Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Lake Champlain Chamber and KeyBank are pleased to announce a grant of $150,000 from the KeyBank Foundation in support of the Bobby Miller Opportunity Fund and LaunchVT. The funded project aims to create economic opportunity for small- to medium-sized entrepreneurial founders and accompanying jobs, with a focus on historically underserved populations and female founders. The project will accelerate over 100 small and medium businesses throughout the state in the next three years through skill development, leadership training, and assistance with accounting, marketing and branding, sales, and more.

​Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Health Network Board of Trustees has voted to elect three new members, who bring experience in nursing, health care education and research, and business to the board. Trustees voted to elect Noma Anderson, PhD; Carol Haraden, PhD; and Betsy Vicencio. They will each serve four-year terms on the 22-member board, which oversees the UVM Health Network.

Devon Green, VP of Government Relations, VAHHS Last week, Vermont officially implemented the Nurse Licensure Compact. This licensure compact came after years of advocacy from VAHHS and other health care provider associations, as well as extensive work from the Office of Professional Regulation. It is all too easy to jump to the next emerging policy issue without taking a beat to properly acknowledge this type of accomplishment. Also, the House Health Care Committee heard testimony from Vermont’s higher education system on ways to support and expand nurse education. Current proposals include $1.5 million to expand K-12 education pipeline programs and Governor Scott’s FY ’23 budget proposal, adding $2 million to the nurse loan repayment program. The Vermont State Colleges system hopes to obtain $7 million to reduce its $7,000-per-semester tuition to more closely match the national average of $4,500 per semester. All of the representatives from higher education coalesced around increasing salaries for faculty and creating more opportunities for clinical placement.

Vermont Business Magazine On Monday, former Lieutenant Governor of Vermont David Zuckerman announced his bid to reclaim the office he held until running for governor against Phil Scott in 2020. Also Monday, longtime Democratic legislator Catherine "Kitty" Toll of Danville will launch her run for lieutenant governor. She served from 2009-2021. She did not seek re-election in 2020. She previously was chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

Democrats Charles Kimbell, a state representative from Woodstock, and Patricia Preston, Executive Director of the Vermont Council on World Affairs, announced in January that they will run for lieutenant governor.

Vermont Business Magazine Kingsbury, a general contractor and biological waste management company with corporate headquarters in Middlesex VT, is celebrating the completion of their latest wholly owned and operated solar array in Georgia, VT. In 2018 the Kingsbury family of companies made a commitment to lead the construction industry, and other like-minded Vermont companies, in the effort to achieve our state’s goal of 90% Carbon Neutrality by 2050.

Vermont Business Magazine February is Black History Month, a time to recognize and uplift the achievements, sacrifices, and contributions made by Black Americans to every aspect of our country’s diverse cultural heritage. This is also a time to truly honor the foundational and profound role of Black people in the agricultural sector in the United States and Vermont. Below are a few upcoming events and resources to learn and engage in this month and beyond.

Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont Understanding how variants function allows public health leaders to develop more effective prevention strategies against SARS-CoV-2. In a new study in the journal PNAS, a team of University of Vermont and University of Washington scientists discovered that – based on clinical samples from infected individuals – the Delta variant had a higher infectivity than the Alpha variant of COVID-19. The group was surprised by their findings. “What we saw was that people infected with Delta had almost six times more virus in their nasal swab samples than people infected with Alpha for the same amount of RNA."

Vermont Business Magazine Last winter, over 1,000 people attended the inaugural Artful Ice Shanties exhibit, presented by the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) and Retreat Farm. Visitors saw ice shanties shaped like a giant iridescent fish, a black die with moon-shaped dots, a seascape with a three-dimensional octopus, and more.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Community Foundation’s Insight Hub, its research-driven arm focused on providing insight to inform charitable giving, has published a brief on how charitable individuals can use their philanthropy to support Vermonters experiencing social isolation. The Insight Hub offers webinars, events, briefs, and peer-to-peer experiences that help philanthropists understand where their giving can make a difference.

Leonine Public Affairs The Senate Committee on Appropriations finalized their work on the FY2022 Budget Adjustment Act (BAA) this week. The FY2022 BAA appropriates more than $350 million in new funding, which is significantly more than prior mid-fiscal year adjustment acts. This largess is due in part to the nearly half billion dollars in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding that is available to continue to address the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Vermont Business Magazine Scott budget address: ‘Stand together’ as ‘economic future is in our hands’; Economists say flood of revenue is unsustainable; December unemployment rate falls to 2.5%; UVM Health Network President Brumsted to retire in September; COVID cases begin to fall in Vermont, Northeast; GMP requests 2022 base rate increase of 2.34%; General and Education funds exceed tax revenue expectations; Broadband Board commits $116 million to construction grant program; Scott announces $50 million Homeowner Assistance Program; more...