Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) has welcomed nine participants to the 2025 Climate Catalysts Leadership Program. Participants from across the state will focus their time on the implementation of a local climate or energy project such as emergency planning and preparedness, promoting transportation equity, mapping climate/sustainability tools used by the ski industry, celebrating climate activists through storytelling and art, and more. The Climate Catalysts Leadership Program supports participants as they take their transformative, community-scale climate economy related projects to the next level by developing their concepts into reality while building peer connections, strengthening leadership skills, and receiving project development support. 

Vermont Business Magazine MBF Bioscience, a world leader in microscopy solutions, today announced the commercial launch of SLICE, a revolutionary light sheet microscope that represents a paradigm shift in advanced imaging technology. Invented by leading researchers at Columbia University, this patent-pending innovation delivers advanced 3D imaging capabilities to research labs of all sizes while offering performance that surpasses systems costing ten times more. SLICE addresses one of the most significant challenges in modern biological research: the limited accessibility of high-performance light sheet microscopy due to high costs and complex infrastructure requirements. 

Saint Michael's College  Not all heroes wear capes – some don hairnets and latex gloves to make 500 turkey sandwiches each morning for those who might otherwise go hungry. That is just one of the tasks a group of seven (six students and a staff leader) from Saint Michael’s College took on during a May service trip to the Edmundite Southern Missions in Selma, Alabama.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont) announced that Vermont farmers and producers affected by crop losses from natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 can now submit applications for assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Supplemental Disaster Relief Program. More than $16 billion in aid, made possible by the American Relief Act, 2025, will support farmers across the U.S., including in Vermont, who suffered agricultural and revenue losses due to natural disasters. 

by Vermont Auditor of Accounts Doug Hoffer Back in 1988, my first job in Vermont was in the City of Burlington’s Community and Economic Development Office, often called CEDO.  That is where I was introduced to the strategies and policies designed to produce and protect affordable housing. Vermont has been a laboratory in affordable housing since that time, especially the VT Housing & Conservation Trust, “inclusionary zoning” adopted in Burlington, and the land trust model used by the Champlain Housing Trust and others. For decades I’ve advocated for state government to help increase the stock and particularly the affordability of housing units. Now is no different.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Vermont weekly unemployment claims for the week ending July 5, 2025, fell by over 200 claims after a smaller drop the previous week. New claims were 309, down 222 claims from the week before and up 14 from last year at this time. Claims, which tend to be lowest in the summer, were 181 at the end of September 2024. In Vermont for the weekly report, the Service industry accounted for the most claims last week with 54%, up 12 points from the previous week. Construction was 4%, up 2 points. Manufacturing accounted for 22% of claims, up 2 points. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Women’s Fund, a component fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, is pleased to announce its 2025 grant cycle awards. This year, awards were distributed to 39 nonprofit organizations across the state, totaling $359,336. These grants support programs advancing economic security and opportunity for women+, girls, and gender diverse individuals throughout Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine On July 10, the Rural School Community Alliance (RSCA) released a statement saying it is cautiously hopeful with the news of appointments of members to the Redistricting Task Force established under H.454 (now designated Act 73). The Alliance has expressed concerns about the necessity of authentically representing the state’s rural communities throughout the process of the legislation’s development. According to the RSCA Steering Committee, “Among the appointees to the new task force are experienced and highly qualified educators as well as legislators with direct leadership experience serving Vermont’s rural communities. While not all appointees have these qualifications, we believe inclusion of these appointees indicates acknowledgement of the need to represent and serve all of Vermont’s children, communities, and taxpayers throughout the state.”

Vermont Business Magazine Over $830,000 in grant money administered by the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR) will be put to work in coming months to support the development and restoration of trail projects across Vermont. Four municipalities and 17 nonprofit organizations have been selected to receive Recreational Trails Program (RTP) and other state funds. RTP is funded by the Federal Highway Administration. This year’s trail projects range from developing a paddler campsite on the Connecticut River Paddlers’ Trail to funding a two-day workshop focused on design and management of off-highway vehicle trails. Other projects include installing accessible trailhead amenities along the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail and repairing a suspension bridge in Starksboro which was damaged in the July 2024 flooding. 

Vermont State Police An autopsy was completed Thursday, July 10, 2025, at the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington. The Vermont State Police is able to identify the victim as Erica Bovey, 41, who lived in the Pittsford home where the incident occurred. The medical examiner determined the cause of Bovey’s death was “gunshot wound of head and neck,” and the manner of death is listed as pending.

Vermont Business Magazine A new report, ‘Voting From Prison: Lessons From Maine and Vermont’ released today by The Sentencing Project, finds that incarcerated citizens in Maine and Vermont still face significant barriers to casting a ballot. The report reveals a troubling disconnect: having the legal right to vote while incarcerated does not guarantee the ability to exercise that right. With an estimated one million eligible voters currently completing a felony-level sentence in prisons or jails across the United States, the findings underscore the urgent need to remove systemic barriers to voting in correctional facilities. 

Vermont State Police Search crews located the three missing children safe and uninjured just before 6 a.m. Friday, July 11, 2025. They were found in wooded terrain about half a mile from their camp. Crews escorted the children off the mountain, and they are being reunited with their families. Additional teams that participated in the search effort overnight included New England K9 Search and Rescue, North Country Search Dogs, the Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team, and the Vermont Air National Guard.