Current News

by Charlotte Oliver, Community News Service Bright bracelets hang on the wire door to Jason Struthers’ duck coop. They’re relics of a time before neighborly relationships on a small cul-de-sac close to Essex High School turned sour. Since last summer, Struthers has had a license to grow cannabis in his backyard on Taft Street, where he also farms vegetables and raises some 30 ducks. The ducks provide eggs — which he sells along with the cannabis and veggies — and manure to fertilize the strain. He sells the cannabis to about a dozen dispensaries. Those bracelets on the coop came from two girls next door who used to play with the birds, he said. But the situation around Struthers, his weed and his ducks has evolved into yelling matches, lawsuits, letters to legislators and a neighborhood on edge. 

Vermont Business Magazine Ski Vermont announces the return of its popular Fifth Grade Passport Program for the 2023-2024 ski season. The Passport program provides access to 20 alpine ski areas and 24 cross country areas with more than 90 days of skiing and riding for any fifth-grade student. The Ski Vermont Passport Program provides participating fifth graders with more than 90 days of skiing—with three vouchers to each participating alpine ski area and up to three vouchers to participating cross-country ski areas—for a $30 administration fee. The program is open to any current fifth grade student, regardless of state or country of residence.  Some holiday restrictions apply, and students must be accompanied by an adult with a valid lift ticket, trail pass or season pass.

Vermont Business Magazine Consolidated Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNSL), a leading broadband and business communications provider, is ready for the upcoming winter season, taking steps to prepare response plans and other protocols in the event of severe weather in its service areas.  Early season storms, when wet and heavy snowfall can cause damage to trees, typically have the potential to cause the most disruption to service. In the event of severe impacts from winter storms, Consolidated is prepared to address customer needs while ensuring their safety and the safety of its employees.

Vermont Business Magazine On Monday, November 13th, at the Boston Celtics game, Burton debuted an iconic piece of sports history in rideable form: the Burton MINE77 x Celtics Floor Board, built with the famed parquet floor from the Celtics’ home arena, TD Garden. The limited-edition batch of 77 Snowboards were all built at Burton’s headquarters in Burlington, VT, from the flooring where the Celtics were crowned NBA Champions in 2008. The parquet is incorporated into the center and sidewalls of these all-terrain Process Snowboards, specially designed to celebrate the Celtics’ 77th season, a number near and dear to Burton’s founder, the late Jake Burton Carpenter, who started the Vermont brand in 1977. 

Vermont Business Magazine Ten lawyers from the Burlington, Vermont law firm Paul Frank + Collins P.C. were selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2024 Edition of Best Lawyers in America.

Vermont Business Magazine On Wednesday, November 29th, the award winning independent bottler, Lost Lantern, will celebrate the many ways whiskey can be enjoyed during the winter with its annual Winter Whiskey Wednesday drop. Created specifically to be enjoyed during the coldest season of the year, these new bottlings are sure to evoke thoughts of crackling fireplaces, home-baked holiday treats, and the dreams of summer that keep us warm on the darkest and coldest days of winter.

Vermont Business Magazine JetBlue to end service to Vermont; US DOE supports 1.2 gigawatt power line from Quebec through Vermont and NH; GlobalFoundries gets $35M from feds for next-generation GaN chips; Tax revenues stay ahead of targets despite volatility; Vermont’s unemployment up one-tenth to 1.9% in September; Burlington approves lease extension for Vermont Air National Guard at BTV; Vermont State University offers voluntary faculty buyout as part of program optimization efforts; Saint Michael’s College announces 18th president; and more.

Vermont Business Magazine Long Trail Brewing is in the lift line with someone new this year – Ski The East! The two iconic East Coast brands paired up to create the Ski The East Hazy Mountain IPA. The brew is a knee-deep dose of citrus, pine and tropical fruit hops that delivers a beverage for those who want to keep the shred alive. Hazy Mountain IPA is a limited-edition beer coming in at 6.7% ABV. It will be available starting now, while supplies last, coming in 4-packs of 16oz cans, as well as in the Long Trail IPA Pack: Ski The East Edition in 12oz cans.

Vermont Business Magazine AARP Vermont has announced that 13 local advocates, who have completed 6-month fellowships with the 2023 Vermont State Walking College, have announced their Walk Action Plans for their communities. The fellows were recognized in a graduation ceremony last week. The Vermont State Walking College program is presented in partnership with America Walks, a national education and advocacy organization which works to advance safe, equitable, accessible, and enjoyable places to walk and move by giving people and communities the resources to effectively advocate for change.

Vermont Business Magazine The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) President and Chair Reta Jo Lewis announced today the EXIM Board of Directors’ approval of an historic $169 million dollar loan to BETA Technologies, a Burlington, Vermont-based company, which manufactures electric aircraft and charging infrastructure, to finance a net-zero Final Assembly Production Facility. The transaction is the second deal authorized under EXIM’s Make More in America initiative and is estimated to support 400 clean energy jobs in Vermont. Chair Lewis was joined by Kyle Clark, founder and CEO of BETA Technologies, as she announced the transaction’s approval during an “Invest in America” session at the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum. 

Public Assets Institute Vermont’s private employers are making up for lost time. In the wake of the Covid pandemic, they’ve added jobs at a pace not seen since the 1990s. According to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Vermont employers created more than 29,000 jobs from March 2022 to March 2023. That came on the heels of over 32,000 jobs added from March 2021 to March 2022. Jobs increased by about that number each year in the 1990s. But the pace lagged in the 21st century: From 2001 through 2020, the private sector added an average of about 23,000 jobs annually.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Friday, November 17, Lyndon State College—now Vermont State University (VTSU) Lyndon—alum Shelly Holt Allen, will enjoy her final day behind the camera as assistant chief news photographer at WCAX. Shelly will retire from a trail-blazing career that includes induction into the Vermont Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2021. A pioneer in this male-dominated profession, Shelly was the first female videographer and only the second female photographer at the Burlington-based station. Joe Carroll, Chief News Photographer at WCAX, a colleague of Shelly’s for 38 years, and himself a Lyndon alum, believes she’s enjoyed the longest career of a female news photographer in the country.