Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) is reminding customers that they are invited to drop by GMP’s Open House on Wednesday, September 4, from 5:30-6:30 pm at GMP’s service center in Springfield. Refreshments will be served. As part of GMP’s Multi-Year Regulation Plan, GMP holds two customer Open House gatherings per year, each in a different part of the state. The Springfield event is a great way for customers to meet the GMP team, ask questions, and share ideas as GMP writes a new Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). Every three years, GMP is required to file an IRP with the Vermont Public Utility Commission (PUC) which regulates Vermont utilities. The IRP will be filed in December 2024, and it is a plan to continue providing reliable, cost-effective power. It covers a wide range of topics including system resiliency, storm restoration, power supply, and innovative projects.  

Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets The Business Emergency Gap Assistance Program (BEGAP) application portal is now open to businesses, nonprofits, landlords, and farms that suffered physical damage from flooding and severe storms in 2023 and/or 2024. $7 million is available to provide rapid relief to businesses, farms, and nonprofits that sustained physical damage from the 2024 flooding events. An additional $5 million will be available for ongoing recovery from the 2023 floods. Businesses may be eligible for both 2023 BEGAP funding as well as 2024 BEGAP funding. Separate applications must be submitted for each year's funding, for each physical location. A minimum of 40% of 2024 BEGAP funds are reserved for applications from agricultural businesses if they apply by November 15th.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Chamber of Commerce has announced the keynote presentations for the 2024 Solutions Summit, Vermont's premier workforce development conference, taking place on September 25, 2024, at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Burlington. This year’s event will bring together business leaders, educators, and policymakers to address the pressing challenges of the modern job market with actionable and scalable solutions. Presentations at the Solutions Summit will provide solutions-driven insights designed to harness innovative ideas and cutting-edge technology to tackle the most significant workforce issues facing Vermont businesses today. 

Vermont Center for Emerging Technology Briar Alpert was a founding member of Vermont Center for Emerging Technology’s board. In this Q&A, he spoke about his time in the Vermont public school system, his early career, and why he joined his father’s company, BioTek. In 2001, Briar became President & CEO of BioTek, which he ran until 2019 when the Winooski company was acquired by Agilent for a billion dollars. Learn about the decision to sell the family business, how Briar has since stayed busy, and why serving on VCET’s board is important to him. 

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Habitat for Humanity affiliates are excited to announce a groundbreaking event in the fight against Vermont's housing crisis. On Saturday, September 21st, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the first-ever wall raising ceremony will take place on the State House lawn in front of Vermont's iconic Golden Dome. The event will bring together volunteers, including elected representatives from across the state, to participate in a unique demonstration of community spirit and dedication to affordable housing. Under the guidance of Habitat for Humanity leaders, these volunteers will work in teams to build wall sections, which will then be assembled for a ceremonial wall raising.

Saint Michael’s College Amid a fanfare of cowbells, kazoos, and cheering, the Class of 2028 officially arrived on Saint Michael’s College campus on Aug. 22.  Orientation Leaders – the sophomores, juniors, and seniors responsible for this enthusiastic display, otherwise known as O-Leaders – held signs with messages such as “You Belong Here” and “Welcome Home” as they waved the incoming cars onto campus.

Vermont Agency of Transportation This weekly report is a list of planned construction activities that will affect traffic on state highways and interstates throughout Vermont for the week of September 2, 2024. Please remember to drive safely in all work zones. Lives depend on it.  Monday 9/2 is Labor Day, and most crews will pause work for the holiday. At this time of year, many projects are completed and therefore no longer listed in this report.  

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Public has launched ‘Small Vermont Businesses in Small Vermont Towns’, an eight-part series of short films by filmmaker Rocket, as part of the station's Made Here Fund. Rocket is a storyteller and the driving force behind Eat Vermont and Stellar, a mobile application that empowers people to create custom recipes and navigate the kitchen. He's an alumnus of The Putney School '10 and Middlebury College '14, and recent graduate of the Vermont Law School. New episodes are being released on Tuesdays at vermontpublic.org and YouTube through October 1.

by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First, Vermont Business Magazine A Brattleboro store has lost its right to distribute tobacco products for 15 days after it was caught a third time in less then a year selling to minors, according to the Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery. Smoke and Munch, operated by M. Sajan LLC at 707 Putney Road, will be allowed to stagger the suspension days over several weeks instead of being continuous, the Liquor and Lottery Board ruled. The vote was unanimous to uphold the minimum 15-day suspension mandated by Vermont law, according to the order signed by Chairman Marty Manahan of St. Albans. The 15 days will be served on mutually agreeable days and must be completed before Dec. 24, the board said in its 6-page ruling. The staggering is designed to provide less interruption to the business, the order said.

by Olga Peters, Vermont Business Magazine Once the center of local drug trafficking, a rehabilitated building now serves as a residence for Jenna’s Promise, a nonprofit that supports women in recovery. “Someone said to us, you know, I used to come to Johnson for drugs, and now I come to Johnson for recovery,” Interim Co-Executive Director Daniel Franklin said. “We’re not cloistered up on some hill,” said fellow Interim Co-Executive Director Gregory Tatro. “Instead, we’re out there actively engaging with the community, and the community is engaging us back.” In Tatro’s opinion, society addresses substance use disorder in a way that is similar to giving someone an aspirin for a headache that’s caused by a deeper chronic condition. Eventually, the aspirin stops helping because it’s not mitigating the headache’s true cause.

by Olga Peters, Vermont Business Magazine Reid Wobby has heard all the reasons why people don’t want to administer naloxone, a medicine used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. “Why should I care?” the audience will ask. Or… “They made their choice.” Or… “They got themselves into a drug addiction, and they can get themselves out.” Wobby believes these comments come from a host of life experiences and discomfort. He responds, “I believe you. But if you go home and someone that you love is laying on the ground and they're showing these signs and symptoms that they're overdosing - I think you would use the Narcan [brand name for naloxone] if you had it in your first aid kit. So let's just get it in everybody's first aid kit, and we can argue about if you're going to use it or not later."

Vermont Business Magazine A Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) is now open in Island Pond in the town of Brighton, at the Brighton Town Hall Gym from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The joint DRC, a temporary facility established in partnership between Brighton, the state of Vermont and FEMA, has disaster assistance specialists available to help disaster survivors apply for FEMA Individual Assistance, upload documents needed for their application and answer questions in person.