Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Author Mariana Budjeryn has been selected for the 2024 William E. Colby Military Writers’ Award for her work Inheriting the Bomb: The Collapse of the USSR and the Nuclear Disarmament of Ukraine. The annual award is presented to a solo work of fiction or nonfiction that has made a major contribution to the understanding of military history, intelligence operations, or international affairs. Mariana Budjeryn, whose work is both timely and relevant, has the added distinction of being the first female author to be honored as the winner of the Colby Award in its 25-year history. 

Vermont Business Magazine The United States Attorney for the District of Vermont has announced that a federal grand jury has indicted Bounthavong Sonthikoummane, 42, and Ashlyn Arcouette, 32, both of White River Junction, Vermont, on fraud charges stemming from four loans they obtained on behalf of businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. Sonthikoummane appeared Monday in United States District Court in Burlington and pleaded not guilty to the indictment. United States Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle ordered that Sonthikoummane remain in custody pending another hearing on June 20. Arcouette is to appear in court today for her arraignment. On June 12, 2024, a federal grand jury returned an eleven-count indictment against the two defendants. The indictment charges Sonthikoummane with bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, and making false statements. 

Vermont Business Magazine Two Vermont Army National Guard Soldiers took part in the Brazilian Basic Mountaineering Course in April. Sgt. 1st Class David Girr and Staff Sgt. Cyran Willis successfully graduated from the challenging program held in Sao Joao Del Rei, Brazil. The pair were invited to participate in the course as part of a broader mountain operations exchange program with the U.S. Army and the Brazilian Army. This initiative aims to enhance expertise in mountain warfare tactics and foster international camaraderie. Throughout their training, Girr and Willis worked closely with the 11th Mountain Infantry Battalion of the Brazilian Army.

SBA Vermont Join the Office of the Vermont State Treasurer and the Pride & Prosperity Network on Thursday, June 20th at 4PM at VSAC in Winooski, VT for Queerness in Business - a community conversation for LGBTQIA2S+ Vermonters and allies. The Pride & Prosperity Network includes representatives from the Pride Center of Vermont, the Small Business Administration (SBA), Mercy Connections, and the Office of the Vermont State Treasurer. The group aims to support Vermont’s queer community by fostering an inclusive economic landscape and creating a thriving environment where queer-owned business and queer individuals can flourish. The Pride & Prosperity Network is generously supported by M&T Bank's Amplify Fund.

Vermont Business Magazine The United States Attorney’s Office announced that Robert McLane, 36, of Webster, Vermont, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court in Burlington to a charge of mail fraud. According to the information, between approximately March 2019 and September 23, 2022, McLane was employed by Formula Nissan, Inc., an automobile sales and service dealership located in central Vermont.  Starting around January 2021 and continuing until September 2022, McLane began defrauding Formula Nissan by ordering certain vehicle parts from Nissan North America. Many of the parts McLane ordered were vehicle suspension lift kits. The cost to Formula Nissan of each lift kit was in the $2,300 to $2,900 range. Nissan North America billed, and Formula Nissan subsequently paid, for the lift kits McLane had ordered. 

Vermont Business Magazine Hundreds of business-minded community members gathered last Thursday at Hula to support LaunchVT’s 2024 cohort at Demo Night, the program’s annual pitch competition and celebration of entrepreneurship. The 2024 cohort presented their businesses to the audience and a panel of investor judges, including Chuck Bush, Myla Lai-Goldman, and Sivan Cotel. Two businesses walked away with cash awards; all eight will receive professional services from local businesses worth tens of thousands of dollars. Demo Night marks the end of LaunchVT’s annual twelve-week intensive accelerator program, where entrepreneurs in the cohort work with dedicated business coaches and strategic advisors to address their startup’s most pressing needs, including refining their business models, developing their go-to-market strategies, and preparing for future fundraising and investment.  

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont), Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy, toured the Estey Organ Complex in Brattleboro last Friday to discuss an ongoing multi-phase revitalization project to renovate the historic building and create affordable housing. Welch nominated the project for federal funding through the FY25 Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) process. The revitalization project will remediate all brownfield and contamination issues related to historic uses of the building, bring the new building up to code and install rooftop solar panels, and create 28 new affordable housing units.

Vermont Business Magazine Options for hospital transformation and health system revitalization will be presented at in-person community meetings across Vermont’s 14 hospital regions throughout the month of July. Feedback and input will be solicited from community members. The options are the culmination of a monthslong process of collecting input from Vermonters across the state, including through public community and provider meetings, outreach to over 100 community organizations, visits to each hospital in Vermont, and analyses of healthcare data from multiple sources. In fiscal year 2023, nine of Vermont’s 14 hospitals had negative operating margins. At the same time, Vermonters are experiencing significant annual increases in health insurance premiums. 

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine For the week ending June 12, the Vermont Department of Health reported that there were no COVID-19 related deaths last week. The weekly report also shows that hospitalizations and general "syndromic" cases remain very low, fewer than five people are being treated at a Vermont hospital each week, which has been the case since late March. The number of COVID cases is down 2 from last week for 51. Cases had been falling in April and May and were as low as 31 at the beginning of May. 

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Transit (GMT) and Burlington Electric Department (BED), joined by Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, and federal, state, and local leaders, today announced the addition of five electric-powered buses to the GMT fleet. The new E-buses, supported by BED incentives, began carrying passengers last month. These new E-buses bring to seven the total in the GMT fleet (the first two having gone into service in winter 2020), and will help reduce carbon emissions in Burlington and Chittenden County and beyond while providing cleaner, quieter transit along GMT service area routes. As part of the Burlington Net Zero Energy strategy, BED provided significant incentives and, together with the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans), helped secure further funding from the federal government to ensure that GMT had the resources necessary to expand electric transit options in Burlington.

City of Burlington With temperatures expected rise above 90 degrees this week, the City of Burlington today announced plans to open neighborhood cooling centers throughout the City from Tuesday, June 18 - Friday, June 21. While City offices are closed on Wednesday, June 19th in observance of Juneteenth, cooling centers will still be open to the public with adjusted hours.  

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont legislature convened yesterday for a one-day session to reconsider several bills vetoed by Governor Scott. Among these bills were H.72, an act relating to authorizing and funding overdose prevention centers (OPCs), and H.645, an act related to expanding restorative justice approaches in diversion. Ultimately, the vetoes of those bills were overridden by the legislature.