Current News

Vermont Business Magazine A new grant program, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, or RRF, is launching soon from SBA for restaurants, brew pubs, food trucks, coffee shops, bars and many more. The new website www.sba.gov/restaurants shares substantial information on how the program will roll out, the application questions and the documents to prepare. The SBA is strongly encouraging all potential applicants to look through this website and get their documents ready as it will be a very popular program. This is not a loan, it is a grant.

Agency of Commerce & Community Development Governor Scott announced Friday that people aged 16, 17 or 18 will be eligible for vaccine sign up on Saturday, April 17th at 10 am. The full 16+ age band will then be eligible to make their vaccination appointments on Monday, April 19th at 6 am. On April 30th, Vermont expects to open vaccine registration to college students who are residents of another state and do not intend to stay in Vermont for the summer, as well as to those who live part of the year in Vermont. This will be based on the vaccine supply received from the federal government.

by Joyce Marcel, Vermont Business Magazine People say it's hard to make a living in Vermont, but it's even harder to make a living in the Northeast Kingdom. The north country has always been the state's economic stepchild, rich in natural resources but poor in population and almost everything else. You have to be stubborn and determined to make your business thrive there. And general contractor Grant Spates, the owner of Spates Construction, Inc, is making it work, and on his own terms, too.

Vermont Business Magazine New England Federal Credit Union (NEFCU) will hold its Spring Shred Fest of 2021 on Saturday, May 8th from 9 am to 1 pm at the Credit Union’s 141 Harvest Lane branch in Williston. All NEFCU Shred Fests are free and open to the public, with ample free parking. To help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, those coming to the event should stay in their cars, wear masks, and maintain social distance from staff and others attending.

Vermont Business Magazine The Champlain Valley School District announced Saturday evening that they have hired an educator from South Bend, Indiana, as their next superintendent. Rene Sanchez will take over from the retiring Elaine Pinckney. Pinckney has led what is now the state's largest school district for 15 years.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Student Assistance Corp is offering a free online webinar on how to appeal your financial aid offer, April 27 at 6 p.m. Students and families can participate via Zoom or by visiting VSAC’s Facebook page. The event also will be recorded and available for viewing later.

by Alexandra Clauss Running a business is not for the faint of heart. Startups are often faced with too much to do and too little time, but it is a mistake for your organization’s human resources strategy to be an afterthought. All businesses, regardless of size, must be proactive in complying with state and federal employment laws. This area of the law has evolved rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and, as remote and hybrid work arrangements continue and will possibly become the new normal, businesses must invest time to stay apprised of the latest changes in state and federal employment laws and regulations.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott announced Saturday evening that he will allow H315 to become law without his signature. While the bill includes several important measures related to economic recovery from the pandemic, it also includes several points the governor said he cannot support. For instance, both for-profit and nonprofit organizations opposed the last-second inclusion of taxing Paycheck Protection Program grants as taxable income in next year's (2021) tax return.

Leonine Public Affairs The Senate Appropriations committee spent the week working through H.439, the FY2022 state budget bill. At the beginning of the week the committee had a goal of finalizing the budget and sending it to the Senate floor by April 20. By the end of the week the committee’s target for approving H.439 was pushed back to April 23. This is in part because the committee needs to determine how to allocate the $1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and in part because the budget process is more decentralized than previous years.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Independent Media has announced that its community newspaper, The Commons, won 10 prizes in the New England Newspaper & Press Association’s 2021 Better Newspaper Competition, in divisions for weekly newspapers with circulation greater than 6,000. The Commons is based in Brattleboro.

The awards for the newspaper, which covers Brattleboro and the surrounding towns and villages in Windham County, Vermont, included one first prize for Spot News Story for Randolph T. Holhut and Olga Peters, “Cash-strapped Retreat pursues shutdown after rebuke by state agency.”

The category awards exceptional work on stories that are unplanned, like this report, where Holhut and Peters broke down a temporary — but public and escalating — conflict between the Vermont Department of Public Health and the Brattleboro Retreat, a psychiatric hospital providing essential services to the state of Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Ski + Ride Magazine has won the top award from the New England Newspaper and Press Association, General Excellence, for specialty publications. The awards were announced at the organization’s annual meeting last Friday. It is the second year in a row the publication has won. Vermont Ski + Ride was also named the Best Niche Publication in New England by the group, which represents more than 340 newspapers and media outlets in New England’s six states.

Vermont Business Magazine AO Glass announces its first line of products for the Wedding, Beverage, Real Estate, and Corporate Industries. AO Glass has grown to a team of 20 with greatly increased capacity, anchoring the creative economy in the South End Arts District in Burlington. Building upon the success of our contract lighting business, AO Glass is launching a new line of organizational gifts and products directed to serving other Vermont, and National, entities.