Current News

Lucia McCallum, Community News Service It took only a walk upstream for two engineers to realize one of the bridges on Cabot’s Main Street is dangerously undersized to handle debris swept in by floodwaters. “Fundamentally we’re asking these structures to do things they’re just not intended to deal with,” said one of them, Roy Schiff, a principal water resources engineer at SLR Consulting, a sustainability-focused company with an office in Waterbury. The firm has been hired by Cabot’s Flood Resiliency Task Force to do an in-depth study on the town’s rivers and possible solutions to flooding. Their work, which will begin in late July and continue through October, was made possible by a $70,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency grant awarded to the town this May, said Gary Gulka, chair of the task force. The group plans to hold a public meeting with the consultants in August.

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $3.40/g, down 1 cent per gallon from last week. The lowest price in the state is $3.18/g in Springfield. Average gasoline prices in Burlington have fallen 1.1 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.41/g today, according to GasBuddy's survey of 100 stations in Burlington. Prices in Burlington are 9.5 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and stand 43.4 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Burlington was priced at $3.29/g yesterday while the most expensive was $3.45/g, a difference of 16.0 cents per gallon. The national average price of gasoline has fallen 3 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.42/g today. The national average is down 7 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 41 cents per gallon lower than a year ago

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) Secretary Julie Moore today announced the appointment of Charles Martin as the new deputy secretary of the ANR. Martin most recently worked in the Flood Recovery Office at the Agency of Administration, supporting policy development, and as the communications and legislative director for the Department of Liquor and Lottery. Prior to joining state government, Martin worked for Senator Leahy in the Senator’s Vermont and Washington D.C. offices and spent time at the Vermont Chamber of Commerce as their government affairs director. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Office announced that licensed psychotherapist Robert Martin DuWors, Ph.D., 71, of Cotuit, Massachusetts, was arraigned today on three felony counts of Medicaid Fraud. The charges brought against Dr. DuWors are the result of an investigation conducted by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud and Residential Abuse Unit (MFRAU) which revealed that Dr. DuWors allowed an unlicensed associate to practice psychotherapy on his patients while billing Vermont Medicaid for that time at a licensed clinical full rate. Additionally, Dr. DuWors routinely billed Vermont Medicaid for “impossible time,” whereby Dr. DuWors claimed to have personally provided more than 24 hours of Medicaid service on a single date.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Community Foundation has distributed $455,500 in flood relief grants over the past month to respond to devastating flooding around the state this summer. The latest grants bring the total granted or allocated through the VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund since July of 2023 to $13.7 million. Thanks to generous donations, the most recent grants are helping communities shelter people displaced by floodwaters, clean up debris, and meet basic needs for food and clothing. Grants are also helping farmers plant cover crops in damaged fields, replace equipment, and repair farm roads that were gouged by torrents of water. 

Vermont Business Magazine Nine Vermont-based companies have been recognized on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in the U.S., as measured by percentage revenue growth between 2020 and 2023. To be eligible for the list, a company must be privately held, for profit and independent; have been founded and generating revenue as of March 31, 2020; have generated a minimum of $100,000 in revenue in 2020; and have generated a minimum of $2 million in revenue in 2023.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) joins law enforcement agencies across the state and nation in urging drivers to make plans and drive sober this Labor Day holiday. From August 16 through September 2, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will be working alongside law enforcement across the country for the impaired driving high-visibility enforcement campaign. In Vermont, from 2019 to 2023, 56% of all fatal vehicle crashes involved an impaired driver (impaired includes both drugs and alcohol), and 237 children were involved in crashes with impaired drivers. In 2023, there were 42 fatalities involving an impaired driver.

Vermont State Police Late Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 14, 2024, search and recovery crews recovered a body from the Mad River at Warren Falls believed to be that of missing swimmer Tuan Baldino, 35, of Paramus, New Jersey. The body was taken to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death and to confirm identity. This incident does not appear suspicious. Warren Falls and the surrounding river area will remain closed at least through Thursday, Aug. 15. The river remains dangerous and is filled with debris after several logs were removed during the course of the recovery operation. The Vermont State Police cautions the public to expect continued hazardous conditions even after the area re-opens to the public, and to avoid swimming or jumping into the river.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation (FPR) is set to host a public informational meeting to introduce a proposed concept for the relocation and historical reconstruction of the Goodell House, a structure of historic significance located in the Mt. Mansfield State Forest just outside of the Little River State Park in Waterbury. The Goodell House is the last standing structure within the Stevenson Brook Historic Archaeology District (Site VT-WA-0027), a historic district that encompasses a former hill farm community which included several farms, mills, schools, cemeteries, and other structures. The presentation of this concept and a public informational meeting will be held on August 29, 6:00 -8:00 pm, at the Best Western Plus Waterbury Stowe, 45 Blush Hill Rd, Waterbury.

Vermont Business Magazine California industries in search of clean, quiet, reliable power have a new reason to look to NOMAD Transportable Power Systems now that NOMAD units are eligible for vouchers of up to $300,000 under the state’s Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher Incentive Program (CORE). NOMAD is based in Waterbury, Vermont. NOMAD offers North American-manufactured mobile battery energy storage solutions that can replace diesel generators with clean, silent battery power. CORE vouchers are now available for five NOMAD solutions.

Department of Economic Development More than 1,000 people gathered in Burlington this week for the largest captive insurance conference in the country. The 39th annual event featured a Captive Review awards ceremony, at which Vermont won recognition as the U.S. Domicile of the Year in the category of domiciles with over $5 Billion in gross premiums. This is the 11th time Vermont has won in the category and reflects a dedication to exceptional service.

by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First, Vermont Business Magazine A Manchester, N.H. man, who officials linked to a more than $636,000 attempted interstate fraud case on an elderly Windsor County woman, has been sentenced to six months in federal prison. Nicholas Melanson, 42, a single father with two children will have until Sept. 27 to get his affairs in order and to find living arrangements for his 16-year-old son to reside. A 20-year-old daughter was in college when Melanson pleaded guilty in December. Chief Federal Judge Christina Reiss in Burlington, Vermont, agreed to recommend a federal prison near Melanson's home that also has a medical facility to deal with the defendant's health issues.