Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund (VILDF) today announced that it has raised more than $500,000 from over 1250 donors across the state since its launch on May 8, 2025. The organization has a goal to raise $1 million to create a sustainable immigration legal defense system in Vermont. The rapid rate of fundraising is because of a groundswell of support all over Vermont. The funds raised are from not just planned events, but also spontaneous gatherings – concerts, parties, art auctions, church gatherings – by people motivated to uphold the right to due process for all persons as it is enshrined in the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution.

Vermont Business Magazine Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity held a community groundbreaking ceremony for its newest project — a permanently affordable duplex home for two local families — on Wednesday at 804 North Main Street. Some 40 residents came to the event. Comments welcoming the community effort came from Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski, Select Board Chair Charlie Morse, and Bill McCollough, Commandant and Vice-President of Student Affairs at Norwich University. Rev. Jay Voorhees of the United Methodist Church of Northfield offered the blessing of the site, which was followed by the ceremonial “shovels in the ground.”

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Saves retirement program has earned a national award for expanding retirement access to working Vermonters, Treasurer Pieciak announced today. The 2025 Excellence in Innovation Award, presented by the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association and Pension & Investment Magazine, recognized the Partnership for a Dignified Retirement (PDR) for outstanding achievement in financial inclusion and program innovation. PDR is an inter-state consortium of public retirement savings programs in Vermont, Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Nevada, and Minnesota. Together, they manage about 130,000 retirement accounts collectively saving over $200 million. The partnership lowers costs and improves efficiencies across state programs. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor (VDOL) is announcing the “Work Your Way” Job Fair Series, a statewide event for part-time and seasonal hiring. The series will take place on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, from 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at five American Job Centers across the state, providing job seekers with the flexibility to attend the location closest to them. 

Vermont Business Magazine Saint Michael’s College will host alumnus and National Public Radio’s Pentagon reporter Tom Bowman ’77 to speak on Veterans’ Day. Bowman has worked for NPR since 2006, after nine years at the Baltimore Sun, also reporting on the Pentagon. He will speak about his career as a reporter, including his experience covering 9/11 in Washington, D.C., reporting on the ground from combat zones, and the current climate of journalism covering politics and federal systems. The talk will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 11, in the Dion Family Student Center’s Roy Room (3rd floor). The event is free and open to the public. 

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $3.11 per gallon, up 4.7 cents per gallon from last week's $3.06/g.  The lowest price in the state yesterday was $2.85/g while the highest was $3.75/g, a difference of 90.0 cents per gallon. The national average price of gasoline has risen 4.8 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.03/g today.

Vermont Business Magazine GlobalFoundries (Nasdaq: GFS) today announced that it has entered into a technology licensing agreement with TSMC for 650V and 80V Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology. This strategic move will accelerate GF’s next generation of GaN products for datacenter, industrial and automotive power applications and provide U.S.-based GaN capacity for a global customer base. GF will qualify the licensed GaN technology at its manufacturing facility in Burlington, Vermont, leveraging the site’s expertise in high-voltage GaN-on-Silicon technology to accelerate volume production for customers seeking next-generation power devices. Development is set for early 2026, with production to begin later in the year. 

Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets Looking for a place to list your farmstand, u-pick, events, tours, or farm stay? The Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing (VDTM) manages VermontVacation.com, the best place to reach visitors. VDTM's trip-planning directory is the largest searchable tourism database in Vermont, with more than 180,000 unique users annually. A basic listing is free and gives you access to the statewide events calendar—great tools to help bring more visitors to your farm.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine In September, the Southwestern Vermont Chamber released its ”State of the Commerce” economic survey, revealing a blend of realism and resilience among over 100 businesses and organizations across various sectors and communities. Matt Harrington, the chamber’s executive director, emphasized the value of this feedback as a critical tool for data-driven decisions, enabling the organization to focus its energy on supporting the business community through current economic challenges and changes.

Vermont Business Magazine This weekly report is a list of planned construction activities that will affect traffic on state highways and interstates throughout Vermont for the week of November 10. Please remember to drive safely in all work zones. Lives depend on it.  

by Ben Kinsley, Executive Director of Campaign for Vermont Prosperity (CFV) Ah, the eternal tug-of-war between "things were better back in my day" and "look how far we've come." Art Woolf's latest Substack dispatch, "Things Are Better Today, Really," offers a counterpoint to claims of wage stagnation since the 1970s by populists like Bernie Sanders. Woolf highlights a 34% real increase in median family income from $79,000 in 1969 to $105,800 in 2023 (adjusted dollars), and a 20% rise in median household income to $83,000 over that same period. He also emphasizes qualitative improvements — ­­such as advancements in consumer goods and medical technology —­ which inflation metrics often understate, that lead to an improved quality of life.

Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum invites you to a virtual Red Bench Speaker Series event, Celebrating Vermont’s Olympians: Inspiring Journeys to the Winter Games, featuring four remarkable women from the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. As we look ahead to the 2026 Winter Olympics, hear firsthand how they got their start, what it meant to make the U.S. Olympic Team, and who inspired them along the way. We’re honored to welcome Olympic gold medalist Barbara Ann Cochran, cross-country skiing pioneer Trina Hosmer, snowboarding trailblazer Betsy Shaw, and freestyle skiing legend Donna Weinbrecht for this inspiring conversation. The discussion will be moderated by Peter Graves, renowned television sportscaster and race announcer known as “the voice of skiing in America.”