Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Earlier today, Walmart announced to the Town of Rutland Select Board that plans will be submitted to relocate the existing Walmart store at 90 Shopping Plaza Road in Rutland to the site of the former Diamond Run Mall. The new store will be a Supercenter, offering groceries, auto care, a drive through pharmacy and 45 spaces for online pickup. The new 170,995 sq ft store will also create an additional 100 full- and part-time jobs, while also keeping all existing jobs from the current location. Additionally, the project will create 100-150 construction jobs through the relocation project.

Vermont Business Magazine As her office began the process of mailing General Election ballots to all active registered voters in the state, Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas reminded voters this week of their options for casting their ballot and emphasized the importance of having a voting plan. The November General Election will be held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. The following offices are up for election: U.S. President and Vice President, U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer, Secretary of State, Auditor of Accounts, Attorney General, State Senate seats, State Representative seats, High Bailiffs, and justices of the peace. In 2021, the Vermont legislature passed Act 60, which requires the Secretary of State’s office to mail General Election ballots to all active registered voters automatically. 

Vermont Business Magazine Grossman School of Business to launch new business Co-op program, thanks to the Grossman Family Foundation, which has contributed or inspired nearly $90 million to the University of Vermont. A $15 million gift to the University of Vermont’s (UVM) Grossman School of Business will create the university’s largest experiential Co-op program, providing students with real-world experiences working in leading companies to better prepare UVM Catamounts for impactful careers and leadership in business and entrepreneurship. Thanks to this gift from the Grossman Family Foundation—led by Steven Grossman ’61, HON’22—UVM’s Grossman School of Business will become one of a few U.S. business schools with a major undergraduate business Co-op program.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Congressional Delegation, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont), and Representative Becca Balint (D-Vermont) today called on Deanne Criswell, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to address concerns raised by Vermont municipalities about high staff turnover and other bureaucratic inefficiencies within the agency’s Public Assistance (PA) program, which has slowed the disaster recovery process for small and rural communities across Vermont. The lawmakers also urged FEMA to shift more resources and administrative control to local communities who can be more effective in disaster response.  

Vermont Business Magazine Cathedral Square has received a $1 million gift to support its memory care community in Williston, Memory Care at Allen Brook (MCAB). The gift comes from the Miller family through the Holly and Bob Miller Charitable Fund, long-time supporters of Cathedral Square’s mission and commitment to providing quality, affordable dementia care to those without means. MCAB serves very low-income Vermonters on Medicaid and is the only truly affordable memory-care residence in the state. At the start of September, an urgent fundraising campaign was announced to sustain MCAB through the year after unforeseen staffing absences and challenges cost Cathedral Square three times what had been budgeted for agency staffing to keep their doors open. While they have since hired more staff and received some increases from both Section 8 and Medicaid, the financial toll was huge.

Vermont Business Magazine On Friday, September 27, the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont (UVM) will host a series of events focusing on innovation, entrepreneurship, and the intersection of science and business. The day will feature the keynote Stetson Lecture—supported by UVM alumni Dr. John and Mrs. Roberta Stetson—which will be delivered by Johannes Fruehauf, M.D., Ph.D., a leading life-science entrepreneur and founder of Biolabs and LabCentral. Fruehauf’s lecture, "Innovation and Entrepreneurship: A Strategic Blueprint to Academic Start-up Success," will explore the pathways to success for academic start-ups and the transformation of biotech company development in the U.S. The event aims to highlight the growing partnership between UVM and Biolabs, focusing on advancing life-science research and entrepreneurship through the establishment of the UVM Biolabs Innovation Hub. 

Vermont Business Magazine As millions of Americans struggle with diabetes and obesity, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), today led the committee in a hearing to examine why Novo Nordisk charges the American people the highest prices in the world for its lifesaving drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy. Epidemiologists have estimated that more than 40,000 lives per year could be saved if Wegovy and other weight-loss drugs were made affordable and widely available in the United States. "The issue that we are discussing today is not complicated.  It has everything to do with the chart behind me which shows that Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic is sold in Canada for $155, in Denmark for $122, in France for $71 and in Germany for $59."

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) today released a new report uncovering how Novo Nordisk, as one health insurance plan described it, is using its “position of power” to “squeeze” plans, and “boost its corporate profits.” Novo Nordisk claims that PBMs and health insurance plans are the reason for high prices for Ozempic and Wegovy, and previously stated that PBMs failed to assure the company that its products would maintain formulary access if it lowered its list prices. Today, three major PBMs that help determine drug coverage for most of the nation – Cigna Group/Express Scripts, CVS Health/Caremark, UnitedHealth Group/Optum Rx – confirmed to Chair Sanders that a list price reduction would not negatively impact formulary placement for Ozempic and Wegovy, and affirmed that lower list prices would, in fact, make the drugs more widely available to patients in need.

Vermont Business Magazine When the Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE) opens the doors on the Food Hub later this year, its capacity to ship, store and process food and agricultural products will greatly expand, boosting the organization’s mission to strengthen Vermont’s food system. As a net-zero, solar-powered facility utilizing cutting-edge refrigeration and heat-capture technology, the Food Hub will also further the non-profit’s commitment to sustainability and demonstrate that agriculture can work in concert with environmental initiatives. The 12,500-square-foot Food Hub will come online as CAE marks 20 years of working to make the local food system resilient, including, most recently, assisting farms with flood recovery. The Food Hub will increase CAE’s capacity to aggregate and distribute locally produced foods from across the state and transport them to markets within Vermont and beyond.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) invites the public to comment on two tactical basin plans for the Otter Creek watershed and the Northern Lake Champlain Direct Drainages. DEC developed the draft plans in collaboration with local nonprofits, regional planners, town officials, and scientists. The plans outline over 100 ways to restore and protect rivers, lakes, and wetlands from Alburgh to Dorset within part of Vermont’s Lake Champlain Basin.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and members of his cabinet will be in Orleans County on Wednesday, September 25 for its Capital for a Day 14-county tour. Governor Scott first launched this initiative in June 2018, and he and his cabinet visited all 14 counties over the following 10 months. Capital for a Day gives local constituents, municipal government leaders and other partners the opportunity to connect directly with state leadership and staff. In addition to the public schedule listed below, Governor Scott and members of his cabinet will participate in meetings to discuss municipal flood response and recovery, public safety, and challenges business owners are facing which are not open to the general public.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine For the week ending September 14, the Vermont Department of Health reported that the number of COVID-19 cases in Vermont reversed course after a brief lull and increased by nearly 100 cases. Hospitalizations likewise saw an increase in visits. The VDH did not have any updated results on COVID-related fatalities. Hospitalizations and general "syndromic" cases increased to about 20 cases. Overall, COVID results have been increasing in the late summer. At the beginning of the summer there were only about 5 hospitalizations a week, but have been running, for the most part, at 20 or more for the past month. The number of COVID cases, which had fallen for the first time since the end of June, spiked last week to 367 cases. Cases had been falling in April and May and were as low as 31 at the beginning of May. New outbreaks are also up at schools at long-term care providers.