Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Dartmouth Board of Trustees has elected Sian Leah Beilock as the institution’s 19th president. A leading cognitive scientist and the current president of Barnard College, Beilock, 46, will assume office on July 1, 2023. She is the first woman elected to the position in Dartmouth’s more than 250-year history and will succeed Philip J. Hanlon, who will step down at the end of the coming academic year after a decade in the role.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported July 19 that COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are still considered "Low." Total cases for the week, however, increased by more than 100 or 32 percent. Meanwhile, hospitalizations continued to decline. The BA.5 variant has become the predominant variant of COVID-19. There were 11 deaths in June attributed to COVID so far after 32 in May. May saw an increase in fatalities from April and March. June had the fewest COVID fatalities since last July 2021 (2). As of July 19, there have been 6 deaths from COVID in Vermont for a pandemic total of 689.

Vermont Business Magazine Vanguard Renewables, a US leader in organics-to-renewable energy, today announced that a fund managed by BlackRock Real Assets has acquired the company from Vision Ridge Partners. BlackRock Real Assets will partner with Vanguard Renewables’ management team to build upon the company’s market-leading track record and drive its next phase of growth, including its plans to commission more than 100 anaerobic digesters to produce renewable natural gas across the country by 2026.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor and the State Workforce Development Board will host Triple Play Job Fest in White River Junction on Friday, the first of three job fair events. Local employers will be set up during the Upper Valley Nighthawks game to promote openings to local jobseekers and fans. All attendees to the Nighthawks game will receive free admission, with participants in job fair receiving a complimentary concessions voucher.

Registration may be done in-advance at Labor.Vermont.gov, or at the game by visiting the Department of Labor booth. Additional events are set for Montpelier (July 27) and Burlington (July 28). More details on Triple Play Job Fest at https://labor.vermont.gov/event/triple-play-job-fest

by Annette Smith, Vermonters for a Clean Environment The recent proposal by Vermont Huts Association (VHA) and Moosalamoo Association (MA) to construct a ‘hut’ next to Silver Lake in the Moosalamoo National Recreation and Education Area in Leicester (Addison County) Vermont reveals numerous problems with the USDA/Forest Service’s management of the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF).

Vermont Business Magazine The winners of Vermont’s 2022 moose hunting permits were determined Wednesday, July 20, at a lottery drawing in Montpelier witnessed by Fish and Wildlife’s Director of Wildlife Mark Scott and Business Systems Analyst Cheri Waters. The drawing is done by a random sort of applications that were submitted by the June 22 deadline. As part of the regular lottery drawing, a “special priority drawing” was held for five permits to go to applicants who are Vermont resident veterans. The unsuccessful applicants from the veteran drawing were included in the larger regular drawing that followed. All applicants for both drawings who did not receive a permit were awarded a bonus point to improve their chances in future moose permit lotteries.

by Rob Roper As gasoline prices hover around record highs, putting tremendous pressure on family budgets, stressing businesses, and making life generally more expensive, the Vermont Climate Council is coming up with a plan to make the problem worse. Much worse. At the July 11 meeting of the council’s Transportation Task Force, which is formulating a plan for the legislature that will lower CO2 emissions from the transportation sector enough to meet the mandates of the Global Warming Solutions Act, new carbon taxes on gas and diesel were at the top of the list.

Vermont Business Magazine Union Bankshares, Inc (NASDAQ - UNB), based in Morrisville, today announced results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 and declared a regular quarterly cash dividend. Consolidated net income for the three months ended June 30, 2022 was $2.9 million, or $0.65 per share, compared to $3.0 million, or $0.67 cents per share, for the same period in 2021, and $5.4 million, or $1.20 per share, for the six months ended June 30, 2022, compared to $5.9 million, or $1.31 per share for the same period in 2021.

Vermont Business Magazine Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD today announced the appointment of Julie Arel as deputy commissioner for the Vermont Department of Health. Arel served for the past eight years as director of the department’s Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. She begins her new job on August 1, serving alongside fellow Deputy Commissioner Kelly Dougherty.

Vermont Business Magazine Assistant Director Christine Brown has been promoted to Director of Captive Insurance at the Department of Financial Regulation (DFR). Christine will be filling the role that Sandy Bigglestone holds, who will be appointed to Deputy Commissioner of the Division when David Provost retires at the end of August. Christine started working for the Captive Insurance Division in 2003 as an Examiner. Prior to joining the Division, she worked for six years collectively at Johnson Lambert and Ernst & Young as an Auditor. Over the years she worked her way up to Examiner in Charge and Assistant Chief Examiner, to eventually become the Assistant Director of the Division in 2016.

by Aly Richards, CEO of Let’s Grow Kids, and Dimitri Garder, CEO of Global-Z International Earlier this month, a report commissioned by the Vermont Legislature declared our state’s child care system to be “fundamentally broken,” validating what so many of us have known and experienced. The study, which is titled Vermont Child Care and Early Childhood Education Systems Analysis, was based on interviews with more than 85 early childhood education stakeholders and dozens of previous state reports and data on the topic. Now that the report is here, we can firmly say that it details what we’ve known for years: our child care system isn't working for anyone – not for children, families, essential early childhood educators, and certainly not for our workforce and economy.

Vermont Business Magazine Forecasters are calling for a storm to bring heavy rain, lightning, and strong winds to most of Vermont starting early Thursday afternoon. GMP is urging safety for customers as some outages are possible and travel could be difficult during this regional storm. GMP’s field forces are prepared to respond along with external help to supplement GMP crews if needed.