Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont’s supercomputer array will gain a massive new database cluster, dubbed DataMountain, that will allow researchers to find solutions that improve the health of societies and the environment. DataMountain will allow for near real-time access to enormous data files, supporting projects that require such speed to effectively analyze, describe, and explain rapidly growing datasets. The cluster will be available to the more than 500 Vermont researchers who have access to the university’s Vermont Advanced Computing Core (VACC) high performance computing environment.

Vermont Business Magazine Presenters and Green Mountain Care Board Members will be participating remotely through Microsoft Teams tentatively through November 1, 2021. 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 Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) Cardiology has again achieved the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission’s (IAC) accreditation for adult transthoracic and adult stress echocardiography. SVMC, which includes SVMC Cardiology, is one of only two facilities in the state that is accredited in adult stress echocardiography.

Accreditation by the IAC means that SVMC Cardiology has undergone a thorough review of its operational and technical process by a panel of experts. The accreditation is granted only to those facilities that are found to be providing quality patient care in compliance with national standards through a comprehensive application process, which includes a detailed case study review.

Vermont Business Magazine The flu season will soon be here, so Mt Ascutney Hospital and Health Center (MAHHC) in Windsor, Vermont and Ottauquechee Health Center in Woodstock will offer flu vaccinations clinics this fall, with multiple dates in Windsor and Woodstock, Vermont to help Upper Valley residents avoid the physical discomfort of flu season, and to help the Hospital preserve resources by minimizing flu hospitalizations as it fights both the flu virus and COVID-19.

Vermont Business Magazine Affinity Empowering, Inc has announced that the Lake Champlain Waldorf School (LCWS) has been enrolled in Operation Expanded Testing (OET) and has been conducting no-cost weekly COVID-19 testing for its students and faculty since early September. LCWS is the first school in the state of Vermont to enroll in OET. Through OET, LCWS is providing weekly testing for its 185 students and all faculty and staff as one of many COVID-19 safety measures, with the goal of maintaining in-person learning for the 2021-22 school year.

Vermont Business Magazine The Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) is now accepting applications for more than $10,580,000 for the Capital Investment Grant Program. This new program, proposed by the Scott Administration and passed by the Legislature through Act 74, is funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to support capital investment projects that will assist Vermont’s economic recovery effort. The funding is intended for transformational projects that create opportunity to retain existing businesses, attract more businesses, create jobs and strengthen communities by encouraging capital investments and economic growth.

Vermont Business Magazine Leaders of both chambers in the Vermont legislature, and the relevant committee chairs, sent a letter to the US Department of Labor last week seeking to clarify legislative intent around Vermont Act 51 of 2021, which included a change to increase benefits to Vermonters receiving unemployment. The letter also asked the Department to reconsider its August 24, 2021, letter stating the increased benefit did not conform with guidance. The USDOL said Vermont could not use UI Trust Fund dollars to pay the extra $25 a week benefit, as Act 51 intended.

Act 51 of 2021 authorized a $25 per week supplemental benefit for all unemployment claims beginning October 3, to individuals receiving unemployment benefits in the regular state unemployment insurance program.

Vermont Business Magazine After months of bargaining, staff and management of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) have reached an agreement on a first contract. The agreement has been ratified by the union membership.

The staff union made significant economic progress including raising the minimum wage from $15/hr to $17.50, including $18/min for all existing employees.

Bargaining team member Dana Keyes-Gibbons from Vermont said, “We are thrilled to have reached an agreement that makes significant progress towards our goals of raising the minimum wage, increasing pay equity, and encouraging staff recruitment and retention--though we know we have more work to do to ensure compensation keeps up with the rising cost of living.”

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced that Vermonters 75 years of age and older are now eligible to schedule and receive COVID-19 vaccine boosters and can register starting today. Beginning on Wednesday, that eligibility expands to any Vermonters 70 years of age and older, and then to people aged 65 and older on Friday. Additionally, starting on Friday, those aged 18 to 64 with underlying medical conditions or who work in certain occupational settings will become eligible for boosters. Also, the Vermont Department of Health today reported 197 cases of COVID-19 (up 10 from Sunday), and no deaths, which held at. 310 statewide. There are 36 people hospitalized (unchanged) and 7 in the ICU (unchanged).

by Mike Donoghue, Correspondent, Vermont Business Magazine With the three primary criminal defendants awaiting sentencing in federal court in Vermont for their part in the massive EB-5 investment scandal in the Northeast Kingdom, now attention turns to trying to confirm reports whether key state officials knowingly sat on Vermont's largest fraud case and chose not to make it public for at least one year. Defense lawyers Brooks McArthur and David Williams, on behalf of William Stenger, are hopeful that some, if not all, records, including FBI and IRS reports and interviews that are currently under seal, will be made public before their client is sentenced later this year.

10-year Vermont DOC employee to oversee budget, human resource and contract management

Vermont Business Magazine Matt D’Agostino will soon assume the post of Interim Deputy Commissioner for the Vermont Department of Corrections (Vermont DOC), bringing ten years of Corrections experience and financial experience to the role.

D’Agostino currently serves as the Vermont DOC financial director and is a member of the department’s senior staff. In this new role, D’Agostino will continue overseeing the budget, as well as human resource management and managing more than $30M in contracts to include a $20M health care system.

D’Agostino has worked for Vermont DOC since 2011, starting as a financial manager before taking his current role as financial director in 2013. He holds a degree in finance from Rutgers University.

The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) has announced and released a Request for Proposals for a consultant to help the Agency build upon work initiated by Agency staff relating to inclusion, diversity, equity and accountability. Since the summer of 2020, VAAFM staff have engaged in internal discussions focused on individual and collective learning; internal Agency policies, practices, and culture; and the Agency’s approaches to serving and interacting with constituents, partners, and the public.