Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Concerned by the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in Vermont, Smugglers’ Notch Distillery will be offering free bottles of hand sanitizer to the public to slow the spread of COVID and other diseases. As the holiday season gets under way and more people gather with friends and family, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend that everyone get vaccinated, wear a mask, and wash their hands often. Smugglers’ Notch Distillery’s hand sanitizer can help keep hands clean and germ-free when soap and water are not readily available.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health on Tuesday reported another relatively light day with 237 new cases of COVID-19, one fewer than Monday. This follows 532 on Sunday and Friday's record of 740 cases. The last seven days edged lower than the previous seven days. Governor Scott continues to resist the persistent call for a statewide mask mandate. He said why punish the 95% of Vermonters who have done the right thing when 75 percent of the hospital beds and 90 percent of the ICU beds are of the unvaccinated? The unvaccinated are 34 times more likely to die from COVID. The governor added that while he is still urging everyone to get vaccinated and boosted, those who are determined not to get vaccinated will be difficult to convince at this point. Some 930 Vermont lives have been saved with the vaccines since they first came to Vermont on December 15, 2020. There are no reported Omicron cases in Vermont, but every state around us and Quebec now have cases.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) Tuesday issued the following statement announcing his opposition to Dr Robert Califf’s nomination to run the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA): "According to his financial disclosure form, he owns up to $8 million in the stocks of major drug companies. That is exactly the close relationship Big Pharma has exploited to regulate the FDA, instead of the FDA regulating them."

​Vermont Business Magazine On Monday Lieutenant Governor Molly Gray, a Democratic candidate for Congress, announced her campaign’s first fundraising milestone, reaching over $111,000 in donations in the first week. On Tuesday, a day after she announced she also would seek the seat Peter Welch is giving up to run for US Senate, Senate President Pro Tem Becca Balint, also a Democrat, announced she had raised $125,051.

Vermont Business Magazine After abruptly announcing that it will sever contracts with 89 organic farms across the Northeast this summer, Danone announced this week that they will extend their contracts with these farms for an additional six months. The company also offered farmers a transition payment in addition to regular compensation for milk purchased. Danone’s offer, while a positive step, does not match the scale of the damage caused by their abrupt departure from communities across the Northeast.

In October, Representative Welch led a letter to Danone asking them to immediately reverse their decision and recommit to their contracts with the 89 family farms impacted by their departure.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) announced it has earned recertification as a B Corp after a thorough review by B Lab to meet rigorous environmental, social and transparency standards while using business as a force for good. GMP was the first utility to earn B Corp certification in 2014, was recertified in 2017, and with this new recertification, it again joins B Corps businesses in Vermont and across the country who have committed to socially responsible business practices, including Patagonia and Ben & Jerry’s.

Vermont Business Magazine This morning the Building Homes Together campaign launched its second five-year targets for making Chittenden County’s housing market healthier, more equitable, and more affordable. Supported by over 125 local leaders, the campaign’s goals include creating 5,000 new homes, with 1,250 permanently affordable, over the next five years. The new homes would include a combination of new rental and homeownership development.

by Kevin Ellis Tom Morse died this month. It’s a tragedy. Unthinkable for those who loved him. His loss reminds us of the importance of community and connection, which in the face of COVID and climate catastrophe, is all we really have. Tom Morse was the owner of the Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks, a landmark attraction built around maple syrup a few miles from us here in Montpelier.

Vermont Business Magazine National Life Group has been awarded the 2021 Platinum Bell Seal for Workplace Mental Health by Mental Health America (MHA). This Bell Seal is a first-of-its-kind workplace mental health certification that recognizes employers who strive to create mentally healthy workplaces for their employees.

by John McClaughry Among economist Thomas Sowell’s many memorable observations is this one: “Liberty is the right of ordinary people to find elbow room for themselves, and a refuge from the rampaging presumptions of their ‘betters’”. That observation has been particularly relevant to efforts in Vermont on two long past occasions, and to one just emerging. In all three instances at issue is the liberty to live in the backwoods, beyond the asphalt roads, bringing in firewood for the long winters, and teaching self-reliance to their children to help them become sturdy and true Vermonters.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health on Monday reported 238 new cases of COVID-19, following 532 on Sunday and Friday's record of 740 cases. All of the highest case counts since the beginning of the pandemic have occurred since November 3, 2021. Timing of when tests are taken and when results come back has affected daily totals, but there has been a post-Thanksgiving surge in cases in Vermont. Meanwhile, surveillance testing in Burlington on December 6 and 7 found no samples of the new Omicron variant.

Vermont Business Magazine The City of Burlington is now using its wastewater surveillance system to regularly screen for SarsCov2 mutations associated with the Omicron variant at all three municipal wastewater samples. In the first samples taken on Dec. 5 and 6 at each wastewater plant, mutations associated with Omicron were not detected, a strong indication that the Omicron variant had not spread to Burlington as of those dates. The latest tests indicate that Delta continues to be the dominant strain of the COVID-19 virus locally. The next set of weekly results are expected by Thursday, December 16.