Current News

Vermont Business Magazine TDS Telecommunications LLC will begin construction on a high-speed, all-fiber internet network in portions of several Vermont communities later this year. The projects will deliver what’s known as the “gold standard” of internet connections to residents and businesses in communities including Baltimore, Cavendish, Ludlow, Perkinsville, Plymouth, Weathersfield, Northfield, and Roxbury. More than 9,000 addresses within TDS’ footprint will have access to the network. The network will feature up to 2Gig internet download and upload speeds.

Vermont Business Magazine As part of its ongoing commitment to support training and workforce development, Advantage Truck Group will host the Diesel Equipment Technology competition for the 2022 SkillsUSA Massachusetts and SkillsUSA Vermont State Championships at its Shrewsbury facility. High school students from Vermont will compete on Thursday, April 28, and students from Massachusetts will compete on Friday, April 29. The winner from each competition will represent their state at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference diesel competition in June.

Vermont Business Magazine Population Media Center (PMC), a Vermont-based global sustainability nonprofit and broadcast production partner, has submitted an endorsement of Vermont’s proposed Reproductive Liberty Amendment protecting reproductive liberty. Simultaneously, in other regions of the United States, PMC staff are on the ground documenting the arduous journeys of real people seeking abortion care despite legislative, geographic, socio-economic, and other barriers for a 10-episode, docu-style PMC podcast, Crossing The Line.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Warden Service has completed a multi-month poaching investigation resulting in the arrest of five Windsor County males suspected of taking 14 illegal deer in Vermont during the fall of 2021.

Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department Game Wardens and Detectives worked alongside Conservation Officers from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, and Special Agents of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service through the investigation. In addition to the 14 illegal deer taken in Vermont, those involved are suspected of taking multiple illegal deer in New Hampshire. They are facing additional charges in that jurisdiction.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced Commissioner Mike Pieciak will be stepping away from his role leading the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) next month to pursue other opportunities. Pieciak, along with Health Commissioner Mark Levine and former Human Services Secretary Mike Smith, was a familiar face at the governor's pandemic response press conferences beginning in March 2020. Pieciak provided data modeling related to the rise and recent decline of COVID-19. Commissioner Pieciak was appointed to lead the consumer watchdog agency by Governor Scott in January 2017. He joined DFR in 2014 as Deputy Commissioner of the Securities Division, appointed by Governor Peter Shumlin.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 424 cases of COVID-19 for Tuesday (327 Monday, 179 Sunday). There were 251 on Saturday and 372 last Friday, as cases have edged up in recent weeks and 8.5 percent in the last week. The seven-day positivity rate keeps rising and is now 12.9%; the record was 13.8% set January 8.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has funded an additional 18 projects in a second round of Municipal Planning Grants. The 2022 Budget Adjustment Act (Act 83) appropriated an extra $250,000 for municipal planning which allowed for DHCD to review and fund the highest scoring applications that were not funded in the first round. This second round of awarded projects range from creating an outdoor recreation plan, identifying ways to enhance existing and future recreational amenities, updating town zoning and subdivision regulations to support smart growth, developing a village center streetscape and green space improvement plan, and developing a bicycle and pedestrian connectivity plan.

Vermont Business Magazine On April 27, Governor Scott signed bills of the following titles: H.461, An act relating to excluding the income of asylum seekers and refugees from household income; H.718, An act relating to approval of the dissolution of Colchester Fire District No. 1; S.74, An act relating to modifications to Vermont’s patient choice at end of life laws; S.163, An act relating to State court petitions for vulnerable noncitizen youth; S.239, An act relating to enrollment in Medicare supplemental insurance policies.

​Vermont Business Magazine The J Warren & Lois McClure Foundation announced on Tuesday the McClure Free Degree Promise through the Early College Program at CCV for Vermont’s high school classes of 2023-2026. The McClure Foundation’s promise will cover tuition and fees after any federal and state financial aid, and provide enhanced career and education advising as well as stipends to help with books, transportation, and other costs associated with going to college. The state’s Early College program allows Vermont high school seniors the option to complete their last year of high school and their first year of college at the same time, earning free college credits that also count toward graduation from high school.

Vermont Business Magazine CEOs and business owners from across Vermont, representing nearly every industry, joined Vermont’s Child Care Campaign today on the steps of the state house and declared their collective support for a publicly funded child care system that meets the needs of all Vermont’s children, families, businesses, and economy. Employers including Lisa Groeneveld, Co-Founder of OnLogic, Mark Foley Jr, CEO of Foley Services, Dimitri Garder, CEO of Global-Z International, and Sam Hooper, President of Vermont Glove, during the event identified the extreme lack of high-quality child care as a central barrier to rebuilding Vermont's workforce and economy. The Vermont Business Roundtable (VBR), Vermont Regional Development Corporations, Main Street Alliance, and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility also participated and affirmed their support for public investment in child care.

Vermont Business Magazine As Amazon refuses to recognize the historic vote to unionize a warehouse on Staten Island, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Tuesday sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to fulfill his campaign promise to stand with workers and strengthen the union organizing movement by preventing companies engaged in illegal anti-union activities from receiving federal contracts paid for by the taxpayers of the United States. In the letter, Sanders urged President Biden to sign an Executive Order to implement this plan.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Regional Development Corporations of Vermont (RDCs of VT) announced their collective support for prioritizing investment in an early childhood care and education system that meets the needs of all Vermonters. For the RDCs of Vermont, prioritization of early childhood care and education as a primary public investment also means that public revenue sources must be transparent, equitable, competitive, and sustainable. All Vermonters must share the burden. We also believe that a truly impactful system must use data that is accountable to the outcomes produced. Our support stems from the belief that these goals can be achieved while ensuring every Vermont child has access to the care they need.