Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The U.S. Small Business Administration, in consultation with the U.S. Treasury Department, will re-open the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan portal to PPP-eligible lenders with $1 billion or less in assets for First and Second Draw applications on Friday, January 15, 2021 at 9 am ET. The portal will fully open on Tuesday, January 19, 2021 to all participating PPP lenders to submit First and Second Draw loan applications to SBA.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health is reporting today 197 new cases of COVID-19 and four more deaths for a total of 162. The post-Christmas holiday has proven to be a more infectious period, like post-Halloween, than post-Thanksgiving was. Also, more than 28,000 people have now received the COVID-19 vaccine in Vermont, including 4,092 of whom have received both doses. Vermont plans to use age groupings to determine who can receive the vaccine next based on our primary goal with vaccination efforts – to save lives. Planning is still ongoing, but we expect the first age grouping eligible will be people 75 and older, then 70 and older, then 65 and older, as vaccine supply allows.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced organizational changes to modernize the state’s public safety and select permitting and regulatory functions to better serve Vermonters, increase efficiency and improve these systems. Through Executive Order 01-21 Governor Scott has created the Agency of Public Safety, effective April 15, 2021, though the Order is structured as a framework for the Agency with a gradual implementation. Governor Scott also signed Executive Order 02-21, to professionalize and modernize the Natural Resources Board and its district commissions, effective July 1.

Vermont Business Magazine Law enforcement agencies including the Vermont State Police, Montpelier Police Department, Capitol Police Department and the Washington County Sheriff’s Department are continuing to plan for any potential protests, disruptions or other eventualities that might occur in the Capital Region of Vermont in the days ahead.

Police agencies are unaware of any specific, credible threats directed toward the Statehouse, Montpelier or elsewhere in Vermont. www.vtips.us

Vermont Business Magazine Christopher & Banks, on January 13, 2021, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization and authorized store closing sales to be conducted by Hilco Merchant Resources. The store closing process has begun at more than 400 stores nationally. These include the three Vermont stores at the Essex Outlets, at Rutland's Green Mountain Plaza and at the University Mall in South Burlington.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Army National Guard will support Operation Capitol Response in Washington, DC. According to the Guard, the time line is fluid, but soldiers will depart Vermont to arrive in Washington by Tuesday. Approximately 100 Vermont Army National Guard soldiers will support operations in Washington, DC, ahead of the Presidential Inauguration on Wednesday January 20. The Vermont Soldiers are predominantly from 1st Squadron, 172nd Cavalry, 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain).

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont is 19th lowest in mortality rate from COVID-19 in nursing homes in the US, according to AARP. Three New England states (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts) have even lower rates. Midwest and Upper Midwest states have the highest death rates. Vermont otherwise has the fewest deaths from COVID-19 overall in the nation and the fewest total cases.

In most of the metrics provided by AARP, Vermont was also better than the US average in total nursing home resident and staff cases and total staffing, but worse for having a one-week supply of PPE (see tables below).

Vermont Business Magazine On Thursday, January 14 (today), at 11 am, Senator Patrick Leahy will host a virtual Q&A with NASA Astronaut Zena Cardman and Vermont middle school students, in coordination with the Vermont Space Grant Consortium. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine will facilitate a live discussion between Astronaut Cardman and students from Danville School, Georgia Middle School, and Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School. Vermont students, teachers and members of the media are invited to watch the livestream of the event. The event can be accessed using the following link and login information.

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department has developed a new initiative to acquire and restore wetlands in response to funding from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Lake Champlain Basin Program.

“As Vermont Fish and Wildlife is the largest owner of wetlands in the state, this is a natural fit to expand and build upon some of our marquis Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs), such as Dead Creek WMA, and it will enable us to strategically enhance other WMAs,” said Fish and Wildlife’s Public Land Section Chief Jane Lazorchak.

The initiative is strategically focused on acquiring marginal agricultural farmland in the Lake Champlain Basin and working both independently and with conservation partners to restore wetlands and floodplains.

Vermont Business Magazine The Peck Company Holdings, Inc (Nasdaq: PECK) has announced it has closed a registered direct offering of 840,000 shares of its common stock at a purchase price of $12.50. The gross proceeds of the offering are approximately $10.5 million before deducting placement agent fees and other estimated offering expenses.

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says the final tally will be around 18,000 deer, the second highest total since 2000. Those deer will provide approximately 3.6 million servings of local, nutritious venison.

Vermont Fish & Wildlife A preliminary report from Vermont Fish and Wildlife shows that hunters brought home 6,136 wild turkeys during 2020, including 627 turkeys taken during the April youth weekend hunt, a total of 4,791 gobblers taken during the regular spring season, and 718 birds during the fall.