Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, today delivered remarks at the committee hearing, “Warrior Met and Wall Street Greed: What Corporate Raiders are Doing to Workers and Consumers” to examine growing oligarchy on Wall Street through the case study of Warrior Met Coal in Alabama where workers have spent the last 11 months on strike.

Vermont Business Magazine Chris Winters of Berlin announced his candidacy for the office of Secretary of State today. Winters, 51, is currently the Deputy Secretary to Secretary of State Jim Condos, who recently announced his retirement and has stated Winters has the most experience to replace him in November. A graduate of Williamstown (VT) High School, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the California Western School of Law, Winters has worked in the office since 1997, serving as a staff attorney, then as Director of the Office of Professional Regulation before being appointed by Secretary Condos as Deputy Secretary in 2015. He is a Democrat and lives with his wife and children in Berlin.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont gasoline prices today are up 5 cents a gallon from last week to an average $3.59, are up 23 cents from last month and up $1.09 from last year. The highest price is in Killington ($3.79) and the lowest price ($3.25) is in nearby Rutland.

Meanwhile, as of Monday, average gasoline prices in Burlington have risen 8.5 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.62/g today, according to GasBuddy's survey of 100 stations in Burlington. Prices in Burlington are 23.5 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and stand $1.14/g higher than a year ago.

According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Burlington was priced at $3.54/g yesterday while the most expensive was $3.69/g, a difference of 15.0 cents per gallon. The lowest price in the state yesterday was $3.30/g while the highest was $3.69/g, a difference of 39.0 cents per gallon.

Vermont Business Magazine Farm Stand Together, a mutual aid food program providing gift cards for use at farm stands across Vermont, launched this month. Through the program’s website, Vermonters experiencing food insecurity are invited to request gift cards to use at their local farm stand.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott, the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, the City of Newport and the Northern Vermont Development Authority today announced the award of about $1.5 million in Newport Development Fund (NDF) grants. Available for projects, businesses, and organizations within the City of Newport, the NDF provided for two multi-stage application grant programs – the Newport Development Grant Program and the Discover Newport Business Grant Program. Increased consideration was given to properties and entities that demonstrated they were adversely impacted by the fraud surrounding local projects perpetrated by Ariel Quiros, Sr.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Business Magazine As the national annual median cost of long-term care services increased across the board this year, in Vermont costs for assisted living facility care actually decreased since 2020, costs for home care services rose at a lower rate than those seen nationally, and costs for nursing home care increased at a higher rate than national trends. Nursing home costs in Vermont now run, on average, from $127,020 (semi-private) to $133,225 (private) a year.

​Vermont Business Magazine On the weekend of February 4th, The Governor’s Institutes of Vermont (GIV) hosted an intensive, online climate change Winter Weekend in partnership with AT&T and Norwich Solar Technologies. Over thirty-five Vermont high school students were in attendance, working together to propose actionable solutions to climate change issues in their communities. Over the course of the weekend, the students met with Vermont legislators and climate experts, including State Representative Becca White, State Senator Becca Balint, and US Senator Bernie Sanders.

Vermont Business Magazine Faculty and staff members from Vermont’s public higher education institutions delivered petitions and testified in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday, asking lawmakers to require representation by these groups on the University of Vermont and Vermont State Colleges boards of trustees. The bill, S.248, would also add additional students to the boards and impose two-term limits on both boards. Over 26 percent of public universities in 13 states have faculty representation on their board.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation (FPR), which owns and manages the Perry Hill Block within CC Putnam State Forest, announces the continuation of a pilot winter recreation monitoring and management program. This pilot program aims to reduce negative impacts from winter trail use to an important deer wintering area while maintaining an enjoyable and popular winter recreational experience for the public.

Vermont Business Magazine Fairfax School District introduced two zero-emissions Blue Bird school buses to its fleet this school year. The school district’s Blue Bird electric school buses were purchased from the Agency of Natural Resources Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust Fund. This pilot program is managed by the Vermont Energy Investment corporation, which is testing how well electric school buses work in Vermont’s climate and terrain.

Vermont Business Magazine Described as an “idea man,” Paul Percy, an Agri-Mark/Cabot dairy farmer from Stowe, Vermont, was honored last week by the National Council of Farmers Cooperatives with the Farmer Cooperative Director of the Year award. Percy, who retired from Agri-Mark’s Board of Directors in December 2021, has served his fellow farmers on the cooperative’s board for 37 years. He has been a witness to and an influence on nearly every major cooperative decision made during that time, including Agri-Mark’s acquisition of the Cabot brand.

Vermont Business Magazine The Town of Hinesburg worked with the Hinesburg Land Trust, the Vermont Land Trust (VLT), and the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB), to purchase 291 acres from the Carse Land Company to expand the existing 834-acre Hinesburg Town Forest today. The resulting 1,125 acres was permanently protected for the enjoyment of community members and visitors. The Hinesburg Town Forest, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, hosts over 15 miles of trails and serves as a popular destination for hiking, biking, hunting, birding, and more.