Current News

Vermont State Police On January 24, 2026, at approximately 10:41pm, Troopers from the Vermont State Police – Royalton Barracks investigated a reported Hit & Run resulting in damage to a street sign and fence at the intersection of VT Route 65 and Stone Rd in the town of Brookfield, VT (near the Float Bridge). Investigation indicates a silver/grey in color Toyota 4Runner struck a snowbank, continuing to hit a street sign, which fell and damaged a fence.

Vermont State Police On Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, the Bradford Fire Department and Upper Valley Ambulance were dispatched to a fire scene on Goshen Road in Bradford. The fire department located 65-year-old Mark Hewes in a camper on the property with burns to his arms, ears, neck and face. Hewes was transported to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, where he was listed in critical condition. He was later taken by helicopter to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. 

Vermont State Police On Thursday, the Vermont State Police responded to Tenney Pond Rd in the town of Newbury for a reported one vehicle rollover into a pond. Investigation determined Jeffrey Linsky, (69) of Wells River, VT, was driving north bound on Tenney Pond Rd in a Chevrolet Colorado when he overturned the vehicle into a body of water off the roadway. Linsky was found unresponsive and despite lifesaving efforts he was pronounced deceased.

Vermont State Police On January 24th, 2026, Troopers from the Berlin Barracks responded to a two-car motor vehicle crash located on the Waterbury Stowe Road in the Town of Waterbury. Troopers were advised of possible serious bodily injuries resulting from the crash. Troopers, Waterbury Fire and EMS responded to the scene. Preliminary investigation revealed that a white Honda CR-V operated by Paula Breining (61) was traveling south on the Waterbury Stowe Road. The Honda CR-V crossed the center line and collided with a blue Hyundai Tucson traveling north. Paula Breining (61) was pronounced deceased at the scene. The investigation into this crash is ongoing and there are no further details at this time.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today issued the following statement: “Enough…it’s not acceptable for American citizens to be killed by federal agents for exercising their God-given and constitutional rights to protest their government. “At best, these federal immigration operations are a complete failure of coordination of acceptable public safety and law enforcement practices, training, and leadership. At worst, it's a deliberate federal intimidation and incitement of American citizens that’s resulting in the murder of Americans."

Vermont Business Magazine Experience Shelburne, the town’s Community and Economic Development Committee, will host two public information sessions on Thursday, January 29, to share its mission, first-year progress, and plans for nurturing Shelburne’s future. The sessions offer an opportunity for residents, business owners, and potential partners to provide input and learn how they can get involved. Both sessions will be held at Pierson Library in the Community Room. The morning will start with a general community session from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. with an update on the committee’s work and future plans. A second session, tailored to local small business owners, is scheduled from 10:30 a.m. to noon, with an emphasis on exploring opportunities for collaboration, co-marketing, and placemaking.

Vermont Business Magazine The 39th Annual Vermont State Scholastic Chess Championships will be held on Saturday, March 28, 2026, at Lamoille Union High School, 736 VT-15, Hyde Park, VT 05655. This is the selection tournament for Vermont's nominees to the national Denker, Haring, Barber, Ashley, and Rockefeller invitationals. This tournament is open to Vermont students in grades K-12. Participants must be VT residents or be enrolled in a VT public or private school. 

Vermont Business Magazine CallFinder, a South Burlington-based purpose-built automated quality assurance (QA) and coaching platform for contact centers, has announced a collaboration with BenchmarkPortal that will make BenchmarkPortal’s Call Center Learning Channel+ short-form training video content available to CallFinder clients. CallFinder helps contact center leaders automate manual QA and turn customer conversations into actionable insights, so teams can spend more time coaching and improving performance. BenchmarkPortal’s Learning Channel+ is a subscription-based microlearning library built for contact center agent training and coaching, featuring 50+ workplace-friendly videos in approximately five-minute lengths, to help teams maximize adoption and impact.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Bar Foundation (VBF) has launched the Vermont IOLTA Leadership Circle, a voluntary initiative designed to strengthen and stabilize funding for civil legal aid by recognizing financial institutions that demonstrate leadership through competitive interest rates on Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA). IOLTA funding plays a vital role in supporting civil legal services and justice initiatives across Vermont. Interest earned on lawyers’ trust accounts helps fund legal assistance for Vermonters facing housing instability, domestic violence, immigration challenges, and other serious legal matters. Because interest rates vary by institution, banking practices directly affect the amount of funding available to support this work.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Animation Festival will return April 17–18, 2026, for its eleventh year of celebrating creativity, innovation, and community in animation. Hosted by Vermont State University Lyndon in partnership with Catamount Arts, the festival will offer two days of screenings, workshops, and artist talks designed to inspire animators at every level. This year’s keynote speakers are Dale Hayward and Sylvie Trouvé, the husband-and-wife team behind See Creature Animation. Known for their unique approach that combines handcrafted stop-motion techniques with cutting-edge digital tools, Hayward and Trouvé have contributed to acclaimed projects such as The Little Prince (2015), Bone Mother (2018), and Les Emerveilleurs (2022). Their commercial work includes collaborations with Nike, Hot Wheels, and Tim Horton's, alongside projects for non-profit organizations.

Vermont Business Magazine In response to the dangerously cold weather forecasted for Vermont, the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is launching "Freeze Patrols" to enhance motorist safety. These patrols will provide increased coverage on Vermont’s interstates, highways, and secondary roads throughout the weekend. The National Weather Service predicts that overnight temperatures from Friday into Saturday will drop into single digits and well below zero (teens below zero), with wind chills potentially reaching 40 degrees below zero in some areas. An extreme cold warning is in effect statewide from 7 p.m. Friday through 1 p.m. Saturday. A slight warm-up is expected on Sunday, followed by snow moving in from the south during the afternoon and evening.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont State Police is implementing “freeze patrols” to ensure uninterrupted coverage overnight as dangerously cold weather arrives in Vermont and is forecast to last through the weekend. During freeze patrols, night-shift troopers stay on duty beyond their normal 2 a.m. end of shift, and the day shift signs on earlier in the morning so there are no gaps in police coverage. The freeze patrol begins with Friday’s night shift and will continue at least until Sunday. The extra patrols could be extended if needed, as a significant snowstorm is predicted to follow the subzero temperatures. The National Weather Service is forecasting overnight low temperatures Friday into Saturday in the single digits to teens below zero, with wind chills plunging to as much as minus 40 in parts of Vermont.