Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic (EAC), on behalf of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG), has filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont in support of the state’s Climate Superfund Act, the landmark law that will help recover the escalating costs of climate change from certain responsible fossil fuel companies. The EAC’s brief defends the Climate Superfund Act, emphasizing the urgent need for climate resilience funding within the state — made clear by the historic flooding of 2023 and 2024.

Vermont Business Magazine Climate Advocates Bennington (CAB) honored Mikaela Lewis and Matt Harrington of the Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce with the 2025 Environmental Leadership Award during the Bennington Rotary Club luncheon on Friday, November 21st. The luncheon was held at the Charlie Boyle Carriage Barn and welcomed members of the Compost Committee of the Solid Waste Alliance, as well as volunteers involved with multiple composting efforts throughout Bennington County in 2025. Leading up to the Chamber’s annual Garlic Town Festival, longtime volunteer and member of the Compost Committee Marsh Hudson-Knapp and Scott Grimm-Lyon of the Bennington County Solid Waste Alliance (BCSWA) worked with Event Manager Mikaela Lewis and event Compost Captain Kathy Sollien to implement various new vendor regulations and establish the mutual goal of becoming a completely zero-waste event within the next three years.

Vermont Business Magazine The sixth edition of Vermont Almanac has been published and is being shipped to readers and bookstores this week. The book features all new stories about and by Vermonters. If you’re not familiar with Vermont Almanac, it’s an annual book that’s produced by For the Land Publishing, a Vermont non-profit organization. The book is organized by season, and there’s something for anyone who has an interest in the land and the people of Vermont. If you are familiar with the book, you can expect Volume VI to be different from the previous five in a number of ways. Instead of breaking the past year down by month, we did it by season. We reimagined our weather section. We loosened up on word counts. We encouraged the many talented writers we work with to follow their whims. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Historical Society has launched its first annual Women’s History and Material Culture Fellowship. This fellowship will work with VHS’s Collections Manager to explore, identify, and research items from our vast artifact collection to identify and study objects that help to tell the story of women in Vermont. Fellowship projects will span multiple facets of the VHS collection, offering hands-on experience with everything from costume and textiles to farming tools and decorative arts found in Vermont homes and businesses. The fellow will also work with staff in the Leahy Library and Archives, identifying and publishing crucial connections between documentary and material culture resources. 

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General Charity Clark today joined 21 other attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to stop the federal government from unlawfully cutting off Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for thousands of lawful permanent residents. The coalition seeks to block new guidance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that wrongly treats several groups of legal immigrants as ineligible for food assistance, including permanent residents who were granted asylum or admitted as refugees. The attorneys general argue that the guidance contradicts federal law, yet noncompliance could trigger massive financial penalties on states; the coalition is asking the court to declare the guidance unlawful.

Vermont Business Magazine The City Council's Transportation, Energy, and Utilities Committee on Tuesday night discussed the third-party Velerity report at its meeting. This report was envisioned in a City Council Resolution from November 2023 to help Burlington Electric Department identify ways to improve efficiency, reduce stack emissions (carbon and particulates), and promote innovation at McNeil. The final report analyzed a number of technologies, alternative fuels, and efficiency improvements that could be made at McNeil, with an eye toward environmental benefits, as well as affordability and reliability for ratepayers. The report found that wood pyrolysis (gasification of wood chips into synthetic gas) represents an opportunity to significantly increase the electric production efficiency while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions. It would also cost slightly less.

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Office today announced that Victoria Thompson, 32, of White River Junction, Vermont, was sentenced in Vermont Superior Court, Windsor County, Criminal Division, after pleading guilty to a felony charge of selling or dispensing a regulated drug with death resulting and two misdemeanor drug-possession charges. The Court, Judge Elizabeth Mann presiding, sentenced the defendant to one to five years to serve, all suspended but 135 days, with a six-year term of probation. The probation terms require Ms. Thompson to successfully complete a residential drug recovery program. 

Vermont Business Magazine During the Thanksgiving holiday, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT), and law enforcement agencies across the state and nation remind drivers to wear their seat belts. Whether driving cross-country or just across town to celebrate the holiday, everyone in a vehicle should Buckle Up. Every Trip. Every Time. In addition to being required by law, buckling up, combined with an airbag, is the best defense against injury or death in a crash. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Windham Foundation is a nonprofit based in Grafton, VT that works to enhance economic, cultural, and civic life in Vermont. The Foundation has announced the recipients of their most recent round of grants. Thirty-four Vermont-based nonprofits received a total of $137,100 in financial support. The Fall Grants cycle was open to projects focused on (1) Preserving and Developing Resilient Communities, and (2) Healthy and Vibrant Communities. Funded projects included programs focused on family support, housing security, outdoor programming, and workforce development. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Congressional Delegation, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont), and Representative Becca Balint (D-Vermont-At-Large) today condemned anti-Palestinian hatred and violence. Their statements came on the second anniversary of an attack on college students Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Tahseen Ali Ahmad, in Burlington. Senators Welch and Sanders today also announced a forthcoming Senate Resolution commemorating the second anniversary of the attack and denouncing bias, hatred, and threats to life and safety. The Senate Resolution will be officially filed when Congress returns in early December.  

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General Charity Clark and a coalition of 20 other states sued the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today for illegally upending supports for tens of thousands of Americans experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity with abrupt changes that will limit access to long-term housing and other services. HUD is drastically changing its Continuum of Care grant program in violation of congressional intent by dramatically reducing the amount of grant funds that can be spent on permanent housing and project renewals and putting new unlawful conditions on access to the funding. These requirements include that providers only recognize two genders, mandate residents accept services as a precondition to obtain housing and punish providers in localities that do not enforce strict anti-homeless laws. 

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported last week that the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations remain low after an increase in cases that began in August and ran into early fall. Other indicators like wastewater virus show an increase in COVID-19 and Norovirus in Vermont and nationally, while COVID outbreaks also edged higher. There were 4 outbreaks last week (4 the week before), with 4 in Long-Term Care Facilities and 0 in schools. Like hospitalizations, outbreaks increased slightly from mid-summer and have since fallen.