Current News

​Vermont Business Magazine On May 17, 2021, Virginia-based Averhealth, a provider of substance use monitoring and treatment services tailored to the unique needs of courts and social service agencies, along with the support of Five Arrows Capital Partners, acquired Aspenti, a healthcare company located in Burlington. Aspenti specializes in substance use monitoring and care coordination services for patients of physicians, treatment centers and healthcare systems.

Vermont Research News A recent survey of patients at the Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin Vermont investigated the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic influenced people’s eating and shopping habits. While some people who would normally eat out at restaurants turned to healthier home-cooked meals because of the pandemic, many instead chose unhealthier options. Several respondents who made fewer trips to the grocery store because of the pandemic were more likely to buy junk food in bulk. Another not unexpected side effect of more people working from home is increased snacking as people have an easier time visiting the kitchen on their breaks than they would otherwise.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont will celebrate its 220th commencement on Thursday, May 20, Friday, May 21 and Sunday, May 23. The Thursday and Friday ceremonies will take place at Virtue Field on the university’s athletic campus beginning at 8 am on both days. The Sunday ceremony, for UVM’s Larner College of Medicine, will be held at 3 pm in Patrick Gymnasium. All of the ceremonies will be held in-person following strict COVID-19 safety protocols and will be webcast for those who cannot attend.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University’s Office of Academic Research has announced the Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowships and Apprentice Grants for the summer and fall 2021 and for the academic 2021-22 year. Summer Research Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis to support creative or scholarly projects under the direction of a faculty mentor. Students receive stipends $3,000 for a six-week fellowship or $4,800 for a ten-week fellowship.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott announced action on the following bills, passed by the General Assembly. These include bills related to promoting equity in the health care system and related to hate-motivated crimes. He also signed S42, which creates a Commission to address the mental health care service and support needs of emergency service providers.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont continues to lead the nation, and is among world leaders, in vaccination rate. And now anyone 12 or older can get vaccinated in the state regardless of their residency. There are many sites around the state or at pharmacies that allow for walk-ins with no registration necessary. While Vermont's regular vaccine allotment will not change, it has been successful in obtaining thousands more Pfizer (2,340) and one-shot Johnson & Johnson (1,000) vaccines. COVID-19 cases in Vermont and across the region are down, but there were two more deaths here for a statewide total of 254. Meanwhile, the Canadian border does not appear that it will open soon. Governor Scott hopes it will open sometime in mid-summer.

Vermont Business Magazine The Agency of Natural Resources Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced today that Victor Superchi was fined $17,406 for burning a structure on his Chester, Vermont, property in violation of the Vermont Air Pollution Control Regulations and Solid Waste Management Rules. In December 2019, Superchi burned a derelict housing structure containing materials that are prohibited from being burned.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Legislature sent to the Governor, S15, a bill which makes universally mailed ballots a permanent feature of Vermont’s general elections. The bill also allows voters to fix or “cure” a ballot if it has been deemed defective. At his Tuesday press briefing, Governor Scott said he would sign the bill once it received the usual legal vetting and reached his desk. He also said he hopes that this type of voting will be expanded to all types of elections.

Vermont Business Magazine Amtrak and The Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) today announced that tickets are now available for purchase on their state-supported train services for travel beginning on Monday, July 19. This includes the Vermonter, which provides daily service between Washington, DC and St. Albans, Vermont, with reserved seating for Business Class customers, and the Ethan Allen Express, which offers daily service between New York City and Rutland, Vermont, with connecting service to Washington, DC.

A tuition-free college course for the Classes of 2020 and 2021
Vermont Business Magazine To the high school classes of 2020 and 2021: Vermont has a graduation gift for you! The state of Vermont, the Vermont State Colleges System and VSAC are teaming up to provide one tuition-free college class to the graduates of the classes of 2020 and 2021.

by Shawn Shouldice In a time when businesses are trying to recover from a government ordered shut-down due to COVID-19, some Vermont lawmakers look to pour more salt in their wounds by adding $100 million of dollars on increased costs on to their backs. Struggling to bring workers back into the workforce is a daily challenge as unemployment benefits have softened the hardship that workers too have felt during this unprecedented last 14 months. The mantra - we’re all in this together - seems to be slipping further and further from reality as some lawmakers stand firm on placing an unnecessary $100 million unemployment insurance tax increase on Vermont businesses.

Vermont Business Magazine FEMA recently awarded a $1,947,350 grant to the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development for the State of Vermont’s innovative Emergency Feeding Program. The grant covers the state’s Vermont Everyone Eats (VEE) Program, which provided nutritious meals to high-risk populations impacted by COVID-19 throughout Vermont from March 15 to April 11 of this year.