Current News

Vermont Business Magazine On April 30, 2024, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont hosted a press conference to highlight the efforts of the GunSafeVT initiative and to discuss how Vermont is promoting secure gun storage and how secure gun storage can help address the many types of gun violence in the state. U.S. Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest described the initiative’s accomplishments over the past year, which included two PSAs explaining the importance of secure storage, launch of the gunsafevt.org website, promotion of Vermont State Police’s program to have Federal Firearms Licensees serve as secure gun storage locations, and the distribution of over 4,000 free cable gun locks around the state. 

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported last week that COVID-19 cases fell again, from 42 to 39. In addition, hospitalizations also fell as COVID overall remains at a low level. There was one fatality last week. The pandemic death total now stands at 1,146 as of April 20, 2024 (the most recent data available). Total reported deaths in January were 28, which is the highest monthly total in a year, but only 16 in February, 11 in March and 2 in April. At this rate April will finish with the fewest COVID deaths since the summer of 2021. The VDH reported last week that COVID-19 hospitalizations were at a statewide total of 3, which is the lowest they've been in over two years. COVID-19 activity remains in the "Low" range, according to the VDH.

Vermont Business Magazine A new study by Birth Injury Lawyers Group has examined data from the National Center for Health Statistics to see which US states have the highest fertility rates and which have the lowest. Fertility rates between the years 2017-2021 were used to create an average overall fertility rate for each state across the five-year period.  The fertility rates were calculated by taking the total number of live births in each state and dividing it by the number of women in that population. This was then expressed as the number of births per 1,000 women aged 15-44. The national average fertility rate across the US is 58.8 births per 1,000 women. Vermont had the lowest fertility rate at 46.7.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Senate this morning voted down the nomination of Zoie Saunders as Secretary of Education after a tumultuous five weeks of political and public discourse. Immediately following the vote, Governor Phil Scott named her the interim secretary, which does not require confirmation. Scott announced on March 22 that the Florida educator would fill the position previously held by Dan French. The position has been vacant for just over a year. Senators voting against her nomination mostly cited her lack of experience in working in public schools in general and her lack of knowledge in the complexities of the Vermont public education system. Unlike in many other states, the Vermont secretary has no control over either local curricula or local boards and budgets and that the bulk of the funding comes from the statewide property tax. The Senate vote was 19-9 against.

by Devon Green, VP of Government Relations, Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems After years of studies and small pilots on prior authorization, the Senate passed H.766, a bill that provides incremental but very real reform. A last-minute amendment changed H.766 from aligning prior authorizations with Medicaid to eliminating prior authorizations for primary care providers. To misquote Joe Biden’s reaction when the Affordable Care Act passed: this is a big deal. Needless delays caused by prior authorizations drive patients away from primary care and toward emergency departments. Reducing administrative burden will not only result in better care but will also help recruit and retain the primary care providers we so desperately need. A huge thank you to Sen. Ginny Lyons and the Senate Health and Welfare Committee along with Sen. Jane Kitchel for coming up with a compromise to keep the bill alive. 

Vermont Business Magazine Howard Center invites the community to the upcoming session of the Marna and Stephen Wise Tulin Spring Community Education Series, titled "Substance Use and Our Community." This event will take place on May 2, 2024, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Dealer.com, located at 1 Howard Street, Burlington. Both in-person and virtual attendance options are available. The Burlington community, like many others in our country, is experiencing the effects of a surge in substance use, including opioid use. While individuals who engage in illicit substance use often struggle daily, substance use also impacts their family, friends, and community. For the second session in Howard Center's Spring Community Education Series, a panel of experienced clinicians will provide an overview of substance use in our community, including programs and services that provide treatment and efforts to create a bridge between people who use drugs and recovery, followed by a question-and-answer period. 

Green Mountain Care Board Board Members and presenters will participate remotely through Microsoft Teams. Members of the public can attend board meetings by using the links or call-in phone numbers listed below. Wednesday, May 01, 2024: Board Meeting (1:00 pm). Draft Guidance on the Assessment of Affordability in the Review of Rates. AHEAD Model / Global Payment Development Update.

Vermont Business Magazine Ledyard Financial Group, Inc (OTCQX: LFGP), the holding company for Ledyard National Bank based in Hanover, NH, with a branch in Norwich, Vermont, has announced financial results for Q1 2024. The balance sheet growth in the quarter is evidence of the company’s unique approach to integrating its banking and wealth management businesses, and the company remains focused on promoting growth and the pursuit of making life better for its clients, its employees, its shareholders, and the communities it serves. Q1 2024 net income was $463 thousand, up $347 thousand over Q4 2023, and down $1.0 million from Q1 2023. The improvement over Q4 2023 is due in part to higher revenue, primarily related to the wealth management business, while the decline from the prior year can be attributed primarily to the industry-wide compression in net interest margin. Ledyard also announced that a regular quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share will be paid on June 7, 2024, to shareholders of record as of May 17, 2024.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont, Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy, hosted a listening session in Waitsfield with community members and local leaders to discuss how Congress can better support rural communities in Vermont and across America. Senator Welch was joined by local leaders, business owners, and champions for rural development, including Sarah Waring, Rural Development State Director for USDA; Roger Nishi of Waitsfield & Champlain Valley Telecom; Melissa Bounty of Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation; and Adeline Druart of Lawson’s Finest Liquids.  

Vermont Business Magazine Dr. Ansel Augustine, D. Min, an award-winning author and speaker, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Assistant Director of African American Affairs of the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church, will deliver the Commencement address at Saint Michael’s College to the Class of 2024. Dr. Augustine, a member of the Saint Michael’s Board of Trustees, will speak during the College’s 117th Commencement Ceremony on May 12, 2024, which begins at 10 a.m. Dr. Augustine began his career in ministry more than 20 years ago when he became the youth minister at his home parish of St. Peter Claver in the Treme area of New Orleans, which he later helped rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. St. Peter Catholic Church was run for 30 years by the Edmundites, the Catholic order which also founded Saint Michael’s College. 

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $3.64 per gallon, up 2.9 cents per gallon from last week's $3.61/g. The lowest price in the state yesterday was $3.30/g while the highest was $3.79/g, a difference of 49.0 cents per gallon. The national average price of gasoline has fallen 1.9 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.63/g today. The national average is up 8.4 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 4.3 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.

The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets has released details for an upcoming Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) grant application. This new, one-time USDA funding will support the middle of the supply chain - meaning everything in between farm production and retail. This includes aggregation, distribution, manufacturing, processing, storing, transporting, wholesale, and value-add. The grant focuses on increasing resilience in the supply chain, supporting market development and new market opportunities, development of value-added products, and fair prices, better wages, and safe job opportunities.