Current News

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.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General Charity Clark joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in support of Minnesota’s lawsuit and motion for temporary restraining order challenging the Trump Administration’s extraordinary campaign of lawlessness during its deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol to the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Over the course of just a few weeks, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has sent more than 3,000 federal agents into the area. In the brief, filed on January 22, 2026, the coalition urges the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to order an immediate halt to the federal government’s lawless actions – actions that show unprecedented disregard for foundational constitutional principles.

Vermont Business Magazine U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont), alongside U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), recently introduced the No Taxpayer Funds for Corporate Investment in Venezuelan Oil Act, legislation to prohibit the Trump Administration from providing taxpayer reimbursements for oil companies investing in Venezuela’s oil and gas sector. 

Vermont Business Magazine U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee on Rural Development, Energy, and Credit, alongside U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Senate Commerce Committee Chairman, this week reintroduced the bipartisan Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining (SAT) Act, legislation to expand access to high-speed internet in rural communities by cutting red tape that threatens investments in America’s commercial satellite industry. The Senators’ legislation aims to streamline the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) application process to ensure America remains competitive by incentivizing commercial satellite operators to base operations in the United States.

Vermont Business Magazine With extreme cold forecast this weekend, the State of Vermont, in partnership with community organizations across the state, is opening six shelters around Vermont. These shelters are part of the Department for Children and Families’ Extreme Cold Weather Shelter Program, administered through a partnership with Vermont Interfaith Action. Additionally, local communities and non-profit organizations may open additional shelters. Anyone who needs access to shelter should call 2-1-1 for up-to-date information about shelter locations and opening times. These low-barrier shelters will provide a warm place to sleep and get out of the dangerous cold, as well as some limited amenities. Shelters will open Friday and Saturday nights and remain open beyond that depending on temperature and location.