Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation (FPR), which owns and manages the Perry Hill Block within the CC Putnam State Forest, announces a pilot winter recreation management program which aims to reduce negative impacts to wildlife while providing an enjoyable winter recreational experience to the public. FPR will be partnering with the town of Waterbury and the Waterbury Area Trails Alliance (WATA) to provide groomed fat bike, snowshoe, ski, and pedestrian access to select trails. The program begins today, February 12.

Vermont Business Magazine The 2021 tax season officially opens on February 12 at both the federal and state levels. This is the date that the IRS and Vermont begins accepting and processing personal income tax returns for tax year 2020. The Department offers tips to make filing go smoothly and get your refund faster.

Vermont Business Magazine New England’s annual capacity auction for power system resources concluded Monday with sufficient resources to meet peak electric demand in 2024-2025, with preliminary clearing prices ranging from $2.48 per kilowatt-month (kW-month) to $3.98 kW-month across different pricing zones. ISO New England Inc runs the auction to procure the resources needed to meet consumer demand for electricity in three years.

by Jack Hoffman, Public Assets Institute Benefit cliffs are a real problem. The term is used to describe the predicament people get into when earning more income makes them ineligible for certain public benefits. Their income goes up, but then they fall off a benefit cliff. “Benefit cliffs’ is also one of those technocratic terms that’s hard to get excited about. But that could all change if enough people read just a short section of the Final Report of the Vermont Tax Structure Commission. It cuts through all of the usually confusing information and describes clearly the reality of a problem that needs fixing.

Vermont Business Magazine Community Heart & Soul Wednesday announced its new Community Heart & Soul Seed Grant Program, a funding opportunity for small cities and towns nationwide. The Community Heart & Soul Seed Grant Program provides startup funding of $10,000 for resident-driven groups in communities with populations of 2,500 to 30,000 to implement the Community Heart & Soul model. The Community Heart & Soul model engages the entire population of a town in identifying what they love most about their community, what future they want for it, and how to achieve it.

The five-year contract, valued at approximately $7M USD, was awarded after a rigorous and competitive technical evaluation.

Vermont Business Magazine Commercial calibration instrument and service provider Transmille Calibration, Inc. in Colchester has been awarded a five-year contract, valued at an approximated $7 million, from Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal (ACC-RA) for the supply of over 300 Multi Product Calibrators (MPC) to the United States Army.

Multi Product Calibrators are used to calibrate a wide variety of handheld and bench mount digital multimeters and electronic test tools. A customized version of Transmille’s 4000 series will be used by Army CALSETS group in their mission to develop and deliver calibration measurement accuracy to the Army.

Vermont Business Magazine KeyCorp recently received two national honors that highlight its longstanding commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. KeyCorp is the holding company for KeyBank, with branches across Vermont. The recognition includes: Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality. For the thirteenth time, Key was recognized by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) as a leading employer for LGBTQ Equality. Key scored a perfect 100 points on the Corporate Equality Index is the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies, practices and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 122 new cases COVID-19 after two days of cases well under 100. There was also one more deeath for a statewide total of 188. Also, the City of Burlington’s testing of wastewater has detected the presence of two COVID-19 virus mutations that are associated with the B.1.1.7 variant, first detected in the United Kingdom. Detection of these two mutations is a strong indicator that the B.1.1.7 variant is present in the community.

Vermont Business Magazine Late yesterday afternoon, the City of Burlington received test results from its COVID-19 Wastewater Monitoring Program that detected evidence of two COVID-19 mutations that are associated with the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first detected in the United Kingdom. Though this finding will not be definitive until it is confirmed through genomic sequencing, it indicates that the B.1.1.7 variant is likely now present in Burlington at a low level. The B.1.1.7 variant has been found in 34 U.S. states according to the CDC, and has not previously been identified in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Green Building Network’s (VGBN) ninth annual Vermont’s Greenest Building Awards Competition is now open for submissions. This statewide competition recognizes exemplary residential and commercial buildings that excel in green building strategies – including water, health, transportation, and affordability – and meet the highest standard of demonstrated energy performance.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott, the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation and the Vermont Advisory Council on Historic Preservation today announced the recipients of the 2021 State Historic Preservation Grants. The grants, totaling $204,896, were awarded to 13 municipalities and non-profit organizations statewide in eight counties, facilitating the repair and rehabilitation of important historic buildings.

Vermont Business Magazine The Bennington Opioid Response Team, which formed in the spring of 2018, is eager to share recent updates on its work and to gather feedback from the community. The group is comprised of over 40 individuals from community organizations, including health care, mental health, recovery, government, law enforcement, housing, transportation, and prevention. It’s mission is to improve quality of life by reducing the adverse effects of opioid use in the community.