Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) has released updated guidance for professional services, yard sales, swimming facilities, and lodging properties. This guidance, developed with the Department of Health and Department of Public Safety, is in accordance with Governor Phil Scott’s Be Smart, Stay Safe initiative and goes into effect immediately. While this new guidance only clarifies existing rules, this moves up the lodging reopenings which had been set for May 22. The swimming issue had been moot until now because of chilly weather, but the forecast is now for temperatures in the 70s for the next week and pushing 80.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today reported that there were four new cases of COVID-19 for a statewide total of 944. There were no new deaths, which remain at 54. Although the data continues to show Vermont is doing well in its efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19, the VDH warns that we cannot let our guard down. As Vermont slowly reopens, physical distancing from others, wearing face coverings and handwashing continue to be essential.

Vermont Business Magazine The Commissioner of Taxes, under Governor Scott’s directive, exercised his authority to waive penalties and interest for estimated income tax payments that are originally due June 15, 2020 so long as they are paid by July 15, 2020. The directive was announced today.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Community Foundation has distributed its third and largest round of grants totaling $622,334 from the VT COVID-19 Response Fund. The latest grants are designed to support the rapidly changing landscape of relief efforts throughout the state and are focused on youth and family centers, mental and behavioral health services, housing and legal services, and organizations that work with communities of color, indigenous people, and migrant workers. Among the grants is a $60,000 award to the Vermont Foodbank to purchase and process surplus local milk for the charitable food system through a partnership with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets.

Vermont Business Magazine The Centers for Living and Rehabilitation (CLR), part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC), has earned deficiency-free status, the highest given, on a survey meant to determine ability to prevent transmission of COVID-19 and other infections to those living, recovering, and working within long-term care facilities.

Vermont Business Magazine Following guidance from the state and the easing of restrictions, Gifford Health Care in Randolph is working toward returning to pre-pandemic levels of service, including resuming all outpatient surgical procedures at its medical center. In addition to surgical services, all of Gifford’s clinics throughout the region, primary care and specialty, are open, and diagnostic services, such as laboratory work and imaging, are also available.

Vermont Business Magazine A national report released today indicates that Vermont has seen one of the highest increases in hospital expenses in the US. The influx brought on from the pandemic comes at a time where hospital expenses are at an all-time high after a decade of steep increases. The report was undertaken by QuoteWizard, a LendingTree company, and one of the nation's leading online insurance marketplaces based on American Hospital Association data via Kaiser Family Foundation, from 2009 to 2018.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Farm & Forest Viability Program, a program of the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board, is expanding services to help working lands businesses navigate urgent needs related to COVID-19. Funding for these new services is provided through generous support of $50,000 from the Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Initiative (WLEI).

Vermont Business Magazine Saint Michael’s College faculty collaborators Melissa VanderKaay Tomasulo, PhD of neuroscience/psychology and Dagan Loisel, PhD of biology learned this week that a “small-scale research grant” of $25,000 through the Vermont Space Grant Consortium has been funded in full. The goal of the study is to identify stress-relieving countermeasures that astronauts could use during long-duration space missions to reduce stress and its ability to cause immune dysregulation, which refers to negative changes in the body's normal ability to fight off infections and disease.

Vermont Business Magazine Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices has announced the addition of Jack Associates Real Estate to the network. The brokerage, headquartered in South Burlington, has served the area for 45 years and will operate as Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Vermont Realty Group going forward.

by John McClaughry A major and depressing casualty of the COVID-19 economic lockdown is the calamitous effect it is having on small business, especially retail, entertainment, and restaurant firms and the service market of electricians, plumbers, and other skilled tradespeople. Massive Federal aid spending, such as unemployment payments and the Paycheck Protection Program, provide welcome short term relief, but they won’t last forever.

On the brighter side, numerous individual and community based efforts are springing up to help small businesses stay alive. Some of these can and should survive well into the future, when the economy has struggled back to something resembling normal. Here are some creative ideas that can be put into place without any drain on tax dollars.

Vermont Business Magazine Last Friday, Governor Phil Scott announced new guidance for the reopening of lodging establishments. Effective this Friday, May 22, lodging operations, short-term rentals, campgrounds, and marinas may accept overnight reservations from Vermont residents and those who have met the 14-day quarantine requirement.