Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The General Assistance Emergency Housing Task Force (GA Task Force), which was created by the Legislature last year to provide recommendations around emergency housing, submitted its final recommendations to the Vermont Legislature on Wednesday. The GA Task Force included 13 members representing people with lived experience of homelessness, Vermont’s affordable housing, shelter, mental health, and service provider communities, municipalities, and Governor Scott’s administration. The final recommendations received support from the overwhelming majority of the GA Task Force. In response to the recommendations, today over 55 shelter and service providers, advocates, and municipal leaders from across Vermont submitted a letter to legislators urging legislators to support the GA Task Force’s recommendations. 

Vermont Business Magazine This winter, the Clean Water Initiative Program (CWIP) at the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is launching the 2025 Clean Water Conversation Series. These monthly webinars are free and open to the public. This year’s series will spotlight a variety of groups working on projects in communities across Vermont to improve water quality in our rivers, lakes, ponds, and wetlands.  Those who join will learn about clean water successes making a difference in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Electric Co-op is accepting petitions from eligible candidates for four board of directors’ seats that are up for election in May. To be eligible, a candidate must be a VEC member and have a principal residence within VEC service territory and in the district or zone they are running to represent. (Employees of the co-op are not eligible.) The board generally meets in the afternoon on the last Tuesday of each month at VEC's main office in Johnson. Directors, who are elected to serve four-year terms, receive a stipend and mileage reimbursement for attending meetings and have training opportunities to learn more about energy issues and the cooperative utility model.  

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today issued the following statement regarding the passing of former Governor Tom Salmon. “On August 2, 1972, a former state representative from Rockingham, declared his candidacy for Governor. On November 8th, headlines would read of the biggest political upset in Vermont history, and Tom Salmon was Governor- Elect. Governor Salmon led Vermont through some of our nation’s most difficult times, doing his best to stabilize our economy due to an oil embargo and strengthening trust of government here at home after Watergate."

Vermont Business Magazine Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned U.S. Attorney General Nominee Pamela Bondi on President-elect Trump’s threats against political opponents. Ms. Bondi committed to Welch that at the Department of Justice, under her leadership, “No one will be prosecuted, investigated because they are a political opponent.” 

Vermont Business Magazine Spectrum Youth and Family Services is thrilled to announce an incredible $1 million anonymous donation to support all of Spectrum’s programs in Franklin County. This transformative gift underscores a resounding belief in the youth of Franklin County and their potential to thrive – including those facing homelessness and other challenges. In addition to the anonymous $1M donation, the Hoehl Family Foundation will donate $125,000 per year for the next three years to support the St. Albans Drop-In Center and soon, a new youth shelter, which is also funded by the Vermont State Legislature. This fall, Champlain Housing Trust purchased the building at 135 Lake Street in St. Albans where the new youth shelter will be housed, and renovations are currently underway. Spectrum is hiring and training staff so that the shelter can open as soon as renovations are complete in March.

Vermont Business Magazine Union Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ - UNB), based in Morrisville, today announced results for the three months and year ended December 31, 2024 and declared a regular quarterly cash dividend. Consolidated net income for the three months ended December 31, 2024 was $3.00 million, or $0.67 per share, compared to $3.05 million, or $0.68 per share, for the same period in 2023, and $8.8 million, or $1.94 per share, for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared to $11.3 million, or $2.50 per share for the same period in 2023. The decrease in earnings for the comparison periods was impacted by the previously announced strategic balance sheet repositioning executed during the third quarter. The company's wholly owned subsidiary, Union Bank, executed the sale of $38.8 million in book value of its lower-yielding available-for-sale debt securities for a pre-tax realized loss of $1.3 million, which was recorded in the third quarter of 2024.

Vermont Business Magazine As part of a survey requested by the Vermont Legislature circulated by the Vermont Medical Society, HealthFirst, Bistate Primary Care and the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, Vermont clinicians report that prior authorizations are increasing in volume, time consuming for clinicians and medical practices, and that they delay care for patients and increase burnout for practitioners. This survey was requested as part of Act 111, as passed in 2024, which tasked health care provider organizations with measuring the impact of prior authorizations for health care services before and after implementation of the law aimed at streamlining and reducing prior authorizations. 

Vermont Business Magazine Bennington College has been recommended for a Grants for Arts Projects award of $10,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The award will help fund the production of Bennington Review, a literary journal housed at Bennington College. Bennington Review is a national biannual print journal of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and film writing that intends to reinforce the value of the bound print journal as an intimate, curated cultural space in which a reader can encounter and experience new work with a degree of immersion not wholly possible through other media. The magazine aims to contribute distinctive style and substance to the national literary conversation through publishing sharp, unexpected, original poetry and prose from a geographically broad and culturally rich spectrum of prominent, up-and-coming, and new voices. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Office announced today that a Chittenden County jury has found Cory Johnson, 38, of South Burlington, Vermont, guilty of the Aggravated Sexual Assault of a toddler. The charge brought against Mr. Johnson was the result of multiple criminal investigations conducted by the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (VT-ICAC), including personnel from the Attorney General’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations. The verdict came today after a 3-day jury trial. After the verdict Judge Michael Kupersmith ordered Mr. Johnson be held pending sentencing. The charge of Aggravated Sexual Assault carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. The court ordered a pre-sentence investigation and a psychosexual report and will notify the parties with a future sentencing date.

Vermont Business Magazine Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) today released the following statement on the newly announced ceasefire-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas: Officials from the United States, Israel, Qatar, and Hamas say a deal to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages has been reached. "This is welcome, long-overdue news. Both sides must honor the deal and implement it as quickly as possible. The senseless killing must stop. The hostages must be released. The United Nations and other aid organizations must finally be allowed unfettered access to all areas of the Gaza Strip in order to provide the massive amounts of humanitarian aid that is desperately needed. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people are struggling to survive, lacking food, water, and medical care in the middle of winter. Innocent lives hang in the balance."

Vermont Business Magazine The State of Vermont’s Children: 2024 Year in Review, a newly released report from Building Bright Futures and Vermont’s Early Childhood Data & Policy Center, provides an objective, data-driven assessment of the well-being of young children and families in Vermont. The report features a spotlight on the child welfare system and includes 12 regional profiles. The State of Vermont's Children report and a recording of the virtual briefing are available for download. To receive a free hard copy of the report, complete this form.