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Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today signed Executive Order 01-26 establishing the Vermont Artificial Intelligence Economic Task Force, positioning the state to use its scale, institutional networks, and tradition of fast coordination to adapt to AI more quickly and deliberately. The Task Force will assess how artificial intelligence is reshaping Vermont’s economy sector by sector and deliver an agenda of workforce, investment, and policy actions, beginning with priority opportunities identified within 90 days.

Vermont Business Magazine As President Trump and congressional Republicans tout so-called “No Tax on Overtime” while simultaneously denying the right to overtime pay for more than 4.3 million workers, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) today introduced the Restoring Overtime Pay Act to expand and strengthen overtime protections for nearly 30 million workers.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Transportation’s State Highway Safety Office joins the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles Enforcement and Safety Division, and law enforcement agencies across the state and nation to urge drivers to “Buckle Up” today and every day as part of a seat belt campaign from May 18-31. Law enforcement officers and first responders from Vermont and New York held a press conference today at the foot of the Champlain Bridge at the historic fort located in Crown Point, NY, to raise awareness about the Buckle Up seat belt campaign, a high-visibility seat belt enforcement effort, which coincides with the Memorial Day holiday.

Vermont Agency of Transportation On May 6, 2026, at approximately 5:33 p.m., Inspector Johnson responded to a two-vehicle crash involving a commercial motor vehicle on I-91 North in Lyndon. The investigation revealed that an involved operator, Mia Scannell, 18, from Newport City, was operating a 2012 Honda Civic north on the I-91 North on-ramp when she failed to yield while merging into the travel lane of I-91 N, striking a commercial motor vehicle. Austin Lathe, 19, of Newport Center, was operating a bobtailed 2013 Kenworth Truck Tractor owned by Kelley View Farm Inc. on I-91 North in the travel lane when struck by the merging car. 

VermontBiz is proud to announce the 2026 Best of Business Awards (BOB Awards) winners. This awards program celebrates the best Vermont companies in more than 100 business-to-business categories. Winners were celebrated May 13 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Burlington. VermontBiz readers chose the winners! After over 75,000 votes, we compiled the go-to list in the state for everything from Best Landscaping Company and Best Digital Media Agency to Best Vermont Made Product.

by Maggie Lenz and Gwynn Zakov Last week, we told you about the tie vote in the Senate Education Committee that temporarily stalled H.955, the major education transformation bill moving through the Legislature this session. Senate Education is the only Senate committee with an even number of members and an even partisan split. The committee took a straw poll to test support for H.955, and the result was 3–3, split along party lines, with all Republican members voting against the bill. That left the bill without a favorable vote from the committee that had spent weeks working through the House version. The House-passed version of H.955 creates Cooperative Education Service Agencies, or CESAs, as a new statewide education service structure. It also requires districts to participate in study groups to consider whether forming larger unified districts is advisable. The bill does not automatically merge districts. It requires a study process and leaves local voters involved before any recommended merger could move forward.

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $4.54 per gallon, up 2.7 cents per gallon from last week's $4.52/g. The lowest price in the state yesterday was $4.25/g while the highest was $4.69/g, a difference of 44.0 cents per gallon. The national average price of gasoline has fallen 1 cent per gallon in the last week, averaging $4.47/g today. 

Vermont Business Magazine The sun shone down on nearly 3,700 members of the University of Vermont’s Class of 2026 and thousands of their family and friends as UVM celebrated its 225th Commencement Ceremony on the historic University Green in Burlington on Saturday, May 16. Students from UVM’s eight colleges and schools processed into the Green through overflow cheering crowds of well-wishers under a bluebird spring sky for the event that recognized the outcome of years of study and accomplishment, at which academic degrees were formally conferred, turning them all in an instant from students to alumni.

Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets For the past three and a half years, Vermont Cattlemen has partnered with a group of dairy farms raising beef x dairy crossbred terminal beef animals to evaluate the economic potential of building a Northeast‑based beef supply chain. You’re invited to an upcoming educational series where Vermont Cattlemen will share what they’ve learned and help farmers identify—or refine—their role in the beef supply chain during this unprecedented moment. All events are free, and lunch will be provided at the in‑person sessions.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Windham County is hustling. When the Entergy Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon closed at the end of 2014, much was lost. The plant employed about 600 highly paid workers. While the plant is located on the Vermont side of the Connecticut River, the workers resided about evenly in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. A facility that large impacts the tax base, housing, infrastructure, retail, and more, on top of the labor. The most positive result of the plant’s closing was that it created a sense of urgency on the part of local public and private development and on the part of the state. It also resulted in the establishment of the Windham County Economic Development Program. WCEDP provides funding and financial services to stimulate job creation, business expansion, and economic infrastructure in the county. 

Vermont Business Magazine This weekly report is a list of planned construction activities that will affect traffic on state highways and interstates throughout Vermont for the week of May 18, 2026. Please remember to drive safely in all work zones. Lives depend on it.  

by Senator Bernie Sanders I was very proud to watch Ben Ogden win two Olympic medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February. Ben is only the second American man to win an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing. The first was fellow Vermonter Bill Koch. Bill grew up skiing to school every day in Guilford, Vermont. From a young age, he loved winter and experiencing the outdoors on skis. He was only 20 when he competed at the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics and won silver in the 30-kilometer event. The Soviets dominated the sport, but Bill believed he had a chance to medal. He remembers skiing faster in that race than he ever had before. Six years later, Bill won the overall World Cup title.