Current News

Vermont Business Magazine U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont), and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today wrote to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland asking the Department of Justice to investigate whether Elon Musk, through his political action committee America PAC, has violated federal campaign finance law by providing cash rewards to individuals in seven swing states if they sign a petition that requires them to be registered to vote. Section 10307(c) of Title 52 of the U.S. Code states it is illegal if an individual “pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting.” Earlier this week, CNN reported the Department had warned Musk and his super PAC that his actions may be in violation of the law.

Vermont Business Magazine Representatives from Middlebury College, Encore Renewable Energy, and Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company came together on October 24th for a ribbon-cutting event celebrating the activation of a five-megawatt solar array that provides the College with 40 percent of its total electricity. The solar array is one of the largest in the state with 15,348 solar panels mounted on single-axis trackers that follow the sun east to west throughout the day—efficiently providing renewable energy to the College. The partnership allows the College to retain renewable energy credits and moves it closer to meeting the climate goals in its Energy2028 initiative, which in part calls for the use of 100 percent renewable energy by 2028. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Tourism and Marketing reported today the results of two studies examining the economic impact of the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Researchers found the eclipse generated $34.8M in visitor spending, a welcome boost during the slowest month for tourism, but less than 10% of visitor spending during Vermont’s fall foliage season. The state of Vermont commissioned travel industry research experts at Tourism Economics and Datafy to complete these reports. Tourism Economics estimates the eclipse brought an additional 175,000 visitors to Vermont who spent $34.8M during their stay, contributing $2.6M in sales and meals and rooms taxes to state and local coffers. The estimated total economic impact is $54M.   

Vermont Business Magazine PurposeEnergy hosted the grand opening of its Middlebury renewable energy facility at a ceremony held on October 24 attended by local government and business leaders. The $23 million project utilizes patented anaerobic digestion technology to support Vermont’s circular economy goals by minimizing waste and maximizing resource recoveries. PurposeEnergy - Middlebury is the state’s first food waste to renewable electricity project awarded under the Vermont Public Utility Commission’s Standard Offer Program. Designed to accommodate the high-strength organic waste from food and beverage manufacturers in the Middlebury Industrial Park, the facility can also accept a wide variety of trucked organic waste from other Vermont businesses. As permitted, the plant can process 100,000 gallons of high-strength organics per day into clean water, renewable electricity, and natural fertilizer.

Vermont Business Magazine ATTOM released its third quarter 2024 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report today, which shows that 48.3 percent of mortgaged residential properties in the United States were considered equity-rich in the third quarter, meaning that the combined estimated amount of loan balances secured by those properties was no more than half of their estimated market values. That level was down from a recent peak of 49.2 percent hit in the second quarter of 2024. However, it was still up from 47.4 percent a year earlier and remained historically high, reflecting one of the enduring effects of a housing market boom around the nation that has lasted more than a decade. Vermont again led the nation at 86.4 percent. The top four states were all in New England. Vermont also had the highest rated county in the US (Chittenden, 91.9 percent) and the fifth highest (Washington, 88.5 percent).

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Office announced that Stephen Lane, 55, of Winooski, Vermont, was arraigned today on one felony count of Luring a Child. The charge brought against Mr. Lane is the result of a criminal investigation initially conducted by the Department of the Army Criminal Intelligence Division and later referred to the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (VT-ICAC) with assistance from Burlington Police Department, South Burlington Police Department, and Winooski Police Department. Mr. Lane communicated online via Meeff and WhatsApp with a Department of the Army Special Agent posing as a 13-year-old minor, where he allegedly engaged in sexually explicit conversations with the undercover investigator. Mr. Lane pleaded not guilty at the arraignment today in Vermont Superior Court, Chittenden Criminal Division.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Independent Media/The Commons has received a $100,000 grant to support its local coverage from Press Forward, the nationwide movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. The Commons joins 205 local newsrooms across the country that are filling critical information gaps and working in service of their communities. More than 900 news outlets applied for funding. The news organizations selected to receive funding are “reporting and producing the original, locally based stories people need to be involved in their cities and make decisions about their daily lives,” Press Forward said in a news release. The Commons was recognized for its focus on local coverage and providing in-depth reporting and stories not found anywhere else in Windham County, Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine In a letter sent yesterday to the automotive giant that is responsible for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and more, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and 18 of their colleagues urged Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares to honor the collective bargaining agreement signed last year with the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the promises the company made to strengthen and expand good-paying union jobs in America.

Vermont Business Magazine ZEDEDA, the leader in edge management and orchestration, and OnLogic, a global leader in industrial computing hardware and solutions, have announced a strategic partnership to launch OnLogic Powered by ZEDEDA. This offering combines OnLogic's rugged, industrial-grade hardware with ZEDEDA's cloud-native edge orchestration software, providing enterprises with a comprehensive platform to easily and securely deploy, manage and scale edge computing workloads. The companies are committing product and engineering teams to co-design a solution that will streamline edge computing deployments and accelerate time to value.

Vermont Business Magazine For the first time in 219 years, Tributary 10 is flowing freely into Otter Creek. Contractors completed construction on the Wainwright Dam removal on Oct. 9, which reconnected the tributary with the Otter Creek watershed. Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) staff and Trout Unlimited, alongside several volunteers, finished the restoration work on Oct. 10. The Wainwright Dam was located just above Tributary 10’s confluence with Halnon Brook and downstream from the Salisbury Fish Hatchery right off the busy thoroughfare of Route 7, running parallel to Lake Dunmore Road. Originally constructed as a sawmill in 1805 and later used as an ice pond, the dam is responsible for centuries of river fragmentation.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Clean Water Board is seeking public input on the State Fiscal Year 2026 Clean Water Budget by November 17, 2024. Vermonters can weigh in on how they would like to prioritize approximately $44.5 million in funding for projects to protect and improve the quality of water in our rivers, lakes, ponds, and wetlands. The public can provide feedback on whether the funding levels are sufficient, share their thoughts on the priorities, and offer any recommendations. The Board will review public comment before making its final Clean Water Budget recommendation in December 2024. The State Fiscal Year 2026 begins July 1, 2025, and ends June 30, 2026.

Vermont Business Magazine Due to the discovery of several cases of raccoon rabies in northern Vermont in 2024, including one case nine kilometres from the Québec border, the Ministère de l'Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs will be conducting a third vaccine bait distribution operation in the Estrie and Montérégie regions this year, from October 28 to November 1, 2024. This vaccination operation is being carried out to limit the risk of raccoon rabies being reintroduced into Québec. It will immunize raccoons, skunks and foxes against raccoon rabies, which will help to protect human health. Teams from the Ministère will cover an area of 380 km², hand-spreading some 27,000 vaccine baits in seven municipalities in the Estrie region and five in the Montérégie region (these are towns just north of Franklin County and the Missisquoi areas of Vermont).