Current News

by Lindsey Papasian, Community News Service Hyla Howe trudged through the high grass. She scanned the ground and took note: red clover, sedge, canary reed. Each plant said something about whether the field would be a good spot for bobolinks. Suddenly came a wave of R2-D2 chirps as 40 or more birds were flushed from their positions in the grass, swirling through the air singing. The birds looked like dots dancing overhead. The fledglings were easy to spot in their clumsier flight patterns, and with binoculars, the adult males were clear in their distinctive black and white plumage, the adult females sporting brown feathers with yellow breasts. 

VermontBiz Green Mountain Power (GMP) is reminding customers they are invited to drop by GMP’s Open House on Wednesday, September 3, from 5:30-6:30 pm at GMP’s service center in Brattleboro. Refreshments will be served. As part of GMP’s Multi-Year Regulation Plan, GMP holds two customer Open House gatherings per year, each in a different part of the state. 

VermontBiz In its ninth year supporting Vermonters in need and the vital work of the Vermont Foodbank, the Vermont Legal Community Fighting Hunger Food Drive will start Friday, September 5th, and run until Friday, September 19th. For the third year in a row, the Attorney General’s Office is encouraging members of the legal community to collect diapers, in addition to food, to support Vermont families experiencing diaper need.

VermontBiz Step inside PhotoPlace Gallery, a rustic-modern space on Park Street in Middlebury, this month, and you’ll find yourself transported to distant corners of the globe. The current exhibition, “Travel: People, Places and Things,“ is a thoughtfully curated collection of photographs captured around the world, from Vietnam’s tea fields to the Russian Arctic to the tanneries of Morocco.

VermontBiz The Agency of Natural Resources’ (ANR) Climate Action Office (CAO) released the latest Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and Forecast (GHG Inventory) on July 18, the state’s official measure for evaluating progress towards the emissions reduction requirements of the Global Warming Solutions Act.

The most recent GHG data shows 2022 emissions (most recent available) are at their lowest level on record, outside the COVID-19 pandemic drop in 2020.

However, there would still need to be a steep drop in emissions by the next goal in 2024 emissions.

Vermont’s unemployment rate unchanged at 2.6% in June

The Vermont Department of Labor has reported that the seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate for June was 2.6%. This reflects no change from the prior month’s revised estimate. The Labor Force and Employed were both down, offset by a decrease in Unemployed from May. The civilian labor force participation rate was 64.9% in June, a decrease of one-tenth of one percentage point from the prior month’s revised estimate. Vermont has the third lowest jobless rate, behind South (1.8%) and North Dakota (2.5%). Nevada has the highest rate again, tied with California, at 5.4%. Washington DC has the overall highest rate at 5.9%. The national rate is 4.1%.

VermontBiz This weekly report is a list of planned construction activities that will affect traffic on state highways and interstates throughout Vermont.

To learn more about the projects listed below or to sign up to receive weekly construction updates via email, visit our Construction Updates page.

Please remember to drive safely in all work zones. Lives depend on it.

VermontBiz Working in a wastewater plant may seem undesirable, but Tori Beloin likes it. For the past six months, she’s been working in southern Vermont as an apprentice through the Vermont Rural Water Association. 

Beloin has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, and before starting the apprenticeship, worked in childcare. She wanted to shift to a trade, and this program gave her an opportunity to get necessary training without needing previous experience. 

“This has been the best choice I’ve ever made,” she said. 

Vermont Business Magazine Cabot Creamery/Agri-Mark Inc. had a standout performance at the 2025 World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest. The cooperative earned multiple honors - including one of three Grand Champion awards for its Triple Cream Vanilla Bean Greek Yogurt. Hosted by the Wisconsin Dairy Products Association (WDPA), the contest is the only North American competition of its kind, drawing entries from across the dairy industry.

VermontBiz Assisted by Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic and the Law Office of James A. Dumont, Esq., forest protection group Standing Trees filed litigation Thursday in Washington County Superior Court alleging numerous constitutional and legal violations by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) in its management of state lands, including the 2024 Worcester Range Management Unit Long Range Management Plan.

“This lawsuit is about putting the public back in public lands,” said Zack Porter, co-founder and executive director of Standing Trees. “Vermont ANR manages its lands and waters with nearly absolute power and control, denying the public a seat at the table while inviting private industry to dinner. We’ve given ANR ample opportunity to improve its decision-making processes and facilitate public participation. If ANR won’t act, we will.”

Middlebury President Ian B. Baucom I write today with difficult news. As you will have seen from my video address, the Board of Trustees on Wednesday, August 27, convened a special meeting and approved my recommendation that we conclude residential graduate programs and the online degree programs described below at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS). We will complete these programs and operations based in Monterey over the next two years. I met with the MIIS community this afternoon to share this decision, and members of Middlebury’s Student Life, Student Financial Services, and Human Resources teams also are in Monterey to support our colleagues.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) has released the Vermont Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (VT-BEAD) Draft Final Proposal, which is the state’s plan to accomplish the goal of enabling all Vermonters to have access to high-speed reliable broadband. BEAD is a federal program that provides $42.45 billion to expand access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment, and adoption programs in all states and territories. Vermont’s allocation of those funds is almost $229 million. The VT-BEAD Draft Final Proposal lists the provisional grantees of those funds and what technology they plan to use to serve all remaining unserved and underserved addresses in their project areas. The bids included in the Draft Final Proposal total $179,426,004.96.