Current News

Vermont Business Magazine FEMA recently awarded a $1,972,612 grant to the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development for the state’s Emergency Feeding Program. The grant covers 100% of the costs of the state’s “Vermont Everyone Eats” program, which provides nutritious meals to high-risk populations impacted by COVID-19 throughout Vermont. The program is administered by the Westminster-based Southeastern Vermont Community Action.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced Vermont Everyone Eats, an innovative COVID-19 response program, is marking one million restaurant meals served to Vermonters experiencing food insecurity. The program was launched in August 2020 to leverage Vermont’s independent restaurants and robust local food system to help feed families and Vermonters in need. Over 200 Vermont restaurants have contributed to the one million meals, which have contained nearly $1 million of Vermont-produced ingredients.

Vermont Business Magazine The US Department of Labor today announced the award of five grants totaling more than $103 million to five state agencies to continue and expand pilot projects to help newly injured and ill workers remain in the workforce. Agencies in Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio and Vermont will receive funds to begin the second phase of demonstration projects in the development of the Retaining Employment and Talent after Injury/Illness Network. RETAIN focuses on implementing and evaluating stay-at-work and return-to-work strategies to help people to remain effective contributors to the labor force following illness or injury.

Vermont Department of Public Safety On the evening of April 25th, 2021, the St Johnsbury Fire Department responded to a report of fire at the Canterbury Inn Residential Care Facility in St Johnsbury. The facility is a wood framed three story structure, which contained accommodations for approximately 42 residents. Upon arrival, crews found heavy smoke conditions on the first floor and patients were being evacuated from the building. At that time a second alarm was struck and local ambulance crews were dispatched to begin assisting with relocating patients to local hotels.

Vermont Business Magazine Manufactured homes, formerly referred to as mobile homes, comprise over 6 percent of America’s housing stock and represent an even larger share of housing for low- and moderate-income (LMI) households. A new, two-volume report from the nonprofit Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) argues that this market should receive targeted attention so that solar is developed equitably and more segments of society are able to realize the economic benefits from solar.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today signed into law the following bills, passed by the General Assembly: H.20, An act relating to pretrial risk assessments and pretrial services; H.151, An act relating to vital records, mausoleums and columbaria, and emergency health orders; H.154, An act relating to the failure of municipal officers to accept office.

by Secretary Julie Moore, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources If we want to revitalize vacant village centers, encourage compact development, expand the availability of affordable housing and high-quality childcare, address the growing climate crisis, attract younger people to stay in and move to Vermont, and invest in workforce development, we need to look underground. I’m not talking figuratively. The solution, quite literally, lies beneath our feet.

Vermont Business Magazine Grid innovations, VEC’s new commitment to cleaner power, a conversation about state policy with Lt. Gov. Molly Gray, and other topics are on the agenda for Vermont Electric Co-op’s Annual Meeting set for May 8. The meeting, entitled An Adaptable Resilient Grid: Teaming up for a Bright Future.

by David Kelley When I was young everyone in my family hunted and fished. In fact, when I was young, it seemed like everyone in Vermont hunted and fished. At Otter Valley, where I went to high school, absenteeism shot up during deer season. Going to deer camp was a rite of passage for most teenage boys. Almost all of my neighbors hunted and fished. On the other hand, I never knew a single person who trapped until years later when I moved to Montana. In Montana I occasionally worked with a neighbor who claimed to be a direct descendant of Kit Carson, and who was a trapper. In Montana I got to see trapping up close and personal. It wasn't pretty.

Vermont Business Magazine Starting tomorrow, vaccine registration opens to college students who are residents of another state and do not intend to stay in Vermont for the summer, as well as to people who live part of the year in Vermont. The VDH today is reporting 48 new cases of COVID-19, as numbers stay low. However, there was one more death for 246 statewide. Over 60 percent of Vermont adults have received at least one shot.

Vermont Business Magazine National Life released its 2020 Annual Report, which highlights the company’s response to doing business during the global pandemic. Accomplishments included: Life sales were $354 million; $3.1 billion was paid to policy owners in benefits; the company remained first for Fixed Indexed Annuities in Employer Sponsored Plans; core earnings of $289 million set a record for the company; $1.99 million was donated through the National Life Group Foundation.

Vermont Business Magazine Out of concern for Lake Champlain’s underwater ecosystems, the Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) and the Lake Champlain Committee (LCC) have appealed a permit issued by the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) to allow the sinking of a 152-foot-long ferry near the Burlington waterfront. The permit authorizes the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation and the Lake Champlain Transportation Company to sink the MV Adirondack as an artificial reef for recreational use by scuba divers.