Current News

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Economic Development Commissioner Joan Goldstein on Tuesday reported that the state's Emergency Economic Recovery Grants became available as expected and without any major issues on Monday. Between the two different pots of money, there is nearly $170 million in state grants available to organizations that have suffered severe losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We saw quite a bit of traffic on the first day," she said. In all, 2,300 applications were submitted.

By Friday, there were 3,400 applications submitted, with 1,200 of those in the Tax Department program.

She urged businesses and nonprofits not to wait to apply because the grants are available on a first-come-first-served basis.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) is urging safety for customers as forecasters call for potentially strong pop-up thunderstorms across much of Vermont Wednesday afternoon, followed by sweltering heat Thursday and Friday. GMP is reminding customers to stay away from lines and trees if high winds take them down, and crews will respond as quickly and safely as possible.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) is encouraging members to conserve electricity Thursday and Friday, July 9 and 10, from 5 – 9 pm as demand for electricity is expected to spike because of high temperatures throughout New England.

Vermont Business Magazine The application for an Economic Recovery Grant is OPEN to Vermont businesses. With funding available to the State of Vermont through the federal Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF), these grants are intended for businesses who can demonstrate revenue loss in any one-month period from March 1, 2020 to August 31, 2020, when compared with the same month in 2019. ACCD is hosting a Webinar on Thursday, July 9th at 3 pm for more information about eligibility requirements, grant award calculation information, grant application processes, and what documents businesses will want to have prepared and on-hand when applying.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont State Police is investigating an incident in which Rutland City police officers shot and wounded a subject early Wednesday, July 8, 2020. Preliminary investigation indicates that at about 12:15 am, members of the Rutland City Police Department were conducting a narcotics investigation on Terrill Street involving a vehicle with two adult male occupants. During the subsequent interaction, city police fired upon the vehicle. The circumstances that prompted the shooting and the number of officers who fired is under investigation.

Vermont Business Magazine The way we work has likely forever changed due to the pandemic, and so has the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET), the state’s largest coworking community. As startups, remote workers, and entrepreneurs, resume or return to work their workspace needs are drastically different, but their desire to stay connected, productive, and innovative is the same, if not stronger.

Vermont Business Magazine Tech Vault, the premier “green” data center in the Northeast based in South Burlington, announced Monday that it is now offering direct connectivity to leading public cloud providers via Megaport, a global leading Network as a Service provider.

Vermont Business Magazine Recently, the Community Bank NA New England branches matched each dollar-for-dollar donation to the Burlington City Arts (BCA) up to $5,000 to support its educational programming and scholarship fund during its spring fundraising campaign, which ran through June 30.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont is strongly committed to meeting or exceeding all the expectations outlined In Governor Scott’s “Safe and Healthy Return to Campus” mandatory guidance document, UVM president Suresh V Garimella said. The document was published Monday and discussed in the governor’s press briefing today. Garimella was on the conference call today and UVM worked closely with the state in developing the guidance.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today released the state’s college reopening plan. The college task force is led by Rich Schneider, former president of Norwich University. Schneider pointed out that while these are the minimum requirements all colleges must adhere to; the schools could institute even stricter requirements.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today reported that there were three new cases of COVID-19 statewide. Health Commissioner Dr Mark Levine attributed Vermont's ongoing low case count to Vermonters' behavior in mask wearing and social distancing and to the state's vigilance in testing and contact tracing. The contact tracing helps prevent cases turning into clusters of cases which then can turn into outbreaks. In other states experiencing spikes in cases, they've had to even abandon contact tracing, he said, and reverted back into "Stay Home" type mitigation efforts in order to try and get the virus spread back under control.

Vermont Business Magazine The Board of Directors of Co-operative Insurance Companies is pleased to announce the election of Lee Dowgiewicz as President & CEO, effective July 1, 2020. Dowgiewicz joined Co-op in September 2019, and replaces retiring CEO Marie Jewett. He is a 29-year veteran of the insurance business, starting with ITT Hartford in 1991 as a commercial lines underwriter.