Current News

Vermont Business Magazine In order to ensure patient safety in response to growing COVID-19 infection rates throughout the Northeast, Rutland Regional Medical Center announced new visitor restrictions for the hospital and clinics. As of November 2, 2020, visitors may not enter the hospital or associated medical clinics unless a patient’s treatment team has identified them as an Essential Support Person. Pediatric patients, labor and delivery patients, and patients who are near the end of life are among the patients who will be permitted to be accompanied or visited by essential support persons.

Vermont Business Magazine The Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce and partnering organizations were awarded five different COVID-relief marketing grants by the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) recently. The Restart Vermont Regional Marketing and Stimulus Grant Program through ACCD provided grants to organizations for efforts and activities related to economic recovery, consumer stimulus, marketing, or tourism related projects to support businesses that have suffered economic harm due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The grants are intended to enable local, regional, or statewide organizations to implement campaigns and initiatives that will increase consumer spending, support local businesses, and advance community recovery efforts.

Vermont Business Magazine Rutland-based Casella Waste Systems has closed its public offering of shares of its Class A common stock, including the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase an additional 352,500 shares, at a public offering price of $56.00 per share, before offering discounts. The exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares brought the total number of shares of Class A common stock sold by Casella in the offering to 2,702,500 and increased the aggregate gross proceeds from the offering to $151.3 million. Casella intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including potential acquisitions or development of new operations or assets with the goal of complementing or expanding its business, working capital and capital expenditures.

by Valentina Czochanski, Community News Service, UVM For the first time ever, every registered voter in Vermont received a ballot in the mail. According to town clerks across Vermont, those ballots are being returned in record numbers. As of October 23, over 190,000 people have already cast their vote by mail, according to a daily-updated dataset provided by the Vermont Secretary of State’s Elections Division. With three weeks to go, that number has already surpassed the 2016 general election total of 91,000 for early and mail-in ballots.

Senator Patrick Leahy A day after we gathered in Statuary Hall, with the nation in mourning — and days before Justice Ginsburg was laid to rest with her husband in Arlington Cemetery — the President held a celebratory ceremony to nominate her replacement. From that moment, the confirmation process for Judge Amy Coney Barrett has been a caricature of illegitimacy. I will not dispute that it is the responsibility of this body to consider Justice Ginsburg’s replacement to the Supreme Court. But this is not how we should do it.

Agency of Commerce & Community Development ACCD and the Department of Taxes are administering Expanded Economic Recovery Grants. The Department of Taxes application is open now through the myVTax portal until 11:59pm on October 30, 2020. ACCD will be opening its application on Monday, October 26, 2020 at 8:00am, and it will be open until Friday, November 9, 2020 at 11:59pm.

by Daniel Monahan When COVID-19 started to become a full-blown pandemic in the United States in mid-March, one of the darkest outlooks was how America’s small business sector would fare. Main Street staples such as movie theaters, bars, restaurants, bookstores and clothing shops shuddered their doors nearly overnight.

by Paul Cillo, Public Assets Institute The Legislature did the right thing this year by holding property tax payers harmless after the COVID pandemic took a big bite out of the state’s Education Fund. The state is better situated to deal with a revenue shortfall than individual taxpayers or school districts, who already face monumental trials during this crisis. The shortfall this year mostly has to do with a loss of sales taxes and rooms and meals taxes. All sales tax revenue and a quarter of rooms and meals taxes go directly into the Education Fund, along with property taxes and state lottery receipts. Together these sources cover the cost of public education in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Chamber of Commerce is hosting a Virtual Policy Series beginning Monday and running through December 14. The events include: Elections During a Pandemic, The State of Vermont’s Workforce, Broadband Now and Beyond, and 2021 Budget Pressures and Projections.

Vermont Business Magazine United States Attorney Christina Nolan announced today that Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSA) Michael Drescher and Barbara Masterson will lead the efforts of her Office in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the upcoming November 3, 2020, general election. They are responsible for overseeing the District’s handling of complaints of election fraud and voting rights concerns in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan will partner with Windham County State’s Attorney Tracy Shriver, Vermont Legal Aid, and Code for BTV to host an expungement “tele-clinic” on Friday, November 13 from 10 am to 2 pm. Expungements wipe from your record specific convictions and dismissed charges after a certain period of time has passed. Under Vermont law, many misdemeanors, 14 different felony offenses, and all dismissed charges can be expunged. The free clinic will focus on expunging criminal charges and convictions from Windham County and will be open to the public by telephone appointment.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) announces new guidance for municipalities, businesses, and community groups that wish to implement demonstration projects – temporary, illustrative roadway design projects – in State Highway Right-of-Way. Bicycle lanes, crosswalk markings, curb extensions, and median safety islands are examples of demonstration projects that may be intended to slow motor vehicle traffic or provide better access and safety for pedestrians and/or bicyclists, transit users, or combinations of these. Parklets, pedestrian plazas, and road closures are options that use public sidewalks and highways for temporary public gathering spaces to provide public space to support economic vitality and social interaction.