Current News

Vermont Business Magazine April is National Alcohol Awareness Month. Established in 1987 by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, it’s a time to reach out to communities across the country and provide answers to end the stigma associated with alcohol abuse. Look for these signs your family member, friend, loved one or colleague may be battling a form of addiction: Changes in behavior; If they’re drinking a lot more or trying to hide their alcohol use; Taking higher risks like drinking and driving.

Vermont State Police On April 12, 2022, at 0821 hours the Underhill/Jericho Fire department was dispatched to a reported structure fire at 23 Buchanan Lane in Westford. When fire crews arrived, they found the attached garage of the single-family home completed involved with fire and the fire was quickly spreading to other areas of the structure. With the assistance of several other area fire departments the fire was extinguished and only 1 minor injury was reported.

Vermont State Police Hartford Police, assisted by the Vermont State Police Bomb Squad and other agencies, are concluding operations in the village of Wilder. The VSP Bomb Squad successfully mitigated hazards arising from explosive devices found inside a house on Perkins Place. The neighborhood is returning to normal this evening as police activity ends. There were no injuries during the course of the police operation.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 297 cases of COVID-19 for Tuesday (157 Monday, 100 Sunday, 186 Saturday, 233 Friday, 243 Thursday, 216 Wednesday, 219 Tuesday, and 150 last Monday.) The VDH reported no additional deaths this week for 623 statewide. As cases have risen over the last couple weeks, Chittenden and Washington have reported both the most total and the highest rate per capita.

Vermont State Police An autopsy was conducted Wednesday, April 13, 2022, at the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington on Fern Feather, 29, of Hinesburg, who was known to family as Zachary Barbeau. The autopsy determined the cause of death was a stab wound to the chest, and the manner of death was homicide.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan today announced that his office has reached settlements with two different online sellers of electronic cigarettes for violations of Vermont’s Delivery Sales Ban and Vermont’s Consumer Protection Act. Under the settlements, the companies resolved claims that they sold electronic cigarettes, e-liquids, or other tobacco paraphernalia to individual consumers. As of July 1, 2019, it is illegal to sell electronic cigarettes and related “vaping” products over the internet to individual Vermont consumers. In total, the companies will pay $215,500 in civil penalties to the State of Vermont. Since December 2020, the Attorney General’s Office has reached settlements with 23 online sellers of electronic cigarettes, totaling $833,750 in civil penalties.

Vermont Business Magazine Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont welcomes Caroline Foster and T.J. Whalen to the board of directors of Vermont’s only local non-profit health plan. Both individuals bring deep experience in driving business transformation strategies that will support our goals of increasing quality outcomes while bending the premium cost curve.

Caroline Foster is a senior-level global product manager with over 25 years of business and IT leadership designing, building, and managing product portfolios and platforms in highly regulated industries. Caroline’s focus is on digital business transformation that delivers data-driven business value, modernizes operations, and enriches customer experiences by leveraging emerging technologies and innovative solutions.

VermontBiz "Quitters Never Win and Winners Never Quit" is a slogan that appears in many locker rooms across America. The saying also sums up Claire Babineaux-Fontenot's view of the mentality of people who are successful even in the face of adversity.

For them, failure is not an option.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Technical College has launched a provisional chapter of Women in Aviation International in partnership with Beta Technologies and Vermont Flight Academy. The new community provides a professional networking space to students and graduates of Vermont Tech’s Professional Pilot Technology Program as well as the broader Vermont aviation community. It is the first such chapter in Vermont and one of few in New England. The chapter’s first meeting took place on Friday, March 25 at BETA Technologies.

​Vermont Business Magazine Today the Vermont for Reproductive Liberty Campaign announced that more than 1,300 individuals, businesses, and organizations have endorsed the Reproductive Liberty Amendment to date. The list of endorsers is now available on the campaign’s website. The Reproductive Liberty Amendment is a proposed state constitutional amendment that would protect every Vermonter’s right to make their own reproductive decisions. The amendment would ensure that individual Vermonters can choose for themselves whether and when to become pregnant, use temporary or permanent birth control, or seek abortion care—regardless of any future attempts by politicians to limit access to reproductive health care services.

Vermont Business Magazine Mack Molding, a leading custom plastics molder and supplier of contract manufacturing services, is growing and so are the molding departments at its Arlington, Vermont, Headquarters and the Company’s Inman, SC, facility with the addition of five new injection molding presses. With the addition of robots and infrastructure Mack has invested more than $5.5 million for the fleet expansion. The new presses will enhance the company’s ability to serve customers – including new work – in the medical, heavy truck, sport utility/recreational vehicle and industrial sectors.

Vermont Business Magazine Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, New Hampshire’s largest private employer and the state’s only academic health-care system, is changing its name to Dartmouth Health, officials announced Tuesday. Dartmouth Health has more than 13,000 employees and includes DHMC; more than 24 Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics around the region; the Dartmouth Cancer Center; Dartmouth Health Children’s; Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital in Lebanon, N.H.; Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, N.H.; New London Hospital in New London, N.H.; Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in Windsor, Vt.; and Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire.