Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Fourth of July Holiday brings together friends and family for barbeques, camping and fireworks. The Division of Fire Safety and your local emergency service personnel want everyone to have a safe holiday season by following a few seasonal safety tips. In Vermont, it is illegal to purchase, possess, transport, store or discharge fireworks without first obtaining a local permit from your municipality. Novelty type devices such as sparklers, snakes, party poppers, glow worms, smoke devices, string poppers, snappers, or drop pop with no more than 0.25 grains of explosive mixture can be purchased without a permit but should only be used by children under close adult supervision. Nationally, the 4th of July holiday is when emergency services experience a large spike in firework related injuries.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont State Police on Friday, July 1, will mark the 75th anniversary of the agency’s creation, a watershed moment that arose from tragedy and laid the groundwork for a proud legacy of dedicated service across generations. State leaders established the Vermont State Police on July 1, 1947, in the aftermath of the disappearance of Paula Jean Welden, an 18-year-old Bennington College student who vanished the year before. When local officials were unsuccessful in pursuing the case, they called in state police investigators from Connecticut and New York — because Vermont had no similar agency. The case, which remains unsolved, rallied Vermonters and their political leadership to finally launch the Vermont State Police after many years of hesitation and debate.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Attorney General’s Office and the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced the approval of a settlement in Vermont’s first-ever joint state/federal employment discrimination lawsuit. The settlement requires Coughlin, Inc, a McDonald’s restaurant franchisee, to pay $1.6 million in damages and state penalties and substantially reform its business practices under a five-year consent decree. Friday’s announcement marks the largest public sexual harassment settlement in the history of the Attorney General’s Office and one of the largest reported employment discrimination settlements in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont farmers who withdraw any surface waters ( definition:10 V.S.A. § 1002(20) ) for farming are advised to begin keeping records of irrigation events this summer if a farm does not already do so. A new state law goes into effect today, July 1, 2022, which requires annual reporting of surface water withdrawals used for farming to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM). The first such annual report for farmers who qualify (**see below) will be due to the VAAFM on January 15th, 2023. Vermont agriculture is the first new sector of surface water handlers to report usage of waters to the State of Vermont based on Act 135 of 2022.

Vermont Business Magazine KSV, a full-service marketing & advertising, women-owned, B Corporation-certified agency just powered-up with a heaping can of (organic) spinach—also known as We Ride at Dawn (WRAD), an award-winning creative content outpost specializing in outdoor, active lifestyle based out of Boulder, CO. The KSV + WRAD partnership was born out of a desire to bring decades of sustainability expertise into the outdoor space. And with the month of June recognized as Great Outdoors Month, the announcement could not come at a better time.

Vermont Business Magazine Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc (NYSE: BHLB) announced today the completion of the public offering and sale of its inaugural Sustainability Bond, offering $100.0 million of its 5.50% fixed-to-floating rate subordinated notes due 2032. The Notes were sold at par, resulting in $98.3 million in net proceeds, after underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses. The company intends to use an amount equal to the net proceeds to finance or refinance new or existing social and environmental projects consistent with its Sustainable Financing Framework. Berkshire is the first public U.S. community bank holding company with under $150 billion in total assets to issue a Sustainability Bond. Berkshire has branches in southwest Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Health Network is implementing a series of initiatives to help stabilize its financial condition, while continuing work to improve the patient experience and access to care in several service areas across its academic medical center, five community hospitals, children’s hospital, multi-specialty physicians group, and home health and hospice agency. The work is underway as the Network’s Vermont hospitals submit their proposed FY23 budgets to the Green Mountain Care Board, with commercial rate requests reflecting the extraordinary financial challenges being faced by hospitals nationwide. Cost increases of $142.3 million, if approved and without additional Medicare or Medicaid funding, will necessitate commercial rate increases of 19.9% for UVMMC, 14.52% for CVMC and 11.45% for Porter Hospital.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems (VAHHS) today announced that its non-profit hospitals submitted what they are calling “stabilization budgets” to the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB). Hospitals continue to experience high patient volumes with many at or exceeding their capacity to deliver care. Additionally, the entire health care system is stressed, so patients are presenting sicker or in need of more services due to delayed care or must remain hospitalized because there are no care options in long term care facilities or the community. In this current fiscal year, nearly all hospitals are experiencing a negative operating margin, meaning they are losing money. In response, hospitals are engaged in strategic plans to cut costs and reduce spending where possible to protect vital services.

Vermont Business Magazine A whimsical and unique IPA is returning to the Northeast this summer. Lawson’s Finest Liquids is excited to announce the regionwide distribution of Hopcelot IPA this week. Made with eight hop varieties from around the world, Hopcelot IPA is a delightfully complex brew with seemingly endless flavor notes inspired by legendary Vermont music. The beer will be available at retailers through the end of August in Lawson’s Finest’s full nine-state distribution area.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) was recently authorized to offer discretionary grants for financial services education initiatives undertaken by public and nonprofit organizations. The grant program is authorized in 9 V.S.A. § 5601 and § 5616 and is funded from the Vermont Financial Services Education, Victim Restitution, and Whistleblower Award Special Fund. Opportunities Credit Union, from Winooski, Vermont, was awarded the first such grant in the amount of $200,000 to provide financial counseling and education to current and prospective small business owners in Vermont through a new “Business Sense” program.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Economic Progress Council (VEPC) has approved Killington's application for a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District for Killington Road and the Killington Village area. The VEPC board voted on Thursday to approve Killington’s application, which will allow the town to install new water infrastructure, resolve water contamination, mitigate road hazards, and enhance transportation capacity and accessibility.

Vermont Business Magazine On Saturday President Biden signed into law the Keep Kids Fed Act, passed by Congress last Friday. The Keep Kids Fed Act extends some of the federal Child Nutrition Program waivers set to expire on June 30, provides increased reimbursements next school year to help school meal programs contend with skyrocketing food costs, and continues critical reimbursement rate increases for childcare providers.