Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Association of Area Agencies on Aging (V4A) directors today announce the dissolution of V4A. Executive Director, Mary Hayden will retire at the end of 2025. Much of the work of the V4A will be integrated into the new Vermont Aging Network Consortium (VANC), along with remaining staff. This integration will combine the policy, advocacy, and training goals of V4A with VANC’s mission to leverage economies of scale, combine resources, and reduce duplication within the community-provider network of home- and community-based services. 

Vermont Business Magazine A new study has identified West Virginia as the state with the highest homeownership rate in America. The study, conducted by Stage Properties Brokers LLC, identified the U.S. states with the highest homeownership rates in America. Using U.S. Census data from all 50 states, the analysis tracked homeownership trends across quarterly periods throughout 2024, the most recent full annual data. The results were used to determine not only which state recorded the highest homeownership rate by the end of the year, but also how those rates fluctuated over time. The final rankings were based on the percentage of each state’s population that owned their home in the last quarter of 2024.

Vermont Business Magazine Saint Michael’s College has announced that five alumni – all leaders in their respective fields – have joined the College’s Board of Trustees over the past year. New additions to the Board include biotech executive and entrepreneur Pamela Carroll ’85 of Boston, Massachusetts; consultant and retired transportation software executive Marie Colbert ’89 of Scituate, Massachusetts; M&T Bank senior vice president and communications leader Patrick Fitzgibbons ’89 of Montclair, New Jersey; and Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development Secretary Lindsay Hill Kurrle ’93 of Middlesex, Vermont, who all joined in October 2025. Retired CEO of GameStop George Sherman, Jr. ’83 of Isle of Palms, South Carolina, joined the Board in October 2024.

Vermont Business Magazine The Governor’s Institutes of Vermont (GIV, https://giv.org), a nonprofit organization inspiring more than 600 high school students each summer to envision meaningful careers in topics from healthcare to engineering to graphic design, welcomes six new trustees, four of whom are alumni of GIV Institutes: Heather Ayres of Quechee, Juliette Britton* of Manchester Center, Melanie Centeno*** of Hinesburg, Azulena Godeck* of Essex Junction, Jan Murray of Shelburne, and Michelle Weissman* of South Burlington. * GIV alumni  ** Parent of a GIV alum ***Both!

by Joshua Brown, University of Vermont At the opening whistle of the 2025 National Collegiate Rugby championship game on Sunday, December 14, the wind blows strongly in favor of the University of Chicago Maroons. They kick long, press their field position, and force the UVM men onto defense. It’s a classic territorial strategy, and soon Chicago scores in the corner, grounding the ball over the goal line for the first points of the game. Those turned out to be Chicago’s only points. 

Vermont Business Magazine On August 12, 2025, just days after his 83rd birthday, Richard E. Tarrant Sr. passed away at his home in Hillsboro Beach, Florida surrounded by his family. Born in Newark, New Jersey on August 6, 1942, Rich was proud to be a first-generation Irish-American. The oldest of four boys, he graduated from St. Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark before enrolling at New York basketball powerhouse Saint Bonaventure University in 1960. After his freshman year at St. Bonnie's, Rich realized he'd need a scholarship to continue his education. Disappointed to learn St. Bonnie's would not guarantee a scholarship, he applied for a transfer to several other colleges. St. Michael's College in Winooski, Vermont came through with a full scholarship, and the rest is basketball history.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Treasurer Pieciak and local leaders announced a $300,000 commitment from M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) to support a Baby Bonds pilot program in the Northeast Kingdom. It’s the initiative’s first major funding commitment, marking an important milestone in efforts to address intergenerational poverty, rural economic development, and retention of young people in Vermont. Under a Baby Bonds program, qualifying children would receive a seed investment account at birth. As the child grows, so does the investment. By age 18, the beneficiary can access their baby bond for wealth-building avenues like higher education, homeownership, starting a business, or retirement savings.  

Vermont Business Magazine Progress is rising fast at Base Camp at Bear Mountain at Killington Resort, with foundations now in place for the first five townhomes. This marks a major milestone in the build schedule. A new drone video from Dec. 5, released in conjunction with this update, showcases visible site activity, mountain views, and the unbeatable proximity to Bear Mountain’s trails, lifts, and alpine landscape — bringing the vision of Base Camp at Bear Mountain vividly to life.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General Charity Clark today joined a coalition of 17 states in filing a lawsuit against the Trump Administration for unlawfully suspending two bipartisan grant programs for electric vehicle charging infrastructure that would reduce pollution, expand access to clean vehicles, and create thousands of green jobs. Without any explanation or notice, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has quietly refused to approve any new funding under two electric vehicle charging infrastructure programs created in the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA): the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Program (CFI) and the Electric Vehicle Charger Reliability and Accessibility Accelerator (Accelerator) Program (together, the EV Charging Infrastructure Programs). In the lawsuit, the coalition alleges that these unexplained and secretive actions violate the constitutional separation of powers, as the funding was approved by bipartisan majorities in Congress. 

Public Assets Institute Our newly updated town2town education spending report is live. The report includes 15 years of spending, tax rate, and pupil count data for every Vermont town. Vermonters can use the interactive map and charts to view tax rates and per-pupil spending by town from fiscal 2012 to fiscal 2026 in relation to the statewide averages. Major changes and minor tweaks to Vermont education funding system in recent years make it harder for Vermonters to understand the connection between school budgets and tax bills and to see how spending and tax rates have changed over time. The updated town2town report offers readers a tool to view and assess their local education spending and tax data in a statewide context.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported last week that the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased slightly. Other indicators like wastewater virus show an increase in COVID-19 and Norovirus in Vermont. Nationally, COVID outbreaks decreased. There were 3 outbreaks last week (3 the week before), with 3 in Long-Term Care Facilities and 0 in schools. Like hospitalizations, outbreaks increased slightly from mid-summer and have since fallen.

by Mike Donoghue A two-year old driving while intoxicated court case against besieged Addison County State's Attorney Eva P. Vekos appeared to come to a close Tuesday when she pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge. Vekos, who was responding to a homicide scene in Bridport to assist Vermont State Police, had her sentence deferred for six months by State Judge John Pacht. If Vekos abides by the terms of probation for six months, the criminal conviction can be wiped off her record, Pacht explained in court. Vekos had indicated in October that she was willing to plead no contest, and Pacht said at the time he was inclined to defer the sentence for 3 months.  Upon further review, Pacht said Tuesday he wanted to make it 6 months.