Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Eight Main Street Grants will be awarded to six Vermont communities from the National Life Group Foundation. This is the second year of the Main Street Grants program that was created to help build community throughout Vermont where National Life is headquartered. The grants include funding for repositioning a community to take advantage of its emerging outdoor recreational opportunities to upgrading heating and lighting systems in an arts center to a mural designed to enhance a downtown streetscape. In all, $85,300 in grants will be awarded to Barre, Brandon, Newport, Poultney, Randolph, and Rutland.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) has entered into a Stipulation and Consent Order with The Lafayette Life Insurance Company for its failure to properly supervise its Vermont insurance agents. Under the terms of the settlement, Lafayette will pay a $300,000 administrative penalty and make several improvements to its supervisory procedures, including annual training and enhanced reporting.

by Representative Pattie McCoy (Rutland-1) The Vermont Senate recently passed a bill that will mandate a $15 minimum wage for Vermont by 2024, with incremental increases from today’s $10.78. This sounds nice, giving low-income workers a raise; however, there are some significant consequences to this that the proponents of the bill and the media are not telling Vermonters.

Vermont Business Magazine The City of Burlington, Champlain College and Park Burlington have announced a free parking promotion through August during the Great Streets project on Saint Paul Street. Beginning on April 1st, the new covered lots at 194 St Paul Street - with entrances on King or Maple - will offer a first hour of free parking and a rate reduction to $1/Hr for every hour thereafter. See the attached map for the location of the parking lots. You must still use Parkmobile or the kiosk machine to set up your parking session, even for the hour of free parking.

Vermont Business Magazine NBT Bank was rated the number one bank in Vermont on Forbes 2019 World’s Best Banks list released in March. This is the first time Forbes has recognized the World’s Best Banks based solely on consumer feedback.

Interdisciplinary Events in French, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, and Spanish

Vermont Business Magazine The Spring 2019 Language Series, hosted by the Isabelle Kaplan Center for Languages and Cultures at Bennington College, offers interdisciplinary talks and events that enhance and expand the understanding of language and cultures outside the classroom. All events are free, open to the public, and will take place on Bennington College’s campus.

Leonine Public Affairs This was a big week in Montpelier. The House passed the budget, revenue bill and capital bill. Timing is on par with most legislative sessions. With 12 weeks in the books the legislature is two-thirds of the way through the scheduled 18 week session. What is somewhat more unusual - at least compared to recent sessions - is how little controversy there has been.

Vermont Business Magazine Community Bank NA recently presented a $2,500 donation to Common Roots to help support its food education programs for local preschool and elementary school children. All programs focus on transforming the culture regarding nutritious, fresh, local foods. Founded in 2009, Common Roots has worked with farmers, educators, kids, families and the broader community to enrich local food systems and culture over the past decade. It has five food and access programs, including Farm to School, Growing Gardens, Community Food Shares, Farm to Go and Land-Based Gatherings at Wheeler Nature Park.

Vermont Business Magazine In celebration of Sodexo’s ongoing commitment to Vermont First local food sourcing, eight Vermont colleges will compete in a Localvore Cooking Challenge hosted by Norwich University on Wednesday, April 3, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. This friendly competition challenges professional and up-and-coming Sodexo chefs to create dishes around foods and products that are native to Vermont. Each campus culinary team will prepare and serve their local dishes to students during the special lunch at Norwich University and students get to vote on their favorite dish. The culinary teams will also be judged on presentation, creativity, technical execution, and guest interaction by guest judges from the Vermont food community. 

Vermont Business Magazine Brattleboro Savings & Loan announced today that it has been named a Certified B Corporation, joining a small group of ambitious companies around the world that meet exceptional standards for environmental, social, and community impact.

Vermont Business Magazine On Saturday, March 30, the lights of iconic sites like the Sydney Opera House, the Empire State Building, and the Space Needle will be turned off between 8:30 and 9:30pm to show solidarity in the fight against climate change as people around the world celebrate the 13^th annual Earth Hour, an event that originated as a symbolic “lights out” event in Sydney, Australia in 2007.

The USS VERMONT (SSN 792) Commissioning Committee is proud to partner with The Vermont Teddy Bear Company to offer Dewey Bears with our USS VERMONT logo.  Our bears are called Dewey in honor of Admiral George Dewey, the only officer of the U.S. Navy ever to hold the rank of Admiral of the Navy. Admiral Dewey was born in 1837 in Montpelier, Vt., and his distinguished service during the Civil War in 1861 through the Spanish-American War in 1898 resulted in Congress awarding him the rank of Admiral.