Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) is starting the process to install traffic mitigation controls called “chicanes” on Vermont Route 108 on either side of Smugglers Notch in continued efforts to prevent tractor trailers and other oversized vehicles from attempting to traverse the narrow, windy road. AOT has been working with several partners for the past few years to find ways to prevent what have become known as “stuckages” in the Notch. Recent efforts have led to a steady decline in the annual number of trucks stuck in the Notch. Each "stuckage" closes the highway for a few hours to several hours, which causes traffic to back up and prevents access to businesses and locations on the Stowe and Cambridge sides of the mountain pass.

Vermont Business Magazine Consolidated Communications is celebrating the dedication of its employees in the communities where they live and work this National Volunteer Week (April 21 – 27), the annual week which recognizes the contributions of volunteers and the impact they have on organizations they serve. In support of Everybody Wins! Vermont, Jeff Austin, senior director of fiber build strategy for Consolidated Communications, exemplifies this volunteer spirit in Burlington. Everybody Wins! Vermont is a literacy-based mentoring program, with volunteers working with students during their lunch in 20 schools across the state. Jeff has been involved with Everybody Wins! Vermont since 2003, both as a mentor and serving on the organization's board of directors.  

Vermont Business Magazine CCTV Center for Media & Democracy has announced receipt of a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources grant alongside 32 peer archival institutions across the country. This $49,927 grant award will support efforts to preserve and expand access to audio/visual community history materials in the CCTV Archives. The CCTV Archives include 42,000+ video programs dating back to the early 1980’s in Burlington, Vermont, a time of social and political transformation of the state’s largest city. Begun as the collection of a prolific local videographer and CCTV Co-Founder, Nat Ayer recording hometown events, CCTV quickly expanded into a collection of recordings by a legion of community media makers connecting community members while documenting local history and culture in the making.

Vermont Business Magazine The Snelling Center for Government has announced the graduates of the Early Childhood Leadership Institute Class of 2024. As the culminating event in their 6-month leadership journey, the Early Childhood Leadership Institute (ECLI) Class of 2024 celebrated their achievements with Graduation at Burke Mountain Resort in East Burke in Mid April. Family members, friends, and colleagues joined the cohort for a celebratory graduation luncheon. This year’s keynote address was delivered by Jubilee McGill, Legislator from Addison County. McGill reflected on the landscape of early childhood care in Vermont and the importance of this profession and leadership in the field. She thanked the cohort for their work and leadership.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health has confirmed a case of measles in an individual who is in Vermont as part of an international group program. This is the first confirmed case of measles in Vermont since 2018. The other 25 members of the group were also exposed before arriving in Vermont, but most have immunity and are protected from measles. On April 10, the Health Department was informed by the Georgia Department of Public Health that the group was exposed to a traveler who was determined to have measles following their arrival on an international flight to Atlanta. The Health Department is asking anyone who was inside the Hampton Inn in Colchester on Wednesday, April 17, to take the precautions listed below. Anyone with symptoms of measles should stay home, consider wearing a mask around others, and contact their healthcare provider immediately. DO NOT go to the doctor’s office, the hospital, or a public health clinic without first calling to let them know about your symptoms. 

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported last week that COVID-19 cases fell from 56 to 42. 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 1,145 as of April 13, 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 one in April. The VDH reported last week that COVID-19 hospitalizations were at a statewide total of 8, which is among the lowest they've been since last summer. COVID-19 activity remains in the "Low" range, according to the VDH. Of the total deaths to date, 924 have been of Vermonters 70 or older. There have been 3 deaths of Vermonters under 30 since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Vermont Business Magazine The American Red Cross Northern New England Region is offering free smoke alarm installations for Washington County residents during a Sound the Alarm home fire safety event on Saturday, May 4, 2024. We are proudly partnering with the Berlin, Barre, Warren and Montpelier Fire Departments as well as the Vermont Division of Fire Safety to bring more smoke alarms to more Vermont homes. Home fires claim seven lives every day in the United States, but having working smoke alarms can cut the risk of death by half. Here in Vermont, the Red Cross responds to more than 100 home fires every year.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott, Vermont’s congressional delegation, the Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT), top officials from the Federal Highway Administration and Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, and cabinet members, today announced the opening of the state’s first federally funded public electric vehicle (EV) fast charging station in Bradford. Vermont is the sixth state in the country to install fast chargers under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program. The four super-fast NEVI charging stations can simultaneously charge 180 kilowatts per hour and are located in a municipal parking lot known as Denny Park at 6 South Main Street in downtown Bradford, near I-91. Vermont will receive $21.2 million from the NEVI program during a five-year period. The first phase focuses on installing fast chargers every 50 miles along the nation’s highway corridors, within one mile of highway exits.

Vermont Business Magazines iSun, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISUN), a Williston-based solar energy and clean mobility infrastructure company with 50-years of experience, announced Monday a strategic restructuring of its executive team. Effective immediately, former CEO Jeff Peck is appointed as Chief Executive Officer of iSun, Inc. Additionally, Rob Vanderbeek is appointed as the Interim Chief Financial Officer of iSun, Inc. The restructuring is aimed at driving innovation, enhancing operational efficiency, and ensuring sustained performance in a rapidly evolving market landscape. “I’m excited to step back into the role of CEO and continue the remarkable journey that Bob has paved for us. Together with our dedicated team, I am committed to driving our company forward, embracing new opportunities, and delivering value to our customers and stakeholders. Our focus remains on innovation, growth, and ensuring that iSun remains a leader in our industry,” said Jeff Peck.

Vermont Business Magazine The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $22 million to the State of Vermont to reimburse it for the cost of debris removal and measures taken to stabilize state office buildings following the July 2023 storms and flooding. The $22,263,530 in Public Assistance grants will reimburse the Department of Buildings and General Services (BGS) for the cost of debris removal and steps taken to protect state buildings in downtown Montpelier from further damage after the flooding. One grant of $1,067,183 will reimburse BGS for contracting to have 2,165 cubic yards (CY) of vegetative debris and 11,840 tons of construction and demolition (C&D) debris removed from roads and public property, including rights of way, and hauled to a disposal site. Two grants of $14,375,582 and $6,820,765 will reimburse the state for the cost of contracting to remove contaminated floodwater from and de-humidify fourteen state buildings in Montpelier.

by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First, Vermont Business Magazine A teenage driver fined $220 for her part in a double-fatal car crash that killed an elderly Addison County couple in September 2020 in Charlotte is among those arrested at an anti-Israel encampment at Columbia University in New York last week. And the family of the two dead victims still aren't happy that Isabel Jennifer Seward of Atlanta, Ga. never went to prison for crossing the double line and killing family members. Public records show Seward, then 16, — whose father William J. Seward, was a longtime high-ranking executive at UPS — received a Vermont civil traffic ticket for an offense listed as “driving on roadways laned for traffic” in the double fatal crash, Vermont News First reported at the time. 

by Jarvis Green As the founder of JAG Productions, my journey to becoming an Artistic Director was as unexpected as it was transformative. Originating from a background singing in the Mt. Calvary Interdenominational church in Anderson, SC, studying classical voice at Anderson University, and having spent the majority of my life as an actor, I never envisioned leading a theatre company. My move to Vermont in 2011, in search of a place to heal and slow down, marked the beginning of a love affair with the state and a series of ventures that would shape my path in ways I had never imagined. In 2012, I founded BarnArts in Barnard, VT, bringing arts to a town of just 900 people. Following that, I developed a theatre program for the Artistree Community Arts Center in Pomfret, VT. Then, in 2016, JAG Productions was born—beyond my wildest dreams thanks to a $250K gift from Kathleen Dolan. This journey has been a fairy tale; it’s been fun, an incredible learning experience, and, undoubtedly, hard.