Current News

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) today led a bipartisan group of United States Senators introducing a resolution supporting Minor League Baseball (MiLB) and their efforts to fight Major League Baseball’s (MLB) proposed elimination or demotion of 42 MiLB clubs, including the Norwich (CT) Sea Unicorns, Lowell (MA) Spinners, West Virginia Power, Bluefield (WV, VA) Blue Jays, Princeton (WV) Rays and Vermont Lake Monsters. The Spinners and Lake Monsters play in the same league.

by Stephanie Yu, Public Assets Institute There was a celebratory feeling in the air in Montpelier on Tuesday after the Legislature overrode the governor’s veto of S.23, the bill to increase Vermont’s minimum wage. The governor rejected the bill despite the support of nearly three-quarters of Vermonters for the increase. In the end, the Legislature decided that 40,000 of the lowest-paid Vermonters needed the raise.

Vermont Business Magazine The Magic Hat Brewing Company announces the return of its Mardi Gras celebration on Saturday, March 28, with a New Orleans jazz funeral-style tribute to the parade, which has officially been laid to rest. That's right, after 24 winter-warming, bead-bearing years, the much-loved parade has joined fellow floats in its eternal march in the sky.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont House Wednesday evening advanced S.54, an act relating to the regulation of cannabis, on a vote of 90-54. The bill, which would establish legal sales of cannabis (marijuana) will be considered for a third reading on Thursday. If it passes the bill would then head to the Senate. Governor Phil Scott has said that any bill he would approve must have significant health and safety measures built into it.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) and the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development (VACCD) outlined to legislators today a report looking at the future of dairy in Vermont and the economic viability of expanding dairy markets in the northeast, major metropolitan areas and beyond. The report comes as a result of Act 83 requiring both Agencies to research these concerns and report back.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan announced that opioid manufacturer, Mallinckrodt (MNK), has devised a global settlement framework that would settle all opioid-related claims against it. The agreement in principle is supported by Vermont and 46 states and US territories, as well as municipalities and other litigants in the federal opioid multidistrict litigation.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) is alerting customers to severe weather starting late Wednesday through Thursday afternoon, as forecasters predict gusty winds along the western slopes of the Green Mountains reaching up to 70MPH in higher elevations, and the strong winds could take down trees and power lines. The storm is also expected to bring some heavy, wet snow and forecasters say that is most likely in higher elevations. GMP is prepared to respond as quickly and safely as possible for customers, and is urging them to be prepared for the possibility of scattered outages throughout GMP service territory.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism (VCIH) recently signed a contract with Goddard College to move its school and clinic from Montpelier to the historic Greatwood campus in Plainfield this June. VCIH will join EarthWalk Vermont, also located on the campus, for a mission-based partnership in Goddard College’s new Village for Learning Initiative. VCIH’s sliding-scale herbal clinics and apothecary serve hundreds of clients in the Central Vermont and Chittenden County communities, while their nationally-recognized programs enroll 60-70 students annually. As the popularity of herbal medicine continues to grow, a need for additional classroom spaces and outdoor teaching and cultivation areas sparked the search for a new location in 2019.

Vermont Business Magazine In its sixth annual study, SmartAsset determined the top states for higher education by analyzing graduation rate, price, student-faculty ratio, 20-year ROI and in-state attendance rate. Vermont cracks the top half of the list, tying with Massachusetts and Wisconsin for 17th place. However, that earned those states an overall grade of only a C+.

Suresh Garimella, President of the University of Vermont A three-time Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times reporter. The first African American to be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Two Nobel Peace Prize winners. One of Fortune magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Women.” The producer of the “Hunger Games” movies and a Golden Globes winner. And the author of one of the Library of Congress’s 10 most influential books of our time.*

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) President Trump’s instinct of robbing Peter to pay Paul is once again on full display, demonstrating a dangerous level of incompetence within his administration to confront the global spread of the novel coronavirus. His administration is only requesting $1.25 billion in emergency funding, and the rest is drained from resources to combat Ebola and other unspecified public health programs.

Vermont Business Magazine A federal Court has ruled that tenants can bring claims against the City of St Albans for unfairly removing them from their home after the landlord refused to make necessary repairs. Dwight Martell and Lynn Cook claimed that the City had abruptly shut off their water, electricity, and gas and ordered them out, making them homeless, all without having a legal basis for doing so. They sued for violations of their Fourteenth Amendment due process rights and Fourth Amendment rights to be free from unreasonable seizure.

The City moved to dismiss the tenants’ claims. On February 21, 2020, United States Magistrate Judge John M Conroy denied the dismissal of tenants’ Fourteenth Amendment procedural Due Process claim and Fourth Amendment unlawful seizure claim; and granted dismissal of Tenants’ Fifth Amendment Takings Clause Claim.