Current News

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported last week that the number of COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations all rose to their highest level since early November. There were 6 fatalities since the previous week's report, which was the largest increase since October. Hospitalizations are also at their highest levels since October and outbreaks also spiked. Hospitalizations and general "syndromic" cases were at 20 statewide for the week after hovering around 5 for several weeks. The number of reported COVID cases rose to 192 from 138; they were at 67 in early December. Cases had fallen in April and May and were as low as 31 at the beginning of May 2024, before rising at the end of summer through the early part of the fall. 

Vermont Business Magazine Northeast Drinks Group announces, in conjunction with its wholly owned subsidiary, Vermont Hard Cider Company, LLC, a long-term partnership agreement with United States Beverage, LLC, of Stamford, CT, as exclusive sales and marketing partner for VCC cider brands. The agreement between VCC and USB will take effect as of January 27, 2025. Under the terms of the partnership, USB will have the exclusive right to represent VCC cider brands in the US market, including iconic cider brands Woodchuck Hard Cider and Wyder’s Cider. USB’s sales team will represent VCC brands in trade with wholesalers and retailers. With the same independent ownership still in place, VCC will continue to control production at the Middlebury, VT Cidery, direct brand strategy and execute logistics. In addition, both companies anticipate many of the VCC employees transitioning over to USB. 

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Vermont’s Child Care Campaign announced its policy priorities for 2025, focused on building on progress from Act 76, Vermont’s new child care law. As part of its 2025 Child Care Agenda, the campaign will work to increase child care affordability and access for families and strengthen the early childhood educator (ECE) workforce so programs are better able to hire staff and grow capacity. Results from the first year of Act 76 have been positive for both families and businesses across Vermont, bringing the state closer to fully solving the child care crisis. Today’s agenda makes clear, more work is needed to create a child care system that works for everyone. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Economic Development (DED) announced today that 2024 was a year of record growth, among Vermont’s top ten highest years of growth since captive enabling legislation in 1981. Vermont licensed a total of 41 new captive insurance companies in 2024, making it now home to 683 licensed captives, consisting of 654 active and 29 dormant captives. 2025 is already off to a great start, with eight new captives licensed in the first week of January. Vermont has licensed a total of 1,370 captive insurance companies to date. In 2024, Vermont won prestigious awards from captive insurance publications, including US Domicile of the Year by Captive International and US Domicile of the Year and International Domicile of the Year by Captive Review. 

Vermont Business Magazine Vermonters made a total of 3,533 scam reports to the Attorney General’s Consumer Assistance Program (CAP) in 2024. Leading the list was the “Computer Tech Support” scam, totaling almost 30% of the top scams reported. This scam tricks people with sudden alerts about alleged computer issues, such as expiring antivirus software or malware infections. Variations also include fake messages to the consumer’s phone or email about packages or unauthorized orders. Noticeably, this marks the fourth consecutive year this scam has ranked as the most reported. The email extortion scam has returned to the list after a four-year hiatus. These troubling emails threaten to release personally compromising photos and information. A new and disturbing twist on this scam is the emails include screen-captured images of the recipient’s home from online map services to further unsettle recipients and pressure them into complying with the scammers’ demands.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Gallium Nitride (V-GaN) Tech Hub—a consortium led by the University of Vermont (UVM) and including GlobalFoundries and the State of Vermont—has been awarded $23.7M in federal funding. The investment from the U.S. Economic Development Administration is the largest research award in UVM history. The Vermont Tech Hub will create a comprehensive technology ecosystem in the Green Mountain State and New England to drive semiconductor design and manufacturing of high-power and high-frequency gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors. Pairing GlobalFoundries semiconductor leadership with UVM’s world-class researchers, the Tech Hub will fuel business growth and workforce development to enhance the region's and state's economic and social vitality—bringing new cutting-edge facilities and computing technology to Vermont. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Occupational Therapy program at the University of Vermont's College of Nursing and Health Sciences has earned national accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE), the independent agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation for occupational therapy education. UVM’s three-year, eight semester Occupational Therapy program was started in 2022 to meet the high demand for OT services in the state. Graduates will be trained to help people of all ages, from children to seniors, and will work in a variety of settings including hospitals, in-patient and out-patient rehabilitation, community-based programs, and schools. 

Vermont Business Magazine LogicSource, procurement services and technology leader, is pleased to announce its partnership with University of Vermont (UVM) Health Network. As partners, LogicSource will help the nonprofit academic health system streamline non-clinical procurement initiatives and optimize technology processes and workflows to reduce costs. This multi-year partnership with LogicSource aligns with UVM Health Network's focus on responsible fiscal stewardship to control health care costs. LogicSource brings cross-industry data and benchmarks to the partnership alongside access to its Center of Excellence, which consists of experts across thousands of non-clinical spend categories, such as IT, facilities, and construction.

Vermont Business Magazine The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has completed required comprehensive site cleanup reviews, known as “five-year reviews,” of six Superfund sites on the National Priority List across Vermont. As required by law, EPA conducts reviews at Superfund sites after cleanup remedies have been implemented every five years. This comprehensive review of previous work helps ensure that EPA continues to evaluate the performance of cleanup efforts and determines whether any further action to protect human health or the environment is required. The five-year review of each of these sites, which is available on EPA’s website, concluded that the remedies continue to effectively protect peoples' health and the environment and made recommendations for follow up actions where needed. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Office announced that Joshua Pierce, 34, of Northfield, Vermont, was arraigned today on seven felony counts of possession of child sexual abuse materials. The charges brought against Mr. Pierce are the result of a criminal investigation, including the execution of search warrants conducted by the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (VT-ICAC), which included personnel from the Attorney General’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, the Burlington Police Department, the Randolph Police Department and the Office of Inspector General.

Vermont State Police On Monday, at approximately 6 am, Vermont State Police dispatch was notified of a two-vehicle crash that occurred on Vermont Route 9 in the area of MacArthur Road, in the Town of Marlboro. The operator of vehicle one, Marcus Lapointe, 23, was pronounced deceased at the scene. The operator of vehicle two, Tyler Colford, 38, and a passenger from vehicle two, were transported to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Vermont State Police conducted the investigation with assistance from their Crash Reconstruction Team.

Vermont Business Magazine U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont) today joined the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS) to celebrate the opening of a new winter warming shelter in the Queen City, located at 58 Pearl Street in Burlington. The new overnight, low barrier shelter will have capacity for 30 people and run from January 15th until the end of April. This added shelter capacity, made possible by COTS’ successful acquisition of a former federally owned building, will function jointly with the COTS Daystation shelter to provide respite for unsheltered individuals.