Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Join Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility and their panel of experts on April 15 for this important discussion exploring proposed revenue strategies and their impact on Vermont. One of the critical questions emerging from Vermont’s 2024 legislative session is how to address our state budget. Vermont is once again experiencing budgetary constraints reminiscent of pre-COVID fiscal challenges as lawmakers work with a budget no longer infused with pandemic-era federal aid. VBSR and our allies continue to advocate for policy shifts that address the urgent and essential changes needed to support our people, planet, and prosperity. We also recognize that to meet this vision for Vermont additional revenue will need to be generated. 

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) is making tremendous progress restoring power to more than 46,000 customers since high winds hit Vermont Wednesday, followed by heavy wet snow that is forecasted to continue into Friday. The Nor’easter is causing severe damage and new outages, even as crews make repairs in extremely tough conditions. The National Weather Service has extended the Winter Storm Watch into Friday due to the continuing storm conditions in Vermont. The Nor’easter is a large storm system affecting the entire northeast region, with damage leaving more than 630,000 customers without power regionwide.

Vermont Business Magazine On Wednesday, April 3, 2024, the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) approved Copley Hospital’s mid-year budget adjustment, granting a 7% rate increase effective this month. Copley initially sought a 12.7% increase in its current prices in January of this year. The motion, which was approved unanimously by the five-member board, includes a stipulation that Copley provide a three-year projection of expenses and an analysis of historic operating expense growth.

Vermont Business Magazine After gaining extensive experience creating programs in Seattle to help students with disabilities transition into the workforce, John Boyd came back to Vermont in 2019 to develop a similar model at U-32 Middle and High School. He established the U-32 High School Transition Academy and began working to form partnerships with local organizations, including Central Vermont Medical Center (CVMC). The Transition Academy at U-32 is a results-oriented program focusing on improving the academic and functional achievement of local Vermont students with disabilities. The program aims to facilitate their movement from school to post-school activities and provide connections to postsecondary education, integrated employment, including supported employment, and continuing adult education through the Washington Central Unified Union School District. 

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Peter Welch has secured $1,776,000 in federal appropriations to expand the SASH (Support and Services at Home) embedded mental health program across Vermont. The program is currently operating in affordable housing and serving low-income older Vermonters and those with disabilities. This expansion will provide access to on-site mental health support for up to 1,200 participants, in partnership with the local designated community mental health agencies within the Vermont Care Partners network around the state. This embedded mental health program in SASH housing sites statewide is modeled after the successful pilot between Cathedral Square and the Howard Center, which added a full-time SASH Emotional Wellness Clinician (SEWC) to two housing sites in Burlington, improving access for older adults to receive emotional and mental health services, while diminishing the stigma and other barriers often experienced with older adults accessing these services. 

Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance Outdoor businesses continue to be a force behind the economic and social impact that outdoor recreation provides the Green Mountain State. Together, we have the opportunity to chart a path forward for the outdoor activities and sector growth we want to realize in 2030. Over the coming months, VOBA is gathering input from the outdoor sector as a partner in Move Forward Together Vermont (MFTV), a statewide planning initiative to create a shared vision for Vermont's outdoor recreation future and a set of priorities and action steps for the next five years. Register for the upcoming in person discussion with peer-to-peer sharing and networking: MFTV 2030: Outdoor Business Opportunities and Career Pathways. April 12, 12:30 - 3:00 pm, Community College of Vermont, Montpelier. 

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $3.37 per gallon, unchanged from last week. They're 15 cents/g higher than a month ago and 1 cent/g lower than this time last year. The lowest price in the state is $3.15/g in Rutland, while the highest is $3.59/g in Burlington. The national average price of gasoline is $3.57, up 3 cents/g from last week. The national average is up 21 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 7 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.

Vermont Business Magazine With spring cleaning underway in some parts of the state, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) wants to remind Vermonters to follow a few guidelines for on-premise or backyard open burning. DEC in general discourages burning. However, on-premise or backyard burning of brush, deadwood, or tree cuttings collected from normal property maintenance is allowed under the Vermont Air Pollution Control Regulations, as long as no public or private nuisance, such as excessive smoke, is created. DEC asks those who burn to follow their guidelines during backyard burning.

Vermont Business Magazine Today US Integrity (USI), based in Las Vegas, announced a first of its kind co-sponsored initiative to promote Athlete Alert, an anonymous tip line that enables athletes, coaches, trainers, and others to report potential betting improprieties without fear of retribution, with a resounding endorsement, from the Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery (DLL). Some examples of circumstances that this tip line should be leveraged for includes any participant involved in an athletic contest that is subject to physical threats, harm or emotional abuse catalyzed by gambling-related losses, as well as any integrity-related concern, including but not limited to the misuse of insider information, potential match-fixing, game manipulation or illegal wagering.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont) released the following expanded statement following reports from World Central Kitchen it was deliberately targeted for delivering life-saving food aid to Gaza: “Only weeks ago, I welcomed World Central Kitchen Founder and Chef José Andrés to Capitol Hill for a private briefing with my colleagues, where he discussed the daunting challenges WCK faces in delivering food aid to Gazans in need. The Israeli missile attack that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers is more tragic evidence that the way the Netanyahu government is conducting this war is terribly wrong... The U.S. has a responsibility to stop financing the Netanyahu government’s strategy, which has so disproportionately killed civilians, aid workers, and medical personnel, used food as a weapon, and that has no vision to establish a viable, independent Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel.” 

Vermont Business Magazine NASA is awarding approximately $3.7 million to 17 museums, science centers, and other informal education institutions as part of an initiative to ignite STEM excitement. The money will go toward projects that inspire students and their learning support systems to take an active role in the wonder of science, technology, engineering, and math. Projects were selected for NASA's Teams Engaging Affiliated Museums and Informal Institutions (TEAM II) program and TEAM II Community Anchor Awards. Both are funded through NASA's Next Generation STEM project, which supports kindergarten to grade 12 students, caregivers, and formal and informal educators in engaging the Artemis Generation in the agency's missions and discoveries. The selected projects will particularly engage students from underserved communities in a variety of STEM learning opportunities including exhibits, mentorship, educational content, and hands-on activities.

Vermont Business Magazine Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation (CVEDC) announces today that it has been awarded $75,000 through the Vermont Department of Labor’s Work Based Learning & Training Grant to offer a 2024 internship program in coordination with Norwich University. The grant funding will be used to: Supplement intern wages at $20.00 per hour up to 120 hours; and pay gas mileage reimbursement to and from internship sites up to $300. The grant is set up to serve eighty students at Norwich University, ten this Summer and seventy in the Fall.