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Vermont Business Magazine The 2020 Best of Business Award (BOB Award) winners are featured in the May issue of Vermont Business Magazine. This awards program celebrates the best Vermont companies in more than 100 business-to-business categories. VBM readers chose the winners! Starting on January 1, 2020 and closing on March 1st, VBM surveyed its magazine and digital subscribers. We asked our readers – the business leaders of Vermont – who they trust to provide their services in over 100 different categories. After over 53,000 votes, we compiled the go-to list in the state for everything from Best Hotel and Best Engineering Firm to Best Vermont Made Product. Some of the questions and answers were based on a regional perspective while most of the categories were looking for statewide winners.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources has awarded funds to Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District (CVSWMD) to assist the municipality in providing a year-round household hazardous waste collection facility. The $500,000 grant, issued by ANR’s Department of Environmental Conservation, is a significant contribution to the total cost of the purchase, or building, of a suitable facility to accept household hazardous waste from CVSWMD and the surrounding region.

Vermont Business Magazine The Chittenden Solid Waste District has been awarded a grant worth $106,470 by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to help cover costs for providing facilities and education for the proper disposal of hazardous waste generated by residents and qualifying businesses. The grant is part of a solid waste assistance fund provided by the state to help towns and solid waste planning entities implement their solid waste plans, as required by state law. The grant is awarded annually by the DEC, an arm of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.

Vermont Business Magazine As of today's report, there was only one new case of COVID-19 reported in Vermont and no new deaths, which remain at 52 statewide The number hospitalized fell by seven to 26. Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD, said at Wednesday’s press conference that as the state reopens, Vermonters should consider keeping a contact journal – a list of other people who you have been in close contact with each day. If you did get sick, this would make it easier to get in touch with those people and so they can take proper precautions to prevent further spread of COVID-19.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Starting Thursday, you can hunt, fish, boat, hike and play golf. But at least for now the 19th hole is closed. Governor Phil Scott today announced that outdoor recreation and limited social interactions may resume under strict health and safety precautions, as state modeling continues to indicate a slow in the spread of COVID-19.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets has coordinated an effort to recover raw milk from being disposed while creating a new, temporary food supply for the Vermont Foodbank. In collaboration with the Vermont Community Foundation, $60,000 has been made available to purchase this milk for the benefit of Vermonters. These efforts are particularly important as Vermont’s dairy industry, like all sectors, has been challenged by COVID-19 but remain essential to Vermonters’ food supply.

Vermont Business Magazine Consolidated Communications is helping to ease the transition from classroom learning to distance learning for schools and students by increasing bandwidth to boost school hot spots and providing Internet service, including in Vermont. According to the US Census, an estimated 18 percent of students don’t have Internet access at home, in what has become known as the “homework gap.” For more than a month, Consolidated has assisted thousands of low-income families of students affected by recent school closings by connecting their homes to the Internet.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) on Tuesday headed a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to confirm that US policy does not preclude companies and humanitarians from providing essential medical equipment, food, and information to the people of Cuba to combat COVID-19.

Vermont Business Magazine Health care professionals are being urged to get Vermonters with any symptoms tested. The state is expanding its testing and contact tracing capabilities and is ready with the necessary supplies and resources. They are relying on health care professionals to help achieve this important public health goal. By being tested for any associated symptoms, Vermonters can help the VDH quickly identify and isolate outbreaks, and better understand COVID-19 in Vermont. As of May 5, the Vermont Department of Health is reporting five new cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths, which remain at 52. However, the number of hospitalizations jumped from 15 on Monday to 33 as of Tuesday's report.

Vermont Business Magazine “The internet is necessary infrastructure that is essential for Vermonters to stay safe when they shelter at home during a crisis, such as the COVID-19 emergency,” said June Tierney, the Commissioner of the Department of Public Service. Today, the Department released a draft of its Emergency Broadband Access Plan, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The draft plan lays out a strategy and action steps for how to get internet service to the nearly 70,000 business and residential locations or about 23% of the state that presently do not have access at speeds at or above 25/3 Mbps. Broadband is defined as 25/3 Mbps. Universal access to broadband will help improve the lives of those who struggle to access needed services, telecommute, learn remotely or access telemedicine.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott said on Monday that he will announce this week that some social provisions of his "Stay Home" order will be relaxed, but that the overall emergency order he signed March 13 will be extended. He said that announcement will come by May 15, the day it would have expired. The emergency order gives him the authority to enact the mitigation efforts like the "Stay Home" order. The scientific data shows that the spread of COVID-19 has at least plateaued, as the number of cases slows even with more testing. Hospitalizations associated with the novel coronavirus also continue to fall.

Vermont Business Magazine With Governor Scott's May 1 announcement of manufacturing and distribution businesses ability to resume limited operations as of May 4 as well as their impending restart on May 11 if they can meet all health and safety requirements, VMEC has invited Vermont safety professionals and manufacturing leaders to share their expertise and experience during this pandemic.