Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced the appointment of Karen Lueders, of Lincoln, to fill the vacant Addison-4 seat in the Vermont House of Representatives. Lueders replaces Mari Cordes, who resigned earlier this year. Lueders currently serves on the Board of Addison Housing Works and previously served on the Board of Addison County Home Health and Hospice and Habitat for Humanity, among other Addison County nonprofits. Since March 2025, she has served on a special committee with a group of thoughtful and dedicated community members appointed by the Lincoln Selectboard to study and recommend improvements to voting in Lincoln and Lincoln’s Annual Town Meeting.

Public Assets Institute The federal government shutdown began on October 1st—the start of the new federal fiscal year—after existing funding expired and Congress failed to approve new funding. Vermonters working for federal agencies, women and children receiving nutritional assistance, and Vermonters receiving enhanced premium tax credits to pay for healthcare coverage are all facing potential shutdown impacts on top of cuts to healthcare and food assistance as a result of the July 1st budget reconciliation bill. We are now (17) days into this shutdown, and there’s currently no indication of when it may end. The longest federal shutdown in history was 34 days in 2018-19.

Vermont Business Magazine To celebrate 200 years of KeyBank’s service to communities across the nation, KeyBank Foundation is awarding a $200,000 philanthropic grant to Cornerstone Housing Partners. This is part of Key’s special bicentennial grant program designed to strengthen Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and foundations that play a critical role in advancing affordable housing and small business development. Cornerstone Housing Partners is a CDFI that for more than 30 years has been moving people into quality housing across Vermont communities. This is accomplished through the development of new housing opportunities, rental housing, and mobile home parks. 

Vermont Business Magazine On the Senate floor, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, called on Republicans to come to the table and negotiate in good faith with Democrats to reopen the government and rescue hardworking Americans who rely on Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits to afford their health care. In his remarks, Senator Welch emphasized the urgency of extending the ACA subsidies, which help nearly 27,000 low- and moderate-income Vermonters access health coverage through the ACA marketplace. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Education and Vermont Lottery announced the winners of the 2025 Educate Innovate Award. The Enosburgh-Richford Unified Union School District and the Rutland Town School will each receive $15,000 to enhance educational technology programs that increase student engagement and proficiency. The Enosburgh-Richford Unified Union School District serves four schools: Richford Elementary School, Richford Junior-Senior High School, Enosburg Elementary School, and Enosburg Falls Middle and High School. Their purchase of 3D printers, a 3D scanner, a computer numerical control (CNC) router, and computers for 3D modeling will equip an advanced robotics lab and support a highly competitive FIRST Robotics team. 

Vermont Business Magazine NW Fiberworx, NWFiberworx.com, the Communications Union District (CUD) dedicated to expanding high-speed internet access across Northwestern Vermont, has promoted Mary Kay Raymond, PMP, from Network Operations Manager to Executive Director, effective October 6, 2025. This leadership transition comes at a pivotal moment for NW Fiberworx, as the organization officially begins construction on its community-owned fiber network. The project marks a major milestone in the region's effort to deliver reliable, affordable broadband to underserved towns and rural areas. Mary Kay Raymond has been a driving force behind NW Fiberworx's operational strategy and technical planning since its inception. Her promotion reflects the Board's confidence in her ability to lead the organization through its next phase of growth and infrastructure deployment.

Vermont Business Magazine In response to ongoing and worsening drought conditions across the state, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) is launching a 2025 Agriculture Drought Impact Survey to understand its effects on Vermont farms. This year's drought is the third consecutive season farmers have suffered severe weather impacts, including frost and floods, and now drought.  Many Vermont businesses, still not fully recovered from the 2023 and 2024 frosts and flooding, are once again facing uncertainty and impacts. VAAFM is asking Vermont's agricultural producers to participate in the 2025 Agriculture Drought Impact Survey. The purpose of this survey is to capture the scale and location of drought related impacts experienced throughout the state in 2025.  

Vermont Business Magazine Berkshire Bank Foundation invested nearly $400,000 in its communities through grants to 96 nonprofit organizations in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont from July to September. “We are committed to supporting the nonprofits in our communities that are doing important work to meet the needs of so many,” said Lori Kiely, managing director of the Berkshire Bank Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Berkshire Bank, a division of Beacon Bank & Trust.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will be pausing its online temporary registration services beginning on November 1 in order to complete necessary IT work on its computer systems. This work is in preparation for the rollout of additional online customer services that will launch in early November as the final phase of the DMV’s process of modernizing its outdated computer systems. Some of the IT work that needs to be done involves making changes to the online temporary plate service to require payment of applicable registration and title fees, and purchase and use tax, in addition to the temporary plate fee. The goal is to remove the pause on the system by January 2026, when all the IT work has been completed. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Education has released the preliminary 2024-2025 Vermont Comprehensive Assessment Program (VTCAP) statewide results. The assessments in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics are administered annually to students in grades 3-9 and assess students’ mastery of the Common Core State Standards. The science assessment is administered to students in grades 5, 8, and 11 and assesses students’ mastery of the Next Generation Science Standards. Overall, statewide proficiency rates across all subjects in 2024-2025 remained largely consistent with VTCAP performance in 2023-2024. Most grade-level proficiency rates either remained identical to 2023-2024 or shifted by a percentage point or less, with the exception of ELA proficiency rates among 4th and 5th graders, which increased by 7 and 5 percentage points, respectively.

Vermont Business Magazine BETA Technologies, Inc., the electric aerospace company based n South Burlington, announced Wednesday that it has launched an initial public offering of 25 million shares of its Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, at an anticipated initial offering price between $27.00 and $33.00 per share pursuant to a registration statement on Form S-1 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. According to CNBC, this would raise as much as $825 million and value BETA at $7.2 billion at the top end of the range.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $3.14 per gallon, down 1 per gallon from last week, down 7 cents/g from last month and down 4 cents/g from last year, according to AAA. The lowest price in the state this week was $2.83/g while the highest was $4.20/g, a difference of $1.37/g. Prices were lowest in Bennington ($2.94/g) and Rutland ($3.01/g) counties and highest in Essex ($3.23/g), Franklin ($3.23/g) and Grand Isle ($3.26/g). The national average price of gasoline has fallen 6 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.05/g today.