Current News

Vermont Business Magazine A historic road made for an historic fundraiser. On June 21, 2026, the nearly completed Champlain Parkway served as the venue for The Parkway Mile, a one-mile race that brought together more than 400 runners, walkers, and hand cyclists and drew in hundreds more spectators. The most visible section of the Parkway, from I-189 at Shelburne Road to Home Avenue is still fully closed and all traffic is strictly prohibited. According to the city, the outbound side headed toward Interstate 1-89 will open June 29. On June 30 inbound lanes headed west will open. Hosted in partnership by RunVermont, Green Mountain Athletic Association (GMAA), and the City of Burlington, The Parkway Mile gave the public a rare opportunity to run a road not yet open to traffic, a once-in-a-lifetime experience that doubled as a celebration of a project six decades in the making.

Vermont Business Magazine Cabot Creamery has announced that its Pepper Jack and Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese Snack Sticks were named winners in Good Housekeeping’s 2026 Snack Awards. The full list of awards can be found on goodhousekeeping.com/snacks2026. This independent, third-party recognition arrives just as retailers expand protein-forward, grab-and-go assortments to meet surging demand in the snacking aisle. The award places the farmer-owned cooperative’s snacking line in front of Good Housekeeping’s national audience and gives category buyers a credentialed, premium cheese snack to anchor better-for-you and on-the-go sets.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott has signed H.921 into law, reforming Vermont’s liquor laws. A key provision of H. 921 now allows breweries to self-distribute up to 3,000 barrels of beer annually under existing manufacturer licenses. As Vermont's distribution landscape has changed in recent years, breweries have increasingly discussed the need for an additional pathway to market—one that can help small and growing breweries build their business and reach customers. The passage of this bill paves the way for smaller breweries to establish local accounts, grow responsibly, and become stronger wholesale partners.

Vermont Business Magazine More than 70 business and community leaders from across Southwestern Vermont gathered on Wednesday, June 17, at The Golf Club at Equinox for the 2026 B2B Golf Classic, the annual fundraising partnership between the Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce and the Manchester Business Association. Celebrating its eighth year, the B2B Golf Classic has become one of the region's premier business networking and fundraising events, bringing together professionals, entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and community organizations from both the Northshire and Southshire for a day of golf, relationship-building, and regional collaboration.

Vermont Business Magazine June 22 marked the public release of It Will Be Different For You, a new documentary short from filmmakers Megan Mayhew Bergman and Simon Perkins profiling Lea Davison. Davison is a two-time Olympian, two-time World Championship medalist, and eight-time U.S. National Champion whose lifelong relationship with mountain biking became a path toward self-acceptance and freedom. Released during Pride Month, the 18-minute documentary highlights Davison’s career both on and off the bike. Specifically, the emotional terrain behind elite competition and the personal breakthroughs that changed the way she approached sport, identity, and risk.

Vermont State Police In June 2026, The Vermont State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) began an investigation into a possible sexual assault.  Investigation determined that Ronald L. Hall JR committed the offenses of aggravated sexual assault and domestic assault in the Town of Brandon VT, and the offenses of sexual assault and stalking in the City of Rutland.  These incidents occurred on 6-10-2026.  

Vermont Business Magazine On Monday, June 22, Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak held a press conference outside Homeport on Church Street to highlight the growing momentum across Burlington and declare what many residents, visitors, and business owners are already experiencing: Burlington is back. She highlighted progress across multiple areas of city life, including downtown vitality, community safety, housing development, infrastructure investments, and community programming. The mayor pointed to the successful launch of Downtown Jazz as an example of Burlington’s resurgence, drawing thousands of people downtown and generating strong business activity throughout the city center.

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Office today announced the conclusion of its independent review of a fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred on July 7, 2025, in Putney, Vermont. Attorney General Charity Clark has declined to prosecute Vermont State Police (VSP) Trooper Peter Romeo for charges related to the use of deadly force in the fatal shooting of Scott Garvey. Under the totality of these circumstances – including, but not limited to, Mr. Garvey’s prior behavior, threats of harm to others, his assertion that he had a gun, and his refusal of commands to drop what he had in his hands – an objectively reasonable officer in Trooper Romeo’s position would have concluded that there was no other reasonable alternative to the use of deadly force to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself and others.

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Office today announced two recent arraignments as part of the National Health Care Fraud Takedown, a coordinated effort by Medicaid Fraud Control Units to address fraud and protect federal and state health care programs. Today, June 23, 2026, Yvonne Wescom, 35, of Newport, Vermont, was arraigned on three counts of felony Medicaid Fraud. The State alleges that between May of 2025 and January of 2026, Ms. Wescom submitted false timesheets of over $15,000 for personal care services she claimed had been provided to a Medicaid recipient. 

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Department of Labor released the seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate for May of 2.6%. This reflects no change from the prior month’s revised estimate. However, the Labor Force fell steeply again and has now lost almost 10,000 workers from a year ago. The civilian labor force participation rate was 62.5% in May, a decrease of two-tenths of one percentage point from the prior month’s revised estimate. The comparable United States rate in May was 4.3%, no change from the revised April estimate. Vermont has the fourth lowest rate in the nation. The Labor Force is the denominator in the equation to determine the UI rate. South Dakota continues to have the lowest at 2.1%, while California has the highest at 5.3%.

Vermont Business Magazine Secretary of Administration Sarah Clark releases Vermont’s revenue results for May 2026. The General and Transportation Funds missed their monthly consensus targets while the Education Fund exceeded its monthly target. The State’s General Fund, Transportation Fund, and Education Fund receipts totaled a combined $222.0 million, narrowly missing the $222.7 million monthly consensus target by $0.8 million, or 0.4%. Total General Fund revenues were $134.5 million, which is -$2.9 million, or 2.1%, below the $137.4 million monthly consensus cash flow target. This monthly shortfall was driven primarily by the continued underperformance of the Corporate Tax (-$3.2M, or 50.3%, below target) and the Estate Tax (-$3.3M, or 91.43%, below target).

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health has reported have COVID-19 hospitalizations remain at a negligible level total levels are nearly too low to measure. They are at a similar level to the levels seen last summer. There were no measles cases after one reported in Vermont in February in Washington County and the national outbreak is over. Meanwhile, RSV, Flu A and Flu B have mostly disappeared. There is still some Norovirus and Rotavirus showing up in samples.