Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Brattleboro Retreat announced today that its Board of Trustees has voted to appoint Steve Cummings as Chief Executive Officer, following his tenure as Interim CEO since April 2024. With a distinguished career that blends clinical expertise and healthcare administration, Cummings brings a unique perspective and commitment to advancing patient care and supporting the Retreat’s mission. Cummings has over 40 years of healthcare experience, starting as a registered nurse in neuro and pulmonary care, then moving to ICU critical care before earning an MBA from Babson College. He then embarked on a career spanning hospital administration, consulting, and working with electronic health record (EHR) vendors. "I've been on all sides of the table—hospital, vendor, and consultant—so I understand the complexities and can navigate them effectively," he said.  

The Department of Tourism and Marketing is conducting a year-long Visitor Profile Study of visitors to Vermont led by Downs & St. Germain Research. The goal of this study is to gather a better understanding of the characteristics, perceptions, and behavior of Vermont visitors to support VDTM’s research-driven approach to destination marketing and development strategies. While people are currently on the ground conducting the in-person intercept survey, we are encouraging tourism properties and attractions to help spread the word that online surveys are also being collected. Downloadable posters are available for any tourism businesses willing to post a flyer to help us reach more visitors.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation (FPR) is pleased to announce the launch of the 2025 Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) grant round. This reimbursement program enables municipal entities and state agencies to develop large-scale outdoor recreation projects across the state. LWCF funds are apportioned through the U.S. Department of Interior’s National Parks Service. Eligible LWCF projects include acquisition of land for parks and public outdoor recreation; development of new outdoor recreation facilities; and renovation of existing outdoor recreation facilities. Recreation spaces acquired or developed using LWCF assistance must be maintained and remain open for public outdoor recreation in perpetuity. The recommended request range is $25,000 to $1,000,000. LWCF requires a 50% non-federal match, which means total project costs should range from $50,000 to $2 million.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sports, the largest nonprofit in Vermont to provide year-round sports and recreational programs to people with disabilities, was awarded the prestigious 2024 Bill McCollom Community Award by the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum, recognizing its transformative contributions to Vermont’s skiing and riding community. The award celebrates Vermont Adaptive’s commitment to accessibility, and empowering youth and adults with disabilities to experience outdoor sports and recreation. The award ceremony took place during the museum’s Hall of Fame induction at Killington Resort’s K-1 Lodge Saturday, Oct. 19.

Vermont Business Magazine The Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) has announced CSWD as the recipient of this year’s Environmental Leadership Award for Outstanding Program with its solar glasses collection and partnership with Astronomers Without Borders (AWB). In all, CSWD’s collection program diverted 115,020 solar eclipse glasses from the landfill, following the April 8th event. Instead of being discarded, these glasses will be reused by AWB at future eclipse events all over the world. In the past, AWB has sent glasses to folks in Africa, Asia, North and South America who may not otherwise have a way to view lunar and solar eclipses safely. In addition to CSWD’s six Drop-Off Centers, local schools, businesses, town libraries and community groups participated as collection sites for the glasses. A team of volunteers and the CSWD staff spent approximately three weeks sorting, quality-checking, counting, and boxing the 115,000 glasses for their next destination.

Vermont Business Magazine Sarah Waring, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) State Director for Rural Development (RD) in Vermont and New Hampshire, announced today that NEK Broadband received $2,847,276 through the Community Connect Grant program. The fiber infrastructure project will provide more than half the residents of Groton, Vt., a town of roughly 1000 people in Caledonia County, with reliable access to high-speed internet. Christa Shute, NEK Broadband’s Executive Director, hosted Senator Peter Welch and other project partners at the organization’s fiber warehouse in Island Pond to celebrate the announcement as well as previous USDA broadband investments.

Vermont Business Magazine Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 34 million small businesses, announced that the SBA will celebrate National Veterans Small Business Week (NVSBW) from Nov. 11 to Nov. 15. The 11th annual weeklong celebration will offer both in-person and virtual events across the nation. In celebration of National Veterans Small Business Week, the SBA Vermont District Office will host Boots to Business Reboot training on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm at our district office located at 400 Cornerstone Drive, Williston, VT. 

The Vermont State Police has cited Jordan Lawyer, 29, of Enosburgh on charges of simple assault and assault on a correctional officer arising from an incident that occurred Oct. 7, 2024, while Lawyer was an inmate at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans. According to the findings of VSP’s investigation, Correctional Officer Timothy Pullen was escorting Lawyer back to his cell at about 1:17 p.m. following a video arraignment on charges of murder and aggravated domestic assault. Lawyer resisted and began struggling with CO Pullen when ordered to enter his cell and have his handcuffs removed. During the altercation, Lawyer struck CO Pullen several times in the head and attempted to kick or stomp on him. The assault ended when CO Pullen was able to regain control of Lawyer, and other correctional officers responded to assist.

Vermont Business Magazine In an event held at a Vermont organic dairy farm today, USDA Under Secretary Jenny Lester Moffitt announced the launch of the Organic Dairy Product Promotion (ODPP) program, allocating $15 million to expand access to organic dairy products in educational institutions and youth programs.  Funded by the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), the program will increase consumption of organic dairy products among children and young adults while creating new opportunities for small and mid-sized organic dairy producers.  Four national Dairy Business Innovation Centers, including the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (NE-DBIC) in Vermont, will each be granted $3.75 million to facilitate the new program.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Treasurer Mike Pieciak announced that S&P Global Ratings (S&P) reaffirmed Vermont’s strong AA+ credit rating. AA+ is the second-highest rating that a state can receive. S&P issued the new rating in connection with their updated criteria to better account for a state’s outstanding pension liabilities. The reaffirmed rating reflects the favorable progress Vermont has recently made in reducing its own pension liabilities. The report also credited Vermont’s stable financial outlook to the state’s responsible budgeting practices, disciplined governance, and historically high cash balances. While S&P noted Vermont’s ongoing challenges, including a tight housing market, a weak labor force, and aging demographics, the rating agency believes Vermont could be on a path toward long-term demographic and economic growth. 

Vermont Business Magazine Springfield Regional Development Corporation announced today that they are the recipients of two grants to support a pair of economic development projects in the region.  The awards were part of the Regional Economic Development Grant Program, administered by the Department of Buildings and General Services. The goal of the program is to promote stimulation or retention economic opportunities in the state. The grants that SRDC received will support two business projects in the Springfield region.  The first is to assist with purchasing equipment for ImageTek Manufacturing to help with their growth.  The other grant will help the Vermont Packinghouse to expand their production capacity.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Killington Resort, the largest ski and snowboard destination in Eastern North America wrapped up the 2024 Mountain Bike season on Sunday, October 27th after more than 80 days of lift-accessed downhill action. The season included the debut of a learning zone on Snowshed, as well as targeted adult skills clinics from our Mountain Sports school. We also continued the popular women’s “Divas of Dirt” rides and welcomed more than 600 athletes and 7,000 fans from around the globe for the biggest Fox US Open of Mountain Biking yet. This continues on the growth of the sport over the past decade as more and more people discover the thrill of lift-accessed Mountain Biking.