Current News

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.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont State University (VTSU) recently honored employees whose careers span decades and multiple legacy institutions, recognizing their lasting impact on Vermont’s higher education and their unwavering commitment to students and communities statewide. On December 8, all five VTSU campuses hosted Employee Celebration Luncheons, where faculty and staff were recognized for reaching service milestones in five-year increments, celebrating anywhere from 5 to 35 years. The event featured handcrafted gifts created by students and staff at the Randolph campus Manufacturing Center, showcasing the innovation and skill that define VTSU. 

Vermont Business Magazine Fluency, the Burlington-based Digital Advertising Operating System (OS) for scaling paid media operations across all major channels, announced the close of its $40M Series A, funded by Integrity Growth Partners (IGP). Founded in 2017, Fluency centralizes all major aspects of digital advertising execution and management into a single solution. This enables agencies and brands to automate and leverage AI on paid media across walled gardens and the open web at a scale not achievable through endless hiring, outsourcing or tools. Fluency currently powers nearly $3B in annual media spend and 250,000+ monthly campaigns. The platform is used by leading agencies and brands, including Fortune 500 organizations. These companies run campaigns for over 50,000 local businesses by automating the most time-consuming campaign execution processes.

Vermont Business Magazine The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont stated that on December 15, 2025, Joshua Hartness, 45, of Colebrook, New Hampshire, was sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Christina Reiss to a term of 25 months’ imprisonment to be followed by a 10-year term of supervised release. Hartness previously pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual abuse materials (CSAM, also known as child pornography). Hartness has been detained since March 28, 2025, when his conditions of release were revoked after he attempted to take possession of a firearm. The forensic review and subsequent investigation confirmed that Hartness possessed the CSAM on his phone while in the District of Vermont, and that Hartness did so while working as a U.S. Border Patrol Agent.