Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Castleton University will deliver its upcoming summer session online, allowing students to continue their studies from the comfort of their homes. Castleton's summer session courses run in an accelerated format, ranging from three to eight weeks. Summer Session One runs from May 18 to June 26, and Session Two is from July 6 to August 14.

Vermont Business Magazine Today Amazon announced a $10 million grant to conserve and restore sustainable forestry and wildlife across the Appalachian Mountains and other US regions, in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, the American Forest Foundation, and the Vermont Land Trust. Starting in Vermont and Pennsylvania, this donation will support two projects that will help family forest owners sequester carbon across the Appalachians.

Investment will help remove over 18 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere—equivalent to 46 billion miles driven by an average passenger vehicle—by helping to restore and conserve family-owned forest lands.

Vermont Business Magazine Leading global commercial real estate services and investment management firm Colliers International Group Inc, in collaboration with V/T Commercial, announces it has been selected to market and secure the sale of the Marlboro College campus. Located in southern Vermont, just 10 miles from the vibrant town of Brattleboro, the historic college is fit to be repurposed or for use as-is and is available for immediate occupancy.

Vermont Business Magazine The Champlain College Board of Trustees today announced Benjamin Ola. Akande, PhD, as the ninth President of Champlain College. Dr Akande will assume the role effective July 1, 2020. Dr Laurie Quinn, Champlain's Provost and Senior Vice President for Academics, has been serving as Interim President since July 1, 2019.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC) has launched a new cloud-based platform, Manufacturing Exchange-Vermont (MXVT.org), whose primary mission is to connect people and supply chains to deliver solutions. It gives manufacturers and suppliers access to needs and capabilities in a virtual, collaboration space that empowers innovative thinking, helps solve problems and can create new business opportunities.

by Susan J Boutwell, Dartmouth Dartmouth students will not be returning to campus for summer term and will continue with remote learning, Provost Joseph Helble announced in an email today. In addition, athletic camps and other on-campus residential programs have been canceled, the Hopkins Center for the Arts will remain closed through August, and the Hanover Country Club (which is owned and operated by Dartmouth) will not open for the season.

Vermont Business Magazine The American Lung Association’s 2020 “State of the Air” report found Burlington-South Burlington-Barre metro area is 1 of only 2 cities nationwide ranking on the cleanest cities list for nation’s most widespread air pollutants—ozone and particle pollution—both of which can be deadly. In fact, the only counties in the state to have experienced any increase in these air pollutants is Bennington whose grade on ozone declined from a B to a C, and Chittenden which saw its total year-round particles increase slightly but remained within national standards maintaining its passing grade.

Vermont Business Magazine Food insecurity in Vermont has increased by one-third during the coronavirus pandemic, from 18.3% to 24.3%, according to a statewide survey conducted by the University of Vermont at the end of March and announced in a series of briefs today. The increase in food insecurity was strongly correlated with employment status. Among survey respondents overall, 45% had lost their jobs, been furloughed or had their hours reduced during the pandemic. Among food insecure Vermonters, two-thirds (66%) had experienced job losses or work disruptions since the outbreak of the pandemic.

by John McClaughry On November 3, 1927, Vermont took a hell of a shellacking. October had been extremely rainy. Then in two days nearly a foot of torrential rain fell on most of Vermont. The soggy mountain forests couldn’t hold it. Down it came in gushing brooks and wild brown rivers, sweeping away nearly two hundred years of settlement and improvement. The flood waters made nine thousand people homeless, damaged or destroyed 1,258 bridges, washed out 250 miles of the Central Vermont Railroad; and claimed the lives of 84 people.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor has announced it will continue its Virtual Town Hall events this week. The Department announced the events in response to the impact of COVID-19. Update on the application process and implementation of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance will be held Tuesday at 2 pm.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott said today that he would rather the Vermont State Colleges close the Williston campus of Vermont Technical College, than close three other residential campuses in rural Vermont. Last Friday Vermont State Colleges System Chancellor Jeb Spaulding proposed closing three of the VSC campuses, in Lyndon, Johnson and Randolph Center. The plan was for trustees to vote today on the plan. They put off that vote for at least a week.

Senator Bernie Sanders I appreciate the Board of Trustees' decision to delay a vote on the proposal to close three Vermont State College campuses. Clearly, there is no easy answer to the challenges facing our state college system, but delaying the decision is an important step forward. We need the time to have a statewide discussion which includes all of the stakeholders. Unfortunately, that kind of discussion cannot take place in the middle of a pandemic and stay-at-home practices.