Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Burlington Police Department is warning the public about recent scam emails in which the sender demands money from email recipients. This week, law enforcement officials received notice from the Chittenden County State's Attorney’s Office describing suspicious emails to residents that demand money from email recipients through extortion and threats. Specifically, the scam emails demand money from recipients and threaten to expose their confidential online search history to all of their contacts if they do not comply. The scammers insinuate the recipients’ search history are pornographic, or sexual in nature. They instruct recipients to pay a fee through a Bitcoin QR code. 

Vermont Business Magazine Dr. Bruce Hamory and the team at Oliver Wyman Life Sciences will present their final report to the Green Mountain Care Board in a public board meeting on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. Oliver Wyman was contracted to develop community- and data- informed options to transform Vermont’s healthcare system. The Oliver Wyman final report includes extensive recommendations designed to ensure an affordable, equitable, accessible, and sustainable healthcare system. Oliver Wyman’s recommendations focus on issues ranging from hospital operations to housing and transportation. Community meetings across the state with the consultants this summer have indicated a health care system in crisis.

Vermont Business Magazine A Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) is now open in the town of Hinesburg at the Hinesburg Town Hall. The DRC will be open Sunday through Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The joint DRC, a temporary facility established in partnership between Hinesburg, the state of Vermont and FEMA, will have disaster assistance specialists available to help disaster survivors apply for FEMA Individual Assistance, upload documents needed for their application and answer questions in person. There are now six DRC offices open in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced $69.1 million in awards to properties across 10 states under its Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP) to support significant energy efficiency and climate resilience renovations in almost 2,000 homes. These Leading Edge grants and loans will increase energy and water efficiency, reduce climate pollution, generate renewable energy, reduce housing operating costs, promote the use of green building materials, and improve the quality of life for residents by making their homes more resilient to climate hazards. Vermont received $1.44 million for the Round Barn Apartments in Grand Isle.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont State University (VTSU) begins its second year by welcoming more than 1,700 new degree-seeking students in the Class of 2028 to its campuses last week and reports a strong retention of returning students as well, meeting expectations for all campuses and exceeding projections in many programs. The new class is just over 200 students stronger than the inaugural class in Fall 2023, or 14% year-over-year. Since its unification in 2023, VTSU has worked to realign programs, learning options and course offerings to meet student interest and state economic and workforce needs.

Vermont State Police Paul Lachapelle Jr., the suspect in the 2022 fatal shooting of 38-year-old Justin Gilliam in Springfield, has been returned to Vermont to face charges. Following his arrest in New Hampshire late last month, Lachapelle, 28, of Littleton, New Hampshire, waived extradition and was brought back to Vermont on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. He is currently in the custody of the Vermont Department of Corrections and is jailed without bail. His arraignment on charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder is pending in the Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Court in White River Junction. 

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont $3.33 per gallon, down 1 cent/g from last week. The lowest price in the state this week was $2.83/g while the highest was $3.49/g, a difference of 66.0 cents per gallon. The national average price of gasoline has fallen 4.6 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.28/g today. The national average is down 17.9 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 48.9 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

Vermont Business Magazine If your privately-owned road, driveway, or bridge was damaged or destroyed by Vermont’s storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides in July 9-11, 2024, FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) may be able to provide financial assistance for replacement or repairs. If you live in Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Lamoille, Orleans, or Washington counties, FEMA may provide funds to repair disaster-damaged privately-owned access roads, driveways, and bridges. 

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Original Clean Energy, a subsidiary of Clean Royalties, a developer and builder of solar energy and storage systems, has acquired Williston, Vermont-based iSun and its companies SunCommon (Waterbury) and Liberty Electric (Salem, NH). iSun was acquired by Houston-based investment firm Siltstone Capital following approval by the bankruptcy court on August 23. Siltstone acquired iSun (now Original Clean Energy) for $10 million. In its last 2023 financial report iSun stated that its estimated annual revenues were nearly $100 million. This acquisition and leadership transition are part of the company's restructuring plan to restore financial stability and pursue growth in the solar energy business across northern New England and New York state.

Vermont Business Magazine Concerts from Guster, Jason Mraz, Train, and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead got cleaner this summer thanks to NOMAD Transportable Power Systems. One of NOMAD’s 1.3 MWh Voyager units rolled in to power the Shelburne Museum concert series outside Burlington, Vermont this summer, replacing diesel generators with stored clean energy and avoiding almost 4,500 pounds of carbon dioxide pollution. According to the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator, the NOMAD-powered concerts avoided the carbon dioxide equivalent of a passenger car driving 5,115 miles. That’s nearly the same as driving from NOMAD’s headquarters in Vermont, all the way to the site of KORE Power’s KOREPlex in Arizona – and back.

Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility Join VBSR, Rebuild by Design, and Vermont leaders (including Vermont's Chief Recovery Officer) for this virtual policy forum exploring the history of Vermont’s federal disaster declarations and recovery funding, the economic impact of climate disasters and recovery, and actions Vermont business and policy leaders can take toward a climate resilient economy. This discussion is open to anyone who is interested in building a climate resilient economy in Vermont

Northeastern Vermont Development Association The MERP Implementation Grant application recently went live. Municipalities designated with high/highest energy burden by Efficiency Vermont's 2019 Report are eligible and must apply by Sept 20. Unfortunately, low and moderate energy burden communities are no longer eligible to apply. The state made this decision in late August in order to expedite the awarding of funds to meet ARPA deadlines. We know this is disappointing news and NVDA is working with the other RPCs around the state to develop resources for communities that have been excluded from MERP funding.