Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger announced that the City of Burlington has broken ground to transform the Moran Municipal Generating Station into the Moran Frame. After more than 30 years of ideas and efforts to reimagine the long-abandoned former coal plant, the Moran Frame will restore public access to this part of the waterfront, stabilize and activate a derelict site, and create an iconic Burlington landmark that alludes to the area’s industrial past. The project represents the final piece of the broader transformation of Burlington’s northern waterfront that voters endorsed on Town Meeting Day 2014.

by UVM President Suresh Garimella New England colleges and universities are admired for their ability to marshal smart minds to tackle complex problems. This capacity has been evident throughout the pandemic, as their research, teaching and commitment to public service have demonstrated what they do best—chart new paths in the face of uncertainty. Analysis by the New England Board of Higher Education, an organization supporting students and institutions in the region, indicates that 65 of New England’s colleges and universities plan to provide on-campus and in-person instruction this fall. Ninety-eight will provide a hybrid of in-person and virtual learning, while 35 will support students all virtually. Each institution’s decision was made in response to the risk factors it faces as leaders do their best to respond to the unprecedented health emergency.

Vermont Business Magazine ACCD has launched the Restart Vermont Regional Marketing and Stimulus Grant Program. The program will provide $500,000 in grants to organizations for efforts and activities related to economic recovery, consumer stimulus, marketing, or tourism projects to support businesses that have suffered economic harm due to the COVID-19. Also, AAFM will begin accepting applications on August 19th for Agriculture and Working Lands Assistance grants. A total of $8.5 million is available to help farmers, meat and poultry processors, slaughterhouses, farmers markets, agricultural food products businesses, forest products businesses, and producer associations to cover losses and expenses caused by the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont State Police is investigating an apparent homicide that was reported Wednesday morning, August 19, 2020, in the town of Marshfield. Police received a call at 6:06 a.m. requesting emergency assistance at a home on Sunrise Drive. Responding troopers located the victim, a man in his 70s, deceased inside the house. Initial investigation indicates there is no threat to public safety.

Vermont Business Magazine The Agency of Commerce and the Department of Taxes reported Monday that more than $103 million in Vermont Economic Recovery Grants have been awarded to more than 3,500 businesses in 22 different sectors and in all 14 counties in Vermont. There are still funds available. The total amount per business also has been expanded for both new and those who have already received a grant to a maximum of $150,000 each. The Scott Administration will also ask the Legislature to expand eligibility.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott has signed onto a bipartisan letter calling on the US Department of Commerce and the US Census Bureau to restore the deadline for the 2020 US Census, which has been moved from October 31 to September 30, 2020. In addition to Governor Scott, the letter was signed by the governors of Oregon, Colorado, Washington, Michigan, Illinois, North Carolina, and New York.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont State Police has released traffic-stop data from 2019, marking the fifth consecutive year the agency has published its raw numbers to continue the public discussion on how to address racial disparities in discretionary car stops. Takeaways include that racial disparities remain in who is searched and who is issued traffic tickets compared with warnings and the majority of stops and searches of motorists occur on the interstates and involve vehicles with non-Vermont registration plates.

Vermont Business Magazine Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD also said Tuesday that there has been news about colleges and universities in other parts of the country needing to halt their return to school plans because of COVID-19 cases, but Vermont is in a different situation. So far, here in Vermont where students are still in the process of returning, there are four students testing positive at Norwich, one at Vermont Technical College, and six at the University of Vermont. The VDH also reported today that statewide there were three new cases of COVID-19 for a statewide total of 1,530. Since last Friday there have been 29 new cases.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott, the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) and the Department of Taxes today announced an increase to the maximum grant award for Economic Recovery Grants for Vermont businesses negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase in the maximum grant award is available to businesses in the lodging, retail, hospitality, arts, travel and event affiliated sectors that have continued capacity constraints.

Previously, businesses could receive up to $50,000 in grant funds. Now, businesses in eligible industries can receive up to an additional $100,000 in grant funding, for a total of $150,000 from the program. The increased maximum award is available both to new applicants to the program and to those businesses that have already received a $50,000 grant.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Poultney's Green Mountain College, which closed in 2019, will have a new owner - none other than the founder of Shoreham-based WhistlePig Whiskey, Raj Peter Bhakta. Bhakta’s winning bid today was $4.55 million. With a 10 percent buyer’s premium, the deal is valued at just over $5 million. Bhakta was one of three on-site bidders, with a couple more remote. The bidding began at $3 million, the so-called stalking horse bid that had been received and accepted well in advance of the auction.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan today joined a multistate coalition in filing a federal lawsuit challenging planned operational changes at the US Postal Service. The Postal Service’s sudden and unilateral changes deprived states of their procedural right to comment on such changes before implementation. The coalition argues that cuts at the Postal Service that impact mail service nationwide—eliminating staff overtime, altering operations at state distribution centers, and removing mail sorting equipment—cannot be lawfully implemented without a public notice and comment period.

Vermont Business Magazine Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) Tuesday called on the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to further delay the agency’s scheduled furlough of 13,000 public servants from August 30 to the end of the fiscal year. The action affects 1,109 Vermonters who earlier had received furlough notices effective August 3. ​