their physicians can trust.”

Vermont Agency of Transportation This weekly report is a list of planned construction activities for the week of November 22 that will have traffic impacts on state highways throughout Vermont. Most crews will wrap work by Wednesday evening and be off through the weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday. As projects wind down for the season, this will serve as the final report for 2021. Travel Safely.

Vermont Business Magazine Livian, the real estate platform based in South Burlington and formerly known as Hergenrother Realty Group (HRG), has recently launched. HRG and Keller Williams (KW), the world’s largest real estate franchise by agent count, have come together to form a new partnership: Livian. Livian currently has 33 real estate teams in 21 states, powered by 270 real estate agents and 40 employees nationwide. Through partnering with KW, Livian now has the full support it needs to truly scale its platform and help its partners grow their businesses to their highest potential.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Smoke & Cure, founded in 1962, is stepping out of a crowded meat sticks landscape post-pandemic with renewed strategy and robust product innovation. The Vermont Smoke & Cure team makes delicious meat sticks at their smokehouse in Hinesburg, Vermont. Launched in eCommerce on August 24, 2021, the new Hickory Smoked Uncured Bacon Pork Mini Sticks taste like the protein you love, bacon, with a smoky flavor and a hint of maple syrup.

Vermont Business Magazine Years in the making, Peaceful Harvest Mushrooms is excited to announce the launch of their latest product, Cordyceps Militaris, Dried, Whole, Fruiting Bodies. They’re one of only a handful of certified organic cultivators of the whole fruiting body, the mushroom itself, in the United States. Most US cultivators only grow the mycelium which is much faster and easier. The coveted fruiting body is more potent, providing all the potential benefits known, and yet to be discovered.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health is reporting 461 COVID-19 cases, which is among the highest on record, though down from Thursday's 517. The 17 worst days have all come since mid-September, following from the Delta variant surge that began in July. The Legislature will hold a special session this Monday to consider allowing local towns and cities to enact their own local mask mandates. Governor Scott called the session to address that issue. Legislative leaders have been clamoring instead for a statewide mask mandate in response to the recent surge in COVID cases.

Public Assets Institute Vermont netted a loss of just 75 businesses between March 2020 and March 2021, according to new data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. That followed a net loss of 258 businesses during the previous 12 months, most of which occurred around the onset of the pandemic. Between March 2020 and March 2021, nearly 2,500 businesses shut their doors, but more than 2,400 opened or reopened, most likely thanks to massive federal spending to mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic.

Vermont Business Magazine iSun, Inc, a Williston-based leading solar energy and clean mobility infrastructure company with 50 years of construction experience in solar, electrical and data services, has announced its earnings outlook for FY2022.
iSun forecasts 2022 revenues of $165 million across its Residential, Commercial, Industrial and Utility segments, with an aggregate gross margin between 18% and 21%. iSun anticipates achieving these targets through a combination of organic growth, geographic expansion, continued execution of its project backlog and consumer demand.

Vermont Business Magazine United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Rural Development Xochitl Torres Small today announced that USDA is investing $222 million to build and improve critical community facilities in 44 states, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico. This community infrastructure funding will benefit nearly 2.5 million people in rural communities. This includes the Sharon Academy’s new STEM & arts wing—courtesy of a $1.91 million USDA RD loan. It also includes $132 million to support health care, food security, and emergency response services for more than 850,000 rural residents in 37 states.