Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The US Small Business Administration's RRF program has received more than 147,000 applications from women, veterans, and socially- and economically-disadvantaged business owners requesting a total of $29 billion in relief funds, and more than 266,000 applications overall representing over $65 billion in requested funds nationwide. Though the program is oversubscribed, money remains in the $500 million carve out for the smallest restaurants with revenues up to $50,000. The application portal remains open for these businesses.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Taxes wants to remind Vermonters of the upcoming May 17, 2021 due date for federal and Vermont personal income taxes. Earlier this year, the federal and state filing due dates were extended to provide taxpayers additional time to navigate challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic or manage extra complexity in their tax returns this year.

Beer garden will be open seven days a week, offering fresh brews and an expanded food menu

Vermont Business Magazine Craft beer fans across the Northeast region can now make reservations at Lawson’s Finest Liquids outdoor beer garden, the brewery announced Thursday. Beginning May 15, Lawson’s Finest Liquids will be pouring fresh brews and serving up an expanded food menu seven days a week at its destination taproom and brewery located at 155 Carroll Road in Waitsfield, Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Since the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) opened in 2020, NBT Bank has funded over 6,000 loans exceeding $830 million in relief. These funds support small businesses and not-for-profit organizations in the communities NBT serves. NBT Bank has branches in western Vermont.

"With more than $285 million secured through 3,000 loans in 2021, the average size PPP loan at NBT for this most recent round of funding was $94,000,” said NBT Bank President and CEO John H. Watt, Jr. “In total, we provided support to organizations that employ 96,000 workers.”

The organizations supported by the PPP loans secured through NBT Bank include numerous main street retailers and minority and women-owned businesses, as well as rural hospitals and nursing homes, human and family services organizations, farms and other agricultural businesses, educational institutions, manufacturers, restaurants, contractors and construction businesses.

Vermont Business Magazine On a perfect day for its first outdoors Commencement since 1979, Saint Michael’s College welcomed several hundred vaccinated and distanced guests as nearly 300 members of the still-larger 437-member Class of 2021 graduated during separate morning and afternoon ceremonies to meet state COVID safety guidelines.

Vermont Business Magazine Approximately 6,300 vaccination appointments were made for 12- to 15-year-olds Thursday, the first day this age group became eligible for the Pfizer vaccine. This reflects the number made through the state’s registration system. Additional appointments were made directly through federal pharmacy partners. There are about 27,000 Vermonters in this age band. The VDH continues to open up more walk-in vaccination clinics for all adults across the state. Today, the VDH is reporting 72 new cases of COVID-19, with deaths holding at 252.

Vermont Business Magazine In partnership with the Vermont Chamber of Commerce and the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing, the Vermont Department of Health will host walk-in COVID-19 vaccine clinics for restaurant, hospitality, and tourism workers over the coming weeks. The initial wave of clinics will take place at seven locations, with each site offering Johnson & Johnson vaccines for tourism and hospitality workers on a walk-in basis. Clinics will be staged at restaurants, lodging properties, ski resorts, and other tourism attractions in an effort to bring the vaccine directly to the workers of this sector.

Vermont Business Magazine Middlebury College announced today that it will require all students, faculty, and staff at Middlebury College and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, CA, to be vaccinated this fall. The same requirement was previously announced for the Middlebury Language Schools this summer.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that two grantees in the state of Vermont have been selected to receive $1.1 million to assess and clean up contaminated properties under the agency’s Brownfields Program. These funds will support under-served and economically disadvantaged communities in assessing and cleaning up abandoned industrial and commercial properties. Northeastern Vermont Development Association (NVDA), in Lyndon, St Johnsbury, and Newport, will be awarded a $600,000 Assessment Coalition Grant. The town of St Johnsbury, will be awarded a $500,000 Cleanup Grant.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Thursday sent a letter to Labor Secretary Marty Walsh urging the Department of Labor to ensure that workers get life-saving unemployment benefits even as some Republican governors threaten to take it away.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power announced today that a new program is benefiting customers and the grid, and marks the first time stored energy in a network of residential batteries is being used to help keep the regional grid balanced. GMP’s pioneering new Frequency Regulation Pilot program allows customers to share stored energy with regional grid operator ISO-New England to keep a steady, regulated flow of energy on the grid at all times, a critical function for regional system safety and reliability for customers.

Vermont Business Magazine The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Joshua Preston, 32, of Johnson, Vermont, was arrested yesterday on a Criminal Complaint alleging that he possessed with intent to distribute heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and cocaine base in March of 2020.