Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Advancing its groundbreaking partnership with University of Vermont’s (UVM) Complex Systems Center, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) announced today a $4.25 million extension of funding for the MassMutual Center of Excellence for Complex Systems and Data Science. This gift will broaden a growing portfolio of world-class research projects focused on improving human wellness through data analytics. The funding, to be provided over the next five years, will allow the MassMutual Center to expand data-centered research projects exploring physical and mental health, algorithmic fairness, and data visualization, as well innovative new projects that dovetail with the Center’s existing strengths in areas such as cyber security and measurement methodologies.

Vermont Business Magazine Exactly one year to the day after they requested voluntary recognition of their union, the workers at the Vermont Historical Society have ratified their first union contract. The Vermont Historical Society joins libraries in Burlington, Essex, Kellogg-Hubbard, Middlebury, Rutland and Springfield as the number of libraries in the state whose workers formed unions through AFSCME Council 93 continues to grow. While raises for the Vermont Historical Society are set by state law to mirror those received by other state employees, there were still a number of issues to be bargained over in achieving a first contract. Top among them were health care affordability and implementing a fair pay grade reclassification system. 

Vermont Business Magazine DoorDash, together with its partners Hello Alice and the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), announced $440,000 in grant funding through the Restaurant Disaster Relief Fund in 2023. This initiative provides $10,000 relief grants to restaurants impacted by natural disasters or emergencies not only in the United States but also, for the first time, in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Four Vermont restaurants received grants.

Vermont Business Magazine Hey Jane, the patient-centered, virtual reproductive and sexual health care clinic, announced today the expansion of its services to Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, following launches in Massachusetts and Connecticut in the past year. This launch makes Hey Jane the first virtual clinic to be providing reproductive and sexual health care—including abortion care—in all of New England. Hey Jane provides a wide range of judgment-free reproductive and sexual health care services from the comfort and convenience of your phone, including accessible and safe abortion care, treatment for UTIs, yeast infections, bacterial vaginosis, and herpes, as well as birth control and emergency contraception. 

Vermont Business Magazine Parish Hill Creamery from Westminster West, Vermont has been named among the winners at the World Cheese Awards, which was held at the Trondheim Spektrum, Norway, on Friday 27 October. Amidst a field of 4,502 entries, the Parish Hill Creamery secured the following coveted awards in the world’s most distinguished cheese-only competition.

Community National Bank (CNB) Wellness Committee members attended a conference held on October 24, 2023, at the Doubletree in Burlington, VT. The Vermont Department of Health and the Vermont Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports held this conference for 112 businesses that have Worksite Wellness Committees. CNB received a Gold Award for the 2023 Governor’s Excellence in Worksite Wellness Award. Each year our committee completes a questionnaire that reports health and wellness resources in place for our organization. Out of 84 health and wellness categories being scored, we offer 70 to our employees. To receive a Gold Award, organizations in our category must score at least 80% on the questionnaire and CNB scored 83%.

The Vermont Growers Association Retailer Working Group, a committee comprised of local industry cannabis retailer leaders, has announced Retailer Principles to serve as a foundation of awareness and understanding of cannabis across the state market, to hold each other accountable to those principles, and to use their position in the market to contribute to and help guide the formation of an economically viable, racially just, and agriculturally accessible world-renowned regulated cannabis market that surpasses the reputation of other cottage industries in Vermont, such as beer and cheese.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and Austrian Ambassador to Unites States Petra Schneebauer today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) pledging close collaboration between the State of Vermont and Austria on advancing apprenticeships, vocational and professional education and training, and other work-based learning. They were joined by business leaders and stakeholders at Husky Technologies in Milton for the event and signing ceremony. 

Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center If you've not joined CONNEXVT yet, it's not too late to take advantage of our FREE YEAR OF FULL NATIONAL ACCESS offer! This valuable online platform connects all Vermont manufacturers, buyers, and suppliers in a single, searchable supply-chain solution. If you sign up by the November 20 deadline, using promo code vmec1year, you will have access to the national database of over 20 other states who've also joined the CONNEX Marketplace, a database of 140,000+ U.S. manufacturers and suppliers.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) is applauding the announcement of over $1 million in grants to the Northeastern Vermont Development Association of St Johnsbury, and the Center on Rural Innovation (CORI) in Hartland, awarded by the US Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration through its ‘Build to Scale’ program.  The grants aim to accelerate technology entrepreneurship by increasing inclusive access to entrepreneurial assistance and startup capital. This announcement marks the 10th cohort of grantees for this program, awarded to 60 organizations across the country, and support innovation industries, such as agriculture technology (ag-tech), bioscience, advanced manufacturing, and health technology, among others. 

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today led a committee hearing titled, “Standing Up Against Corporate Greed: How Unions are Improving the Lives of Working Families,” which heard testimony from UAW International President Shawn Fain, Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien, AFA-CWA International President Sara Nelson, and other experts. Sanders also had to step in and break up a potential fight between a Teamsters official and a US senator.

Vermont Business Magazine Starting January 1, 2024, a new state law will prohibit the sale of specific mercury-containing fluorescent lightbulbs in Vermont. Restrictions include the sale of general purpose, indoor/outdoor, residential, and business mercury-containing four-foot linear, compact fluorescent, and twist-based fluorescent lightbulbs. Twist-based (GU-24) Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) are also restricted from sale. If your home or business currently uses these fluorescent bulbs, you will not be able to buy more after January 1, 2024. If your business sells these bulbs online or in a store, you will not be able to do so next year.