Current News

Vermont Business Magazine For the first time since it was established in 1994, the Vermont Women’s Fund has distributed a second round of grants in a calendar year. Supported by its 100-for-100 Campaign that celebrated the anniversary of women’s voting rights, unrestricted grants of $10,000 will be given to organizations with wraparound services that help displaced workers find new employment and, in some cases, first help them gain stability and skills.

Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center Issued by the RestartVT Manufacturing Working Group concerning the operations of Vermont’s manufacturing, fulfillment and distribution sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic, this proclamation is an assertion that Vermont’s manufacturing sector is critical for the state’s economic recovery, health and future development.

by Aimee Minbiole, Dartmouth With COVID-19 cases increasing across the country, including in Grafton County, the campus residential move-in for the Dartmouth College undergraduate winter term will be delayed, Provost Joseph Helble said Monday in a message to the community. Winter-term classes will begin as planned, on Jan. 7, and will initially be held remotely for all undergraduates.

Vermont Business Magazine While the national annual median cost of long term care increased across the board this year, the cost of long term care services in Vermont was mixed as COVID-19 intensified providers' existing challenges in meeting the increasing demand for long term care, according to Genworth's 17th annual Cost of Care Survey. Most categories showed a decrease in costs in Vermont (except for home services) as average costs nationally were generally up. However costs in every category in Vermont were higher than the national average by substantial amounts.

by Jeff Tieman, VAHHS President and CEO What a day. What a week. What a month. What a YEAR. I’ll bet you’ve made these exclamations more than once in 2020. I know I have. We have entered the final month of likely the most difficult and strange year in most of our lives, and I’m sure there are still more twists and turns in store for us before the ball drops on New Year’s Eve.

Vermont Business Magazine Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) is offering no-cost flu vaccines to all individuals in need of the vaccination this season. The free service is available in all 12 PPNNE health centers across Vermont. Individuals using their insurance at PPNNE are likely to receive the vaccine for free under their plan. For those who are uninsured, paying out of pocket, or who have a plan that does not cover the flu shot, PPNNE will absorb the cost.

Vermont Business Magazine On Friday, the state’s Select Committee on the Future of Public Higher Education in Vermont released their initial report. The recommendations include reducing the total number of colleges from four to two, leaving Community College of Vermont, with the other three institutions being consolidated perhaps as Vermont State University. This is similar to the failed attempt to consolidate the colleges offered by former Chancellor Jeb Spaulding earlier this year. However, the report does not call for the shuttering of all but one campus, but does offer a stern warning that severe action must be taken right away. The committee also takes to task a lack of focus among state leaders and the very mission of the colleges, which it says should be more vocationally oriented.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health is reporting 65 new cases of COVID-19 statewide today, which is noticeable lower than nearly any day in the last month. However, the VDH is reporting two more deaths for a statewide total of 81. Hospitalizations (26) and ICU patients (6) also remain high as the coronavirus has infected vulnerable residents in long-term care facilities.

Senator Patrick Leahy As of today, there are more than 14.8 million reported cases of COVID-19 in the United States – one million more than just a week ago. More than 282,000 Americans have died. And it has been 256 days since the Senate passed the CARES Act. Two hundred and fifty-six days since the Senate acted in a comprehensive, meaningful way to address the real – and mounting – concerns and needs of our constituents. Healthcare workers and caregivers, business owners and employees, teachers and students – all in need of support in these difficult and uncertain times. Families wrestling with heightened food insecurity, and the threat of eviction hanging over them. States strapped by budget shortfalls, forced to lay off thousands of employees.

Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission As COVID-19 cases surge across Vermont and the rest of the country, it has left many communities uncertain of winter maintenance in a time of social distancing and quarantining. To quell these uncertainties, there are a couple of strategies to undertake through mutual aid agreements and Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP).

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing (VDTM) has launched a new online holiday shopping guide, Buy Vermont Made. The new directory connects shoppers with Vermont retailers and Vermont-made gifts in six categories – wearables, craft beverages, specialty food, home goods, personal care and toys and books.

Vermont Business Magazine Comcast announced today that it will extend its commitments to help people connect to the Internet during the COVID-19 pandemic as millions continue to stay home while many workplaces and schools operate virtually. Comcast will continue to provide free Internet service for the first 60 days for new Internet Essentials customers, and free access to more than 1.5 million public Xfinity WiFi hotspots, the largest network of its kind in the country, through June 30, 2021. Today’s announcement marks the third time Comcast has extended these commitments. Hotspots are scattered across Vermont.