Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The 32nd Annual Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour opens on Saturday June 29, 2019 in Greensboro, Vermont for two shows at 1:00 pm and 6:00 pm. The opening day performances are the first on a 69-show tour that will visit 5 states and 16 towns over 51 days this summer. Upcoming area shows include St Johnsbury July 2 & 3 and Essex Junction July 5, 6 & 7. Tickets and show information are available at www.smirkus.org.

Governor Phil Scott The budget I’ll sign today is a good, fiscally responsible budget, which funds many of the legislature’s priorities as well as initiatives I proposed. And it does all this while keeping new spending to a level Vermonters can afford.

Let’s Grow Kids Today Governor Phil Scott signed the state budget into law that invests $7.4 million to expand Vermonters’ access to high-quality, affordable child care. Of all the many priorities for legislators and the administration, child care rose to the top with unprecedented tripartisan support for much-needed investments including the first major state funding increase for child care financial assistance in nearly a decade.

Vermont Business Magazine At its meeting Monday night, the Burlington City Council approved the Mayor’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget by an 11-1 vote. The $79 million general fund budget represents a $3 million (4 percent) increase from the FY 2019 budgeted amount.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, US Senators Tom Udall (D-NM) ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee overseeing the Department of the Interior’s budget, Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, called on Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary David Bernhardt to inform the Interior Appropriations subcommittee of the president’s reported Fourth of July plans and how the additional costs will be funded.

Vermont Business Magazine In order to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment at the Fair Market Rent in Vermont, renters need to earn $22.78 an hour, or $47,375 annually. With over 76,214 renter households, Vermont has the 6th largest affordability gap for renters of any state in the nation. Vermont’s 2019 Housing Wage, revealed in a national report, was released today. 

Vermont Business Magazine Traffic-stop data from 2018 released today by the Vermont State Police show the agency is continuing to make progress in addressing racial disparities in discretionary traffic stops and improving data quality.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont has joined a growing number of states keeping the U.S. on track to phase down climate-polluting hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, as Governor Phil Scott on Monday enacted a law curbing their use in home and business refrigeration systems, building chillers, insulating foams and aerosols. The governor signed S.30 barring the use of HFCs in major applications where there are safer alternatives, action that was hailed by environmental and public interest groups. HFCs have hundreds to thousands of times the heat-trapping power of carbon pollution, and both contribute to climate change.

Vermont Business Magazine Connor Mill-Built Homes, LLC (CMBH) in Middlebury has announced that Skip Wyer has been named Chief Executive Officer. Wyer will take on the day-to-day leadership of the company and will join CMBH’s board of managers.

by Betsy Bishop, President, Vermont Chamber of Commerce Prevailing post-adjournment reports have sidelined the praise both the Legislature and the Administration deserve for their contributions to Vermont’s economy. While it is tempting to continue debating the 2019 political turmoil, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce instead chooses to celebrate some of the many areas where legislators actively responded to the needs of the business community.

Vermont Business Magazine KeyBank, which operates nine branches across Vermont, has been named an honoree of The Civic 50 by Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service. The award recognizes KeyBank as one of the most community-minded companies in the United States.