Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington will celebrate the Mass of Ordination and Installation of the Most Reverend John Joseph McDermott as the 11th Bishop of Burlington on July 15, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Burlington.

by Vermont Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts Well, here we are. It’s hard to imagine that just one year after extreme flooding we are again facing severe weather issues and more flooding. Many of our farmers, producers and citizens were once again hit with damage. All of us at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets are thinking of you during this difficult time. Our team is contacting the farm community, and we will continue to stay close once we arrive at the recovery stage.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott on Saturday signed an addendum to his Emergency Declaration, which updates the existing Declaration to include temporary regulatory relief in specific areas. These actions will help expedite the response to the July 2024 flooding. “This addendum to our existing State of Emergency will temporarily waive certain requirements to expedite response and recovery,” said Governor Phil Scott. “With so much infrastructure damage, this is critical for towns and Vermonters to access the tools needed to move forward with repairs to roads, bridges, homes and businesses.” Under authority provided by the state of emergency, the governor is providing specific, temporary regulatory relief critical to the immediate response and recovery work.

by Charlotte Oliver, Community News Service From the top of the Northeast Kingdom down toward the Berkshires, the VTXL carves a path across Vermont. The biking route takes cyclists along the chatter of dirt and gravel roads in a ride that stitches together the state’s character. Breathtaking views come after hard climbs, and tunnels of trees spit out riders into small towns. The trail demands much of the rider and offers rewards. Its 301 miles are peppered with 30,300 feet in total climb — all on public dirt roads between a dozen rocky Class IV sections. 

Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies Matt Dunne, the king of rural innovation, joins the podcast to inspire us all. His deep roots in Vermont are intertwined with the community that shaped him. From being elected to the legislature at 22, to convincing Google to open an office in White River Junction, to founding the Center on Rural Innovation (CORI), Matt’s ability to build community is remarkable. This podcast is essentially a crash course on how to create a thriving community anywhere. We’re big fans, can you tell?

Vermont Business Magazine This weekly report is a list of planned construction activities that will impact traffic on state highways and interstates throughout Vermont for the week of July 15. Please remember to drive safely in all work zones. Lives depend on it.    

Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center In-person quarterly meetings are taking place over an 18-month period across the six states NERDIC serves and represents. These meetings intend to bring the NERDIC Ecosystem members together to network, celebrate successes, share ideas, and discuss the future of NERDIC – bolstering the regional defense Industrial base, and the defense industry at large. This September, Vermont will play host to these important and informative meetings. NERDIC is a unique entity which coordinates the growth of defense-related businesses across the six states within the New England region. NERDIC focuses on an approach built around collaboration and multidisciplinary solutions to address the challenges identified by the New England defense manufacturing sector.

by Ben Kinsley Don Tinney’s “hit piece” on Governor Scott is nothing new for the VT-NEA, although I’m surprised by the shrillness of the tone. Perhaps he realizes how much Vermonters have lost patience with rising property taxes and declining outcomes and is hoping to deflect attention away from his organization. The basic facts are that we have more adults (per student) in our schools than any state in the country (and it’s not even close), resulting in the second highest cost per student. Over the past decades, we have seen steady spending increases, while staffing levels have persisted (despite Act 46). Further, and more alarming, test scores have declined compared to other states who spend less and have larger at-risk student populations.

Vermont Business Magazine EPA New England's Healthy Communities Grant Program is now accepting applications for projects of up to $40,000 in federal funding that will benefit New England communities in one or more target areas. The deadline to submit a proposal is Friday, November 1, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. EPA plans to award approximately 15 cooperative agreements. Eligible applicants include state and local governments, public nonprofit institutions or organizations, private nonprofit institutions or organizations, quasi-public nonprofit institutions or organizations, federally recognized Tribal Governments, K-12 schools or school districts, and nonprofit organizations, such as grassroots and community-based organizations. Funding will be considered for a college or university to support a project with substantial community or Tribal involvement.  

by Don Tinney No political insiders in Montpelier were surprised when Senator Jane Kitchel condemned the Scott administration’s proposal to zero out the education fund reserves to provide short-term property tax relief, saying “that is a practice that we never ever had considered, or would consider, as fiscally responsible use of a reserve.” In her long, distinguished career as a political leader, Senator Kitchel has always been fiscally responsible while working diligently to meet the human needs of Vermonters, so no one was surprised when she voted to override the governor’s veto of the education funding bill. She had the political courage to do the right thing to protect Vermont’s public education system and to provide services to Vermont’s most precious resource, our children.

Vermont Business Magazine Cannatrol, the creators of the only total dry, cure and store system for the cannabis industry, announced today an exclusive partnership with Paralab Green, Europe’s premier distributor of cannabis processing solutions, establishing distribution of the company’s patented Vaportrol Technology throughout Europe. “This partnership truly represents the best of cannabis processing,” said Jane Sandelman, CEO and Co-Founder of Cannatrol. “Paralab Green has established relationships within the European cannabis industry and has a unique understanding of the rapidly growing market. We look forward to opening international access to Cannatrol’s science-backed technology that will benefit cultivators—and ultimately consumers.” Paralab Green supplies over 70% of licensed production facilities throughout the European Union, offering a range of instrumentation for the cannabis industry, from production to quality control.

Vermont State Police Autopsies have been completed on the two men who died in an altercation early Sunday in St. Johnsbury. They are identified as: Ben Lyons, 21, a resident of the home at 16 Cottage St. where the incident occurred. He died Sunday afternoon at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. The New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner’s Office identified his cause of death as a stab wound to the neck, and the manner of death was homicide. Nicholas Johnson, 42, who had no fixed address and most recently was living in the St. Johnsbury area. He died at the scene Sunday morning. The Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office identified his cause of death as a gunshot wound, and the manner of death was homicide.