Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Child care costs are crazy expensive — and they’re rising, according to a new report released today by the online financial services firm LendingTree. In 2020, child care costs for kids younger than 5 ate up between 17% and 20% of the average American worker’s yearly earnings. In some states, that percentage reached nearly 30%. Vermont families with toddlers and 4-year-olds pay the highest percent of income in the US on child care, 25.3% and 23.7% respectively.

Small Business Administration Vermont Today, Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, head of the US Small Business Administration and the voice for America’s 32.5 million small businesses in President Biden’s Cabinet, directed the Agency to provide additional deferment of principal and interest payments for existing COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan program Borrowers for a total of 30 months deferment from inception on all approved COVID EIDL loans. The extended deferment period will provide additional flexibility to small business owners impacted by the pandemic, especially those in hard-hit sectors managing disruption with recent variants, as well as recent supply chain and inflation challenges amid a growing economic recovery.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s receipt of its share of a national settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, cleared its first hurdle when the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York determined that the settlement did not violate the Bankruptcy Code. Under the settlement agreement, Vermont is to receive $36.4 million and up to an additional $1.454 million if certain conditions are met. The settlement is conditioned on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturning an earlier District Court. The result will be a nearly three-fold increase over the $12.58 million allocated to Vermont in Purdue’s original bankruptcy plan—a plan that Attorney General T.J. Donovan objected to and appealed in December 2021.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Lantern Solar, based in Williston, has completed a solar array for Chroma Technology in Putney. Chroma is a Bellows Falls-based, certified B Corp and market leader in the precision optics industry. The 500-kilowatt ground-mount array will produce enough energy to offset a third of Chroma’s annual energy expenses. The virtual net-metered solar project was developed, constructed and is owned and operated by Green Lantern Solar and is the company’s most recently completed in its home state of Vermont. The energy produced by the 1,870 solar module array is approximately 958,200-kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually, offsetting the CO2 emissions from 82,602,601 smartphones charged and 123 homes’ electricity use for one year.

by Devon Green, VAHHS VP of Government Relations Last week was crossover week, where policy bills must get voted out of their committee of jurisdiction or perish. And, because this is the second year of the biennium, it means any bill that didn’t make it is dead and would have to be completely reintroduced next year. But, just to keep things exciting, nothing is ever truly dead before gaveling out the session—there is always the chance for language to sneak into other bills. Below are the policy bills that made it through crossover that we’re keeping an eye on. This week, all the action will be in the money committees and passing the budget out of House Appropriations.

Vermont Business Magazine A new resource center for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) students on the Northern Vermont University Johnson Campus will be named in honor of NVU-Johnson student Mamadou N’Diaye who passed away in July of 2020. The Coalition of Minority Students at Northern Vermont University’s Johnson campus, in collaboration with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and the Student Government Association, is hosting a celebration of Mamadou N’Diaye’s life in conjunction with the naming of this new dedicated space in Dewey Hall (Room 149) as the Mamadou N’Diaye Resource Center on Tuesday, March 15 from noon to 1 p.m.

USDA-NASS, Northeastern Regional Field Office The results of the 2021 Hemp Acreage and Production Survey were released on February 17 in a National Hemp Report. The survey collected data for hemp grown in the open and hemp under protection. In 2021, the value of hemp production in the open and under protection for the United States totaled $824 million. Milk production was down in New England, with Vermont the largest producer. Vermont is just behind Maine in total farmland with 1.2 million acres.

The Vermont State Police investigation into Monday morning’s shooting in Westminster is continuing. The man who was shot is identified as Daniel J. King, 40, of Westminster. His condition is reported to be stable at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. The other parties involved are Nathaniel Keefe, 37, of Westminster, the owner of the home where the incident occurred; and Jacquelyn Fougere, 29, of Springfield.

Vermont Business Magazine The 34th Annual Chez Henri Cup Timed Racing & Raffle Fundraiser - held Saturday, March 5th at Sugarbush Resort in Warren, Vermont - raised over $13,000 to support programs and services at CVHHH. Over 50 skiers participated in two timed racing runs, and over 40 individuals purchased raffle tickets for a chance to win items donated by local businesses. Race results and raffle winners are posted on CVHHH’s website.

Vermont Business Magazine Washington County Mental Health Services was recently recertified as a Center of Excellence (COE), a certification that lasts three years until the next review process. The recertification is a first in the history of recognition as a Center of Excellence. While not all 16 Designated and Specialized Services Agency seek this recognition, which is separate from the recognition as a state designated agency, (nine) agencies within the Vermont Care Partners (VCP) network have decided to participate in the intensive review process conducted by VCP and the prestigious Jeffords Institute for Quality, a part of the University of Vermont Medical Center.

​Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Health Network Medical Group Board of Directors has added Helen Labun, long-time health care policy advocate, to its members, and elected Amit Lodha, AVP of manufacturing with Agilent Technologies, to serve a second term on the Board. Helen Labun, a resident of Montpelier, brings a wealth of health care policy experience and a passion for food security to the Board. She served as director of Vermont public policy for the Bi-State Primary Care Association, where she was instrumental in building a program that integrates food access and health care in rural Vermont, which she now manages.

​Vermont Business Magazine A new statewide group, Developmental Disabilities Housing Initiative, a parent group dedicated to providing options for permanent housing for developmentally disabled adults has been selected to participate in the upcoming AIAVT Affordable Housing Charrette to be held in Randolph on March 25. The DDHI will be able to collect input on design and demonstrate to agencies and state Dept of Aging and Independent Living, the feasibility of development of new options for people with Developmental Disabilities who need supported housing.