Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Senate voted unanimously to advance S.286, Public Pension and Postemployment Benefits. Supporters call this balanced legislation where all sides contribute to the sustainability of our public pensions systems. Also today, Governor Scott's veto of H.361. An act relating to approval of amendments to the charter of the Town of Brattleboro, was sustained. That bill would have lowered the voting age in Brattleboro to 16. The vote was 15-12 in favor with 20 votes needed to override the veto.

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Office announced that Benjamin G Mallery, 30, of Sheffield, Vermont, was arrested and arraigned today on five felony counts of Possession of Child Sex Abuse Materials and one misdemeanor count of Possession of Child Sex Abuse Materials. The Caledonian Record is reporting that Mallery is a corrections officer at the Northeast Correctional Complex in St Johnsbury. The charges brought against Mallery are the result of a criminal investigation – including the execution of residential and online data search warrants—conducted by the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (VT-ICAC).

Vermont Business Magazine Up to $550,000 in Federal grant funding is available in Vermont for the development of innovative conservation approaches and technologies through the USDA-administered Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program. Grant proposals are due by April 8, 2022. Funded through USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), CIG helps stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies in conjunction with agricultural production. CIG projects are expected to lead to the transfer of conservation technologies, management systems, and innovative approaches (such as market-based systems) to agricultural producers, into government technical manuals and guides, or to the private sector.

​Vermont Business Magazine At Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont we take a whole-person approach to health, and fundamentally believe that people should have a sense of well-being in both their body and their mind. We oppose the actions taken in Texas, Florida and ten other states that criminalize parents for seeking health care for their children, silence teachers in their classrooms, restrict transgender and gender non-conforming kids’ access to sports, counseling and mental health resources, and marginalize an entire population simply for being who they are—we reject hate in all forms. We invite Vermonters on Transgender Visibility Day to consider ways to speak out against the alienation of difference.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Technical College partnered with Earthwise Global Inc., a Northfield, Vt.-based AgriTech company, on a 6-week preliminary feasibility study that evaluated the use of a nanobubble technology to grow hydroponic crops more efficiently and abundantly. Vermont Tech’s study employed Earthwise’s advanced water aeration technology and resulted in a 25% net yield in both basil and lettuce weight with additional analysis of plant health and nutrient value forthcoming.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Department of Corrections Commissioner Nicholas Deml is announcing key leadership changes at Northeast Correctional Complex (NECC) in St. Johnsbury, Northern State Correctional Facility (NSCF) in Newport, and the Central Office. At NECC, Superintendent Norah Quinn will retire from Vermont DOC in April after 29 years of State service. Superintendent Quinn began her career as a correctional officer and served in numerous roles with the Department.

Vermont Business Magazine A new Center for Global Engagement at Saint Michael’s College is set to receive $400,000 in federal funding from the Omnibus Appropriations Bill, signed on March 15. The support, championed by Senator Patrick Leahy, D-VT ’61, will help to expand student international internship opportunities to Europe and Latin America. It also will pay for programming on international issues and cover operating costs for the Center.

Vermont Business Magazine Starting Wednesday, March 23, patients at Rutland Regional Medical Center were able to have more friends and family visit than earlier this year when COVID rates were high. The hospital has relaxed its visitation policy to allow two visitors per patient during regular visiting hours. In addition, the hospital has reopened surgical waiting areas. Prior to this change, each patient was limited to two designated visitors for the duration of the patient’s stay. The new policy also allows children to visit as well.

University of Vermont Feeling unhappy? Go find a city park—the bigger the better—and try taking a walk outdoors. That’s the upshot of a major new study that measures the happiness effects of city parks in the 25 largest U.S. cities, from New York City and Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. The happiness benefit of urban nature on users was so strong—the team of University of Vermont scientists discovered—it was roughly equivalent to the mood spike people experience on holidays like Thanksgiving or New Year’s Day.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Transportation will be opening the drawbridge at 12:00 PM on April 1, 2022 and April 4, 2022. This opening will allow vessels to travel through in advance of the height restriction, effective May 15, 2022. Due to material fabrication and fit up issues, we are making a request to the Coast Guard to allow the new drawbridge to remain in the closed position from May 15 through June 30, 2022, in order to enable the completion of steel work and concrete work. The navigational channel will remain open to mariners, but we are requesting a height restriction of 14 feet to be in place from May 15 through June 30, 2022.

Vermont Business Magazine Washington Superior Court has issued a judgment in the civil lawsuit brought by Attorney General TJ Donovan against Missouri-based Karabell Industries and its owner, Eli Karabell, for making repeated illegal telemarketing calls and harassing state legislators to pay exorbitant sums of money. The Consent Judgment, issued yesterday, resolves the Attorney General’s lawsuit by requiring the Defendants to cease all business and telemarketing activity in Vermont and refrain from contacting anyone in Vermont about any marketing, sales, offers, or otherwise.

Vermont Business Magazine Currently, under 30 percent of Vermont's households have access to fiber-optic broadband. Limited internet access and cell phone service is a major contributing factor to the digital divide, especially in rural areas. To help meet this challenge, Esri, the global leader in location intelligence, and Stone Environmental—a science, engineering, and field services firm that provides dynamic web-based geographic information system (GIS) solutions—have collaborated to provide Vermont's nine Communications Union Districts (CUDs), towns, and private telecommunications companies with the tools and information needed to enhance development of fiber-optic broadband in all areas of Vermont.