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Vermont Business Magazine In the midst of nationwide protests against racialized police brutality, the ACLU of Vermont joins the National ACLU and countless partners and allies in calling for justice for George Floyd, a black man, killed by Minneapolis police last week, and voicing solidarity with all communities impacted by police violence. The ACLU of Vermont is pointing to continued police killings of black people and the violent police responses to protesters as further proof of the urgent need for wholesale changes to policing in the United States.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health on Sunday reported six new cases of COVID-19 since Friday with over 2,000 tests being administered statewide. There were no deaths from the coronavirus over the weekend and only 2 in the last three weeks for a total of 55. Meanwhile, given the ongoing positive trend on suppressing the viral transmission, Governor Scott is opening more and more businesses. Notably gyms and salons and other personal services can restart Monday with restrictions and gatherings are increased from 10 to 25 people. Dentistry is expanded and overnight summer camps are allowed, including for out-of-state children.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders Saturday issued the following statement directed to Senate President Mitch McConnell: Let's be clear. We are in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. More than 100,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus, 40 million Americans have lost their jobs, millions have lost their health insurance and people across the country face hunger and the fear of being evicted from their homes.

Burlington Department of Public Works At 8:47 pm on Friday, May 29th there was a disinfection failure alarm at Burlington’s Main Wastewater Treatment Plant. During about a 50-minute time span there was a lack of disinfection for approximately 1.4 million gallons of wet weather flow (stormwater runoff and treated, but not disinfected wastewater).

While we are currently reviewing this event, it appears that the active disinfection tank ran out of sodium hypochlorite faster than it should have based on the dosage setting. Our operator who was on site during the entirety of the storm was able to switch supplies and restore disinfection for the remainder of the storm.

by Chris Graff, Vermont Business Magazine For almost every moment of the 20th century an Ernest W Gibson was in public service in Vermont. There was the grandfather – Ernest W Gibson Sr (1872-1940) – who served in the Vermont House in 1906 and was president pro tem of the Vermont Senate in 1908 before going to Washington to serve in the US House (1923-1933) and the US Senate (1933-1940). Then there was the father – Ernest W Gibson Jr (1901-1969) – who was appointed in 1940 to his father’s US Senate seat following the elder’s death and served out the term. Gibson Junior then won election as governor in 1946 and then was appointed by President Truman to a federal judgeship in 1950. Ernest W Gibson III (1927-2020) served as Windham County state’s attorney (1957-1961), was a member of the Vermont House (1961-1963), chair of the Public Service Board (1963-1972), Superior Court judge (1972-1983) and Vermont Supreme Court justice (1983-1997).

Vermont Business Magazine After a pause in time created by the COVID-19 Virus, the creative, skilled, and seasoned, team at AO Glass is presenting a whole new in-house collection. First out in the Vermont Strong Collection of 2020 is the Cocktail/Whiskey Glass. AO Glass operates on 416 Pine Street in the heart of Burlington, Vermont and has been in business since 2007. The glass team is now back in the studio, following all the recommended safety precautions.

Vermont Business Magazine As producers of the Vermont Flower Show, the first priority of the VNLA/Green Works Board of Directors is the safety of all attendees, vendors, and volunteers who participate in our signature event, the Vermont Flower Show. We have been examining the data on the COVID-19 pandemic and the emerging theme is no one knows for sure how long this virus will remain with us. In an effort to keep people safe as well as to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, we have made the decision to postpone the 2021 Vermont Flower Show, scheduled for February 27, 28, and March 1, 2021, to March 4-6, 2022.

Vermont Business Magazine National Life Group will host an Annual Financial Call on Wednesday, June 3, 2020, beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern time. The conference call is scheduled to last 60 minutes and will begin with an approximate 30-minute presentation on the financial standing of the organization.

Leonine Public Affairs The last week of May marked the end of the filing period for candidates to register for the August primary election. With the COVID-19 crisis enveloping the legislative agenda and dominating news cycles, there has been relatively little focus thus far on the November election. The filing deadline on Thursday brought the election to the forefront for the first time in two months with some notable races taking shape and the retirement of some long-serving lawmakers.

Vermont Business Magazine On Friday Governor Phil Scott announced new guidance for multiple sectors. These include close contact businesses like gyms and spas, overnight summer camps, museums and theaters, outdoor markets, and increasing gatherings to 25.

Vermont Business Magazine Winooski-based BioTek has announced that Agilent’s BenchCel Microplate Handler is now added to its portfolio of walkaway automated solutions. The modular BenchCel Microplate Handler is a high-speed robot with an open, flexible and scalable format to bring efficiency to diverse applications such as ELISA, endpoint add-and-read assays and cell fix-stain-image processes.

Vermont Business Magazine Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are pressing the US Supreme Court to make permanent the live audio access to oral arguments it has adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they further asked the Court to allow live video coverage of its proceedings. Leahy and Grassley also noted that the vast majority of Americans support audio and video access to our nation’s justice system.