Current News

VermontBiz has released a poll of some of the most competitive primary races. Voting day is this Tuesday, August 9. The races we are closely following include US Senate, Congress, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State and Attorney General. This year the primaries are considered some of the most competitive in memory. To take this poll, just click on the Quick Poll link.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported August 3 that COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are still considered "Low." Total cases for the week fell slightly, while hospitalizations saw another increase. The BA.5 variant has become the predominant variant of COVID-19. There were 12 deaths in June attributed to COVID after 32 in May. May saw an increase in fatalities from April and March. As of August 3, there were 9 deaths from COVID in Vermont in July for a pandemic total of 693. This is the fewest COVID fatalities since July 2021 (2). There have been no reported deaths over the last week (the VDH report could change as more data is provided).

Vermont Business Magazine Fidium Fiber’s multi-gigabit, all fiber service is now available to order for 12,000 homes in Bennington County, including 400 homes that previously did not have access to high-speed internet. The new fiber network, announced in May, is the result of a partnership between Southern Vermont Communication Union District (CUD) and Consolidated Communications. Southern Vermont CUD represents 14 rural towns in Bennington County. The CUD advocates for bringing high-speed internet to their hard-to-connect region and has been successful in securing state funding for broadband projects.

The Vermont Department of Labor and the State Workforce Development Board will host the final Triple Play Job Fest event on Friday in Burlington at Centennial Field at 5:30 pm. The state has held three prior Job Fest events in White River Junction, Montpelier, and Burlington. The event will be held in partnership with the Vermont Lake Monsters.

Vermont Business Magazine ATTOM, a leading curator of real estate data nationwide for land and property data, today released its second-quarter 2022 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report, which shows that Vermont once again has the highest "equity-rich" homes (71.4 percent), while having the lowest "underwater" rate (1 percent, tied with California and Washington). Overall in the US, 48.1 percent of mortgaged residential properties in the United States were considered equity-rich in the second quarter, meaning that the combined estimated amount of loan balances secured by those properties was no more than 50 percent of their estimated market values.

Ledyard Financial Group, Inc (ticker symbol LFGP), the holding company for Ledyard National Bank, has reported record quarterly earnings for the first quarter of 2015. Net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2015, was $1,119,680 or $1.10 per share compared to $938,305 or $0.93 per share for the same period in 2014, an increase of $181,375 or 19 percent.

The company, with branches in New Hampshire and Vermont, reported record total revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2015, of $5,780,095 compared to $5,455,967 for the same period in 2014, for an increase of $324,128 or 5.9%. Net interest income for the quarter ended March 31, 2015, was $3,320,128 compared to $3,148,548 for the same period in 2014, for an increase of $171,580 or 5.5%.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Historical Society has received a competitive Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services totaling $136,585 to create a major, three-year oral history project, Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story, which will document the state’s response and experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is one of 120 institutions across the country receiving grant funding. The Institute of Museum and Library Services has long been supported by Vermont senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders. This grant will be used to capture, preserve, and share the stories of Vermonters during the pandemic, which will include 100 oral histories from first responders, healthcare workers, educators, retail workers, and others.

Vermont Business Magazine Vanguard Renewables’ Chief Strategy Officer John Hanselman and Vermont Creamery’s President, Adeline Druart, were joined Wednesday by Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Anson Tebbetts, along with Danielle Goodrich-Gingras, co-owner and herdswoman of the Goodrich Family Dairy Farm, to announce Vermont Creamery’s membership in The Farm Powered Strategic Alliance (FPSA/Alliance). The announcement occurred at Vanguard Renewables’ anaerobic digester, the largest in the northeast, located on the Goodrich Family Dairy Farm in Salisbury, Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine To celebrate Single Women’s Working Day today August 4, Wisevoter, a bipartisan educational platform has put together rankings for best and worst states for women's employment and earnings. Vermont came out at #4 ranking as one of the best states for women to work in. Vermont was 7th overall when all life factors for women were included.

Vermont Business Magazine Casella Waste Systems, Inc, a regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company based in Rutland, in partnership with TerraCycle, an innovative recycling company that specializes in hard-to-recycle materials, is pleased to announce the upcoming TerraCycle Pouch by Casella pilot subscription program. Beginning in the Fall of 2022, residents in and around Burlington will be invited to subscribe to a supplementary recycling service for a wide array of items that are not acceptable in curbside recycling. With this pilot program, Casella will be one of the first fully integrated resource management companies to offer additional services for materials that are not recyclable curbside.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation (FPR) has resumed work on improvements to the south end of Lake Willoughby in Westmore, VT. These improvements began last fall and are in response to significant increases in visitation and use. This project is intended to improve safety, environmental quality, and visitor enjoyment at Willoughby State Forest. FPR will be posting regular project updates on a dedicated Twitter account and on the FPR website.