Current News
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Vermont Business Magazine The Agency of Administration has formerly requested that the Senate Appropriations Committee address key issues and restore critical proposals in the Budget Adjustment Act (BAA), as passed by the House. The Administration raised specific concerns that changes to the BAA made by the House will use $90 million in ARPA funds for initiatives that – while they may be worthy efforts – do not maximize the return on investment or accelerate Vermont’s economic recovery. If passed as is, this bill would spend approximately 20% of the remaining ARPA money without considering the larger economic revitalization needs of the state or maximizing the value of this money. These changes could also significantly reduce proposed ARPA investments by Governor Scott in climate change mitigation and home weatherization, broadband, and water, sewer and wastewater infrastructure.
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Vermont Business Magazine Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger announced today the appointment of Jon Murad as Police Chief. Chief Murad has served as Deputy Chief at the Burlington Police Department since October 2018 and has served as Acting Chief since the summer of 2020. Previous to joining the Burlington Police Department, Chief Murad served in the New York Police Department as an officer, Detective, Sergeant, and Assistant Commissioner.
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by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine UVM, the Vermont Department of Corrections, and the Urban Institute today released initial findings from the first phase of the Prison Research and Innovation Network (PRIN) in Vermont, one of five states participating in the five-year effort to build evidence and spur innovation to make prisons more humane, safe, and rehabilitative. Survey results from staff, incarcerated people at Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield highlighted issues around correctional staffing, programming for incarcerated people, and high rates of mental health concerns. Serious suicidal thoughts were high for both inmates (36%) and staff (10%).
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by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 1,490 cases of COVID-19 for Wednesday. This was an increase of nearly a thousand from Tuesday. However, cases the last week were down 27 percent and for the last two weeks were down 37 percent. There were two additional deaths reported for 529. The deaths are attributed to the Delta variant, even as nearly all the new COVID cases are the result of exposure to the Omicron variant.
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Mayor Miro Weinberger and Burlington Electric Department Redouble Electrification Efforts to Become Net Zero Energy City
Vermont Business Magazine Mayor Miro Weinberger and Burlington Electric Department (BED) today thanked the Burlington community for supporting the $20 million Net Zero Energy Revenue Bond, and announced early-2022 redoubled efforts to electrify the City and reduce fossil fuel usage. These efforts, made possible in part by voter approval of what is believed to be the nation’s first Net Zero Energy Revenue Bond, include: new and expanded strategic electrification incentives to help more customers make the switch to electric vehicles, heat pump water heaters, and other clean and efficient technologies with continued enhanced incentives for low- and moderate-income Burlingtonians.
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Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Women’s Fund has announced a year-end goal to sign-up 10,000 women-owned businesses through its new initiative, This Way UP: there’s power in our numbers. This Way UP was launched in late 2021 to build a statewide database of women business owners and entrepreneurs—information that does not currently exist in Vermont. This Way UP: there’s power in our numbers was developed to fill this gap by mobilizing women business owners to take a short survey on its website, thiswayupvt.com, and be counted.
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Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott, the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), the Vermont Department of Health, the Vermont Community Foundation, and Patronicity announced today the launch of Better Places, a statewide program that empowers Vermonters to create and build vibrant and inclusive public places in the hearts of Vermont communities. This innovative partnership provides residents the opportunity to use crowdfunding to develop strategic, locally led projects in their communities and be supported with a 2:1 matching grant from the state.
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Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Mutual Insurance Group recently presented a check for $15,000 to the Vermont Foodbank as part of their partnership with UVM Athletics and the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative. The check was presented by Dan Bridge, President and CEO of Vermont Mutual and Mark McDonnell, Executive Vice President and COO. The Catamounts secured 95 wins in 2021, bringing the donation amount to $9,500. However, to further help the Vermont Foodbank efforts, Vermont Mutual “rounded up” and increased the total amount to $15,000.
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Vermont Business Magazine While many took a break for the holiday season, NEK Broadband and its partners were hard at work completing the first section of its fiber-optic network and customer installations. Construction crews battled inclement weather to finish hanging fiber-optic cable on utility poles, installing “drops” to customers’ homes, and turning on the very first service on its new network. When this initial project is complete, almost 350 addresses in parts of Concord and Lunenburg, plus a few addresses in Waterford, can subscribe for access to 100 Mbps symmetrical service or higher.
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Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Green Building Network’s (VGBN) tenth annual Vermont’s Greenest Building Awards Competition is now open for submissions. This statewide competition recognizes exemplary residential and commercial buildings that excel in green building strategies – including water, health, transportation, and affordability – and meet the highest standard of demonstrated energy performance.
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by Christine McGowan, Vermont Forest Industry Network Tucker Riggs, owner of Laughing Stock Farm (LSF) Forest Products in Fletcher, is busier than he’s ever been. As the pandemic and resulting supply chain issues more than doubled the price of lumber, Vermonters used to buying their lumber from Lowe’s or Home Depot sought out alternatives—and found much more than competitive pricing at LSF.
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Vermont Business Magazine The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed an update to the agency's plan to clean up the Commerce Street Plume Superfund Site in Williston, Vermont. The proposed update, formally called an "Explanation of Significant Differences," (ESD) will not fundamentally change the terms, scope, performance or cost of EPA's plan to clean up the Commerce Street Plume site that was established in 2015.
In 2015, EPA selected a comprehensive remedy to address risks to human health by excavation and removal of contaminated soils, management of groundwater migration through treatment, and mitigation of vapor intrusion from contaminated groundwater into a residential house.