Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health is urging anyone who participated in certain events in northern and central Vermont to get tested for COVID-19. Health officials said contact tracers have been unsuccessful at getting all the information they need about people who attended two Halloween parties on October 31, one in Marshfield and the other in Milton. People who attended those parties should be tested for COVID-19. In addition, members of the bowling leagues that played at Spare Time in Colchester on November 4 and 5 should be tested.

Vermont Business Magazine For the second consecutive day, the Vermont Department of Health is reporting a record high number of COVID-19 cases. The spike has been led by cases in Washington County, which accounted for 46 of the 109 cases. On Wednesday, the VDH reported 72 cases which had broken the record of 70 one-day cases recorded in March during the early days of the pandemic. Today, there are also 16 new cases in Chittenden County and 11 in Orange County. Every county reported at least one case. There are no new deaths reported, which is holding at 59, but there are 19 hospitalized and there are five in the ICU statewide.

Vermont Business Magazine More than 150 participants from commercial and industrial operations around the state joined Efficiency Vermont for a week of learning, idea sharing, and networking at this year’s Best Practices Exchange (BPX). Now in its ninth year, BPX was held virtually this year due the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s theme was “Resilience.” Seven Vermont companies were applauded for investments in efficiency and resilience.

Vermont Business Magazine Today Vermont Law School’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS) and University of Vermont Extension’s Northeast Center to Advance Food Safety (NECAFS) announced the launch of a free legal resource for farmers and food producers. Available at elsi.necafs.org, the new website features fact sheets that answer pressing legal questions about food safety compliance.

Vermont Business Magazine The largest and most diverse collection ever of health, community, business, transportation, environmental and other groups have come out strongly in favor of a Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) that helps erase the “deeply inequitable” aspects of the current transportation system in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region. The 200-group letter lays out “strong safeguards and guarantees” for ensuring underserved and overburdened communities become key beneficiaries of the proposed Transportation and Climate Initiative cap-and-invest program to modernize transportation in the region when the final MOU committing to the TCI program is released by participating states in the next few weeks.

Vermont Business Magazine Thanksgiving is normally the peak travel weekend of the year, but this year many will be staying closer to home, and some may be prepping Thanksgiving Dinner for the first time. To take some of the pressure off, we have collected tips for creating the perfect local meal no matter your situation.

Vermont Business Magazine In response to recent coronavirus outbreaks associated with the conduct of interstate youth hockey activities, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, Maine Governor Janet Mills, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, Vermont Governor Phil Scott and New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu will support a regional approach to interstate competitions.

As case numbers increase in many states across the country, it is critical that neighboring states coordinate a regional approach to limit further community spread of the virus.

Vermont Business Magazine On Saturday, October 24th, locals shopped till they dropped, and raised more than $22,000 to fight hunger in our area. During the 10th annual Charity Sale, Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel and customers collectively raised $22,283 for the Vermont Foodbank and JCEO Plattsburgh Foodshelf.

Chittenden Solid Waste District Here at the Chittenden Solid Waste District, we geek out on recycling. As municipal solid waste managers, it’s literally our job to be the local experts on how our community can first reduce, then reuse, and finally manage all the stuff we buy, use, and toss out in the most environmentally and economically responsible manner. We’ve steered through all kinds of waters in our 33 years fulfilling that mission: smooth, choppy, and even downright stormy. Through recessions, global market contractions, and now a worldwide pandemic! It’s amazing that recycling continues to happen at all.

Vermont Business Magazine Berkshire Bank, with locations in Southern Vermont and throughout New England, New York and the Mid-Atlantic, today announced enhanced protections that will provide its 1,500 employees with paid and protected leave to manage the consequences of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. Berkshire Bank has partnered with FreeFrom, a non-profit creating pathways to financial security and long-term safety for survivors of gender-based violence, to increase its existing leave policies to benefit its employees.

Vermont Business Magazine On November 17, UVM Medical Center will close its operating rooms located on the Fanny Allen campus. As it was previously, the decision was made out of an abundance of caution for patient and staff safety after staff members reported symptoms including dizziness and nausea, and some employees once again reported an odor in the area of the operating rooms even after extensive investigation and upgrades. All employees who experienced symptoms since last fall have been treated and recovered, and patients have not reported symptoms at any time. Air quality data continues to be normal, and has been within normal and safe levels during each incident.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Public Safety is seeking public and stakeholder feedback to shape and refine the state’s continuing work to modernize policing across Vermont. This opportunity for comment and feedback is part of Governor Scott’s Public Safety Reform Initiative, created through Executive Order 03-20, which directed the commissioner of public safety to “actively engage with communities, particularly those communities that have been historically marginalized or harmed by policing, as we develop and deploy best policing practices.”