Current News

Vermont State Police On August 11, 2025, at approximately 1910 hours, the Vermont State Police responded to a single vehicle collision on I-89 S in the Town of Milton. Vehicle 1 was identified as a 2023 GMC 3500, operated by Thomas Rehrig, of Schuylkill Haven, PA. Vehicle 1 was traveling south on I-89 S, when it departed the traveled portion of the roadway and entered the median. Vehicle 1 then struck multiple trees in the median and came to a final point of uncontrolled rest. 

Vermont Business Magazine Kinney Drugs has announced a new Brattleboro drugstore at 499 Canal Street is officially open and ready to serve the community. This includes the administration of the flu vaccine, which is now available for the 2025-2026 flu season. This location is formerly a Rite Aid, and several pharmacists and staff have chosen to join the Kinney Drugs family. 

Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission Four months into our Draft Regional Future Land Use Map outreach, and we have met with 21 of TRORC's 30 member towns! Five meetings are coming up in August. During this process, TRORC has created an interactive web map showing our proposed Regional Future Land Use Map. After TRORC meets with each Municipal Planning Commission, they will become visible on the map. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 Vermont Community Leadership Award: Vermont’s Long Term Recovery Groups (LTRGs) and the many dedicated volunteers who rose to support their communities during the catastrophic floods of 2023 and 2024.This award was presented yesterday at VCRD’s 6th Community Leadership Summit where community leaders from across the state gathered to share skills, connect, and build a stronger Vermont together. Each year, VCRD presents the Community Leadership Award to individuals or groups who exemplify dedication, integrity, and honorable service to rural Vermont, and whose work has had a transformational impact on their communities. This year’s award honors not just one leader—but an entire network of leaders across the state whose actions represent the very best of grassroots community service.

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.