Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont utilities are reminding their customers that help is available for those struggling to pay existing and past bills. Vermonters financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic can apply for two grant programs for renters and homeowners to help with overdue utility bills. Customers may be eligible for tens of thousands of dollars through these programs, and should apply now before money runs out: Vermont Emergency Rental Assistance Program (VERAP); Vermont Homeowner Assistance Program (VT HAP).

Vermont Business Magazine For Pride Month, Out Leadership, the premier global network for LGBTQ+ business leaders and companies, unveiled the 4th annual State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index for 2022. The Index is a ranking from highest to lowest of all 50 states as it relates to legal, political, emotional support, health, business and other parameters for LGBTQ+ Americans. Vermont ranked as #5 in the 2022 LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index. Vermont did well in all the subcategories except Work Environment & Employment. The top 10 states are New York (ranking #1), Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, Illinois, Oregon, California and Colorado, while the bottom 10 states are Montana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Dakota, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and South Carolina (ranking last at #50).

VermontBiz Chris Tuff is known as "The Millennial Whisperer" because of the book he authored of the same name. However, the partner at Atlanta ad agency 22Squared speaks loud and clear when he talks about what managers of businesses large and small need to do to attract, develop and retain talented young people who are millennials and part of Generation Z.

"Take a vested interest in younger employees' lives and have the conversation about what motivates you, what excites you, what is it that you want to do in the world," Tuff advises leaders. "And when we start doing that, that is where your retention rate will skyrocket, your culture will get better and you will actually be able to retain your top talent."

Vermont State Police An autopsy was performed Tuesday, June 7, 2022, at the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington on the adult man found deceased Monday on Greeley Road in Springfield. The autopsy determined the cause of death to be a gunshot wound to the head, and the manner of death is a homicide. The Vermont State Police has completed notification of next of kin and is able to identify the victim in this incident as Justin Gilliam, 38, of Springfield, Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Housing Trust of Rutland County (HTRC) has relocated to 27 Wales St., Suite 201 in downtown Rutland. HTRC will hold an Open House and Annual Meeting on Thursday, June 30, 2022, 4-6pm. The open house and annual meeting are open to the public. Housing Trust of Rutland County’s Open House and Annual Meeting will include tours of the new location, a ribbon cutting, a brief presentation and election of Board Members for the next year. Their new space is the former home of the Rutland Herald and has been completely remodeled by owners The Belden Company. Hors d’oeuvres will also be available.

Vermont Business Magazine Along with the housing bills S210 and S226, Governor Phil Scott signed eight bills into law, including the property tax rate bill (for which there is modest relief) and one to modernize the liquor laws. However, he vetoed H728, the "safe injection sites" bill. He said that it would divert resources from proven harm-reduction strategies to a program whose efficacy is not yet known.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott gathered with members of the Legislature and local housing partners at the Salisbury Square, a planned affordable housing neighborhood, in Randolph today to sign two historic housing bills. The bills, S.226 and S.210, dedicate substantial state investments to bolster Vermont’s housing stock. The two bills are funded with both state funds and federal American Rescue Plan Act funds and will deliver more than $45 million to housing programs. These funds add to the $200 million allocated last fiscal year and in the Budget Adjustment Act, as part of the Governor’s $250 million housing package. The bills will provide additional funding for downtown and neighborhood revitalization and reforms to Act 250, all of which will pave the way to more housing of all types across the state.

Vermont Business Magazine Make-A-Wish Vermont reached new heights today as they celebrated their 900th wish with a little help from their friends at Beta Technologies and the Vermont Flight Academy (VFA). On Saturday, 17-year-old Wish Kid Dylan of Williston, who wished for the flight hours to earn his pilot’s license, clocked his first flight with a view of the Make-A-Wish Vermont office out his window. On Saturday morning, Tom D’Urso, Executive Director of VFA, and Katie Clark, a founding member of Beta Technologies, greeted Dylan at the Make-A-Wish Vermont office to reveal that his wish was coming true and his Discovery Flight would be that day.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources is providing $3.75 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grants to help manufactured housing communities address water infrastructure and 3-Acre stormwater issues. This funding (https://bit.ly/3BXr9Lw) will ensure residents in these communities have access to safe drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and drainage systems. Examples of eligible activities include assessing what projects could be undertaken in the future, designing, and permitting these projects, connecting to municipal water or wastewater, retrofitting stormwater practices, meeting 3-Acre stormwater requirements, installing drinking water or wastewater projects, and more.

Norman James, 86, of Waterbury Center, passed away peacefully with his family by his side on May 29, 2022, at Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital, in St Johnsbury, Vermont. Norman graduated from Spaulding high school, class of 1953. He served in the US Air Force from 1955 - 1959 where he received training in armed forces radio and television services. Upon his honorable discharge, Norman was hired by WDEV as a radio announcer and news reporter. Norman transitioned to governmental and political news reporting for WCAX before returning to WDEV as their political reporter and news director. During his tenure, Norman received the prestigious Aiken fellowship award. Norman is preceded in death by his wife of 38 years, Lindel.

by Anson Tebbetts This year Vermont legislators made record investments in our rural communities, agriculture, and the environment. Based upon Governor Phil Scott’s proposals, legislators allocated dollars to farmers, producers and those making their living off the land. The Governor’s Future of Agriculture Commission offered new policy and program recommendations, and legislators listened. This winter the Commission proposed investing in food related businesses so they could grow and feed people in Vermont and beyond. A $40 million dollar Community Recovery and Revitalization program led by the Agency of Commerce and Community Development will issue grants to businesses to invest in new infrastructure, such as storage, distribution, waste management and meat processing for Vermont companies.

Vermont Business Magazine Winooski residents will soon be able to enjoy ‘Sweat, Flex & Chill’ thanks to a recently launched crowdfunding campaign. The campaign is sponsored by the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development’s Better Places program and led by the Fight for Kids Foundation.