Current News

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Vermont weekly unemployment claims for the week ending November 15, 2025, increased by a small amount, as claims have more than doubled over the last two months. New claims were 418, up 5 claims from the week before and up 96 from last year at this time. Claims were 186 in late September. Claims, which tend to be lowest in the summer, were 181 at the end of September 2024. Meanwhile, the government shutdown, the longest in history, is over. The stock market rallied Friday after a rocky week on sketchy AI-related company results but with renewed hope of a Federal Reserve Board interest rate cut in early December. This looks likely as economic reports show uncertainty.

Vermont Business Magazine The Board of Directors at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) announced Thursday that President and CEO Christopher J. Dougherty, who has been on a leave of absence since Friday, October 3rd, will not be returning to his position at BMH. According to a statement from the board, the parties agreed that under the current circumstances it is best for Dougherty to depart and for the Hospital to bring in new leadership. Chris is proud of his accomplishments and grateful for the opportunity to have led the Hospital. 

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today submitted a formal appeal of the denial of Vermont’s request for a federal disaster declaration following the July 10, 2025, storm. A declaration would help communities in Caledonia and Essex counties recover costs for repairing public infrastructure damage caused by rainfall and severe flooding on July 10, 2025. The governor’s appeal points to the cost of infrastructure repairs under the Federal Emergency Management Agency requirements as an aggravating factor that should be considered. It further outlines the cumulative economic effect on the state and communities that have seen catastrophic floods in each of the last three years. 

Vermont Business Magazine BETA Technologies, Inc (NYSE: BETA) is accelerating the development of autonomous capabilities to enable BETA aircraft to fly faster, further, and carry more to serve an increased scope of critical defense and commercial applications. In addition to years of internal autonomy system development, BETA is collaborating with Near Earth Autonomy (“Near Earth”) to support development and integration. BETA’s simple and reliable electric and hybrid VTOL aircraft are designed with fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control technology, providing an ideal platform to enable both crewed and uncrewed operations. BETA has been developing and flying autonomous capabilities for the past several years, conducting more than 1,000 hours of uncrewed flights on a fleet of subscale aircraft with a demonstrated range of more than 158 nautical miles (182 statute miles) on a single charge

Vermont Business Magazine Fluency, the Digital Advertising Operating System (DAOS) for scaling paid media operations across all major channels, has announced it ranked No. 237 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences, fintech and energy tech companies in North America. Fluency combines automation and AI capabilities with best-in-class training and support to enable clients to streamline every stage of campaigns from launch to ongoing optimization, without sacrificing the personalized human guidance that drives long-term success.

Vermont Business Magazine Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), today published two op-eds in the Boston Globe and Fox News outlining common-sense health care policies to make care more affordable and accessible for every American. This comes after congressional Republicans voted to throw 15 million people off the health care they have and double insurance premiums, on average, for 20 million Americans. To make up for these devastating cuts, Trump and Republicans have suggested sending one-time checks to Americans as they pay out of pocket for their medical needs — checks that would be woefully insufficient to cover the real cost of care in this country.

The Vermont Department of Labor has released an easy-to-use tool to help find local Registered Apprenticeship programs! This searchable, sortable table is ideal for filtering the programs by town, county, occupation, or even employer, and will be updated quarterly. There are over 600 programs on the list across nearly 550 employers! We've made it easier than ever to find a Registered Apprenticeship program near you. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Office announced Thursday that Jude Stone, 20, of Bakersfield, Vermont, was arraigned on one felony count and two misdemeanor counts of possession of Child Sexual Abuse Materials, and two felony counts of promoting a recording of child sexual conduct. The charges brought against Stone are the result of an investigation conducted by members of the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (VT-ICAC). Stone pleaded not guilty at the arraignment today in Vermont Superior Court, Franklin Criminal Division. The Court ordered Stone released on conditions including that he not have contact with minors age 16 or younger, that he not access the internet, and that he not possess electronic devices capable of internet access. 

Public Assets Institute The Act 73 Redistricting Task Force wrapped up their work today, and they’ve given the state a chance to rethink the course of education reform it has been pursuing for the last decade. Vermont communities, as well as elected leaders, should seize this opportunity to get us out of the ditch we’ve been in and refocus on what should be our priority: ensuring our kids have what they need to thrive. One of the group’s most important recommendations is to stop further forced consolidation of school districts, which fits with one of the Task Force’s guiding principles: Do no harm.  It’s not that the committee opposes mergers. It recommends voluntary consolidation for some districts in certain circumstances, which was the state’s policy before passage of Act 46 a decade ago.

Vermont Business Magazine U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today celebrated the Senate’s unanimous passage of his bipartisan, bicameral Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, legislation to support America’s students and dairy farmers. The bipartisan bill, co-led with Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), would allow schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to offer students whole milk, in addition to reduced-fat, low-fat, fat-free, lactose-free milk, and non-dairy alternatives. It will now move to the House of Representatives. 

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $3.13/gallon, 3 cents/g from last week, up 1 cent/g from last month and up 3 cents/g from this time last year. This is the first time since 2022 that gas prices have been higher year-over-year, according to AAA. GasBuddy expects prices to fall by Thanksgiving. The national average price of gasoline has risen 2 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.10/g today. The national average is up 7 cents/g from a month ago and stands 4 cents/g higher than a year ago

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General Charity Clark today issued a formal Attorney General Opinion related to Governor Phil Scott’s Executive Order 06-25, titled “Promoting Housing Construction and Rehabilitation.” The opinion was requested by Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth and House Speaker Jill Krowinski on October 1, 2025, to address whether the executive order exceeds the governor’s authority by changing existing law. There are, however, two sections of the executive order – one concerning the regulation of wetlands and one related to building energy standards – which are unlawful if they are intended to immediately change law without first following the agency rulemaking process under Vermont’s Administrative Procedures Act. In her letter today to the legislative leaders, she concludes that: "Reliance on the Order as a source of new law carries legal risk and may delay desired residential and commercial development outcomes."