Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Burlington Business Association , in close collaboration with the Church Street Marketplace , is pleased to announce the implementation of a holiday street ambassador team. Recognized by their bright yellow jackets from Chocolate Thunder Security , the ambassadors will be present downtown this holiday season, working to ensure visitors have an inviting, informed and safe visit to Vermont’s largest city.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Arts Council has awarded grants to artists, arts organizations, and communities throughout Vermont. The projects funded through these grants are as vital and varied as the state's creative sector -- ranging from a Cultural Facilities Grant that helps fund the installation of an ADA-compliant elevator to a Creation Grant of $4,000 that will enable a poet to create new work. FY2019 grants were awarded in the categories of Artist Development, Artists in Schools, Arts Impact, Arts Partnership, Creation, Cultural Facilities, and Head Start Arts Integration. The Council awarded 110 grants totaling $518,688. A full list of grantees is available on the Vermont Arts Council website.

Vermont Business Magazine NorthCountry Federal Credit Union presented at $50,000 grant award to COTS this afternoon at COTS’ main program and housing facility, 95 North Avenue.

This generous grant will support COTS’ work to end homelessness in our community. COTS is the largest service provider for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in Vermont. The nonprofit organization provides year-round emergency program shelters for single adults and families with children; homelessness prevention services; and transitional and permanent housing.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General T.J. Donovan yesterday joined a multistate coalition to file an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit brought by the ACLU to protect asylum seekers. The suit challenges the federal government’s efforts to prevent people who have not entered the country at a designated “port of entry” from applying for asylum in the United States. Over 6,000 Central American immigrants, including over 1,000 children, are currently stranded outside California ports of entry waiting for an opportunity to present their asylum claims to federal immigration officials. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Event part of Governor’s “Capitol for a Day” initiative

Vermont Business Magazine As part of Governor Phil Scott’s “Capitol for a Day” initiative, he toured a wildlife underpass project along Route 15 in Wolcott on lands owned by the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. The project promotes safe movement of wildlife under the road and is being completed through a partnership with VTrans, Vermont Fish & Wildlife, The Nature Conservancy and the town of Wolcott.

Vermont Business Magazine Thursday, Governor Phil Scott announced the appointment of Sarah Squirrell to be the next Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Mental Health. Squirrell will take over on January 1, 2019, for Mourning Fox who has been serving as the Interim Commissioner since Melissa Bailey’s departure in October. Fox will resume his position as Deputy Commissioner, a role he has been serving in for the last two years.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Public Utility Commission approved today the transfer of the closed Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Vernon, Vermont, to NorthStar, a national provider of large-scale demolition services. NorthStar has committed to an accelerated schedule for decommissioning the plant and restoring the Vermont Yankee site, beginning no later than 2021 and finishing no later than the end of 2030. The transfer avoids the alternative proposal offered by the current owner, Entergy, which would have involved a lengthy dormant period for the Station, with cleanup delayed until 2053 and possibly as late as 2068. The 620-megawatt plant went online in November 1972 and closed on December 29, 2014.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Pico Mountain, part of the POWDR adventure lifestyle company, is scheduled to kick off its 2018-19 winter season at 9 am on Friday. The sixth annual Opening Weekend Food Raiser will take place December 14-16, 2018, offering discounted lift tickets in exchange for food donations for low-income Vermonters. The Food Raiser is a partnership with Pico Mountain and local nonprofit organization BROC Community Action, which feeds 600 families each month through the BROC Community Food Shelf. Discounted single-day lift tickets will be available Friday through Sunday at the Pico Sales Center for $39 (regularly $81) for all ages with a donation of three non-perishable food items.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) issued the following statements after their legislation to support small businesses with National Guard and Military Reservists unanimously passed the Senate on Thursday. The National Guard and Reserve Entrepreneurship Act will assist small businesses when essential employees, including small business owners, are called up as part of National Guard or Reservist duties, by improving existing loan and deferral programs of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and making them more accessible.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) announced Thursday that the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) will receive a $20 million federal award from the US Department of Transportation’s Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program. The funding will support the rehabilitation or replacement of 31 rail bridges along 53 miles of the Vermont Railway. The work will be done on the southern section of the state-owned rail line that runs in Vermont between Rutland and Bennington, continuing on to Hoosick, NY. Leahy hailed the award as significant for the impact it will have in bolstering the state’s economic development and climate change goals.

Vermont Business Magazine A new village wastewater infrastructure program will invest $350,000 to boost rural economic development in Vermont and protect the environment. The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), in collaboration with other state agencies, federal partners and local organizations, launched a pilot program earlier this month in Wolcott, East Burke and West Burke.

Vermont Business Magazine Kerrick Johnson has joined VEIC’s leadership team. As the new Strategy and Corporate Affairs Director, Johnson brings more than 30 years of experience in the energy industry to VEIC. Johnson was most recently Co-Founder and Chief Ecosystem Officer for Utopus Insights, a New York-based energy analytics startup acquired earlier this year by Vestas Wind Systems A/S. Prior to that he served as Vice President of Strategy and Communication for Vermont Electric Power Company (VELCO).