Current News

Vermont State Police On Thursday at approximately 1:21 pm Vermont State Police, Williamstown Fire Dept., Williamstown EMS and Barre Town EMS responded to a report of a tractor trailer rollover on VT RT 64 in the town of Williamstown. Investigation determined that a tractor trailer was traveling eastbound on VT RT 64. Witnesses reported that the tractor trailer’s brakes were smoking and mechanical failure is suspected to have been a factor in the crash. Investigation revealed that the tractor trailer flipped onto its side while attempting to navigate a sharp corner and subsequently left the traveled portion of the roadway. The tractor trailer slid into a ditch and came to a position of uncontrolled rest on it’s roof. The operator was transported to Central Vermont Hospital in Critical condition where he was pronounced deceased. The passenger was pronounced deceased at the scene of the crash by EMS.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, announced today that the committee will hold a hearing Thursday, June 9, at 11 am titled “Saving Social Security: Expanding Benefits and Demanding the Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share or Cutting Benefits and Increasing Retirement Anxiety.” Signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Social Security today remains one of the most popular and successful government programs in the history of the United States. Before it was enacted in 1935, more than half of the nation’s seniors lived in poverty, as well as countless Americans living with disabilities and surviving dependents of deceased workers.

Vermont Business Magazine The Community Health Centers (CHC) has opened an additional practice in Essex as their ninth location. Essex has the highest number of CHC patients, second only to Burlington, making the Junction a perfect fit for CHC’s newest location. Located just outside the five corners, this new practice will allow residents of Essex to conveniently access the many benefits offered by Federally Qualified Health Centers, such as financial assistance through a Sliding-Fee Scale, interpreter services, prescription assistance, nutrition services, and connection to counseling and psychiatry.

Vermont Business Magazine Nedde Real Estate in Burlington has released recent transactions. These include the sale of 1-3 West Main Street, Vergennes, VT a 1.1 acre of land fully permitted for a 9 townhouses development to Cornerstone Solutions, LLC; the lease of 18,994 square feet of industrial space at 784 Hercules Drive to Burlington Furniture Company; and the lease of 4,021 Square feet of flex space at 10 Farrell Street, South Burlington to Dynamo Hockey Club, LLC.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General T.J. Donovan is warning Vermonters about a new variation of the family emergency scam in which scammers are demanding that cash be handed over in person to a “courier.” By presenting a fake emergency in which their loved one needs help getting out of trouble, scammers pressure panicked family members, including grandparents, into acting before they can realize it’s a scam. Until recently, scammers took a hands-off approach in collecting money, demanding gift cards, wire transfers, or virtual payments. Now, the Attorney General’s Consumer Assistance Program (CAP) is receiving reports that scammers are enlisting “couriers” to collect cash directly from unsuspecting family members at their homes to resolve the fake emergency. Vermonters who receive these calls should resist the urge to act immediately and take steps to verify the caller’s identity.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Scott today signed eight bills into law, including the natural burial bill. Scott also vetoed H.606, An act relating to community resilience and biodiversity protection. H.606, he said, is unnecessarily tied to – and unreasonably limited to – permanent protection. The ANR has repeatedly said that permanent preservation has not been, and cannot be, the state’s exclusive conservation tool and this bill, intentional or not, would diminish the existing and successful conservation tools we have. The VNRC objected to the veto saying, given current and future development pressures on Vermont’s landscape, alongside historic biodiversity loss and climate change, this bill would have created a statewide conservation plan that would identify a full range of conservation approaches to employ. The bill passed the Senate without objection.

Vermont Business Magazine Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials will visit the Waterbury Wastewater Treatment Facility to recognize its innovative phosphorus removal system—the first application of this technology in Vermont—on Friday. The Waterbury facility’s “Co-Mag” system removes phosphorus from water by bonding it to heavy iron sand that causes it to settle more easily. Before installing this system, water leaving the Waterbury facility contained anywhere from 5 to 8 milligrams per liter of phosphorus. This met regulatory requirements at the time, but not stricter standards being phased in under the EPA’s 2016 Lake Champlain Total Maximum Daily Phosphorus Load.

Vermont Business Magazine Every year, shelter and service providers count sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January. All regions of the state participate in the point in time count on the same night. The sheltered count is of people living in emergency shelter including hotels and motels through the General Assistance Emergency Housing Program, as well as transitional housing, and Safe Havens. The unsheltered count is of people experiencing homelessness who are living in a place not meant for human habitation such as outdoors or in a car. The Point in Time Count in January 2022 found a 7.3% increase in persons experiencing homelessness in Vermont compared to the prior year, from 2,591 individuals to 2,780. This comes on the heels of a 133% increase from 2020 (pre-pandemic) to 2021.

Vermont Council on Rural Development As a member of the Partnership for the Future of Vermont, we want to share with you some exciting updates on The Vermont Proposition and the Future of Vermont Action Team's platform for action. As we shared in February, the Future of Vermont Action Team reviewed the 10 elements of The Vermont Proposition which were established in 2021 with the input of thousands of Vermonters. From there, the Team decided on three areas of focus including climate change and the working landscape, education equity and transformation, and broadband access and affordability. The Action Team also determined several “lenses” through which they should focus work in any of these areas. These include racial equity, economic opportunity, disability and access, and civic engagement.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University’s College of Graduate and Continuing Studies (CGCS) is honored to announce that Norwich University Provost and Dean of the Faculty Dr. Karen Gaines will deliver the 2022 CGCS commencement address to approximately 360 students at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 24 in Shapiro Field House. Gaines has served as Norwich University’s provost and faculty dean since 2022, overseeing academic affairs and its internal operations.

Vermont Business Magazine The Addison County Regional Planning Commission (ACRPC) has been awarded a $500,000 Brownfields Assessment grant by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA’s Brownfields Program provides grants and technical assistance to communities to assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse contaminated properties. Addison County is home to a variety of abandoned 19th and 20th century industrial and commercial properties (brownfields).

The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation’s county foresters help private landowners – who own about 80% of Vermont’s forestland – manage their land responsibly. One of the Department’s thirteen county foresters, Ethan Tapper, Chittenden County Forester, was presented with the Cooperative Forest Management Forester of the Year Award from the Northeast-Midwest State Foresters Alliance.