Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Department of Health is reporting one more COVID-19 death for 280 statewide, with 96 new cases, 31 hospitalized and 11 in the ICU. Hospitalizations were up two from yesterday and ICU stays were up three.

Vermont Business Magazine The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an evaluation and summary of findings of the first two performance years (2018 and 2019) of Vermont’s All-Payer Model (APM), finding promising results that indicate the APM and Vermont’s Accountable Care Organization, OneCare Vermont, are on the right track toward transforming the way health care is paid for and delivered.

Vermont Business Magazine Agency of Human Services Secretary Mike Smith announced today that the Green Mountain Care Board and the Department of Financial Regulation are joining the agency’s investigation into wait times for medical appointments at health care organizations in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site is proud to host the 16th annual Plymouth Folk & Blues Festival this coming Labor Day Weekend, September 4 and 5. This year, the festival has been selected as a “Top 10 Fall Event” by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. Stars from Vermont and internationally known musicians team up for a lively two-day festival of folk and blues music performed in the pure country air of historic Plymouth Notch. The concerts are free; a donation is suggested.

Vermont Business Magazine The US Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday awarded a total of $625,000 to Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity and Vermont Legal Aid to support their efforts to address violations of the Fair Housing Act and helping to end discrimination in housing. This funding is part of $47.4 million being awarded to 120 national and local fair housing organizations across the country under HUD’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP). The funding will allow the grantees to provide fair housing enforcement by conducting investigations, testing to identify discrimination in the rental and sales markets, and filing fair housing complaints with HUD.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) will hold five outdoor town meetings across Vermont over Labor Day weekend, September 4 to 6. The town meetings in Springfield, Newport, St. Johnsbury, Brattleboro, and Middlebury are an opportunity for communities to come together and hear about the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill and how it will make major investments in working families in Vermont and across the country. In addition to live music and free food, there will be free COVID-19 vaccines available without appointment at each community event.

Vermont Business Magazine With its next specialty beer release, Lawson’s Finest Liquids is taking craft beer lovers on a journey to New Zealand. Kiwi, a double IPA that has never been available outside the brewery’s Waitsfield Taproom until now, is brewed with a massive charge of New Zealand-grown Nelson Sauvin and Pacific Jade hops. Beginning this week, Kiwi will be stocked at retailers across Lawson’s Finest’s nine-state distribution area (VT, CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, and RI).

Vermont Specialty Food Association The strong support of Vermonters far and wide helped the Vermont Specialty Food Association to raise over $1200 to support Vermont specialty food and beverage producers of all shapes and sizes during its inaugural raffle fundraiser. Winners were drawn on August 31st and have been notified by email that they were the recipient of one of ten prizes. Raffle participants should check their email provided at the time of donation to see if they were selected for a prize.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott announced today that cities, towns and villages should expect additional American Rescue Plan Act Local Fiscal Recovery funds over the next several days. The State will disburse another payment of $60.6 million in ARPA-LRF to 276 eligible local governments today, September 2. On August 5, Vermont received 50% of the $121 million of funds that the US Treasury originally designated for distribution to the State’s 14 counties. After further review of Vermont’s unique county structure, the federal guidance was revised allowing Vermont municipal governments to take full advantage of the ARPA local recovery funds.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski and Senate President Pro Tem Becca Balint issued the following statement after Texas enacts the greatest ban on reproductive rights in the nation and the US Supreme Court’s fails to uphold a federal constitutional right: “It has been a stunning 24-hours as we watched one of the greatest affronts to the reproductive rights of individuals in Texas. We were all hopeful that the Supreme Court would see this for what it is, a clear violation of the federal constitutional right to obtain an abortion. These actions will surely spur legislative action restricting access to reproductive health care, and we wanted to make sure Vermonters and all Americans, know that Vermont is doing everything we can to protect reproductive rights."

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) is sending a team of twenty-nine employees including line workers and mechanics to the New York City area to assist Con Edison in restoring power after Tropical Storm Ida unleashed record flooding and storms on the Mid-Atlantic region last night, knocking out power to more than 20,000 customers in the New York City area. GMP and Con Edison are part of the North Atlantic Mutual Assistance Group, which enables utilities to help each other recover from storm damage.

Vermont Business Magazine To close out a summer driving season that will inevitably have had the highest average gas prices since the summer of 2014, Labor Day weekend prices at the pump are expected to be the highest in seven years at $3.11 per gallon (Vermont gasoline prices are at $3.09, up 3 cents from last week and 92 cents higher than a year ago).