Current News

by Joyce Marcel, Vermont Business Magazine It was a sun-splashed late spring day with a light breeze whipping up the waters of Lake Champlain. A couple of intrepid windsurfers were plowing through the waves. And in the parking lot of HULA, the new multi-million dollar high-tech business Xanadu in Burlington’s South End, the man who created it, Russ Scully, rode in on a bicycle to talk. Tall, blond, tanned, incredibly fit, with cheekbones that look like they could cut glass and wearing flip-flops, Scully, 52, looks like a surfer dude and talks like a buttoned-down businessman. That he happens to be both is one of the engaging mysteries about him.

Vermont Business Magazine More than 900 cyclists are expected to roll in the 16th annual Kelly Brush Ride powered by VBT Bicycling Vacations on September 11 in Middlebury, Vermont. The ride’s longer routes loop though Charlotte. The ride is the Kelly Brush Foundation’s largest annual fundraising event focused on the foundation’s mission to improve the lives of those with spinal cord injury through sports and recreation.

Vermont Business Magazine This weekly report is a list of planned construction activities that will have traffic impacts on state highways throughout Vermont. Construction crews will be off on Monday, September 6, in observance of Labor Day. Please remember to drive safely in all work zones. Lives depend on it.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine This week marks the last full week of the federal pandemic unemployment benefits. The benefits extended regular UI payments, included “gig” workers with the PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance) program and added $300 a week to all claimants who lost work because COVID-19. Whether workers coming off unemployment will help fill holes in the workforce was a question before the Delta variant hit in early July. Now there is evidence that Delta is indeed keeping workers away.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Department of Health is reporting one more COVID-19 death for 280 statewide, with 96 new cases, 31 hospitalized and 11 in the ICU. Hospitalizations were up two from yesterday and ICU stays were up three.

Vermont Business Magazine The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an evaluation and summary of findings of the first two performance years (2018 and 2019) of Vermont’s All-Payer Model (APM), finding promising results that indicate the APM and Vermont’s Accountable Care Organization, OneCare Vermont, are on the right track toward transforming the way health care is paid for and delivered.

Vermont Business Magazine Agency of Human Services Secretary Mike Smith announced today that the Green Mountain Care Board and the Department of Financial Regulation are joining the agency’s investigation into wait times for medical appointments at health care organizations in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site is proud to host the 16th annual Plymouth Folk & Blues Festival this coming Labor Day Weekend, September 4 and 5. This year, the festival has been selected as a “Top 10 Fall Event” by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. Stars from Vermont and internationally known musicians team up for a lively two-day festival of folk and blues music performed in the pure country air of historic Plymouth Notch. The concerts are free; a donation is suggested.

Vermont Business Magazine The US Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday awarded a total of $625,000 to Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity and Vermont Legal Aid to support their efforts to address violations of the Fair Housing Act and helping to end discrimination in housing. This funding is part of $47.4 million being awarded to 120 national and local fair housing organizations across the country under HUD’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP). The funding will allow the grantees to provide fair housing enforcement by conducting investigations, testing to identify discrimination in the rental and sales markets, and filing fair housing complaints with HUD.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) will hold five outdoor town meetings across Vermont over Labor Day weekend, September 4 to 6. The town meetings in Springfield, Newport, St. Johnsbury, Brattleboro, and Middlebury are an opportunity for communities to come together and hear about the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill and how it will make major investments in working families in Vermont and across the country. In addition to live music and free food, there will be free COVID-19 vaccines available without appointment at each community event.

Vermont Business Magazine With its next specialty beer release, Lawson’s Finest Liquids is taking craft beer lovers on a journey to New Zealand. Kiwi, a double IPA that has never been available outside the brewery’s Waitsfield Taproom until now, is brewed with a massive charge of New Zealand-grown Nelson Sauvin and Pacific Jade hops. Beginning this week, Kiwi will be stocked at retailers across Lawson’s Finest’s nine-state distribution area (VT, CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, and RI).

Vermont Specialty Food Association The strong support of Vermonters far and wide helped the Vermont Specialty Food Association to raise over $1200 to support Vermont specialty food and beverage producers of all shapes and sizes during its inaugural raffle fundraiser. Winners were drawn on August 31st and have been notified by email that they were the recipient of one of ten prizes. Raffle participants should check their email provided at the time of donation to see if they were selected for a prize.