Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Employees at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont (Blue Cross) have donated $8,555 to the Vermont Foodbank to assist with the growing need for food assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Blue Cross matched these funds dollar-for-dollar to make the total donation $17,110.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont State Colleges System (VSCS) Chancellor, Jeb Spaulding, today announced plans to resign from the post after more than five years leading the organization. Spaulding will formally submit his resignation to the Board of Trustees at a meeting scheduled for tomorrow night. Spaulding has led the organization through a time of significant challenges and disruption in higher education. These challenges have been intensified by the global COVID-19 pandemic causing more strain on organizational finances and leading the chancellor to make the recent controversial recommendation to close three VSCS campuses, which he withdrew last week.

Vermont Business Magazine The permitted processes include: Mailing a ballot proactively to every active or registered voter; Implementing a “drive-up” voting procedure; Holding a polling location outside; Forgoing the review of write-in votes in certain instances; Adjusting the deadline for nominating paperwork for candidates.

Vermont Business Magazine In a recent report card delivered to the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) applauded Vermont’s progress toward reaching Lake Champlain cleanup goals. The Lake Champlain cleanup is a decades-long endeavor, requiring steadfast stewardship and action across Vermont’s land-base that drains to Lake Champlain – spanning about half the state.

Vermont Agency of Commerce & Community Development Applications for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) as of yesterday are once again being accepted from participating lenders. Farms and ranches are eligible and always have been for the PPP program. The new development is that they now are also eligible for the EIDL program. However, the portal is not open for EIDL yet as they are processing loans in the queue. PPP provides cash-flow assistance to employers who maintain their payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic. Small businesses and other eligible entities can apply if they were harmed between February 15, 2020 and June 30, 2020. Loans are available through June 30, 2020. Businesses can access PPP by contacting the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA), their local bank or credit union, or the SBA Vermont District Office.

Devon Green, Vice President of Government Relations, VAHHS Here’s something I never thought I’d say: the Vermont State House has gone fully virtual. What used to be crowded committee rooms and cafeteria conversations is now Zoom calls, YouTube, and voting apps. The Senate and House health care committees have been meeting jointly, which is an efficiency that is much appreciated right now. VAHHS has been laser-focused on tracking federal initiatives, but the state house has had some major movement lately.

Vermont Business Magazine Amid the rise in COVID-19 cases and continuing strain on health care workers and the economy, an alarming statistic – a sharp decrease in heart attack-related hospital admissions – thrust cardiologists, including University of Vermont Professor Harold Dauerman, MD, into unprecedented action.

by Rob Roper Given the potential COVID-19 health risks associated with standing in line at polling places there are understandably more calls for a move to voting by mail. This may turn out to be necessary, but, if we are going to change the way we vote, we also have to ensure that the new ways are just as secure as the old. Otherwise citizens cannot have faith that that the outcomes of elections are fair, accurate, and therefore, valid.

Vermont Business Magazine Bar Harbor Bank & Trust is donating the proceeds collected in Q1 2020 from its employee-driven charitable giving program, Casual for a Cause, to ten non-profits providing assistance to those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. More than $11,000 is being donated through the program, which pools employee contributions collected each quarter and distributes them to non-profits selected by and voted on by the employees.

Vermont Business Magazine At Governor Scott's Monday’s press conference, Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD, emphasized that as the state takes its deliberate steps toward reopening, it does not mean an end to the actions we all must continue to take to slow the spread of the virus. Physical distancing from others “is here to stay,” he said, until an anti-viral treatment or a vaccine is developed. He added that there is no guarantee when or if a vaccine will be developed.

Vermont Business Magazine Chittenden Superior Court Judge Helen Toor today granted a preliminary injunction to stop a price-gouging scheme involving surgical masks. Attorney General TJ Donovan filed a lawsuit and motion for preliminary injunction against Big Brother Security Programs and its owner Shelley Palmer of Williston on April 13, 2020. The lawsuit alleged that Big Brother Security Programs, whose primary business is to own and operate public and private transportation, imported surgical masks that cost 10 cents each and re-sold them to Central Vermont Medical Center for $2.50 each. With today’s ruling, Big Brother Security Programs and Palmer are now enjoined from selling surgical masks or any other personal protective medical equipment at inflated prices.