Current News

Vermont Business Magazine All are welcome to attend a free virtual Abenaki speaker series this spring, hosted by the Community College of Vermont (CCV). The series is part of CCV’s ongoing effort to honor the Abenaki people, who originally stewarded the land on which the College’s 12 academic centers are located.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 162 new cases of COVID-19, but no deaths, which are holding at 189. Starting on Tuesday, February 16, people in Vermont who are age 70 and older will be able to make their appointment to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. And Walgreens will be part of the federal pharmacy vaccination program. This will add about 2,000 doses to the Vermont allotment. Also, the Education Agency will provide guidance next week for the start of music (and singing) in schools. In some cases the health measures are quite strict. Today also is the start of competitive school sports. And those who have been fully vaccinated (both doses) and completed the waiting period will no longer have to quarantine if they are exposed to an infected person. This is only a modest lessening of the quarantine rules. If you travel, you still must quarantine.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) on Friday sent a letter to Secretary-designate Vilsack to make him aware that the lowest-bid contract winner of the latest round of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program has not been adequately serving Vermont. The letter also asks USDA to award a new contract for March and April to a different vendor who can meet the needs of Vermont households experiencing food insecurity in the wake of the pandemic.

Vermont Business Magazine Castleton University can now virtually connect its campuses and provide an improved active learning environment with its new telepresence classroom. Through telepresence instruction, Castleton can extend its in-person instruction to remote sites and off-campus students. The telepresence classroom uses high-definition cameras, installed in both the front and rear of the room, allowing distance learners to see both the instructor and their classmates.

Vermont Business Magazine Starting 8:15 am on Tuesday, February 16, people in Vermont who are age 70 and older will be able to make their appointment to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Going online to healthvermont.gov/MyVaccine is the fastest way to make an appointment, or call 855-722-7878, and there are enough slots at sites throughout Vermont for everyone who is eligible. Once at the MyVaccine website, people are asked to create an account. Vermonters age 70 and older can then log in to make their appointment. Appointments are expected to be available starting by the end of next week.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) today announced their support of Let's Grow Kids’ (LGK) three-year childcare campaign. The campaign has been launched in an effort to ensure that all Vermont children have access to high-quality early education that meets the needs of these children and their families. The campaign will focus on enacting policies to help ensure this access in 2021 and beyond. VBSR’s members have seen the impact that a lack of high quality, affordable childcare has had on Vermont’s workforce first-hand.

Vermont Business Magazine Starting March 3, the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College, in partnership with the Vermont Agency of Education, will be offering free online (and on-demand) financial literacy training for all Vermont K-12 teachers. More than 80,000 Vermont students could benefit from this program, which gives teachers access to the tools, resources, and training they need to successfully integrate personal finance education into their classrooms and organizations.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation (FPR), which owns and manages the Perry Hill Block within the CC Putnam State Forest, announces a pilot winter recreation management program which aims to reduce negative impacts to wildlife while providing an enjoyable winter recreational experience to the public. FPR will be partnering with the town of Waterbury and the Waterbury Area Trails Alliance (WATA) to provide groomed fat bike, snowshoe, ski, and pedestrian access to select trails. The program begins today, February 12.

Vermont Business Magazine The 2021 tax season officially opens on February 12 at both the federal and state levels. This is the date that the IRS and Vermont begins accepting and processing personal income tax returns for tax year 2020. The Department offers tips to make filing go smoothly and get your refund faster.

Vermont Business Magazine New England’s annual capacity auction for power system resources concluded Monday with sufficient resources to meet peak electric demand in 2024-2025, with preliminary clearing prices ranging from $2.48 per kilowatt-month (kW-month) to $3.98 kW-month across different pricing zones. ISO New England Inc runs the auction to procure the resources needed to meet consumer demand for electricity in three years.

by Jack Hoffman, Public Assets Institute Benefit cliffs are a real problem. The term is used to describe the predicament people get into when earning more income makes them ineligible for certain public benefits. Their income goes up, but then they fall off a benefit cliff. “Benefit cliffs’ is also one of those technocratic terms that’s hard to get excited about. But that could all change if enough people read just a short section of the Final Report of the Vermont Tax Structure Commission. It cuts through all of the usually confusing information and describes clearly the reality of a problem that needs fixing.

Vermont Business Magazine Community Heart & Soul Wednesday announced its new Community Heart & Soul Seed Grant Program, a funding opportunity for small cities and towns nationwide. The Community Heart & Soul Seed Grant Program provides startup funding of $10,000 for resident-driven groups in communities with populations of 2,500 to 30,000 to implement the Community Heart & Soul model. The Community Heart & Soul model engages the entire population of a town in identifying what they love most about their community, what future they want for it, and how to achieve it.