Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Hopridge Farms presents the Southern Vermont Summer Homebrew Festival on Saturday, August 6th 2022 from 12pm to 4pm in downtown Bennington, Vermont at the Bennington Sports Center on North Street. The annual event encourages brew-loving patrons to come and enjoy unlimited sampling of home-brewed beer, wine, mead, cider and more, plus entertainment and eats from the area’s food trucks.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) Tuesday delivered his first public comments on the Inflation Reduction Act calling on his colleagues to improve the legislation to meet the needs of the American people. Sanders’ remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below and can be watched here.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Public has launched the Made Here Fund, an initiative to broaden and diversify Vermont storytelling and support content creators. Storytellers from across the state are invited to apply for special funding for a wide range of projects and formats, including documentary storytelling, nonfiction audio projects, digital video content, podcasts, and multimedia web-based projects. Initial funding has been provided by current and former members of Vermont Public’s board of directors.

Vermont Business Magazine On Tuesday, US Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Patent Examination and Quality Improvement Act of 2022, legislation to evaluate and improve the patent examination process and the overall quality of patents issued by the USPTO. This legislation would evaluate prior and current initiatives and pilot programs relating to the quality of patents. It would evaluate the need for greater clarity in terms of what constitutes patent quality, the setting of patent quality metrics, and how the quality of work product performed by patent examiners is measured within the office.

by C.B. Hall, VermontBiz On Wednesday, August 3, an organic dairy farm in Morristown will become the first in the state to make the switch from Horizon Organic to Organic Valley as its milk marketer. Organic Valley expects to pick up the contents of the Rooney family farm's bulk tank at 9 am., according to a press release from the Wisconsin-based cooperative. Horizon Organic was acquired by Danone North America, a unit of French dairy products giant Groupe Danone, in 2017, and now is one of 16 U.S. brands owned by the conglomerate. In August 2021 Danone North America announced that, as of August 2022, it would cancel contracts for purchasing milk from its 89 organic dairy farm partners in New York and New England, including 28 in Vermont.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine A Park City, Utah, resort company has offered to acquire Jay Peak Resort for $58 million. Jay Peak Receiver Michael Goldberg will accept this bid for Vermont’s northern-most ski resort unless a higher bid comes in over the next month. Goldberg announced the bid by Pacific Group Resorts Inc in a filing to the US District Court in Miami on Monday. The court granted Goldberg's motion on August 4. The Pacific Group bid is binding, according to Goldberg, regardless of any other bid. “The time has come for the Receiver to sell the Jay Peak Resort. When the Receiver took over the Jay Peak Resort in April, 2016, it was on the verge of collapse having little money and making very little profit. In fact, the Receiver had many sleepless nights during the summer of 2016 wondering if he would be able to even make payroll."

​Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor (VDOL) and State Workforce Development Board (SWDB) have extended Triple Play Job Fest, to include an additional job fair on Friday, August 5 with the Vermont Lake Monsters at Centennial Field in Burlington. Triple Play Job Fest events were held previously in White River Junction (July 22), Montpelier (July 27), and Burlington (July 28). VDOL will also host two more job fairs in the month of August, in Ludlow, VT on August 9, and, in partnership with NEK Workforce Partners, in Lyndonville on August 18.

​Vermont Business Magazine A new collaboration between the Department of Corrections (DOC), the Department of Mental Health (DMH), and Pathways Vermont will help enhance treatment for individuals involved in the criminal justice system. This assistance will come through the evidence-based Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) practice, which is recognized by the federal Substance Abuse Mental Health and Services Administration (SAMHSA) as having shown success in treating individuals with mental health and/or substance use challenges and who are considered at risk of re-offending.

​Vermont Business Magazine Vermont is opening up its working farms and businesses to visitors this summer. This comes as Governor Phil Scott declares August as Agritourism Month in Vermont. The combination of these two industries is important to Vermont’s working landscape and the state’s economy. Dozens of on-farm activities in every corner of the Green Mountains gives the public authentic experiences on how Vermont’s food is grown, raised and produced. Experiences from tasting award-winning food and drink to spending a night on the farm and waking up with the cows create memories for families while supporting Agriculture.

​Vermont Business Magazine Vermont has joined a nationwide Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force of 50 states to investigate and take legal action against the telecommunications companies responsible for bringing foreign robocalls into the U.S. Gateway providers that bring robocalls into the U.S. have a responsibility to ensure the call traffic is legal, but these providers are not doing enough to stop illegal robocalls. The Task Force will focus on the bad actors throughout the telecommunications industry to shut down gateway providers that profit from scam calls and help reduce the number of robocalls nationwide, including in Vermont where an estimated 3 million robocalls hit last month.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Medical Center, the anchor academic hospital for the UVM Health Network, has again earned recognition as Vermont’s top hospital with 10 high performing specialties and procedures by U.S. News & World Report, which released its annual “Best Hospitals” rankings this week. In addition, three local Network hospitals in Vermont and Northern New York were recognized for high performing specialties and procedures.

Vermont Business Magazine The first round of Working Lands Enterprise Initiative applications for fiscal year (FY) 2023 is launching! The Working Lands Enterprise Board (WLEB) is releasing two requests for applications (RFA) totaling $140,000 that will allow Vermont working lands service provider organizations and producer associations to invest in projects focused on governance and leadership and building workforce development and executive business skills. The application submittal period will begin August 12. The deadline for application submittals is September 23.