Current News

Vermont Business Magazine While Vermont ranks No. 16 in electric vehicle sales in market share by state, the state has slipped just below the US average in the 2025 second quarter. In Vermont EVs are 8.85% of new light-duty vehicle sales. The US average is 9.5%, as states like California, Colorado and Washington dominate the market. Vermont ranks No. 15 in ratio of EVs to public chargers. Alliance for Automotive Innovation released its exclusive state-by-state analysis of the U.S. electric vehicle market for Q2 2025. The Get Connected Electric Vehicle Report summarizes EV sales, purchasing trends and charging infrastructure across the country.  

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced the appointment of Zach Weight as a Special Prosecutor assigned to work with the Chittenden County State’s Attorney to assist in relieving the backlog of service-resistant repeat offender criminal cases, with an initial focus on individuals who have five or more open dockets and are awaiting trial. Weight has served as Deputy State’s Attorney in Washington County since April 2023. For a decade prior to joining that office, he was a criminal defense attorney who practiced in all 14 of Vermont’s counties. A graduate of Vermont Law School, Zach’s family hails from Proctor and Wallingford. Zach lives in Milton with his husband, Will, and their dog, Brady.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) is pleased to announce an upcoming $8,000,000 in grant funding through the Agricultural Clean Water Initiative Program (AGCWIP) for local and regional partners to provide services for Vermont farms, supporting the improvement of water quality across the state. Local and regional partners play a vital role in supporting implementation of conservation practices that achieve reductions in nutrient runoff from agricultural operations, providing connection between state and federal programs, and farmers. AGCWIP grants provide critical funding opportunities to strengthen organizations that provide education and outreach and technical assistance to Vermont farms.   

Vermont Business Magazine Union Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ - UNB) Wednesday announced results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025 and declared a regular quarterly cash dividend. Consolidated net income was $3.4 million and $8.3 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, respectively, compared to $1.3 million and $5.8 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, respectively. Earnings for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 were reduced by the impact of the strategic balance sheet repositioning whereby the company's wholly owned subsidiary, Union Bank, executed the sale of $38.8 million in book value of its lower-yielding available-for-sale debt securities for a pre-tax realized loss of $1.3 million, which was recorded in the third quarter of 2024.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Treasurer Pieciak announced that David Scherr will join his office as Deputy Treasurer. The transition will be effective starting November 3, 2025. Scherr most recently served as the State Director for Congresswoman Becca Balint. 

Vermont Business Magazine As winter approaches, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) wants to remind construction professionals and property owners about additional requirements to help protect the state’s waterways during the winter construction season. Wintertime rainfall, thaws, and snowmelt can produce significant flows over frozen and saturated ground. These flows can then increase erosion and sediment flow.

Vermont Business Magazine Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) today led 31 senators in calling on the Trump administration to immediately restore the Solar for All program —  a landmark initiative Sanders wrote to help working class families afford rooftop and community-based solar energy. In a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin, Sanders and his colleagues condemned the administration’s decision to cancel $7 billion in Solar for All funding in August. The program would have created tens of thousands of good-paying jobs in communities across the country, lowered residential electricity bills by at least 20% for more than 900,000 households and saved working families more than $8.7 billion in electric costs over the lifetime of the panels.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Land Use Review Board (LURB) will host four public engagement sessions across the state to get public input on draft Tier 3 area rules and mapping. All four meetings will be held from 6pm-8pm, starting October 21, and welcome both in-person and remote participation. Vermont’s Act 250 development review system is undergoing significant changes following the passage of Act 181 of 2024.  The Legislature has tasked the LURB with developing rules and reviewing regional plans and maps to implement a new tiered framework of jurisdiction. While Act 250 jurisdiction is shrinking in downtown and village centers (Tier 1 areas), it is expanding in critical natural resource areas (Tier 3 areas). The Tier 3 rules and mapping will determine what sorts of development requires an Act 250 permit in these critical natural resource areas. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program and its Advisory Council are proud to announce the first-ever Vermont Arborist Day of Service, hosted in partnership with Vermont State Parks. The event will bring together professional arborists and tree care experts from across the state for a day of service, learning, and collaboration at Little River State Park on Friday, October 17. This inaugural event provides a unique opportunity for tree care professionals to volunteer their time and expertise with the goal of pruning 10-20 trees for structure and safety in a high-use area, while highlighting the importance of proper tree care in Vermont’s communities.

Vermont Business Magazine The Agency of Education, in partnership with the Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets, recognized 12 supervisory unions (SU/SDs) that have achieved the highest rates of local purchasing through the 2025 round of the Local Foods Incentive Grant program. Through continued collaboration, schools, farms, community groups, and the state are building partnerships that support local economies and bring healthy, local food to Vermont students. The 2025 awards mark a doubling of grantees, up from six in 2024 as the program enters its fourth year. Of those who applied for the subsequent-year grant, $288,338.10 was awarded, incentivizing over $1.2 million in local food purchases.

Vermont Business Magazine Students from Red Fox Community School participated in a hands-on environmental stewardship experience at Smokey House Center last Friday, planting persimmon trees as part of the Center's new Community U-Pick Orchard. The field trip gave students the opportunity to plant native Vermont persimmon trees as part of Smokey House's Living Lab initiative. Students worked alongside environmental educators to contribute to on-the-ground research addressing climate resilience and sustainable agriculture, forming meaningful connections with both the landscape and the broader work of environmental protection.

Vermont Business Magazine As a reminder, furloughed Federal workers impacted by the recent government shutdown have up to two weeks from the start of the shutdown to file an unemployment claim. The deadline for these impacted individuals is Wednesday, October 15, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. Individuals can apply for Unemployment (UI) benefits by calling the UI Claims Center at 1-877-214-3330 (Monday – Thursday: 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. / Friday: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.). If Congress later approves back pay for workers who were furloughed during the shutdown, any UI benefits received will need to be repaid to the state. The Department of Labor encourages federal employees who may want to apply for UI to ensure they have the necessary documentation and information prepared to file a claim.