Current News

Vermont Business Magazine VGS and Groennfell Meadery in St Albans announced today the premier ‘Craft Mead’ is now being produced using VGS’s first-in-the-nation renewable natural gas (RNG). The state-of-the art meadery – a brewery that produces mead, also known as honey wine – is using 100% renewable natural gas to power their custom-designed brewing system in an effort to become NetZero by 2030 as part of their “drink your values” business approach. VGS began offering RNG in 2018 and since that time, many business and residential customers have signed on, displacing over 60,000 MCF of traditional natural gas, that’s the equivalent of removing over 700 passenger cars from the road for one year.

Vermont Business Magazine Annie Stevens, PhD, Vice Provost, at the University of Vermont sent the following message Wednesday night to the UVM Community after an additional six cases of COVID-19 were identified at UVM. This is in addition to the one case earlier this week that resulted in the quarantine of 30 students who were close contacts. UVM is also imposing stricter rules to keep the coronavirus under control, as it so far has been, and Stevens is urging students to stay vigilant and stick to the protocols.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 27 new cases of COVID-19 in Vermont. There are four people currently in the ICU statewide. With the holidays approaching, schools may be planning to communicate with their communities about the risk of travel. The VDH has developed a Holiday Travel Toolkit for Schools for use in helping to encourage families to consider their plans carefully to protect one another. The toolkit includes: travel questions families can ask themselves, information on how to acknowledge the challenges of the difficult decisions about whether and how to travel, considering alternatives to travel or hosting guests, and ideas for social media and newsletters.

The University of Vermont Health Network continues to work on restoring systems impacted by last week's cyberattack event. Our IT team is making steady progress, but we still do not know when all systems will be restored. We continue to dedicate all available resources to this work. Today, Vermont Governor Phil Scott has deployed the Vermont Army National Guard’s Combined Cyber Response Team 1 to assist our IT team with reviewing thousands of end-user computers and devices. The deployment of the National Guard will aid our recovery from this incident, and this team’s expert advice and assistance will bolster our network’s operations going forward. The patient portal is still down but urgent care and emergency services are available as are many regular patient care services.

Vermont Business Magazine Associated Builders & Contractors New Hampshire Vermont Chapter (ABC) recognized the best of the best construction projects at the 22nd Annual “Excellence in Construction” awards program October 29th. There were two from Vermont. 15 projects from twelve contractors received awards. Projects were recognized for the highest-quality standards, safety, as well as the individual “heroes” on the project and their efforts to get the job done.

Agency of Commerce & Community Development ACCD released the Vermont Ski Resort COVID-19 Winter Operations Guidance for the 20/21 season Tuesday. This guidance aims to provide skiers and riders a safe skiing and riding experience, ensure the health and safety of the thousands of Vermonters who work in the industry, and protect the health and safety of the communities that host these resorts. Additionally, the deadline to submit applications for the Vermont Ski Area Recreation Safety Grants has been extended to Friday, November 6th.

by John McClaughry The exhausting national election is now over, other than counting misplaced ballots and resolving lawsuits. Now is a good time for Vermonters to let partisan animosities subside, and take a serious look at what the governor and the next legislature are likely to face. Here’s a concise list.

Fiscal Worries: In September a Republican governor and Democratic legislature commendably produced a balanced budget for FY21, with no tax increases. This achievement was made possible by the windfall of $1.25 billion from the CARES pandemic relief act, and an unexpected $21 million in personal income tax revenues from boom year 2019. Remarkably, the lawmakers did this without depleting the Budget Stabilization and Rainy Day Reserve Funds (totaling $112 million).

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health is reporting 19 new cases of COVID-19 in Vermont. Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD, said at Tuesday’s press conference, that as cases of COVID-19 surge nationally and encroach on our region, Vermonters should consider avoiding travel this year if they can. ANR Secretary Julie Moore today laid out new rules for winter high school sports. The most notable of these is that there will be no wrestling and no indoor track. Nor will any spectators be allowed, not even parents.

Vermont Business Magazine Agency of Commerce & Community Development today announced its Vermont Ski Resort COVID-19 Winter Operations Guidance. This guidance aims to provide skiers and riders a safe skiing and riding experience, ensure the health and safety of the thousands of Vermonters who work in the industry, and protect the health and safety of the communities that host these resorts.

Community News Service Starting at 7 am Tuesday morning, the Community News Service is dispatching student reporters to polling places across Vermont. The reporters are students at the University of Vermont, as well as at Castleton University, St. Michael’s College and the Community College of Vermont. They’ll be asking voters about this historic election, where for the first time every Vermont voter was mailed a ballot.

Vermont Chamber of Commerce President Betsy Bishop sent a letter Monday to Governor Phil Scott and the Joint Fiscal Committee advocating for the disbursement of unallocated Coronavirus Relief Fund resources to businesses with unmet need through supplemental relief grants that augment previously awarded grants.

Vermont Business Magazine In the spirit of both gratitude for service and compassion for suffering, Heady Vermont will be hosting our third annual Veteran’s Day Cannabis Giveaway this year. Due to the Schedule 1 status of cannabis, health providers with Veteran Affairs (VA) cannot prescribe medical cannabis to patients, and the VA’s website simply refers to cannabis use among veterans as “an issue of growing concern.”