Current News

by Betsy Bishop, President of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce In the last few months, our world changed. Vermonters and people around the globe are reeling from the impact of COVID-19 on their lives, work, and loved ones. Throughout the pandemic, the Vermont Chamber has advocated for financial assistance and regulatory relief to help businesses throughout our state survive, helping their communities and their workers.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan is putting debt collectors, creditors, and financial institutions on notice that, in Vermont, federal stimulus money is protected from garnishment or collection. According to the directive issued today by the Attorney General, payments authorized by the federal government’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, are exempt from garnishment or collection under Vermont law. The Attorney General is also urging the banking community to voluntarily suspend collection activity for overdrafts or other administrative fees that could otherwise jeopardize the receipt, reallocation, and circulation of stimulus monies issued to Vermonters as a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

by Joyce Judy, CCV President The Vermont State Colleges System is weathering the roughest days of its 60-year history. The potential changes facing our sister institutions are painful and the challenges are real. While the Community College of Vermont (CCV) is not immune to these challenges, we are fundamentally unique, financially stable, and poised to help rebuild Vermont in the wake of COVID-19.

Vermont Business Magazine Mack Molding and Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) have partnered to develop an innovative alternative for Personal Protective Equipment for the health system. Similar to the rest of the country, southern Vermont has not been immune to the challenges of acquiring PPE during the COVID-19 crisis, and most specifically disposable masks. Through their collaboration, Mack and SVHC began investigating alternative mask options that could be modified since N95s masks and 7700 respirators are in high demand.

Christopher Darby, RN, CEN, Emergency Department Clinical Coordinator, using the mask in the SVMC Emergency Department. SVMC photos.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s state colleges have provided Vermonters with access to higher education and helped to build the Vermont workforce for the past 60 years. They are an essential part of our post-secondary system and the economic drivers of rural regions around the state. Community members, students and faculty have reached out to us over the last several days worried about the future of their education, jobs and towns. We share their concerns.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Foodbank and Vermont National Guard will distribute food to those in need at five different areas of Vermont beginning on Wednesday, April 22. These points of distribution will meet the increased demand on food shelves around the state.

by David Blittersdorf, AllEarth Renewables We are in the beginning of the largest crisis our world has seen in almost a century. COVID-19 has rapidly triggered a human health and economic disaster in our fragile modern society, the likes of which we have never experienced before. Crises are chaotic and disruptive, but in every crisis there is opportunity for positive systemic change.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) approved over $16 million in new financing for Vermont businesses and farms for the quarter ended March 31, a $7 million increase in volume over the previous quarter. The $16 million in new loans helped 41 different borrowers, of which 28 were in the small business and agricultural sectors. Of the $16 million in loan approvals, $9 million were in direct commercial loans, $2.5 million in small business loans, $2 million in agricultural loans, and another $2 million in renewable energy loans. VEDA also facilitated the approval of $483K for its affiliate loan programs like the Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund and the Vermont Brownfields Revitalization Fund.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) Commissioner Michael Pieciak today announced a multi-state initiative to secure student loan relief options for thousands of Vermonters with privately held student loans. The relief, confirmed with several of the most significant national private student loan servicers, will expand on the protections already provided by the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC) and provided to federal student loan borrowers under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today reported two new cases of COVID-19 for a total of 818 statewide and the number of deaths associated with the novel coronavirus increased by two to 40. The number of hospitalizations continues to slowly decline and is now at 41, which is down three from Monday's report. There were 53 such cases as of Sunday and 56 on Saturday. These numbers are below the best-scenario presented two weeks ago.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) Tuesday wrote to Attorney General Barr and White House Counsel Cippolone asking them to release to Congress copies of any documents produced by the Department of Justice and the White House Counsel’s Office articulating the legal basis, if any exists, for President Trump and Vice President Pence’s sweeping claims of “total” authority to override states’ independent responses to the COVID-19 crisis.

Vermont Business Magazine In recognition that people’s reproductive and sexual health care can’t wait, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) announced the launch of a new telehealth program in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, which allows patients to access high-quality, affordable health care services by phone or through a private and secure video conferencing platform that connects them with PPNNE’s trusted health care providers.