Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported today that there were six new cases of COVID-19. Eight months into the pandemic, terms that were once unfamiliar have become a part of our everyday language — contact tracing, infectious periods, serology, quarantine. We are always working on resources to help Vermonters understand exactly what these terms mean.

Vermont Business Magazine OneCare Vermont, the state’s accountable care organization (ACO) announced today key results of their 2019 Medicare program. Participating providers earned a total of $11.3 million in Medicare shared savings from collaborative work to improve beneficiaries’ outcomes and overall health of the Medicare population. Additionally, OneCare Vermont participating providers collectively achieved a Medicare quality performance score of 91.88 percent for the year.

Vermont Business Magazine A new study from the Business Roundtable in Washington, DC, finds that international trade supported 91,000 jobs in Vermont in 2018, having represented more than 1 out of every 5 jobs in the state before the pandemic. Since 1992, before the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the share of jobs tied to trade in Vermont has increased by 96 percent. Additionally, the Green Mountain State's trade-related employment grew five times faster than total state employment from 1992 to 2018.

Vermont Business Magazine New Charter Technologies, a portfolio company of Palo Alto based private equity firm Oval Partners, today announced the acquisition of South Burlington, Vermont based Managed Services Provider, The Tech Group. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Vermont Business Magazine The Champlain Housing Trust and Steps to End Domestic Violence jointly announced plans to establish a new shelter serving those escaping domestic and sexual violence in Chittenden County. CHT acquired the property with Coronavirus Relief Funds made available in the CARES Act, which were allocated by the State Legislature through the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board. CHT has hired JA Morrissey to renovate what had been the Handy’s Extended Stay Suites on Route 15 in Colchester, and will be leasing it to Steps.

Agency of Commerce & Community Development The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has reopened three more branch offices, in Bennington, Newport, and Springfield. The openings to the public are by appointment only using the new online scheduling system. The hours of operation for appointments at these three locations, in addition to the branch office locations already open in Montpelier, South Burlington, and Rutland, will be 8 am to 4 pm.

Visit the DMV website for full details and information on the reopening.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Legislature passed HCR337 designating October 6, 2020, as Vermont Mask Day. The initiative was led by Doug Altshuler, founder of Masks4Missions, a nonprofit organization that partners with Vermont nonprofits to design, make, distribute, and sell subsidized COVID-19 masks bearing images from its nonprofit partners .

Founded only two months ago, Masks4Missions is the proud organizer of Vermont Mask Day , a state-wide celebration of Vermonters coming together virtually and in mask-protected, socially-distant gatherings to celebrate our shared commitment to healthy communities. Vermont Mask Day will be celebrated as a week of events (October 5-9th), with varied creative activities across the state with nonprofit partners, including Burlington City Arts, Vermont Food Bank, and many others.

Vermont Business Magazine In recognition of its extraordinary community engagement initiatives, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) today named the University of Vermont a regional winner of the 2020 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award. As a regional winner, UVM will compete for the national C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award, which will be announced in November. Other finalists for the award are the University of Memphis, The Ohio State University and the University of Utah.

Vermont Business Magazine In his veto of House Bill 926 last night, Governor Scott missed an opportunity to advance important changes to Act 250, Vermont’s landmark development review law, that are needed to protect our forests, address climate change, and support rural communities. Development is fragmenting Vermont’s iconic forests, and for the first time in more than a century the amount of forestland in the state is declining. This is damaging wildlife habitat, reducing the clean water and climate benefits our forests provide, and limiting the ability of those forests to support outdoor recreational and forest products businesses.

Vermont Business Magazine Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD, said on Tuesday that the latest outbreak of COVID-19 at Champlain Orchards in Shoreham is yet another reminder of the dynamic nature of the virus. As of last night, 27 workers have tested positive. He again emphasized that as of right now, the outbreak is contained to the site, and there is no known risk to the public. Nor is there a risk to anyone consuming their apples or other products. The department continues to work closely with the owner of the orchards and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture to implement isolation and quarantine.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Public Service today announced $4,055,920.50 in grant awards to Internet Service Providers to serve over 2,860 eligible locations with broadband connections in response to COVID-19. The goal of the COVID-19 Emergency Connectivity Initiative is to use Federal Coronavirus Relief Funds to build high-speed broadband service to unserved and underserved locations by December 30. About $12 million has been distributed in this program.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott’s press briefing today featured several data presentations, an update on the outbreak at Champlain Orchards in Shoreham and indicated that guidelines to increase indoor nursing home visitation should be available this week. At the briefing, Scott acknowledged “Vermont Mask Day” to encourage facial coverings to prevent transmission of COVID-19.