Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund (VILDF) today announced it raised $250,000 since its launch in May. VILDF has already made its first grant of $100,000 to the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project. VILDF was established in May 2025 to bolster legal representation and support for immigrants in Vermont.  With a record number of immigration detentions and removals taking place in Vermont and across the country, the need for legal representation has been overwhelming the small number of Vermont attorneys with expertise in immigration law. The Vermont Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP) will use the funds from this award to expand urgently needed legal services for immigrants facing removal proceedings across the state. 

Vermont Business Magazine Switchback Brewing Co. has announced that its Essential Vermont Malt Whiskey has earned a Double Gold Medal at the 2025 North American Bourbon and Whiskey Competition (NABWC). This latest honor joins a growing list of accolades for the brewery, reinforcing Switchback’s expanding reputation for exceptional Vermont-made spirits. The NABWC, founded in 2014 and produced by Wine Country Network, brings together top whiskey producers from across North America in a double-blind, style-based competition judged by a panel of industry professionals. A Double Gold designation is reserved for spirits that receive unanimous gold ratings from the entire judging panel.

Vermont Business Magazine During National Wellness Month, the American Red Cross encourages people to prioritize their personal health and well-being while helping to save lives with a blood or platelet donation. Donors of all blood types – especially those with type O positive or B negative blood – are asked to make an appointment now to prevent a further drop in donor turnout. In August, the Red Cross will provide free A1C screening – a test commonly used to screen for prediabetes and diabetes – for all donors who make a successful blood, platelet or plasma donation. Fasting is not required for this test, and donors will be able to view their confidential results one to two weeks after their donation in the Blood Donor App or their donor account at RedCrossBlood.org. Donors will receive one A1C test result in a 12-month period. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health has recognized 72 primary care practices across the state for achieving high vaccination rates – helping to protect children, teens and adults against vaccine-preventable diseases that can be serious or even deadly. “Vaccines are one of the most effective tools we have to protect yourself and those around you from serious disease,” said Merideth Plumpton, Vermont Immunization Program Manager. “Now more than ever, we want to recognize the importance of this work in our communities and the professionals who are leading the way to keep Vermonters healthy.” Practices are honored at the Gold or Silver level based on their immunization coverage rates, according to data from the Vermont Immunization Registry.

Vermont Business Magazine Moments in Time, a collection of works by Vermonters with Dementia, is on display in the Community Room at Allard Square, a Cathedral Square community located at 146 Market Street in South Burlington. The exhibit displays (23) pieces from (13) individual artists and two collages created from art submissions from Residences and Adult Day centers in Vermont. The collection includes a variety of visual art, a wood carving, quilts and a mobile, highlighting the diversity and creativity of Vermonters with dementia.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported last week that the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations rose slightly after they fell to a near record-low number of cases statewide over the last two months since the beginning of the pandemic over five years ago. Overall COVID trends are declining in Vermont and across the US. The Vermont COVID-19 pandemic death total stands at 1,301 as of August 2, 2025, with 0 reported deaths from the previous week (the most recent data available from the CDC). WHO also reported that global COVID-19 deaths keep declining. The VDH is no longer reporting COVID fatalities and cases in Vermont. Wastewater testing generally indicates that COVID-19 virus levels in Vermont also has fallen to very low levels after they had spiked in January. 

Vermont Business Magazine Rootstock Publishing announces the August 26 release of Light: A Mother and Daughter Memoir of Anorexia by Nancy Y. Levine of Shelburne, co-written with Rachel Levine-Spates of Memphis, TN. Up to one in ten will die from anorexia. But Nancy Levine and her daughter Rachel didn’t know this when the disease slowly—then all too quickly—took root. While studying abroad, Rachel gave up junk food and began a new passion: running. Tanned and muscular, her family thought she looked healthy and fabulous. They didn’t notice that running and her “healthy diet” were controlling her life.  

Vermont State Police The Vermont State Police’s investigation into a Burlington police officer’s shooting at a motorist early Sunday morning remains active and ongoing. The state police is identifying the officer who fired his duty weapon as Jeffrey Baur. Officer Baur has served with the Burlington Police Department since 2022 and is currently assigned to the Uniform Services Bureau. He graduated from the Vermont Police Academy in 2017 and previously served with the Colchester, Vermont, Police Department and the Manchester, New Hampshire, Police Department. He has been placed on paid leave, per standard procedure.

Vermont Business Magazine In the long tradition of pioneering military education, Norwich University has once again stepped to the front of the line. Last month, the University hosted its first-ever Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO) camp, a landmark program designed to introduce students to military operations within the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) as a maneuver space. With this initiative, Norwich affirms its role as a national leader in immersive EMSO education—preparing future professionals to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving spectrum environment.

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Office today announced that Richard Gordon Love, 59, of Burlington, Vermont, was sentenced in Vermont Superior Court, Chittenden Criminal Division, after pleading guilty to one misdemeanor count of Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material. The Court, Judge John Pacht presiding, sentenced Love to 18 months to two years in prison, all suspended, and a five-year term of probation with conditions that require completion of sex offender programming, limit his contact with children, and restrict his access to the internet. If Love violates the terms of his probation, he faces up to two years in prison. Love is also required to register as a sex offender for 10 years after his successful completion of probation.  

Vermont Business Magazine In partnership with the Town of West Rutland and in collaboration with landowners Russ and Ellen Green, is excited to celebrate the removal of the Youngs Brook dam in West Rutland, Vermont. After years of fundraising and regulatory review, the deconstruction process kicked off last week and will run through October 2025. Removal of the dam will not only eliminate a major safety hazard, but it will also significantly improve the ecology of the Youngs Brook watershed, restoring natural stream process including sediment and nutrient transport essential to maintaining healthy stream habitat and equilibrium, while also enhancing aquatic organism passage, and increasing flood storage.

Vermont Business Magazine Money Follows the Person (MFP) Vermont announces that as of August 1, 2025, all eligible and enrolled individuals will have access to $9,000 in MFP transition funds. This is an increase from the previous amount of $2,500. Money Follows the Person (MFP) Vermont is a state initiative that operates through the state’s Choices for Care Long Term Medicaid program and is dedicated to helping eligible individuals transition from institutional settings back into their homes and communities. MFP provides support and services to enhance independence, improve quality of life, and ensure access to community-based care options for older Vermonters and Vermonters with disabilities.