Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Clean Water Board is asking the public to weigh in on how they would like to see approximately $30 million, available in 2022, put to use to clean up water pollution across the state. Public input will help the Board prioritize funding for projects that improve water quality in Vermont’s lakes, streams, and wetlands. Vermont’s water quality funding helps municipalities, farmers, and others implement projects that reduce pollution washing into Vermont’s waterways.

Vermont Business Magazine The White River Junction VA Medical Center Homeless Veteran team is celebrating the end of Veteran homelessness in Chittenden County, Vermont. Chittenden County becomes the 79th community in the United States to declare an end to Veteran Homelessness. As part of a relentless effort to end homelessness among Vermont Veterans, the White River Junction VA Homeless team partnered with the Vermont Veterans Committee on Homelessness, Chittenden County Continuum of Care (CoC), and asked Vermont mayors to join the “Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness.”

Vermont Business Magazine The microchip manufacture AMD has made a $1 million gift to the University of Vermont to boost its high performance computing capacity and enhance the university’s COVID-19 research efforts. UVM is among the first 21 schools the company has supported through its AMD HPC Fund for COVID-19 Research program, designed to accelerate COVID research at universities around the country.

Vermont Business Magazine The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded $1.72 million in grant funding to farmers and producers in Vermont, and $500,000 to those in New Hampshire, under the Value Added Producers Grant program (VAPG). Funds will be used to help agricultural producers in rural communities develop and market their products, and widen their areas of distribution.

Vermont Business Magazine The Killington World Cup Foundation (KWCF) recently awarded 21 grants totaling $228,000 to Northeast area nonprofits in eight states through a competitive grant opportunity. Combined with matching funds and multi-year grant commitments, the KWCF’s effort will contribute more than $400,000 in resources to winter sports infrastructure in the region. These grants were made possible as a result of the 2019 HomeLight Killington Cup event.

Vermont Business Magazine The ruffed grouse is an iconic game bird of Vermont that is widely recognized and enjoyed by hunters and non-hunters alike, but wildlife biologists are concerned that grouse populations across the Northeast have declined over the past 30 years. This trend has prompted ruffed grouse research on potential causes, including emerging disease threats and habitat loss. Recently, the mosquito-borne West Nile virus was implicated as a significant contributor to population declines in Pennsylvania, and research is underway to help biologists better understand the potential impact of this virus on grouse populations across their range, including here in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The deadline for the Vermont COVID-19 Agricultural Assistance Program (VCAAP) Dairy Assistance Application and Agriculture & Working Lands Application has been extended to November 15, 2020 at 8:00 AM. This extension and some important changes to the grant programs were included in new legislation. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture will continue to process applications received prior to the initial deadline of October 1, 2020, at 8 am.

Vermont Business Magazine Renewable Energy Vermont’s annual conference and expo goes virtual this year, welcoming an impressive lineup of keynote and plenary speakers during fall, Wednesday morning sessions, starting October 21, focused on connectivity, resilience, the future of transportation, and equity and economic recovery. All four sessions of REV2020: Power to Renew feature a keynote address, spark discussion panels, speed networking, and climate solutions working sessions.

University of Vermont Land-use change. Environmental change. Extreme natural events. Wildfires and hurricanes. All are impacting the planet’s so-called critical zone, where water, air, soil, rock and life interact. To explore these overlapping disturbances to the critical zone, the realm that spans from the treetops to the Earth’s bedrock, University of Vermont researchers have been awarded a $3.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The UVM team will focus on snow-dominated ecosystems across the US Comprised of disciplines from engineering to soil chemistry, the team will use big data, earth science and complex systems tools to investigate how short- and long-term disruptions to the critical zone affect its ability to resist and recover.

Vermont Business Magazine Lake Champlain Sea Grant scored in the upper third of the 34 Sea Grant programs nationally, earning it a permanent increase to its base funding. Beginning February 1, 2022, Lake Champlain Sea Grant will have an operating budget of $1,279,000 per year. The Lake Champlain Sea Grant (LCSG) Institute attracted additional federal funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for research, outreach, and education to benefit the Lake Champlain basin.

by Olivia Campbell-Andersen, Executive Director, Renewable Energy Vermont We have an opportunity now to determine how we rebuild from COVID-19’s devastating economic effects. We can and should choose to build clean-energy jobs across Vermont. The climate crisis threatens life as we know it and we need to take action while we still can. Continuing net-metering is one of the easiest, most cost-effective ways Vermont can get people back to work, mitigate the effects of fossil-fuel pollution and strengthen our grid infrastructure.

Vermont Research News A recent study of the Bennington Vermont Police department’s traffic stop data has uncovered statistically significant discrepancies in the treatment of minorities. Hispanic drivers are three times more likely than white drivers to be arrested as the result of a traffic stop. Black drivers are three times as likely to be searched. These searches led to the discovery of contraband significantly less than searches of other races.