Current News

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).

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Department of Health is reporting two more deaths for 279 statewide, with 145 cases, 29 hospitalized and 8 in the ICU. The VDH also reported this week the first death of someone in the 20-29 age range, but none younger than 20. There are three deaths in the 30-35 range. Deaths from COVID increase by age with the largest group, 80 and older, having by far the most fatalities with 148. However, most COVID-19 cases by far are in the 20-29 age range, with 5,706 of 28,542 total. The 18-29 age group has by far the lowest vaccination rate in the state (60.4 percent with at least one dose versus 81.9 percent overall).

Vermont Business Magazine Acting State Director for United States Department of Agriculture - Rural Development (RD) in Vermont, Cheryl Ducharme, today announced that funding in the state through the Rural Business Development Grant program (RBDG) totaled $1,990,562 in fiscal year 2021. RBDGs are designed to provide technical assistance and training for small rural businesses with fewer than 50 employees and less than $1 million in gross revenue. These investments are expected to create or save more than 650 jobs in rural Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The US Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that Evernorth Rural Ventures, a subsidiary of Burlington-based Evernorth, was awarded a $60 million allocation of New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) to continue its successful economic development work in low-income areas. Under the NMTC program, investors receive federal tax credits in exchange for making investments in eligible economic development projects. These business and real estate investments provide more favorable terms and conditions than the market typically offers.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University began the 2020 – 2021 academic year on Monday, Aug. 30, with 729 new students. First year students in the Corps of Cadets arrived on Sunday, Aug. 22, and new civilian students arrived on Tuesday, Aug. 24, for orientation. The Class of 2025 is comprised of 390 rooks (first year students in the Corps of Cadets) and 339 civilian students (both residential and commuter) coming from 44 states, which includes 57 new international students coming from 17 different countries.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott joined Town officials and the Lamoille Housing Partnership to celebrate the construction of 24 new units of mixed-income housing at the Village Center Apartments in Morrisville as well as announcing $13,258,021 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) awards that have been made to 25 communities throughout Vermont. This funding through the Vermont Community Development Program (VCDP) will support a broad range of projects that will accelerate pandemic recovery, build more affordable housing and strengthen communities across the state.