Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Last month, City Market offered its 23rd Annual COTS Tree Sale to benefit Vermont’s Committee on Temporary Shelter. City Market once again sold fresh balsams from Moffatt’s Tree Farm in Craftsbury, Vermont, this year expanding the sale to both store locations for the first time. The Co-op sold over 700 trees starting on Wednesday, December 2 and the net proceeds were donated to COTS. City Market continued the “Buy a Tree, Plant a Tree” program for the third year in a row.

Vermont Business Magazine Liquid Measurement Systems, Inc (LMS) has been awarded a contract to design, develop, qualify, and deliver the fuel quantity indicating system (FQIS) for Stratolaunch’s Talon-A hypersonic flying testbed. Stratolaunch designs, manufactures, and launches aerospace vehicles and technologies to fulfill several important national needs, including the need to significantly advance US hypersonic flight test capabilities and help improve the nation’s ability to design and operate cutting edge hypersonic vehicles.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Health Network announced today its intention to revise the planned implementation of the next phases of the Epic electronic health record (EHR) system, amid the ongoing effort to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and restore normal operations following a recent cyberattack. Under the new timeline: In the second phase launch of the EHR, inpatient units at Porter Medical Center and Central Vermont Medical Center, as well as inpatient and outpatient units at Alice Hyde Medical Center, will “go-live” with Epic in November 2021. The third phase “go-live” will include inpatient units at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, and inpatient and outpatient units at Elizabethtown Community Hospital, in April 2022. These proposed timelines are contingent upon approval from the Green Mountain Care Board.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont has the highest percent of in-bound movers according to United Van Lines. United Van Lines today released the company's 44th Annual National Migration Study, revealing in 2020, Americans continued to move westbound and southbound – and the COVID-19 pandemic factored into and accelerated many of those decisions to move. The exception is Vermont, which was also highest in 2019. The data show that the state increased its share of in-bound moves by 2.3 percent to 76.6 percent.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont fell 16 spots to 26th in the annual survey by U-Haul of interstate migration. Tennessee, the Volunteer State, posted the largest net gain of U-Haul trucks crossing its borders in 2020, making it the Number 1 U-Haul growth state for the first time. Growth states are calculated by the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks entering a state versus leaving that state in a calendar year. Migration trends data is compiled from more than 2 million one-way U-Haul truck customer transactions that occur annually. Tennessee's influx of do-it-yourself movers during a turbulent year marked by the coronavirus pandemic means that a state other than Florida and Texas tops the growth rankings for the first time since 2015, when North Carolina led the way.

The Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) has awarded a Small Grant for Smart Growth to the Town of Rockingham to promote small-scale development in the village of Bellows Falls. The $1,000 grant will help fund targeted technical assistance toward the goal of preserving, revitalizing, or repurposing vacant or underutilized buildings. The Incremental Development Alliance (IDA) is a consultancy that helps residents strengthen their communities through small-scale real estate projects nationwide. The firm will engage 30-60 diverse stakeholders for a period of three months in the Town of Rockingham in an intensive training and education program to develop a strategic plan for downtown revitalization.

Vermont Business Magazine Cooperative Insurance Companies of Middlebury has awarded the Laberge Insurance Agency with its 2019 President’s Award of Excellence. Each year Co-operative Insurance chooses the agency that out- performed all others in the areas of growth, profitability and working relationship with the company and its members. The belated award was presented at Co-operative Insurance’s home office in lieu of a previously planned outing that was cancelled due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Lieutenant Governor-elect Molly Gray announced the appointment of Hazel Brewster of Morrisville to serve as her chief of staff. Most recently, Brewster served as the Scheduler and Digital Media Manager for Gray’s campaign for Lieutenant Governor. Previously, Brewster worked in the Offices of Governor Phil Scott and Senator Patrick Leahy as well as supporting Members of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland. Brewster is a graduate of the University of Vermont with a degree in Political Science.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC) has announced the results of its December 8, 2020 annual election of VMEC Advisory Board members. Newly elected to the VMEC Advisory Board for two-year terms were Dr. Christopher Koliba, University of Vermont President’s Fellow for Engagement & Professor of Community Development & Applied Economics (Burlington) and David Lynn, Senior Vice President & Top Operations Officer, Agri-Mark/ Cabot Creamery, Inc. (Waitsfield).

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington based brewery Zero Gravity, in collaboration with Kris Nelson of Citizen Cider, is launching a brand new non-alcoholic beer called Rescue Club. Rescue Club IPA is a non-alcoholic beer of the highest quality born from New England’s craft brewing culture.

This IPA is not like the non-alcoholic beers you’ve had before. Rescue Club said that it uses a proprietary technique to deliver a beer that is free of alcohol but full of flavor.

It offers a non-alcoholic option that doesn’t sacrifice the refreshing hop character you crave.

Rescue Club IPA is brewed by Rescue Club Brewing Company, a partnership between Zero Gravity Craft Brewery and Citizen Cider Co-Founder Kris Nelson.

by Janice St Onge At the core of Jeff Weaber’s business lies a simple idea: that kombucha—a fizzy probiotic drink made from tea—promotes good health and can change lives. It was with this idea in mind that Weaber, formerly a brewer for Lucky Labrador in Oregon, started making kombucha in the basement of his Salisbury, Vermont farmhouse back in 2005, primarily to support his wife’s newly opened naturopathic clinic.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) issued the following statement regarding Republican attempts to overturn the results of the November elections: “The outcome of the 2020 election is not in doubt. Let’s be clear: Joe Biden resoundingly won the popular vote by more than 7 million votes, and he won an Electoral College margin that Trump called a ‘landslide’ in 2016. On January 6, the House and Senate will ratify the results of the Electoral College, as has been done for 231 years..."