Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Agency of Natural Resources Department of Environmental Conservation announced today that Bennington College Corporation will pay $15,750 for mismanaging hazardous waste on its Bennington campus in violation of Vermont’s Hazardous Waste Management Regulations. DEC inspected the Bennington College campus in May 2019 and observed violations of Vermont’s Hazardous Waste Management Regulations related to proper signage, storage and labeling of hazardous waste materials in different locations across campus.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims have shown a slow, steady decline since the beginning of the year, after the wild swings typical of the holidays. Initial claims for the week of February 8, 2020, were 475, which is typical for this time of year. Claims fell 6 from last week and were 25 fewer than they were at this time last year.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has announced new federal funding for research on the region’s forest ecosystem and economy. The Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC), first created by Leahy in the 1998 Farm Bill, received $2 million in the fiscal year 2020 appropriations bill for research on the Northern Forest and its 26 million acres of working landscape.

​Vermont Business Magazine Heritage Aviation, an employee-owned aviation services company, was recently awarded over $13,000 through the Vermont Training Program (VTP). The grant funding will be used to support Heritage Aviation’s professional development program, grow its maintenance department, and promote safety. Those that are enrolled in its maintenance apprenticeship program (MAP) will be given the opportunity to obtain an airframe and powerplant (A&P) certification. This will provide a new career path for these employees and allows them to “learn and earn” the certification instead of going back to school.

Vermont Business Magazine What do Vermonters think about the coming election? What are the key issues on their minds? For the third consecutive year, VPR and Vermont PBS are collaborating on three statewide public opinion surveys that will provide valuable insight into the minds of Vermonters in the 2020 presidential election year. The results of the first poll will be released on February 18, two weeks ahead of Town Meeting Day, Vermont’s presidential primary and Super Tuesday, when 14 states and approximately one-third of the country’s voters participate in presidential primaries.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor people who have returned from travel in China for symptoms of a novel coronavirus, now called COVID-19. The monitoring effort is for people who have returned from China in the past 14 days and who had no symptoms of respiratory illness when screened upon returning to the U.S.

Vermont Business Magazine On February 8, in the final hours of an awards ceremony recognizing the best journalism and publications in the region, the New England Newspaper and Press Association awarded Vermont Ski + Ride its highest honor, naming the magazine the winner of General Excellence in Specialty Publications.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) hosted a celebration of the Vermont Farm to School and Childcare Grant Program at the Vermont State House Wednesday, recognizing 7 Vermont school communities and 2 early childcare organizations with $110,000 in important grants to support their local food programming.

Vermont Business Magazine Creating a DES in Burlington would meet the long-held goal of recovering waste heat and additional steam from BED’s McNeil Generating Station, and using those sources to provide thermal energy to UVMMC via steam pipe. This system would reduce fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions in Burlington, and mark a significant step toward Burlington’s goal to become a Net Zero Energy city. DES also has the potential to make McNeil more efficient and to modestly diversify the market for the energy produced at the station.

Patrick Patrick Leahy Since first emerging in Wuhan, China on December 31^st, the outbreak of a new coronavirus, COVID-19 (“novel coronavirus”), has spread to 25 countries, infected more than 44,000 people, caused at least 1,100 deaths, forced entire cities into lockdown, triggered hundreds of international flight cancelations, restricted hundreds of Americans to US military bases in a federal government quarantine, and caused significant economic harm to countries and businesses around the globe. All this in only six weeks, with no end in sight. So why is the White House proposing to cut funding for programs and agencies working to control the pandemic and protect the health of Americans?

Vermont Business Magazine On a cold Tuesday, music plays from a radio and workers wheel shopping bags around in a circle lined with incredible looking food items fresh from a farm or local producer, including meat, eggs, cheeses, milk, yogurt, baked goods, fresh bread, fruits and vegetables. The workers are like busy bees buzzing away in their hive. They take a list, grab a bag, and spin around the circle, grabbing items off the list and packing them into a reusable Farmers To You branded shopping bag.