Current News

by Camila Van Order González, Community News Service When work began on building the Waterbury Dam, Vermonters were just a few years removed from the deadliest natural disaster in state history, the Great Flood of 1927. Nearly 100 years later, officials say the dam needs repairs if it’s to withstand more of the catastrophic floods that have recently hit the area. Starting in 2027, a century after the Great Flood, builders will replace the floodgates with thicker, sturdier ones and swap out the bridge above the spillway for a new structure. The project will mean substantially lowering the reservoir water level, affecting all activity on the popular waterbody and use of the two state parks surrounding it for about two years. 

Vermont Business Magazine Local food shelves across northern Vermont got some solid support recently from the last round of grants awarded by the Vermont Electric Co-op’s Community Fund. Champlain Islands Food Shelf in Grand Isle, the People’s Farmstand in Burlington, and the town of Starksboro Food Shelf all were awarded funds to help purchase food supplies, and the Heart Full Kitchen food shelf in Montgomery was awarded money to help pay for installation of heat pumps in their new location. Food security is one of the focus areas of the fund, along with community support/development, emergency/disaster relief, and economic security. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Federal Nuclear Waste Policy (FNWP) Committee of the Vermont Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (VT NDCAP) will meet on Monday, February 24, 2025 from 12:00 Noon to 1:30 PM.  As permitted by ACT 133 of the 2024 Vermont Legislature, this meeting will be conducted solely as a webcast and teleconference.  At this meeting, representatives from Vermont’s Congressional Delegation and potentially other Congressional staffers will discuss bills regarding the storage of spent nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste-related bills that may be proposed during the current Congressional session.  Potential changes in federal nuclear waste policies under the new administration will also be discussed.

Vermont Business Magazine The Working Lands Enterprise Board (WLEB) is pleased to announce nine awards totaling $444,760 to maintain and grow the agricultural and forestry sectors in Vermont. These awards are part of WLEB’s key strategies to increase working lands businesses knowledge, skills, and profitability by investing in an array of business support services. To reach that goal, WLEB provides grants to service providers who work directly with working lands businesses to support them as they grow, pivot, and adapt to an ever-changing marketplace. WLEB also grants to producer association groups that represent and promote Vermont products and provide key services to working lands businesses across many different sectors.   

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Corrections (DOC) today announced the death of Shawn Gibney, an incarcerated individual receiving palliative care at the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) in Burlington, Vermont. Shawn Gibney, 63, of Colchester, Vermont, had been consecutively incarcerated at Southern State Correctional Facility since April 2020. On February 8, Mr. Gibney was hospitalized at Springfield Hospital. He was subsequently transferred to UVMMC on February 10 and transitioned to hospice care on February 13. He was declared deceased on February 19 at UVMMC. 

Vermont Business Magazine High school students who are pondering their next steps for college, training, or career—and their parents and family members who are wondering how best to support them—are invited to attend VSAC’s free 2025 College and Career Pathways events, taking place over the next seven weeks at various locations around the state. The events include four school-day field trip programs during March and April for students in grades 9 through 11 held at various college locations across the state, and a public event on Saturday, March 8, for students and their families. The weekday events are coordinated with students’ high schools and will take place at Landmark College in Putney, Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, VTSU-Lyndon in Lyndonville, and VTSU-Castleton in Castleton. Over 2,000 students from 53 high schools across Vermont are already registered to attend.

Vermont Business Magazine Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), today delivered an opening statement at the committee’s hearing on the nomination of Lori Chavez-DeRemer to serve as Secretary of Labor. Sanders’ remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below and can be watched here. Let me begin by thanking the Biden administration for being the most pro-worker administration in modern history of this country. The mission of the Department of Labor is to "foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage-earners, job-seekers and retirees of the United States, improve working conditions, advance opportunities for profitable employment and assure work-related benefits and rights." That is the mission of the Department of Labor, and it's a mission that is more important now, in my view, that it has ever been.

Vermont Business Magazine Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CWST), a regional solid waste, recycling, and resource management services company, has been named to Forbes “America’s Best Midsize Employers” list for 2025. Casella was the only company in the waste, recycling, and resource management services industry—and the only company headquartered in Vermont—to be recognized among the nearly 500 organizations.

Vermont Business Magazine U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) led ten of their colleagues from disaster-impacted states in demanding answers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on the potential security breach created by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has reportedly accessed the sensitive personal data of disaster victims. The Senators also requested more information on the procedures FEMA follows to protect data from misuse, and if DOGE's unaccountable agents were in compliance with federal law. Senators Welch and Padilla were joined by U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). 

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The US Bankruptcy Court is in process of converting the iSun Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing from last June into a Chapter 7 liquidation. iSun was the parent company of the solar installation company SunCommon in Waterbury. Following the iSun bankruptcy filing, SunCommon was subsequently acquired by Siltstone Capital, a private equity firm from Texas and folded into a renewable energy company called Clean Royalties, which continues to operate SunCommon. It also has an office in upstate New York. Mike McCarthy, Director of Sales for SunCommon, said the Chapter 7 filing by its former owner does not include SunCommon. He said that SunCommon was mentioned in the recent Chapter 7 filing because it was one of the legacy DBAs under iSun. "The current business is alive and well, employing dozens of Vermonters and doing great work installing solar, and energy storage across the state," McCarthy said.

Vermont State Police The victims in the case have been identified as Lynn Gilman age 59 and Burton Richardson age 63, both from Rochester, VT.  The vehicle was located on the shoulder of VT Route 14, in the town of Brookfield, just north of the intersection of Brown Drive. Ms. Gilman was located in the driver’s seat and Mr. Richardson was located in the front passenger seat. No additional information is available at this time.

Vermont Business Magazine Northfield Savings Bank Chair of the Board of Trustees, John W. Lyon, announces today that Thomas S. Leavitt, President and CEO of the Bank, will be retiring in early autumn 2025. Leavitt has served as NSB’s 14th president since October 1, 2014. He previously served as president and CEO of MountainOne Financial in Massachusetts, had long tenure on the leadership team of Merchants Bank in Vermont, and worked nationally in the industrial distribution and safety equipment sectors. He grew up in Burlington, Vermont and earned degrees from University of New Hampshire and University of Pennsylvania Wharton School.