Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Grants are now available for organizations and projects in Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans Counties through the Northeast Kingdom Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation. The fund awards grants of up to $5,000 to support projects that benefit the people and communities of the Northeast Kingdom. Priority will be given to projects that have emerged from the local community and/or respond directly to community needs. Nonprofits, schools, and grassroots organizations are encouraged to apply. Applications will be accepted through 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 21, 2026.

Vermont Business Magazine ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, announces a special exhibit unveiling ceremony celebrating Senator Patrick and Marcelle Leahy and their remarkable legacy of environmental stewardship and community connection. The ceremony will take place on Wednesday, June 17, at 1:30 pm at ECHO. The unveiling of a permanent sign at ECHO’s front doors marks a milestone moment for the organization and the broader Vermont community. The installation tells the story of two individuals whose vision, advocacy, and deep personal connection to Lake Champlain have left a lasting mark on the region, ensuring that generations of Vermonters can access, appreciate, and protect one of our great natural resources.

Vermont Business Magazine On June 16, community leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers, researchers, and students from across the region will gather at the University of Vermont for the annual RISE Summit. Centered around the theme “Partnerships for Rural Prosperity: Building Community-University Collaboration,” the summit will explore how partnerships can help strengthen rural communities and expand opportunity across Vermont and beyond. Hosted by UVM’s Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships, RISE, which stands for Research, Innovation, Sustainability, and Entrepreneurship, brings together participants from a broad range of sectors to discuss solutions to complex rural challenges through collaboration, research, and community engagement. More than 800 people attended the summit last year.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and members of his cabinet will be in Rutland County on Friday, June 5 for its Capital for a Day 14-county tour. Governor Scott first launched this initiative in June 2018, and he and his cabinet visited all 14 counties over the following 10 months. Capital for a Day gives local constituents, municipal government leaders and other partners the opportunity to connect directly with state leadership and staff. “Spending a day in each county gives us an opportunity to hear directly from Vermonters, see the good things happening in their communities and understand how decisions made in Montpelier are impacting them,” said Governor Scott. “In the past, challenges identified on these visits led us to make historic investments in wastewater systems to support economic growth, strengthen our CTE centers, collaborate on public safety issues and more.”

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Society of Certified Public Accountants has announced it will merge with the state CPA societies of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island to form one regional organization: New England Society of CPAs, effective July 1, 2026. The regional organization is designed to expand value for members while building a stronger, more sustainable future for the profession. The merger unites five state societies into one member-focused organization that will provide enhanced advocacy, expanded learning opportunities, broader peer networks and increased resources for accounting and finance professionals, their organizations and future talent entering the profession. 

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont State University graduated 188 this month from its Level IV registered apprenticeship programs, which the university offers in partnership with the Vermont Department of Labor. Of that total, 133 electricians and 55 plumbers, representing 115 employer sponsors, were recognized at the graduation for having completed all four offered levels of training in their respective trade. Since 1999, Vermont State University (and its predecessor, Vermont Technical College) has partnered with the Vermont Department of Labor to manage the instructional component of the Registered Electrical & Plumbing Apprenticeship programs. Apprentices are required to complete 144 hours of classroom instruction during each of the four years of the apprenticeship for 576 total classroom hours.

Vermont Business Magazine June 2, 2026. The Rural School Community Alliance (RSCA) commends the Vermont legislature’s bipartisan support for local democracy and voluntary school district mergers with its passage of H.955. The RSCA has advocated for this result for the past 18 months: no forced mergers, and let the people decide by a vote of the electorate whether or not to merge into larger school districts. H.955 is a dramatically different result than was initially proposed. The legislature, and the Governor, ultimately listened to the thousands of voices of rural Vermonters who provided Vermont-specific evidence that forced mergers would not save taxpayers’ money, would undermine the vitality of Vermont’s rural towns, and would do a disservice to Vermont’s school-aged children.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health has reported have COVID-19 hospitalizations remain at a negligible level. They are at a similar level to the levels seen last summer. There were no measles cases after one reported in Vermont in February in Washington County and the national outbreak is over. Meanwhile, RSV remains elevated in Montpelier wastewater, while Norovirus some locations, particularly in the Essex Junction sample, persists. Flu B, which was prevalent in Vermont and across the US during the late winter and early spring, has mostly quieted down.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General Charity Clark today joined a coalition of attorneys general in suing the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) over its unlawful cancellation of a major offshore wind lease off the coast of New York. In March 2026, DOI announced a settlement with TotalEnergies, a French energy company, under which TotalEnergies would cancel its two offshore wind leases in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds. In addition, the deal required the company to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in oil and gas projects and pledge not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States. Attorney General Clark and the coalition argue in today’s lawsuit that the settlement agreement violates federal law governing offshore wind leases and federal settlement payouts. The coalition is asking the court to block the agreement and restore the leases.

Vermont Business Magazine On Monday, the City of Burlington released its final determinations for a Use-of-Force Review and a Legal Review of compliance with the City’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy (FIPP) related to the presence of the Burlington Police Department at a federal immigration enforcement operation in South Burlington on March 11, 2026. Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak said in part, "I want to state unequivocally that the dangerous and unlawful actions of ICE agents on March 11, 2026, were shocking and unacceptable. This incident hurt public trust and community wellbeing and caused real fear and pain, especially for our immigrant and refugee neighbors." And, "The City’s Final Use-of-Force Determination is that the four substantive allegations are either exonerated or unfounded, and that the actions of the BPD officers at the incident were objectively reasonable and proportional given the totality of circumstances."

Vermont Business Magazine U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy on Friday became the first Transportation Secretary in American history to fly in an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL). Secretary Duffy’s historic flight — which marks an important milestone in development of these next generation aircraft — took place at BETA Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: BETA) headquarters in Vermont. eVTOLs are aircraft that have the potential to generate new jobs, connect communities, and strengthen American leadership in aviation.

Vermont Business Magazine For years, limited meat processing capacity in Vermont has forced many farmers to sell their livestock out of state. A recent ownership transition at a meat processing plant in North Springfield aims to change that by helping ensure locally raised meats can continue to be processed, packaged, and sold in Vermont. The Vermont Packinghouse (VPH), located at 25 Fairbanks Road in North Springfield, was recently sold in two subsequent transactions to a new ownership group led by longtime food service and distribution leader Louis Helbling. The 50,000-square-foot USDA facility processes and packages beef and pork from small- and medium-sized farms across New England.