Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Electric Co-operative members will learn what’s new and how the co-op is innovating in a changing energy environment at the VEC Annual Meeting May 14 at Smugglers’ Notch Resort. Members who attend can also enjoy a complimentary breakfast and be entered into a raffle for great prizes, including a battery-powered lawn mower, a string trimmer/leaf blower combo, gift cards to local and national chain stores, gift certificates and more. The meeting’s theme is Committed to Our Members in an Era of Change and will include a robust Q&A session with VEC leaders.

Vermont Business Magazine The award-winning, family-friendly Resort, Smugglers’ Notch, added a new employee benefit – full day child care and camps, at no cost to the employee. These new benefits will accommodate parents who desire employment at the Resort while their children attend a full day of supervised fun and games. Smuggs anticipates a one-stop-shop experience for parents, providing them with the ability to drive to the Resort and have their children with them. It seems like the perfect time and cost saving solution. The child care benefit is available to all employees on a first come, first serve basis.

Vermont Business Magazine The State of Vermont Agency of Transportation has selected the Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE) to develop and administer a suite of clean transportation incentive programs for state residents to help curb greenhouse gas emissions. The transportation sector accounts for about 40% of Vermont’s carbon emissions. The programs, authorized by the 2021 Vermont Transportation Bill (Act 55), provide: $3 million to support incentives for the lease or purchase of new plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs); $1.5 million to create the Replace Your Ride Program, providing $3,000 for Vermonters to scrap older, high-polluting vehicles for cleaner transportation options; $50,000 to establish an electric bike incentive, the first authorized statewide e-bike program in the nation.

Vermont Business Magazine On April 29, 2022, Governor Phil Scott released a proclamation recognizing the first week of May as Abenaki Recognition and Heritage Week. The Vermont Department of Mental Health recognizes that celebrating identity through culture is a vital part of mental well-being. For thousands of years, the Abenaki people have lived on the land that we now occupy. Through their resilience and strength, they have worked through losses, and hardships. Accessing culturally informed mental health services continues to be a challenge today.

Vermont Business Magazine Lost Lantern, the award-winning independent bottler of American whiskey that launched its first whiskies in late 2020, announced a $1 million oversubscribed seed financing round to expand its marketing reach and further invest in its Vermont headquarters. Backers include FreshTracks Capital, the Vermont Seed Capital Fund, the Dudley Fund, and the Burlington Telecom Innovation Fund, as well as a group of independent angel investors.

by John McClaughry The growing reawakening of enthusiasm for nuclear powered electricity has been a remarkable development over the past ten years. For decades enviros of various stripes have raged against nuclear power. Nuclear was bad, bad, bad because a plant might explode, fission products would contaminate the continent, careless security might allow proliferation of bomb material, nuclear plants were big and owned by big corporations, mining uranium was environmentally destructive, and so on.

Northeastern Vermont Development Association Lamoille Valley Rail Trail is scheduled for completion this fall. The long anticipated four-seasons recreation trail will run 93 miles from St. Johnsbury to Swanton. In addition to providing a smooth, safe surface on which to walk, run or ride (horseback, bicycle or snowmobile), the trail corridor is expected to bolster the economies of the towns through which it passes. In the NEK, those towns are Hardwick, Greensboro, Stannard, Walden, Danville and St. Johnsbury. The segment between West Danville and Hardwick will be finished by November 12. Effective July 1st, the trails will be under the management of VTrans, and VAST will play a prominent role during the winter months.

Vermont Business Magazine May is Older Americans Month, a time to celebrate older adults across the country and the network of organizations who work with them. The 2022 theme is Age My Way, an opportunity for us to explore the many ways older adults can remain in and be involved with their communities. Vermont’s demographics are changing. One in 4 Vermonters are over the age of 60. Are Vermont’s communities able to meet our changing needs and goals as we all age? What will it take to ensure all Vermonters have the opportunity for financial security, health and wellness, social connection, affordable housing, transportation and more?

Vermont Business Magazine Adam Cohen, MD, the chair of Emergency Medicine and the medical director for the Emergency Department at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC), will discuss the renovation and expansion of the emergency department and why emergency services are essential for a community on the next Medical Matters Weekly at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4.

Vermont Business Magazine Williston residents in need can sign up for a free smoke alarm installation from American Red Cross Vermont Chapter and the Williston Fire Department on May 14. Residents of Williston, St. George and Hinesburg who need assistance are encouraged to visit RedCross.org/EndHomeFiresNNE to schedule an appointment for a free smoke alarm installation during the Red Cross Sound the Alarm event on Sat., 5/14. During the 20-minute home visits, Red Cross volunteers and members of the Williston Fire Department will also share information on the causes of home fires, how to prevent them, what to do if a fire starts and how to create an escape plan.

Vermont Business Magazine Eight F-35A Lightning II fifth generation fighters from the Vermont Air National Guard’s 158th Fighter Wing have arrived at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, May 2, to continue NATO’s Enhanced Air Policing mission along the Eastern flank. As part of NATO’s plan to bolster its collective defense posture, the Vermont Air National Guard team will take over the mission for Hill Air Force Base’s 388th Fighter Wing, which has been executing the coalition’s air policing mission since their initial arrival on February 16.

by Jack Hoffman, Public Assets Institute The Vermont House, Senate, and governor’s office are thrashing out their differences over state appropriations for the coming fiscal year that will total roughly $8.3 billion. We’re all aware that a massive amount of federal aid has poured into the state in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But it’s worth pausing for a moment to grasp the magnitude and the potential of all of that aid. In the five years prior to COVID, Vermont’s annual spending averaged about $6 billion a year. Since COVID, the budgets have been: $6.3 billion (FY2020), $7.2 billion (FY2021), $7.9 billion (FY2022), and $8.3 billion (FY2023, pending).