Current News

Vermont Business Magazine This week, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce hosted the annual Vermont Economic Conference virtually. Over the course of two days, nearly 400 business leaders, economists, and equity professionals discussed the economic outlook for the year ahead and engaged in diversity, equity, and inclusion centered discussions. Growing and retaining Vermont’s workforce to address the labor shortage is the top priority of the Vermont Chamber this year. In November 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released data citing 23,000 open jobs in Vermont. With a demographic crisis compounded by the pandemic, the viability of the state labor force is dependent upon on the ability to welcome a diverse new population to live and work in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Corrections detected three new incarcerated individual cases of COVID-19 through medical isolation testing at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility (CRCF) in South Burlington, and one through outbreak testing at Northeast Correctional Complex (NECC) in St Johnsbury. Vermont DOC conducted the tests on January 25 and 26, with results returned January 27 and 28.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington's Progressive City Councilors issued the following statement on Thursday opposing the appointment of Acting Chief Jon Murad as permanent Chief of Police of Burlington, and calling on the Weinberger Administration to use the resources provided by the Council in December to expand the pool of applicants. This is just the latest act in what has been a tumultuous few years for the BPD.

AccuWeather Global Weather Center A major East Coast snowstorm is expected to impact portions of the Middle Atlantic coast and Northeast states Friday night through Saturday night, which may deliver well over a foot of snow to parts of the Northeast along with powerful wind gusts and extensive drifting of snow. Only southern and eastern parts of Vermont are expected to be impacted and by lesser amounts of snow from coastal areas.

Vermont Business Magazine Kaman Composites – Vermont, Inc, an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Kaman Corporation (NYSE:KAMN), announces the expansion of its medical imaging program through the recent new partnership with Mirion Technologies, a major medical equipment manufacturer. Kaman will be supplying surgical C-Arm tabletops to Mirion, with first deliveries set to begin in the second quarter of 2022.

Vermont Business Magazine Citizens Bank announced Thursday that the quarterly national Citizens Business Conditions Index (CBCI) was 54.4 for the fourth quarter, down from 57.8 at the end of September, but still in expansionary territory. Following particularly high readings in the second and third quarters, the latest index value still reflects the demand momentum that is driving business conditions. Meanwhile, Vermont increased 1.1% since last quarter, and 7% year-to-year in 2021. The bank’s footprint – which includes New England - also saw increases: 1.1% since last quarter and 3% since last year. New Hampshire’s business conditions index increased 7.6% since last quarter, yielding a 4% increase from this point last year.

Vermont Business Magazine Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice (CVHHH) raised over $80,000 in November and December of 2021. Mary Kate Mohlman, Montpelier resident and Vice Chair of CVHHH’s Board of Directors, supported fundraising efforts as Honorary Chair of CVHHH’s Fall Appeal. CVHHH is a nonprofit healthcare provider that delivers care regardless of a person’s insurance status or their ability to pay for the care they receive. Money raised goes right back into supporting programming and services that CVHHH delivers and for which the organization is not fully reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurers.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) announced Thursday that six Vermont arts organizations will be receiving a combined $500,000 in funding through the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

In a joint statement, Leahy, Sanders and Welch said: “The arts was one of the hardest hit sectors in the country as the pandemic shuttered performance spaces and galleries. In Vermont, which has some the highest participation in the arts in the nation, the closing of arts spaces has been challenging for both artists and the Vermonters who love their work, and whose lives are enriched by what they produce. These grants will help arts organizations recover so we can all continue to enjoy the creativity and talent of Vermont’s artists and performers.”

Vermont Business Magazine National Life Group employees, retirees and board members donated a record $320,000 to nonprofits of their choice through the company’s Share the Good campaign. The National Life Group Foundation then matched those donations, for a total of $640,164. Employees are encouraged to donate to up to four nonprofits through the campaign. The company’s Foundation matches up to $2,000 of their donations. The nonprofits that will receive the most in donations are: Vermont Foodbank: $30,136; Central Vermont Humane Society: $15,274; St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital: $8,066.

Vermont Business Magazine Kingsbury Companies was recently awarded the Surry Mountain Lake Service Gate Replacement Project in Surry, NH. Surry Mountain Lake is an impoundment on the Ashuelot River in Surry, NH. It was built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1941 to protect downstream communities, such as Keene, from flooding. The work for this project at the Surry Mountain Lake Dam includes the in-kind furnishment and installation of two new service gates to replace the original gates which were manufactured in 1939.

Dartmouth College President Philip J Hanlon ’77 announced Tuesday that he will step down at the end of the next academic year in June 2023. President Hanlon, who assumed the presidency in 2013, announced his decision in a message to the Dartmouth community after informing the Board of Trustees at their meeting on Jan. 21. Elizabeth Cahill Lempres ’83, Thayer ’84, chair of the Board of Trustees, thanked President Hanlon for his tireless work in steering Dartmouth to ever greater academic excellence, inclusion, and impact in a separate message to the community.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington's Main Street Landing, home to Union Station, has hired a new CEO: Owiso Makuku. CEO Melinda Moulton announced the hiring on Facebook. On February 21st, 2022, Owiso Makuku will assume the leadership of Main Street Landing as their new Chief Executive Officer. Owiso graduated from Middlebury College and holds both a Master of Architecture and a Master in City Planning from MIT.