Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Staff and leaders from Rutland Women’s Healthcare, Women’s and Children’s Unit (WACU) and Birthing Center at Rutland Regional Medical Center joined hospital leadership to cut the ribbon on a new Mamava Lactation Pod. The state-of-the-art lactation suite is located on the main level of RRMC near the Allen Street entrance. To access the pod, visitors will use the Mamava app on their phone. The idea for the installation of the lactation pod was first presented to hospital leadership in September 2024 after a suggestion was made by an RRMC employee, herself a new mom. It moved through the approval process quickly with support from leaders in human resources, nursing, and clinical operations.

Vermont Business Magazine Board Members and presenters will participate remotely through Microsoft Teams. Members of the public can attend board meetings by using the links or call-in phone numbers listed below. Members of the public who cannot access the meeting remotely can view the meeting in a public space.

Vermont Business Magazine One VTSU student earned a scholarship and a second was recognized for her leadership at the Eastern Athletic Trainers Association Convention in Philadelphia, PA. Eleven total students from the Master of Athletic Training (M.A.T.) program at Vermont State University (VTSU) Castleton attended the event. The Eastern Athletic Trainers' Association (EATA) is comprised of over 8,000 athletic trainers and students from Maine to Delaware. EATA offers educational sessions, scholarships, and research grants to athletic trainers in Districts 1 and 2 of the National Athletic Trainers' Association. First-year M.A.T. student Becca Roy represented the Vermont Association of Athletic Trainers as the student delegate to the EATA. In this leadership role, Becca is actively involved in planning and running the student program at the EATA Convention for both 2025 and 2026.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) is announcing the results of a study required under Act 181 of 2024 that examines the feasibility and opportunities of creating a Land Bank in Vermont to revitalize underutilized properties.  Land Banks are quasi-governmental entities empowered to make vacant, abandoned, deteriorated, and tax delinquent properties productive again. In the latest Vermont Housing Needs Assessment, VHFA estimates there are 10,879 vacant and abandoned homes throughout the state, representing 3% of the housing stock. That assessment also determined that Vermont needs to add 24,000 to 36,000 homes by 2029 to meet demand.

Vermont Business Magazine U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont) joined Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and 27 of their colleagues today in issuing a letter to Acting Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Dorothy A. Fink, M.D., and Acting Director of the Office of Head Start, Captain Tala Hooban, expressing concern about the acute financial impacts and lingering uncertainty faced by Head Start programs across the country as a result of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) memo that imposed a government-wide hiring freeze. While the White House later clarified that Head Start would not be targeted by the funding freeze and the OMB later rescinded memo, Head Start programs were temporarily unable to access the Payment Management System (PMS) to access their allocated federal funds. As a result, Head Start programs nationwide have not had funding disbursed in a timely manner—imperiling their ability to pay staff and keep educational and child care programs up and running.    

Vermont Business Magazine Secretary of Administration Sarah Clark released Vermont’s revenue results for December 2024. The General Fund, Transportation Fund and Education Fund all missed their respective monthly consensus cash flow target, as adopted by the Emergency Board at its July 2024 meeting. The General Fund and the Transportation Fund remain comfortably ahead of target for the first half of the fiscal year while the Education Fund remains slightly behind. The State’s General Fund, Transportation Fund, and Education Fund receipts were a combined $279.6 million, lagging the $284.0 million monthly consensus target by $4.4 million, or 1.6%. 

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine State economists Jeff Carr, for the Scott Administration, and Tom Kavet, for the Legislature, presented their consensus tax revenue report on January 22. Revenues in FY25 to date (which began July 1, 2024) have been close to expectations, with a few large Corporate revenue events and broader strength in Personal Income flows that have lifted General Fund revenues about 6.0% above targets or $63.9 million. The caveats to these forecasts mostly have to do with Trump Administration policies regarding tariffs and immigration, along with ongoing concerns on the federal budget deficit and inflation concerns. The Fed declined to cut rates in January 29 after three cuts late last year, calling it a "pause." FY2026 General Fund revenues are expected to exceed the July forecast by $49.3 million, while the Transportation fund will see minimal growth of $3 million (versus $3.1 million in FY25) and the Education Fund is expected to be $6.6 million below targets in FY25 and $5.1 below in FY26.

Vermont Business Magazine The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont stated that Andrew Hollins, who has also been known as Andrew Jones, 38, of Colchester, Vermont and New York City, was sentenced on January 31, 2024 in United States District Court in Burlington to 62 months of imprisonment following his guilty pleas to two separate indictments charging him with narcotics trafficking, wire fraud and money laundering. Chief U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss ordered that Hollins serve three years of supervised release following completion of his prison term and pay restitution in the amount of $33,000. The court ordered that Hollins’ federal sentence run concurrently with a 2 to 4-year sentence Hollins is currently serving in New York State on two gun charges.

by Devon Green, VP of Government Relations, VAHHS Legislators want to know what hospitals are doing to address Vermont’s affordability and access issues. I’m here to tell you that hospitals, even during great uncertainty at the federal and state level, are doing everything they can to reduce costs and increase access for Vermonters. We have innovative partnerships between hospitals and EMS to provide more care in the home, partnerships between hospitals and housing organizations to give Vermonters medical care in a home rather than an emergency department. Vermont’s hospitals are rethinking the entire system of care with mid-size hospitals taking on sicker patients and smaller hospitals taking back patients from the largest hospitals to free up access at a more affordable cost. Hospitals are also taking a hard look at services and personnel and making cuts for further affordability. 

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $3.12 per gallon, down 0.6 cents per gallon from last week's $3.12/g. The lowest price in the state yesterday was $2.75/g while the highest was $3.89/g, a difference of $1.14/g. The national average price of gasoline has fallen 3.5 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.04/g today. The national average is down 1.4 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 10.3 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets The Vermont Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) just opened an ACT NOW fund pool, which provides payments to farmers for common conservation and planning activities. Select EQIP conservation practices on cropland, such as cover crop, no till, reduced till and nutrient management, as well as many planning activities such as forest management plans and comprehensive nutrient management plans are eligible for this cycle of ACT NOW funding. ACT NOW allows NRCS to pre-approve a ranked EQIP application, if that application meets or exceeds the state determined minimum threshold ranking score. This means there could be less waiting time from when farms submit an application to signing a potential contract.

By Lauren Milideo, UVM Director Richard Watts and Managing Director Meg Little Reilly of the Center for Community News (CCN) presented their strategy for growing and strengthening student reporting across the country at the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College Board of Trustees’ annual winter meeting on Jan. 31-Feb. 1. At the heart of the CCN’s national strategy is its home-state laboratory: the Community News Service, which provides reporting to local news partners across Vermont. Board members learned of efforts by CCN to change the media ecosystem in “news deserts” across the United States. News deserts are defined as American counties that have only one local news outlets, or none at all.