Current News

Vermont Business Magazine VT Leap, based in Middletown Springs, has announced that after two weeks, applications representing 76% of the available funding for the Forest Economy Stabilization Grant program (FESG) have been submitted. Applications close on September 4th, or when funding is exhausted.

Small Business Administration On August 18, the grant award maximum for the Economic Recovery Grants was increased to $150,000 total (or $100,000 more than the existing maximum). Also, Vermont has one of the lowest response rates in the country filling out the US Census. Thirty percent of Vermont households have yet to respond or be counted by an enumerator.

Vermont Business Magazine The Lake Champlain Chamber has selected the Leadership Champlain Class of 2021 — the 32nd class of the Chamber’s signature program for established community leaders. Since 1989, Leadership Champlain has ensured the community’s most influential and esteemed leaders are knowledgeable about issues, well-networked and passionate about our region’s success.

Vermont Business Magazine Albany Community Trust, Inc has received $17,850 in grant funding from the State of Vermont’s Brownfield Initiative to remediate the former Albany General Store property. The presently shuttered building has a 100 plus year history of operating as a general store. The closure was necessitated by an electrical fire in 2013. The Brownfield Initiative funding will support the removal of arsenic contaminated soils. The redevelopment envisions the reopening of the general store; the footprint of which will be expanded for community space.

Vermont Access Network The Vermont House and Senate Committees on Appropriations are seeking public input on the Governor’s Recommended FY 2021 State Budget and will hold a public hearing on Thursday, August 27, 2020 from 5 pm to 6 pm and Friday, August 28, 2020 from 1 pm to 2 pm via videoconferencing. The Budget Hearings will be distributed live by Vermont’s Community Media Centers on their cable channels and streamed online.

by Richard L Page, MD, Dean of the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, et al Our nation is in the midst of a debate about the risks, benefits, and methods of resumption of higher education this fall, and there are as many ways to address this question as there are universities. We are writing to provide our perspective, as leaders of Vermont’s only college of medicine, regarding plans for the resumption of classes for both the Larner College of Medicine and the University of Vermont as a whole. At Larner, we are fully invested in educating and training the very best scientists and physicians to serve Vermont and our nation. Our partnership with Vermont communities is integral to promoting the health of Vermonters and to the vitality of Larner and UVM. Our physicians and scientists have been engaged in every step of our university response to this pandemic.

Dartmouth College will bring half of its undergraduates to campus for fall term, President Philip J Hanlon '77 and Provost Joseph Helble announced Wednesday in an email to the community. Students will begin to arrive September 8. The decision comes after Helble last week announced a pause in the fall plan timing to give senior leaders a few more days to consider the experiences other institutions were having in bringing students back to campus during the COVID-19 pandemic and to listen to the opinions of students, faculty, staff, families of undergraduates, and members of the Upper Valley community.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting four new cases of COVID-19. On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its testing guidance to say that people who are asymptomatic may not need to be tested, even if they “have been in close contact (within 6 feet) of a person with a COVID-19 infection for at least 15 minutes unless state or local public health officials recommend you take one.” Vermont guidelines and recommendations for who should get tested are not changing at this time. The Health Department continues to recommend testing for: People with COVID-19 symptoms; people who have had close contact (within 6 feet for about 15 minutes or more) with someone who tested positive for COVID-19; people who are referred by their health care provider for testing for another reason.

Vermont Business Magazine The US Department of Agriculture announced the selection of recipients for approximately $4.1 million in grants and cooperative agreements through its new Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production. These are the first-ever recipients of these grants and cooperative agreements, which will enhance urban agriculture efforts in Vermont and across the country. The Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV) received $300,000 for their project titled, New Farms for New Americans: Improving Lands, Improving Lives. They were one of ten recipients selected from 500 applicants through the national competitive grant program. The effort will provide 80 garden plots to approximately 70 households on five acres of leased land to support food production and community building for New Americans.

Vermont Business Magazine Mass testing of Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield conducted Monday, August 24 showed no new positive cases of COVID-19 among the 455 staff and inmates tested. This latest round of testing was conducted as part of Vermont Department of Corrections and Vermont Health Department’s plan to test all Vermont facilities on a rotating basis. Chittenden County Regional Correctional Facility (South Burlington) will be tested on Monday, August 31. At Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility, another Vermont inmate tested positive for COVID-19 during follow-up testing of all negative inmates.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Education, working in close cooperation with the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC), is working to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and other resources to support Vermont schools as they prepare to reopen next month. These resources include PPE kits for school nurses and school COVID-19 coordinators, hand sanitizer, cloth face coverings, posters and other mask campaign resources to remind and encourage all Vermonters that face coverings are required in all Vermont schools to protect students, staff and their families.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Killington Resort, the largest mountain resort in Eastern North America, today announced a Farm-to-Trunk Community Grocery Giveaway happening on Thursday, September 3 from 3 pm to 6 pm, or until all 700 bags have been given away, at Pico Mountain, 73 Alpine Drive, Mendon, Vermont. The 100% locally sourced grocery giveaway is in partnership with VFFC and funded by a $50,000 donation from the Killington Play It Forward Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation to VFFC and Thomas Dairy.