Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Today at the Vermont Labor Relations Board (VLRB), clerical, technical and specialized employees at the University of Vermont voted via mail ballot to organize their union, UVM Staff United, AFT Vermont, 333 to 122.

Vermont Business Magazine As the state finalizes its budget for next year, the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) releases its summary of feedback from thousands of Vermonters who weighed in with their ideas of what we need to do in the next few years in order to have a prosperous and sustainable Vermont over the next 30. The non-partisan VCRD, a cornerstone group in COVID recovery efforts, recognized that in this pivotal moment of the state’s history Vermonters need comprehensive, broad-based, and long-range goals to unite behind.

Vermont Business Magazine As of Thursday, May 20, Vermont is removing the residency requirement for vaccination. That means that anyone age 12 and older who is visiting Vermont can get vaccinated. You do not have to be a Vermont resident or a part-time resident. You can also find links to info on school-based vaccine clinics; clinics for restaurant, hospitality and tourism workers; and a list of EMS Week vaccine clinics coming up this weekend (May 21-23). Bonus: anyone who gets their shot at an EMS clinic this weekend gets a coupon for a free creemee! Also, the VDH is reporting 45 new cases of COVID-19 and one more death for a statewide total of 255.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger announced the appointment of Brian Pine as the new Director of the Community & Economic Development Office (CEDO). Pine brings decades of community development experience to the role, including 18 years as the Assistant Director for Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization in CEDO. Pine has also served as a Ward 3 City Councilor from 1991-1995 and was elected again in 2018. Pine ran for mayor this year as a Progressive, but lost to City Council chair Max Tracy in the primary. Tracy then narrowly lost to Weinberger in March.

Vermont State Police Following a three-month investigation, the Vermont State Police has identified two suspects in connection with the Feb. 13, 2021, armed robbery at Spear’s Corner Store and cited them to appear in court this week. Andrew Coyle, 29, of Ferrisburgh was cited on suspicion of assault and robbery, and aggravated assault. His fiancée, Marissa Tallman, 26, also of Ferrisburgh, was cited on a count of accessory aiding in the commission of a felony.

Vermont Business Magazine SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman announced today that eligible eating establishments have until May 24, 8 pm ET, to submit applications to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. Designed to ensure the smallest of small eating establishments get the relief needed, set-asides continue a commitment to an equitable distribution of funds to hard-hit communities. Because SBA still has potential set-aside funding available for eligible establishments with 2019 annual revenue of not more than $50,000, it will keep the application portal open until Monday.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The State’s General Fund, Transportation Fund, and Education Fund tax receipts in April were a combined $24.7 million, or 7.9 percent below monthly consensus expectations. While there was an explainable dip in actual April revenues compared to the January forecast, cumulative targets were surpassed by a combined $80.5 million, across the three major funds. The GF is ahead 3.8 percent, or $58.2 million, year-to-date.

by Lindsay Kurrle, Secretary, Agency of Commerce and Community Development It’s easy to look back over the last 18 months and see all of the ways that COVID has set us back: from shuttered businesses, to the thousands of Vermonters losing their jobs, a disproportionate amount of whom were women who had to exit the workforce to care for their children. As businesses and families struggled, government provided a safety net through Paycheck Protection Program loans, business grants, stimulus checks, and extended unemployment benefits.

Vermont Business Magazine Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ron Wyden (D-Ore), and Mike Lee (R-Utah) Wednesday introduced the Audit the Pentagon Act of 2021, which would require the Department of Defense (DOD) to finally pass a full independent audit beginning in fiscal year 2022. Under the bill, each branch of the military and part of the DOD that fails to obtain a clean audit opinion would return one percent of its budget to the Treasury.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan today filed an amicus brief in support of the Koffee Kup, et al. Emergency Motion to Compel Receiver to Pay Urgent Payroll Deductions. At issue is the refusal of Koffee Kup’s court-appointed receiver and Key Bank to pay $797,568.17 in accrued paid time off (PTO) obligations to employees after the business closed in April. In its brief, the state argues that the Court should compel the receiver and Key Bank to pay employees for the accrued PTO based on Vermont law.

Vermont Business Magazine Raytheon Technologies, a leading aerospace and defense technology company, and GlobalFoundries, the global leader in feature-rich semiconductor manufacturing, will collaborate to develop and commercialize a new gallium nitride on silicon semiconductor that will enable game-changing radio frequency performance for 5G and 6G mobile and wireless infrastructure applications. Raytheon will license its proprietary technology and technical expertise to GF, which will develop the new semiconductor at its Fab 9 facility in Essex Junction, Vermont.

by Representative Heidi Scheuermann (R-Stowe) While the current legislature has been in session only since January 2021, legislative work throughout these last 14 very challenging, sometimes exhausting, months has been nearly full-time, so I am pleased to report that this is expected to be our final week. That excitement, however, is tempered by very significant concerns about some of the legislation moving forward, and hope that other important initiatives will move forward.