Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Since the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) opened in 2020, NBT Bank has funded over 6,000 loans exceeding $830 million in relief. These funds support small businesses and not-for-profit organizations in the communities NBT serves. NBT Bank has branches in western Vermont.

"With more than $285 million secured through 3,000 loans in 2021, the average size PPP loan at NBT for this most recent round of funding was $94,000,” said NBT Bank President and CEO John H. Watt, Jr. “In total, we provided support to organizations that employ 96,000 workers.”

The organizations supported by the PPP loans secured through NBT Bank include numerous main street retailers and minority and women-owned businesses, as well as rural hospitals and nursing homes, human and family services organizations, farms and other agricultural businesses, educational institutions, manufacturers, restaurants, contractors and construction businesses.

Vermont Business Magazine On a perfect day for its first outdoors Commencement since 1979, Saint Michael’s College welcomed several hundred vaccinated and distanced guests as nearly 300 members of the still-larger 437-member Class of 2021 graduated during separate morning and afternoon ceremonies to meet state COVID safety guidelines.

Vermont Business Magazine Approximately 6,300 vaccination appointments were made for 12- to 15-year-olds Thursday, the first day this age group became eligible for the Pfizer vaccine. This reflects the number made through the state’s registration system. Additional appointments were made directly through federal pharmacy partners. There are about 27,000 Vermonters in this age band. The VDH continues to open up more walk-in vaccination clinics for all adults across the state. Today, the VDH is reporting 72 new cases of COVID-19, with deaths holding at 252.

Vermont Business Magazine In partnership with the Vermont Chamber of Commerce and the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing, the Vermont Department of Health will host walk-in COVID-19 vaccine clinics for restaurant, hospitality, and tourism workers over the coming weeks. The initial wave of clinics will take place at seven locations, with each site offering Johnson & Johnson vaccines for tourism and hospitality workers on a walk-in basis. Clinics will be staged at restaurants, lodging properties, ski resorts, and other tourism attractions in an effort to bring the vaccine directly to the workers of this sector.

Vermont Business Magazine Middlebury College announced today that it will require all students, faculty, and staff at Middlebury College and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, CA, to be vaccinated this fall. The same requirement was previously announced for the Middlebury Language Schools this summer.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that two grantees in the state of Vermont have been selected to receive $1.1 million to assess and clean up contaminated properties under the agency’s Brownfields Program. These funds will support under-served and economically disadvantaged communities in assessing and cleaning up abandoned industrial and commercial properties. Northeastern Vermont Development Association (NVDA), in Lyndon, St Johnsbury, and Newport, will be awarded a $600,000 Assessment Coalition Grant. The town of St Johnsbury, will be awarded a $500,000 Cleanup Grant.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Thursday sent a letter to Labor Secretary Marty Walsh urging the Department of Labor to ensure that workers get life-saving unemployment benefits even as some Republican governors threaten to take it away.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power announced today that a new program is benefiting customers and the grid, and marks the first time stored energy in a network of residential batteries is being used to help keep the regional grid balanced. GMP’s pioneering new Frequency Regulation Pilot program allows customers to share stored energy with regional grid operator ISO-New England to keep a steady, regulated flow of energy on the grid at all times, a critical function for regional system safety and reliability for customers.

Vermont Business Magazine The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Joshua Preston, 32, of Johnson, Vermont, was arrested yesterday on a Criminal Complaint alleging that he possessed with intent to distribute heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and cocaine base in March of 2020.

Vermont Business Magazine KeyBank, with branches across Vermont, is being recognized for its support of small business clients by the Greenwich Excellence Awards, both nationally and regionally in 2020, highlighting the bank's accomplishments in client satisfaction, Relationship Manager interaction, and cash management. The awards – determined through a survey of more than 12,000 interviews with businesses between $1 million and $10 million in revenues, evaluated 600 banks and named KeyBank among a select group of organizations performing in support and service for small businesses.

​Vermont Business Magazine As COVID-19 is starting to come under control, LEAP (Logger Education to Advance Professionalism) will begin offering some workshops again. To deal with the no-training year of 2020, we are bumping everyone up one year from wherever you are at currently. In other words, if your Certification Period was 2018-2020, then you will now be 2019-2021 etc. We will work with everyone to get your status with LEAP back to normal. As per the Governor’s Emergency Order regarding COVID-19, we will continue to follow the recommended guidelines.

Vermont Business Magazine Hickok & Boardman Insurance Group has announced the appointment of Paul Plunkett as President and Chief Operating Officer. Scott Boardman will continue as Chief Executive Officer. Plunkett brings over 33 years of insurance experience to this position. He began his career at Hickok & Boardman Insurance Group in 1988, as a Commercial Property and Casualty Agent, became a Principal of the firm and was elected to the Board of Directors in 1994. He was elected Senior Vice President in 1999.