Current News

Vermont Business Magazine For the first time in over two years, Rutland Regional Medical Center was able to welcome people into the facility to celebrate a major milestone, the completion of renovations to the Psychiatric Service Inpatient Unit (PSIU). The event took place at 4pm on Wednesday, September 14 in the hospital’s CVPS/Leahy Community Health Education Center on the lower level. Prior to the start of the celebration, Vermont Mental Health Commissioner, Emily Hawes, and Deputy Commissioner Allison Krompf, were given a private tour of PSIU by unit nurse director, Lesa Cathcart.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) on Thursday issued the following statement after rail carriers and rail workers reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement: “Now it’s up to the rank-and-file union members to evaluate this deal and determine whether it works for them. These workers have not had a raise in three years and continue to work incredibly long hours under brutal working conditions. I will respect and support whatever decision they make.”

Vermont Business Magazine Correlate Infrastructure Partners Inc. (OTCQB: CIPI), a technology-enabled energy optimization and clean energy solutions provider for all North America based in Shreveport, Louisiana, has announced a nonbinding letter of intent to acquire Waitsfield, Vermont-based Aegis Renewable Energy Inc. Aegis is a leading commercial, industrial and community solar company focused on solar project development and EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) services in the eastern United States and is a member of the Amicus Solar Cooperative Network. Financial terms were not disclosed. Employment for the Aegis team is expected to expand.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) today intentionally destroyed a heavy-duty truck that was well-used by a Rutland-based field electric maintenance team and replaced it with an all-electric Lion stake body truck. The Destroy-a-Truck event took place at GHR Recycling in Pittsford, where guests got to check out the new all-electric truck. Making the old truck unusable is a requirement of a state of Vermont grant to speed replacement of fossil fuel vehicles with clean electric. Driving with fossil fuels is the largest source of carbon pollution in Vermont, about 40% according to the latest data from the Energy Action Network, so any time drivers switch to clean electric it helps the state reach its climate goals. Vermont provided a grant of about $915,000 in VW settlement funds to help launch GMP’s fleet-wide switch away from fossil fuel, and GMP will gather data for the state on truck performance and charging, as well as emissions reductions.

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont fell another 5 cents since last week to $3.84 per gallon. They've fallen 46 cents over the last month but are still 77 cents higher than a year ago. The lowest prices in Vermont as of today are in Brattleboro and West Dummerston ($3.43/g). The highest price is in Orleans ($4.29/g). The national average is $3.67/g, down 5 cents, according to GasBuddy.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott, the ACCD, and VEDA today announced the launch of the Short-Term Forgivable Loan Program designed to support Vermont businesses experiencing continued working capital shortfalls as a result of the pandemic. S.11 (Act 183) appropriated $19 million of the ARPA allocation to provide financial assistance to eligible businesses, including sole-proprietors and not-for-profits, that continue to experience economic harm due to the pandemic, up to $350,000 per applicant. To be eligible, applicants must demonstrate a reduction in adjusted net operating income of at least 22.5% in 2020 and 2021 as compared to 2019, including any funding from prior programs that were not enough to weather the on-going economic challenges.

Vermont Business Magazine The Board of Directors of Potash Hill, Inc, a subsidiary nonprofit organization of the Marlboro School of Music, has hired Brian Mooney as its Managing Director. In this newly created position, Mooney will oversee the management, marketing, constituent and community relations, scheduling, and program development for activities on the southern Vermont campus from September through May each year. In September 2021, Marlboro Music’s subsidiary, Potash Hill, Inc, purchased the campus that, since 1951, has been home to the Marlboro Music School and Festival. The rural, hilltop campus, formerly owned by Marlboro College, comprises more than 50 buildings on 560 acres.

Vermont Business Magazine Sarah Waring, State Director of US Department of Agriculture – Rural Development in Vermont and New Hampshire (RD), today announced the funding of two more Vermont healthcare institutions—Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and Little Rivers Healthcare—through Emergency Rural Health Care Grants (ERHC) totaling $1,637,600. More than 58,000 people who live and work in rural Vermont will benefit from the funding. These investments are in addition to last month’s $1 million grant awarded to Springfield Hospital, and part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s national focus on supporting rural healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic through the American Rescue Plan Act.