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Vermont Business Magazine First Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt announced on Monday that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont collected $4,437,008.08 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2025. Of this amount, $1,722,712.24 was collected in criminal actions and $2,714,295.84 was collected in civil actions. The District of Vermont also worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $73,705.04 in criminal cases pursued jointly by these offices. 

Vermont Business Magazine Champlain College conferred 598 degrees to undergraduate and graduate students, representing both the College’s on-campus and online communities during its 148th commencement ceremony on May 9. More than 3,000 students, families, faculty, staff, alumni, Board of Trustees, donors, friends and community leaders convened for a morning of reflection, recognition, and celebration on Saturday, May 9. The college welcomed Kyle Clark, founder and chief executive officer of Vermont-based electric aerospace company BETA Technologies, Inc. as the keynote commencement speaker. Clark, a native of Essex, Vermont, is widely recognized for his leadership in advancing aviation technology and sustainable transportation solutions, and during the Spring 2026 semester, BETA and Champlain College embarked on a multiyear partnership connecting students with real-world projects at the company.

Vermont Business Magazine The annual New England Society for Healthcare Communications (NESHCo) conference will be held at the end of the month (May 27-29) in Burlington, marking the first time it has been held in Vermont. Healthcare communications, marketing and strategy professionals from across New England will attend. The 2026 conference theme, “The Craft of Connection,” is inspired by Vermont’s culture of craftsmanship, creativity, and community, and will focus on how healthcare organizations can build stronger, more human-centered communication with patients, employees, and communities.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott announced action on the following bills, passed by the General Assembly. He signed four bills into law, but vetoed H.674, An act relating to the creation of the Vermont Sister State Program. This bill would create a 9-person Sister State Program Committee, allocate significant authority to the Committee for choosing Sister State applicants for recommendation to the Governor, and would have sole authority to terminate partnerships with a simple majority vote of those present at a meeting.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today signed Executive Order 01-26 establishing the Vermont Artificial Intelligence Economic Task Force, positioning the state to use its scale, institutional networks, and tradition of fast coordination to adapt to AI more quickly and deliberately. The Task Force will assess how artificial intelligence is reshaping Vermont’s economy sector by sector and deliver an agenda of workforce, investment, and policy actions, beginning with priority opportunities identified within 90 days.

Vermont Business Magazine As President Trump and congressional Republicans tout so-called “No Tax on Overtime” while simultaneously denying the right to overtime pay for more than 4.3 million workers, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) today introduced the Restoring Overtime Pay Act to expand and strengthen overtime protections for nearly 30 million workers.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Transportation’s State Highway Safety Office joins the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles Enforcement and Safety Division, and law enforcement agencies across the state and nation to urge drivers to “Buckle Up” today and every day as part of a seat belt campaign from May 18-31. Law enforcement officers and first responders from Vermont and New York held a press conference today at the foot of the Champlain Bridge at the historic fort located in Crown Point, NY, to raise awareness about the Buckle Up seat belt campaign, a high-visibility seat belt enforcement effort, which coincides with the Memorial Day holiday.

Vermont Agency of Transportation On May 6, 2026, at approximately 5:33 p.m., Inspector Johnson responded to a two-vehicle crash involving a commercial motor vehicle on I-91 North in Lyndon. The investigation revealed that an involved operator, Mia Scannell, 18, from Newport City, was operating a 2012 Honda Civic north on the I-91 North on-ramp when she failed to yield while merging into the travel lane of I-91 N, striking a commercial motor vehicle. Austin Lathe, 19, of Newport Center, was operating a bobtailed 2013 Kenworth Truck Tractor owned by Kelley View Farm Inc. on I-91 North in the travel lane when struck by the merging car. 

VermontBiz is proud to announce the 2026 Best of Business Awards (BOB Awards) winners. This awards program celebrates the best Vermont companies in more than 100 business-to-business categories. Winners were celebrated May 13 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Burlington. VermontBiz readers chose the winners! After over 75,000 votes, we compiled the go-to list in the state for everything from Best Landscaping Company and Best Digital Media Agency to Best Vermont Made Product.

by Maggie Lenz and Gwynn Zakov Last week, we told you about the tie vote in the Senate Education Committee that temporarily stalled H.955, the major education transformation bill moving through the Legislature this session. Senate Education is the only Senate committee with an even number of members and an even partisan split. The committee took a straw poll to test support for H.955, and the result was 3–3, split along party lines, with all Republican members voting against the bill. That left the bill without a favorable vote from the committee that had spent weeks working through the House version. The House-passed version of H.955 creates Cooperative Education Service Agencies, or CESAs, as a new statewide education service structure. It also requires districts to participate in study groups to consider whether forming larger unified districts is advisable. The bill does not automatically merge districts. It requires a study process and leaves local voters involved before any recommended merger could move forward.

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $4.54 per gallon, up 2.7 cents per gallon from last week's $4.52/g. The lowest price in the state yesterday was $4.25/g while the highest was $4.69/g, a difference of 44.0 cents per gallon. The national average price of gasoline has fallen 1 cent per gallon in the last week, averaging $4.47/g today. 

Vermont Business Magazine The sun shone down on nearly 3,700 members of the University of Vermont’s Class of 2026 and thousands of their family and friends as UVM celebrated its 225th Commencement Ceremony on the historic University Green in Burlington on Saturday, May 16. Students from UVM’s eight colleges and schools processed into the Green through overflow cheering crowds of well-wishers under a bluebird spring sky for the event that recognized the outcome of years of study and accomplishment, at which academic degrees were formally conferred, turning them all in an instant from students to alumni.