Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) Tuesday issued the following statement amid developing reports of the new Omicron coronavirus variant and the recent move by the World Trade Organization to postpone a major Ministerial Conference in Geneva: “Nearly a year since vaccinations began to roll out here in the U.S. and while too many of our neighbors around the world still are blocked from accessing life-saving vaccines, the time for debate by the members of the World Trade Organization is over. As we face the potential threat of a new coronavirus variant, we must move even more urgently to dismantle the vaccine inequality that undermines our ability to confront this crisis."

Vermont Business Magazine Presenters and Board Members will be participating remotely through Microsoft Teams tentatively through January 1, 2022. Members of the public can attend all meetings at the physical location 144 State St, Montpelier, VT 05602, through the Microsoft Teams application, or via the call-in number.

Vermont Business Magazine In December 2021, the Department of Public Service (PSD) will host five public hearings around the state to provide opportunities for in-person comment on the draft 2022 Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan. Due to the on-going pandemic, the Department will also host additional online public meetings to provide more options for public input on the draft plan.

​by John McClaughry A year ago the Global Warming Solutions Act created a 23-member Vermont Climate Council to develop a Climate Action Plan strict enough to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 80% over the next 28 years. Such a dramatic reduction could conceivably be achieved by Plan A: an increasingly burdensome carbon tax on gasoline, diesel, heating oil, natural gas and propane. A heavy enough tax burden would make those fuels too expensive for many Vermont motorists, homeowners and businesses, and with enough subsidies they would switch to electrified transportation, home and business heat pumps, wood heat, and methane from landfills.

Vermont Business Magazine On December 3, The Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS) Foundation will host a LGS Research Roundtable at the American Epilepsy Society's annual meeting. The event will bring together hundreds of researchers, clinicians, and families to discuss the latest in LGS research. The University of Vermont will present one of the research studies. LGS is a rare, severe, life-threatening, epilepsy that leads to uncontrolled seizures, significant brain damage, and a lifelong dependence on others for care.

Vermont Business Magazine The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont said today that general contractor JA McDonald, Inc, headquartered in Lyndon Center has agreed to pay $637,500 to the United States and the State of Vermont to resolve allegations that JAM violated the federal False Claims Act by knowingly causing the state to present false claims for payment to the United States in connection with the federally-funded construction of several bridges on Route 279 in Bennington and on Interstate 91 in Guilford. This settlement resolves allegations that, between approximately 2008 and 2010, JAM employees materially altered certain components of the bridges at issue by cutting or burning multiple sections of reinforcing steel out of the reinforced-concrete substructures that support the bridges, and that JAM employees took affirmative steps to conceal such material alterations from the Vermont Agency of Transportation.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts visited Maple Hill Farm in Barton today to celebrate the beginning of the Christmas season with the help of Vermont’s farmers. The trees cut during this visit will decorate the Pavilion Building in Montpelier, which houses the Governor’s Office. Maple Hill Farm is a 30-acre maple and Christmas tree farm located in the Northeast Kingdom. According to the 2017 USDA Census, there are 3,650 acres of Christmas tree production in Vermont across 70 farms with a crop worth more than $2.6 million.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today reported 237 cases of COVID-19. This is the first report since last Wednesday because of the Thanksgiving break. From Thursday through Sunday there were a total of 1,444 cases (average 361 per day, which is on par with the recent seven-day average). Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 49,801 reported cases of COVID-19 in Vermont. There have been no identified cases associated with the Omicron variant in Vermont to date.

Vermont State Police As the investigation continues into Monday morning’s fatal shooting in Elmore, the Vermont State Police is able to release the tentative identifications of the two people involved. The victim is 58-year-old Mary Lisa Kelley. Initial evidence indicates she was fatally shot by her husband, Lawrence Jay Kennedy, 61, before he shot and killed himself at their home on King Road.

Vermont State Police On November 23, 2021, the Rutland City Police Department, Vermont Drug Task Force, Vermont State Police Field Force Division, and the US Department of Homeland Security (HSI) executed a search warrant at 55 Killington Ave. in Rutland City as part of a multi-agency investigation into drug trafficking by Lawrence Jackson, 50, of Rutland. The search warrant was obtained by the Rutland City Police Department Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Takes the helm following retirement of longtime chief Dr Steven Shapiro

Vermont Business Magazine Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD has announced the appointment of Dr Elizabeth Bundock as Vermont’s Chief Medical Examiner. Bundock, who joined the Department of Health in 2007 as deputy chief medical examiner, takes over the state office that oversees death investigations, following the retirement of long-time Chief Medical Examiner Steven Shapiro, MD.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced that he has appointed Sabina Haskell as the chair of the Natural Resources Board (NRB), Wendy Knight as commissioner of the Department of Liquor and Lottery (DLL), and Andrew Collier as deputy commissioner of DLL. The three appointments will be effective Monday, December 13.