Current News

Vermont Business Magazine ECFiber’s governing board voted unanimously to add four towns to its coverage area: Windsor along its southern edge, and Fairlee, West Fairlee, and Corinth along its northern edge. The action came at the annual meeting of the East Central Vermont Telecommunications District, the municipality that delivers broadband as ECFiber. The district now has 27 member towns and expects to complete construction of its network this year in all areas of its core 23 towns that do not have access to cable Internet. ECFiber delivers Internet over fiber-optic cable, which provides equal Internet speeds in both directions.

Vermont Business Magazine Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Agriculture, Rural Development, Food And Drug Administration, And Related Agencies Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) Friday released a letter to United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue calling on the Department to increase its efforts to speed funding for food aid appropriated by Congress out the door and to those in need. Congress appropriated $36 billion to the Department to help it respond to the coronavirus pandemic, including for critical nutrition assistance and direct support to agricultural producers. However, only 20 percent of those funds have been obligated even as demand increases and farmers suffer.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) is urging customers to be safe and to stay alert as forecasters call for a band of thunderstorms to roll across Vermont late this afternoon and into this evening. The National Weather Service says the storm system will bring the potential for damaging winds, heavy rain and hail which means outages are possible. GMP is watching the forecast closely and will respond as quickly and safely as possible.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Board of Trustees today adopted the university’s strategic imperatives statement, “Amplifying our Impact,” and approved zero tuition increases for both in-state and out-of-state students for the next academic year. The visioning document sets the direction for ensuring the university’s future success by following three strategic imperatives: student success, with a focus on the quality of the whole student experience; expanding upon the university’s distinctive research strengths, for the benefit of the state of Vermont and beyond; and better realizing the institution’s land-grant mission by partnering with communities, businesses and state government.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Cory Gardner (R-CO), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) have introduced the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Deadline Extension Adjustment for Loans (DEAL) Act. The PPP DEAL Act will extend the loan forgiveness period from 8 to 16 weeks and amend the rehire date from June 30^th to 16 weeks after the PPP loan is awarded.

Vermont Business Magazine Kinney Drugs has again expanded its “Love Local” product assortment with local distilleries Beak & Skiff of Lafayette, NY and Smugglers’ Notch Distillery of Jeffersonville, VT by offering their house-made hand sanitizer.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Access Network (VAN), the organization of 25 Public, Educational, Government (PEG) community media centers, held its annual meeting remotely on May 1, 2020. Over 60 VAN staff/board members from 21 centers throughout the state and supporting members attended. The state’s public access staff and leadership took a break from their new, virtual workflow- including the near-constant streaming of local remote public meetings and events to take part in the meeting.

Outgoing VAN President Kevin Christopher of LCATV in Colchester noted the unprecedented virtually-held meeting: “Proceeding with our annual business meeting was important not only to take action on several items before the membership, but also for all of us to connect during a time when we might be feeling disconnected. It was a good opportunity to see familiar faces and be a little less isolated for a morning.”

Vermont Business Magazine Claimants receiving Vermont Department of Labor PUA benefits for the weeks of March 15 and/or March 22 and had filed those claims prior to May 1, received the extra federal $600 in error. The federal $600 benefit did not go into effect until the benefit week of March 29. This error required the Department to stop issuing benefits until the system’s payment calculation process was corrected and payments were reconciled. Benefits for the week of April 26 and/or May 3 will be offset to ensure accurate benefit amounts to claimants. In most cases, this will mean one whole benefit week will be withheld and the second week will be a partial payment. If claimants only filed and received benefits for March 22, then only $600 will be offset. Claimants that were underpaid due to the calculation error (did not receive the minimum $191) will be made whole in future benefit payments. The calculation error does not affect anyone who filed after May 1.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported today that there were five more cases of COVID-19 statewide for a total of 932. There were no deaths, marking a full week since the last reported death. The VDH has announced that anyone who lives or works in Vermont and does not have symptoms of COVID-19 can be tested for the virus at pop-up testing sites around the state. They encourage health care workers, first responders, child care providers, and people returning to Vermont – such as college students, people who winter out of state and second home owners – to consider being tested. The sites are led by Health Department teams, with support from EMS units and members of the Vermont National Guard. You must register before hand and time slots fill up quickly.

by Jack Hoffman, Public Assets Institute Vermont’s April revenue collections highlight the absurdity of federal rules restricting the use of the Coronavirus Relief Fund—the $150 billion that Congress appropriated in the CARES Act to help the states. The state’s personal income tax receipts dropped by two-thirds last month. Instead of taking in $184 million, as forecast, the tax department received $63 million. But according to the latest guidance Vermont can’t use its federal relief funds to close that gap—to pay for the programs and services that would have been covered by the $121 million the state didn’t collect.

Vermont State Police In April 2018, Manchester Police Department Chief Michael Hall contacted the Vermont State Police regarding an incident that had occurred in May 2017. Chief Hall reported that an amount of U.S. currency, over $2000.00, had been seized during a police investigation in 2017. This currency had been logged into the Manchester Police Department as evidence at the time of the investigation. In March 2018, it was discovered that the currency was missing from the Manchester PD evidence room.

Chief Hall contacted the Vermont State Police and requested an investigation into the matter be conducted. Manchester Police Officer Daniel Steere had been temporarily assigned as the department evidence custodian during the time that the money was believed to have gone missing.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Layoffs, furloughs and business closures due to the COVID-19 economic downturn and Governor Scott's emergency order and the subsequent "Stay Home, Stay Safe" guidance have resulted in a rush of unemployment insurance claims. But as Scott has allowed more sectors to get back to work, ongoing claims have now decreased five consecutive weeks.