Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Friends of Bernie Sanders, a campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders, is donating $100,000 from mitten merchandise sales to the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO). Since the onset of the pandemic, CVOEO has seen a significant increase in the need for housing and fuel assistance. The agency has also opened a shelter for those experiencing homelessness at the Holiday Inn and a daytime warming center at the VFW in Burlington, and created a hotline for New Americans seeking assistance and resources that connects them to speakers of their own language, and more.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott announced today that the Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) has licensed Vermont’s 1,200th captive insurance company. Sustainable Assurance Company was granted a license as a pure Captive Insurance Company on January 1, 2021. It was formed by the Lancaster County (PA) Solid Waste Management Authority.

Vermont Business Magazine Community Fund of the Vermont Electric Co-op recently awarded a grant to a local non-profit to smooth the way for people who have faced challenges as they work to achieve their goals. The VEC grant to the Lamoille Restorative Center (LRC) will help fund essential and concrete purchases – necessities like gasoline, groceries, cell phone minutes, work boots and shoes, winter coats, and deposits for internet connections – that are barriers to success for many people.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) launched extra rebates on heat pumps for low- and moderate-income customers today to make it easier for more Vermonters to cut carbon and increase comfort. GMP is adding to the success of its $400 rebate for each heat pump condenser a customer installs with new, extra rebates for low- and moderate-income customers, for total savings up to $1,000 per condenser.

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care, has attained its fifth designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet Recognition Program. SVMC was the first hospital in Vermont to receive the designation in 2002. This fifth consecutive recognition places SVMC in an elite community of only three five-time hospitals in New England and only 28 five-time hospitals worldwide.

Vermont Business Magazine Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Richard Durbin (D-Ill), and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill) Tuesday praised President Biden’s restoration of full federal funding for National Guard missions responding to COVID-19. The executive order of January 21 re-implements 100 percent federal cost share for these missions, a step the senators had proposed in legislation introduced last August as coronavirus cases again began to surge.

Vermont Business Magazine TD Bank will be closing 6 percent of US branches in the United States in April. This includes two in Vermont, in Richmond and Waitsfield. "In reaching a decision to close specific TD Bank stores, we consider many business factors, including the number of customers visiting our stores, transaction volumes, the location's proximity to other TD Bank stores and the number of customers who use multiple store locations. We have already begun notifying impacted customers. Our goal is to make this transition as smooth as possible for them."

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan announced recent environmental actions taken by his office to protect Vermont’s environment and issued the following statement: “Vermonters should know that my team will continue to protect our environment. We also know that the climate crisis is real and the time to act is now. We are glad to again have leadership in Washington that believes in science and protecting our natural world for future generations, but our work here in Vermont will continue.”

by Devon Green VAHHS Vice President of Governmental Relations Sometimes legislative resolutions have so many “whereases” and words that the sentiment can get lost during the formality. This was not the case last week, when the full House and Senate passed a simple resolution recognizing the unwavering dedication of Vermont’s health care workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. More importantly, both the legislature and administration have supported this sentiment with regulatory flexibilities and funding throughout the entirety of the pandemic.

Vermont Business Magazine Better known as a health supplement with energy-enhancing effects, MitoQ – an advanced form of the popular CoQ10 – can be absorbed directly into the mitochondria within human cells. For the first time, this antioxidant is going to be studied in a pilot clinical trial to determine if it can provide improved airway function in patients with asthma and obesity. This research builds on recent studies suggesting that mitochondrial dysfunction may be particularly important in contributing to poor asthma control in obesity.

by John McClaughry In July 2019 the legislature instructed the Public Utility Commission to recommend what the legislature must do to adopt “a multi-pronged approach to address Vermont’s greenhouse gas reduction and weatherization goals.” The PUC has now delivered its report. It can be summarized in two words: “More Funding!”

“If Vermont is to make progress toward its energy and greenhouse gas emissions reductions goal and commitments, the State will need to identify appropriate, stable, and robust funding and program options outside the traditionally regulated sectors of electricity and natural gas.”

Translation: “Let’s find something to tax, to bring in the robust tax dollars required to pay, and keep on paying, for the Green agenda. More Funding!”