Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Shelburne Museum will reopen on June 2 with a full slate of new exhibitions and programs, Director Thomas Denenberg announced. Closed since the fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum’s 45-acre grounds along with select exhibition buildings, will be open four days a week, Wednesdays through Sundays, through October 17. Buildings that will be open include: the Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education, Pleissner Gallery, Webb Gallery of American Art, and the 220-foot steamboat Ticonderoga.

Vermont Business Magazine On February 23rd, the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation Board of Directors voted to fund “Welcoming Communities.” The BDCC is supporting the launch of a new program that seeks to make the region more welcoming, equitable, and inclusive for BIPOC community members, foreign-born workers, and non-citizen residents. It will improve how existing BDCC programs serve diverse audiences, and launch new targeted activities through partnerships with employers and community-based organizations.

Vermont Business Magazine Jason Maulucci, press secretary for Governor Phil Scott, on Wednesday evening issued the following statement to clarify the state’s residency definition as it relates to college students and others. College students who are residents of another state, and who do not intend to stay in Vermont for the summer, do not meet the current residency requirement at this time. Discussions have been ongoing regarding when to make non-resident students (defined as those who do not intend to stay during the summer months) eligible for vaccination. This will largely depend on vaccine supply.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Peoples Bank of Marietta, OH, has entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement dated March 24, 2021, with NS Leasing, LLC, which is headquartered in Burlington, Vermont, and does business as North Star Leasing Company. The Asset Purchase Agreement calls for Peoples Bank to acquire assets comprising NSL’s equipment finance business and to assume from NSL certain specified liabilities for total consideration of approximately $47.5 million, plus a potential earnout payment of up to $3.1 million. North Star Leasing’s business operations will remain in Burlington. North Star Leasing has 42 employees.

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and Audubon Vermont recommend people check to see if the area they are planning to hike or climb is open. In addition to the many trails that are currently closed to limit the spread of the coronavirus and reduce impacts during mud season, several cliff areas are closed to protect nesting peregrine falcons. Also, Vermont's trout season opens April 10. And the trail at Snake Mountain Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Addison is closed immediately to hiking because of mud season.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Lantern Solar and the Franklin West Supervisory Union are pleased to announce that Bellows Free Academy High School in Fairfax and Georgia Elementary & Middle School are now participants in Vermont’s net metering program. The two schools started receiving credits in December 2020 from Green Lantern’s newest 500 kW array located in Saint Albans. Since the array went online, Green Lantern has had the opportunity to share details of the array’s development and ongoing production with the students of the BFA Climate Change Club, which is studying the effects of climate change and potential solutions, guided by FWSU science teachers Laura Heil and Thomas Lane.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) invites the public to join the next Clean Water Series talk on Thursday, April 1, 2021 from 12–1 pm. The talk will highlight wetland conservation and is part of a monthly virtual series featuring efforts to protect and restore water quality in Vermont. At the event, David Sausville, a biologist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, will discuss a new wetland restoration program. The goal of the program is to improve water quality while providing habitat for wildlife and public land for recreation.

Vermont Business Magazine The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded $9,609,431 to the University of Vermont Medical Center for its COVID-19 response efforts March 1-June 30, 2020. This Public Assistance (PA) grant funding is awarded for the development of testing sites, leases for sites and quarantine facilities, use of equipment, paying medical and technical support, and tracking procurement and distribution of supplies. The funds are reimbursed 100% through the PA program.

Vermont Business Magazine The State of Vermont received a grant totaling over $1 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), awarded to help reimburse expenses associated with ongoing COVID-19 response efforts. The grant of $1,397,762 is given to the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, to pass through to Southern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA), for food distribution to high risk populations. Work performed under this grant occurred from January 18 to February 14.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 162 new cases of COVID-19 and two more deaths for a statewide total of 227. They also are reporting more than 205,000 Vermonters have received at least one dose of vaccine, or nearly 40 percent of Vermont adults. They're reminding the public that parents or primary caregivers who are caring for children with certain high-risk conditions can now make appointments for vaccination. And any adult in the BIPOC community regardless of age can sign up starting Thursday.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) on Thursday will meet with directors of Vermont’s federally qualified health centers to discuss the $33.37 million in emergency funding that is coming to the state’s 11 health centers as a result of the American Rescue Plan. Serving 155,000 people, the state of Vermont has the highest per capita participation in the nation in the federally qualified health center program. Today, nearly one-in-three Vermonters rely on community health centers because they know they will get high quality health care, dental care, mental health counseling and affordable prescription drugs at the 11 health centers and 66 sites throughout the state.

Vermont Business Magazine United Way of Northwest Vermont—an organization dedicated to improving lives in Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle counties—announces its plans to distribute $1.7 million in community funding in 2021, raised through a combination of United Way’s annual community campaign, federal grants and United Way’s COVID-19 response and recovery funds. The new funding distribution begins in June.