Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor’s series of May Job Fest hiring events continued in Middlebury last Thursday, bringing together employers from across southwestern Vermont to highlight career opportunities. More than 50 employers, including Porter Medical Center, Danforth Pewter, Dairy Farmers of America, Casella, and more from Addison County and the local region participated in the second Job Fest event this month. The third and final Job Fest will be held tomorrow, May 24, from 11am – 2pm in Bennington.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and Congressman Peter Welch joined the Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) and community leaders to announce over $16 million in broadband construction grants that will bring fiber broadband speeds to residents of Bolton and several towns in the Northeast Kingdom (NEK). Standing in front of two bucket trucks installing fiber on a stretch of Stage Road in Bolton, leaders congratulated NEK Broadband (a Communications Union District (CUD)) and Waitsfield Champlain Valley Telecom (a small, family-owned telephone operator), on receiving the grants.

Vermont Business Magazine The board of the Vermont Journalism Trust, the parent organization of the online news site VTDigger.org, announced today that founder and editor Anne Galloway will be stepping down from her leadership role, but remain with the organization as it transitions to a new executive director. Galloway founded the news site in 2009 and focused on covering state government. It has since expanded its coverage from its base in Montpelier and now boasts the largest newsroom in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University will receive $4 million in federal funding to create an artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and quantum computing academic and experiential learning center. The center will develop education and training programs directed at undergraduates and engage midcareer professionals with up-skilling and continuing education. In a news release, US Senator Patrick Leahy, D-VT, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that funding for the center was included in a $167 million spending proposal for projects across the state of Vermont as part of the 2022 omnibus appropriations bill.

Vermont Business Magazine Former Governor Madeleine Kunin has endorsed Charity Clark for Attorney General. Clark, who announced her candidacy for Attorney General last week, is running as a Democrat. Clark has spent most of her career serving Vermonters, having worked in the Governor’s Office under Governor Howard Dean and the Attorney General’s Office under Attorney General Bill Sorrell and Attorney General TJ Donovan. If elected, she would be Vermont’s first woman Attorney General.

Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets The Farm Agronomic Practice (FAP) Program is now open for applications from Vermont farms to support the installation of field conservation practices this summer through next spring. This program invests in soil-based agronomic practices that improve soil quality, increase crop production, and reduce erosion and surface runoff from agricultural fields. The Farm Argonomic Practice program operates on a first-come-first-served model and requires relatively little paperwork compared to some other funding programs.

by Joyce Marcel, Vermont Business Magazine It's hard to write a story for Vermonters about maple syrup because we already think we know everything. We know a stand of maple trees is called a sugarbush. We know a shed where sap is boiled is called a sugarhouse. We know when the sap is boiling by the sight of steam clouds rising from the farmer's shed. We know whether we prefer the pure A grade syrup on our pancakes or the darker, thicker, richer B. We know that when you pour maple on snow you get maple taffy, and we organize festivals around that knowledge. We know which of our neighbor's delicious-but-basic product we depend upon to get us through the season before we run out and have to buy supermarket maple. We know all that. However, it was only a matter of time before maple, like cheese before it, went upscale. So, I'm here to tell you that maple syrup isn't just for pancakes anymore.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Historical Society is pleased to announce that it will open a new exhibit about Vermont cartographer James Wilson, A New American Globe: Geography, Identity, and Craft in Early Vermont, on Sunday, July 3^rd. The exhibit will run for a year in the Vermont Historical Society’s Vermont History Museum in Montpelier and will provide a new look at Wilson and his impact on the field of cartography in the United States. The event opening will coincide with Montpelier’s July 4^th celebration, and admission to the museum will be free for the day.

Marks a triumphant return to a live, in-person event where networking opportunities will be emphasized

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Captive Insurance Association, the largest captive membership association in the world, opened registration this week for professionals to attend its 37th Annual Conference, taking place on August 8-11th, at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Burlington, Vermont. After a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic, this year’s in-person conference will deliver what has been sought after most—networking, business opportunities, and outstanding captive educational content all in one place.

Key Elements to the 2022 VCIA Annual Conference:

by Clare Morgana Gillis, Vermont Business Magazine Windham County residents often speak of their appetite for more robust economic development and the desire to create a place where young people don’t need to leave to get a good job or be able to afford to buy a home. But the problem with that appetite is that even if it’s fed, there’s no place for the byproduct to run off; lack of investment in infrastructure, in particular wastewater treatment, hampers the construction of new housing. Chris Campany, executive director of the Windham Regional Commission, said that while the housing problem has become much more acute due to pandemic buyup of housing stock, he’s heartened that the issue is widely recognized now. “There’s been an awakening on the issue of housing,” he said.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Creamery, B Corp Certified makers of consciously crafted artisanal cheese and butter, today announced it won the Specialty Food Association's coveted Gold sofi Award in the "Other Dairy" category for its Sea Salt Cultured Butter for the sixth time in five years, bringing the brand's total awards to 21 in six years. The coveted award solidifies Vermont Creamery's commitment to high quality artisan butters, creams, and cheeses. The 2022 award marks the second Gold and third trophy for Vermont Creamery's Sea Salt Cultured Butter.