Current News

Northeastern Vermont Development Association A BONUS round of funding for the Downtown and Village Center Tax Credit Program is available for projects that improve building safety and enhance the historic character of commercial and community buildings in designated communities. The credits support general rehabilitation work, facade improvements, code compliance work, and flood mitigation projects. Applications for this bonus round are due Jan. 16, 2023.

Vermont Agency of Transportation This weekly report is a list of planned construction activities that will have traffic impacts on state highways throughout Vermont for the week of October 31, 2022. Please remember to drive safely in all work zones. Lives depend on it.

Ledyard Financial Group (Ticker Symbol: LFGP) has announced a regular quarterly dividend of $0.41 per common share. The dividend is payable June 2, 2014, to shareholders of record as of May 9, 2014.

Ledyard Financial Group, Inc, headquartered in Hanover, New Hampshire, is the holding company for Ledyard National Bank. Ledyard National Bank, founded in 1991, is a full service community bank offering a broad range of banking, investment, tax and wealth management services in the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee Region. Ledyard National Bank has eight offices with locations in Hanover, Lebanon, Lyme, New London, and West Lebanon, New Hampshire and in Norwich, Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine A shared love of beer, travel, art, and the great outdoors united three partners – Tim Brady, Amy Brady, and David Hiler - to open Whetstone Station Brewery in Brattleboro in 2012. The spirit of exploration and discovery through rail travel underpinned the concept behind the establishment housed in a former train station building. A decade later, they've rebranded to Whetstone Beer Co. and reimagined packaging to celebrate their love of adventure and respect for the environment with fully recyclable cans and labels with a surprise inside: a keepsake peel-off sticker on every can. The custom labels, imagined by Whetstone Beer Co co-owner Tim Brady, were developed over a year-long process with a USA label manufacturer. They are the first to incorporate a built-in, removable sticker within a fully recyclable beer can label.

Vermont Business Magazine Hunters are gearing up for the start of Vermont’s traditionally popular 16-day regular deer season that begins Saturday, November 12 and ends Sunday, November 27. A hunter may take one legal buck during this season if they did not already take one during the archery deer season. The definition of a legal buck depends on the Wildlife Management Unit (WMU). A map of the WMUs is on pages 22 and 23 of the 2022 VERMONT HUNTING & TRAPPING GUIDE available from license agents statewide.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Lottery had a Gimme 5 top prize winner of $100,000. Simon’s Essex Center Store & Deli in Essex Junction sold the winning ticket. To date, the winner has not claimed their prize. On a Gimme 5 play slip participants mark five numbers of their choice from 1 to 39 in a single panel. They are allowed to play up to five (5) panels on a single play slip. The cost is $1.00 per play.

Vermont Business Magazine At the site of an empty block in the center of Vermont’s largest city, flanked by the Vermont Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski, Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, and Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, the Building Homes Together campaign issued its annual assessment of housing production in Chittenden County, delivering the message that continued spending on affordable housing was necessary to have any lasting impact on affordability. The CityPlace development is expected to break ground in two weeks and the associated 85 affordable housing units could begin to rise starting as early as next spring. The entire redevelopment of the former Burlington Town Center, demolished in 2018, with over 400 housing units, retail and a parking garage has a November 2025 completion goal.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont’s Board of Trustees today approved freezing tuition and fees at current rates for a fifth consecutive academic year, an initiative begun by President Suresh Garimella in 2019 to keep UVM affordable and accessible for students and families from Vermont and across the nation. To complement the frozen tuition rates, which apply to all students, the university held room and board fees level for a fourth straight year. To further reinforce UVM’s commitment to affordability and access here in Vermont, Garimella announced the “UVM Promise,” a new program that guarantees full tuition scholarships to all dependent Vermont students in households with incomes of up to $60,000. Eligible Vermonters will receive these full tuition scholarships for four years of study, beginning with the first-year students entering next fall.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported October 26 that hospitalizations increased from 48 to 73 to 76 over the last three weeks. But COVID-19 cases fell from 882 to 585. Still, COVID-19 infections are now considered "Medium" by the VDH for the second week after being at the "Low" level for the last few months. Hospitalizations have been edging up over the last few weeks (from a low of 30). There were six more COVID-related deaths since last week's report, for 14 so far in October for a pandemic total of 740 (the VDH report could be updated as more data becomes available). Vermont has the lowest COVID fatality rate in the nation, at 118 per 100,000 population.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Clean Water Board is asking the public to weigh in on how they would like to prioritize approximately $50.6 million, available through the State Fiscal Year 2024 Clean Water Budget, to clean up water pollution in Vermont’s lakes, streams, and wetlands. The Board is asking Vermonters to provide feedback on the draft budget, including whether they believe funding levels are sufficient, whether they agree with the Board’s proposed prioritization of funding, and if they have specific recommendations for the Board’s consideration. The Clean Water Board will review public comment before making its final Clean Water Budget recommendation in December 2022.

Vermont Business Magazine Champlain College kicks off the next chapter in its 144-year history with the inauguration of 10th President Alejandro (“Alex”) Hernandez. Setting a course to “build a better future,” Champlain will bring to life its core values of innovation, inclusivity, and engaged learning during three days of conversation and celebration from November 3-5, 2022. A community celebration, four fireside chats, and the official inauguration ceremony will weave together themes of lifting people and communities, being more human in an increasingly digital world, expanding Champlain’s leadership in the sciences, and what it means to be “Champlain Ready.”