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Vermont Business Magazine Holiday lights, candles, family traditions, cookies, snuggling with a cup of hot chocolate in front of a holiday movie - these are all wonderful images of the holiday season we wish all children could enjoy. Sadly though, for many children, this time of year is a time of uncertainty and sometimes scarcity of not just things - but hope. Each year, Tatum’s Totes brings holiday joy to foster children throughout Northern and Central Vermont through the Green Mountain United Way with the help of local businesses like Hickok and Boardman and Union Mutual Insurance; the Barre Rotary Club; the Rotaract group through Norwich University; as well as local churches like the First Congregational Church of Berlin; Bible Baptist Church, and the Warren United Church.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health announced on Saturday it has confirmed the state’s first case of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus. Genetic sequencing identified the new variant in a specimen collected on December 8, 2021. The individual is a Lamoille County resident in their 30’s. The individual was fully vaccinated and had been experiencing mild symptoms. The Health Department has partnered with the Broad Institute to perform genetic sequencing of samples collected from lab-confirmed Covid-positive cases.

Vermont Business Magazine Kinney Drugs, a 100% employee-owned leading pharmacy chain in New York and Vermont, has issued an operational update in light of President Biden’s recent announcement of “free” at-home COVID antigen tests for Americans. Federal mandates are slated to go into effect January 15, 2022. In Vermont, this mandate is already in effect.

Vermont Business Magazine This year, Vermont Humanities and the Vermont Arts Council gave $1.16 million in Cultural Recovery Grants to 143 Vermont arts and humanities organizations. This collaborative grant program was designed to offset continued economic fallout from the pandemic. Organizations used the funds to adapt programs, create new programs, or to simply survive. The grants were made possible by American Rescue Plan Act funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Brewery’s latest release set to benefit independent journalism

Vermont Business Magazine Brave Little State, VPR's nationally recognized narrative journalism podcast, is getting its very own brew, thanks to a new collaboration with Lawson’s Finest Liquids. Brewed with barley, wheat and hops sourced from the Green Mountain State, sales of Brave Little State Pale Ale will benefit public media and independent journalism throughout the region. The beer will be available year-round at Lawson’s Finest retailers and on-tap only in the state of Vermont.

As part of Lawson’s Finest’s Social Impact Program (SIP), specifically the Good Brews for a Cause initiative, a portion of all proceeds from sales of Brave Little State will be donated to furthering VPR’s mission, including Brave Little State. The beer’s namesake is a bi-monthly podcast focused on listener-driven stories that answer questions from the public, voted on by the audience.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health on Friday reported that the Omicron coronavirus variant has likely been found in a sample of Burlington wastewater. The sample needs to be confirmed, but health officials said it was only a matter of time before the fast-moving, but perhaps less dangerous mutation arrived in Vermont. Every surrounding state and Quebec has confirmed Omicron COVID-19 cases. Vermont is also close to the pace set last December, which had the highest number of COVID deaths.

Vermont Business Magazine A lag in the personal income tax was more than offset by a strong showing with the corporate and rooms and the tourism-related meals taxes for the month of November. General, Transportation, and Education Fund revenues were slightly above target for the second month of the second quarter. Cumulative revenues remain above target for the year-to-date. The State’s General Fund, Transportation Fund, and Education Fund receipts in November were a combined $188.3 million, or 3.2% above monthly consensus expectations. Cumulative revenues remain 3.0% above consensus revenue expectations for the first 5 months of the state’s fiscal year.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a $1 billion investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to initiate cleanup and clear the backlog of 49 previously unfunded Superfund sites across the nation including Commerce Street Plume in Williston, Vt. and Ely Copper Mine in Vershire. Until this historic investment, these sites were part of a backlog of hazardous waste sites awaiting funding. Thousands of contaminated sites exist nationally due to hazardous waste being dumped, left out in the open, or otherwise improperly managed. These sites include manufacturing facilities, processing plants, landfills and mining sites.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Department of Labor reported that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for November was 2.6 percent. This reflects a decrease of two-tenths of one percentage point from the prior month’s revised estimate. The decrease was the result of a reduction in the number of workers unemployed. Meanwhile, the labor force fell slightly but the number of total employed increased. All these data points were small but statistically significant. Vermont was tied for fourth lowest in the nation. Nebraska had the lowest rate at 1.8 percent. California had the highest rate at 6.9 percent.

Vermont Business Magazine Today the Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) submitted a report examining Vermont’s various worker relocation incentive programs to the Legislature in accordance with Act 51 of 2021. The consultant estimates that every tax dollar spent on 2018 program resulted in $93.88 in economic activity and every tax dollar spent on the 2019 program resulted in $66.26 in economic activity. The 2021 program was not included in the analysis due to its recent implementation. The report also provides several recommendations to improve the programs and the consultant also highlighted Vermont’s need to tackle affordable housing, childcare availability, and access to high-speed internet to attract new workers to our state.

Vermont Business Magazine Statement from Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan today issued the following statement on a judge’s decision to reject the Purdue bankruptcy plan. “I am pleased with the Court’s ruling rejecting the Purdue bankruptcy plan which would have dismissed Vermont’s legal claims against the Sackler family. This ruling gives Vermont the ability to continue to pursue those that helped create the opioid crisis.”

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University has named Dr. Karen Gaines, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) who also holds an academic appointment as professor of physiology, as provost and dean of the faculty, beginning at the end of the spring 2022 semester. Gaines’ doctorate is in environmental toxicology from the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health. Her work in radiation epidemiology, exposure, risk assessment, and radionuclide fate and transport earned her the doctoral achievement award for her contributions.