Current News

Vermont Business Magazine On October 1 from 6:30–8:30 pm, the Local Support and Community Action Team established by Governor Phil Scott will host a virtual COVID-19 recovery discussion to connect with others in Grand Isle County. On October 8, the discussion will move to Windsor County.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) today announced that it has received $9.7 million from the US Department of Transportation under the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Emergency Relief Program for necessary repairs to roads and bridges due to damage from severe rainstorms, snow melt, and flooding in 2019.

Vermont Business Magazine Nearly three in four Vermonters with COVID-19 experience symptoms. However, those who are asymptomatic trend younger and have become a higher percentage of positive cases. This is in part explained that Vermont is doing a lot of testing and there are many fewer cases than at the height of the pandemic. For symptomatic cases, the average recovery time is much shorter for those under 20 (less than a week versus around two weeks for everyone else). Meanwhile, the Vermont Department of Health reported today three new cases of COVID-19 in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced the reappointment of Jessica Holmes, PhD, to serve as a member of the Green Mountain Care Board. Holmes has served on the Board since 2014.Holmes is a professor of economics at Middlebury College, teaching courses covering microeconomics, health economics and the economics of social issues.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont has received a $19.4 million, five-year award from the National Institutes of Health to foster biomedical research expertise among faculty at Vermont’s four-year colleges and attract students at those schools and at UVM to careers in the biomedical sciences. The new grant is the fourth consecutive multi-year award UVM has received from NIH to fund the initiative, formerly called the Vermont Genetics Network.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan today announced that a judge has dismissed a Rutland gym’s countersuit against the State of Vermont over the governor’s pandemic-related Executive Order. The gym, Club Fitness of Vermont, had tried to argue that the State of Vermont should pay damages to the gym, which closed from late March through June under the governor’s closure orders.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermonters may claim a Property Tax Credit or receive a Renter Rebate to help offset the cost of housing, but those claims must be filed by October 15, 2020. The Vermont Property Tax Credit and Renter Rebate programs help make housing more affordable for thousands of Vermonters, and the Department of Taxes has seen a marked decrease in the number of claims filed this year.

Vermont Business Magazine Tom Thompson, who has been serving as the interim president and chief operating officer of UVM Health Network Porter Medical Center since last February, has been selected as the permanent President/COO of Middlebury's Porter by the UVMHN and Porter boards. Thompson joined Porter last winter to help lead the organization through the implementation of the next phase of the Epic Electronic Health Record system and develop a three-year strategic plan for the organization. Soon after his arrival, the COVID-19 pandemic emerged and became an unanticipated and primary organizational focus.

Vermont Business Magazine The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded $131,250 in grant funding to Green Power Farms under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). The investment will be used to purchase and install three state-of-the-art wind turbines designed by Star Wind Turbines of East Dorset, Vermont. It is estimated that the 330,000 kWhs generated annually will be enough to power the equivalent of 30 homes.

Vermont Business Magazine Girls on the Run Vermont is running a statewide 50/50 raffle in collaboration with the Vermont Foodbank. By purchasing a VERMONT WINS 50/50 raffle ticket you support Girls on the Run Vermont Every Girl Fund and The Vermont Foodbank. This allows Girls on the Run Vermont to provide reduced fees and financial assistance for every girl who participates to empower more of Vermont’s young women. A quarter of the proceeds from the raffle tickets will also help The Vermont Foodbank serve the immediate needs of Vermonters facing hunger.

Vermont Business Magazine The Center for Digital Government awarded the State of Vermont fourth place in the 2020 Government Experience awards for the overall state government experience category. Vermont, which partners with digital government solutions firm NIC Vermont, located in Montpelier, was honored for the user experience strategies across the Vermont Web Portal and Vermont.gov.

Vermont Business Magazine Music can provide exactly what we need at the precise moment we need it. During these turbulent times, musical performances offer welcome opportunities for connection, reflection, and respite. For the start of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s (VSO) 2020/2021 season, we present two new projects — made possible by Northfield Savings Bank’s VSO Innovation Fund and designed to meet you where you’re at, serve the present moment, and provide some brightness for the soul.