Current News

by C.B. Hall, Vermont Business Magazine For the agency charged with maintaining Vermont’s vast transportation network, responsibilities cover a surprisingly broad array of projects. These include paving roadways, making drainage improvements and repairing bridges on state-owned railroads, to name just a few. As it does every year, the Agency of Transportation to-do list for the upcoming construction season also includes improvements for the muscle-powered traveler: for example, the resurfacing and general tidying-up the 26-mile Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail between St. Albans and Richford, and construction of new trailhead amenities along the Swanton-to-Saint Johnsbury Lamoille Valley Rail Trail.

by Olga Peters, Vermont Business Magazine Construction jobs have expanded beyond wielding shovels and digging ditches. Today’s workers must also have the ability to follow digital plans, understand CAD design and be able to operate a machine connected to global positioning systems. ”Part of what we’re trying to do is overcome the perception that construction is low-tech, low-wage,” said Joshua Reap, president and CEO of the Associated Builders and Contractors of New Hampshire and Vermont. ”It’s the complete opposite of that. It’s high-tech, a great opportunity to make a good living and it involves a lot of technology.”

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont State University (VTSU) is graduating its second class this spring on May 17 and 18, 2025 and has announced a remarkable lineup of commencement speakers for the four ceremonies, held at the Castleton, Lyndon, Johnson, and Randolph campuses over the weekend. 

Vermont Business Magazine RunVermont announces the 36th running of the M&T Bank Vermont City Marathon & Relay on Sunday, May 25, over Memorial Day Weekend. The event will bring together close to 5,000 runners, 20,000 spectators, and 800 volunteers for Vermont's largest single-day sporting event. The race features a two-loop 13.1-mile course totaling 26.2 miles through Burlington's highlights, including the Church Street Marketplace and Burlington Bike Path, with some uniquely Vermont amenities, such as UnTapped All Natural Athletic Fuel (maple syrup) as the on-course energy gel and beloved Taiko Drummers. Both start and finish lines are at Waterfront Park on Lake Street, making for a flat and fast course that is a Boston Marathon qualifier and USATF certified.

Vermont Business Magazine Nine candidates are contending for four district seats up for election this year on the Board of Directors of Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC). Three of the districts have uncontested races, while one – West Zone-at-Large – has six candidates vying for the single seat.

Vermont Business Magazine After President Donald Trump and Elon Musk arbitrarily fired every worker in the office that helps working class families with children and seniors on fixed incomes stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), alongside 30 Senate colleagues, today sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. demanding that the administration reinstate those workers and ensure they can continue administering the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

Vermont Business Magazine Airgas, an Air Liquide company, has announced that Lyndon Institute has been selected to participate in the company’s 2025 High School Welding Education Initiative. Lyndon Institute is included among 72 schools from 33 states chosen by Airgas for the 2025 academic year. Northlands Job Corp Center in Vergennes also participates. Since 2018, the initiative has supported 162 schools, benefiting over 12,000 students and 664 instructors, with nearly 1,900 students securing jobs post-graduation since 2021. Participating schools can receive professional development training for welding instructors, welding consumables or equipment, safety PPE and more.    

Vermont Business Magazine Leonardo’s Pizza in Vermont and Maine Donates 33% of 2024 Profits to Community Initiatives
— Leonardo’s Pizza, a cherished delivery and take-out pizza company serving Vermont and Maine, is proud to announce that it has given back 33% of its 2024 profits to the community. This contribution, in alignment with the company’s mission of sharing love through pizza, includes 22% in cash donations and free pizzas, as well as 11% in discounted pizzas to nonprofit organizations.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Attorney General’s Office announced Friday that David Mumley, 32, formerly of Swanton, Vermont, now a resident of Florida, was sentenced in Vermont Superior Court, Franklin Criminal Division, after entering guilty pleas to misdemeanor neglect of a vulnerable adult, voyeurism, and health care fraud. From December 2020 to February 2022, Mr. Mumley was paid by Vermont Medicaid and Champlain Community Services (CCS) to provide in-home care to a severely disabled, vulnerable adult. The vulnerable adult lived in the home of Mr. Mumley and his spouse and depended on the couple for feeding, toileting and other personal necessities.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Vermont weekly unemployment claims for the week ending April 5, 2025, increased to their highest level since the end of February. A spike at the beginning of March carried them over 600. New claims this week were 449, up 136 claims from the week before and 26 more from last year. The end of the winter tourism season tends increase claims. 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 60%, up 2 points. Construction was at 6%, down 4 points, as that industry ramps up. Manufacturing accounted for 20% of claims, up 8 points. 

Vermont State Police On Wednesday at approximately 1835 hours, Vermont State Police were notified of a body located in the Winooski River in the area of the Bolton Falls Power Dam in Duxbury, VT.  The discovery was reported by a person who was walking in the area along the river. Members of the Vermont State Police responded to the scene, where they were assisted by personnel from the Waterbury Fire Department. The body was brought to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington, VT for an autopsy to determine identity and the cause and manner of death. Following autopsy at the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office today (4/11/25), the deceased individual is identified as John Gaye, age 45, of Essex, VT.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General Charity Clark today joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in American Association of University Professors, et al., v. Marco Rubio, et al. in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, supporting a challenge to the Trump Administration’s “Ideological Deportation Policy,” which targets and punishes noncitizens with lawful status, especially college students and faculty, who express political beliefs with which the Administration disagrees. In filing the amicus brief, the coalition urges the court to block the Administration’s policy, arguing that it violates the First Amendment and irreparably harms colleges and universities, public health and safety, and freedom of religious worship.