Current News

by Olga Peters, Vermont Business Magazine Win Brown, interim CEO of Mount Ascutney Hospital and Health Center watches the MicroMOO from his office window. All day, the cow-print van ferries patients to and from the hospital. “I can look out at the front drive, and it drops and drops and drops all day,” he said. “It’s really a great thing.” The all-wheel van, decorated with a cow-print pattern, is part of a three-year pilot testing an on-demand public transportation service. Like a private car service, riders within the town limits can schedule a pick-up through a phone call or app, and within 30 minutes, the MicroMOO arrives.

Vermont Business Magazine What could a town do with 139 acres? Chester’s new Housing Commission seeks to answer that question. Surprise! Like many Vermont communities, Chester has a housing shortage and the municipality needs to act to attract more young families and middle-income workers. “I’m biased,” said Town Manager Julie Hance. “Chester is fabulous.” The Selectboard hired Hance as town manager in 2020. She has devoted more than 15 years to the town in various jobs, including assistant town manager, assistant town clerk, assistant town treasurer, and zoning administrator.

by Jules Older, Vermont Business Magazine Apple is being sued by the United States Justice Department along with 16 American states, including Vermont, and the District of Columbia. They charge that Apple has violated American antitrust laws by illegally keeping customers reliant on their iPhones and are thus, less likely to switch to a competing phone. The suit argues that Apple’s practices hurt both consumers and the smaller companies that compete with it. These are serious charges brought by serious entities. I take them seriously. But.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont House of Representatives achieved a historic milestone by unanimously passing H.121, an act relating to enhancing consumer privacy, with a resounding vote of 139-0. In a time where our every move, word, and heartbeat are incessantly documented by a myriad of devices, the urgency for comprehensive consumer data privacy laws has never been more critical. Vermont has a long history of prioritizing consumer privacy protections, and in the absence of federal legislation, we have a duty to protect our own. Consumer data privacy bills are incredibly complex and interconnected - definitions, consumer rights, business obligations, and exceptions exist in a delicate balance and even seemingly small changes in language can have cascading effects. 

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont) voted early this morning to keep the government open and advance nearly $13 million of Congressionally Directed Spending for eight Vermont-based projects nominated by the Senator. This is in addition to nearly $30 million in federal funds passed in early March as part of the first tranche of government funding, which will support 19 Vermont projects nominated by Sen. Welch. The Congressionally Directed Spending was included in a bipartisan agreement that included appropriations for Defense; Financial Services and General Government; Homeland Security; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; Legislative Branch; and State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. 

Leonine Public Affairs As the House Appropriations Committee works to wrap up the FY2025 budget, all eyes are on the House Ways and Means Committee as they churn out new tax proposals. As a reminder, some new taxes that have been on the table for years - sugar-sweetened beverages, candy, and software - are still on the table. But this week, the House Ways and Means Committee brought out three new tax increases. The committee approved proposals to double the property transfer tax on homes over $600,000 ($17.5 million), increase the top marginal income tax rate to 11.75 percent (a three percent increase that would raise $74.9 million), and increase corporate taxes from 8.5 to 10 percent and add back currently deductible Subpart F corporate income ($33 million). If approved, Vermont would have the highest corporate tax rate in the country.

Vermont Business Magazine GlobalFoundries gets $1.5 billion for Malta, NY, plant, Vermont to benefit; Keurig Dr Pepper will close Williston plant, consolidate in Essex Jct; Scott signs education financing bill H.850, no pay hike for lawmakers; Dr Levine takes heat from ACLU, Baruth over open meeting ‘violation’ in opioid funds; UnitedHealthcare agrees to contract with UVM Health Network; Scott to expedite over $100M in available mitigation project funding to communities impacted by flooding; State Medicaid pharmacy claims contractor experiences cyber attack and outages.

Vermont Business Magazine Ethan Tapper, the Chittenden County Forester with the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation has been named the American Tree Farm System’s 2024 National Tree Farm Inspector of the Year. The American Tree Farm System comprises a nationwide alliance of 74,000 family forest landowners dedicated to the sustainable management of 19 million acres. In Vermont, the Tree Farm System is sponsored by the Vermont Woodlands Association with 440 landowners and over 133,000 acres enrolled in the program. These landowners, known as "Tree Farmers," commit to managing their forests to prioritizes wildlife habitat, clean water, and recreation, while sustainably producing forest products.

Vermont Business Magazine Special Olympics Vermont (SOVT) hosted the 2024 Winter Games on Friday, March 15th at The Hermitage Club in Wilmington, Vermont. Over 125 delegates, including athletes and coaches from eight local programs trained and competed in alpine skiing and snowboarding. This was Special Olympics Vermont’s largest Winter Games since 2019. The delegations that competed included Addison, Central Vermont, Chittenden, Adaptive Sports at Mount Snow, Northshire, Randolph, Rutland and Smugglers’ Notch Adaptive. 

by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First, Vermont Business Magazine A leading public defender, a law school professor and a longtime federal prosecutor are in the running to become the next U.S. District Court Judge in Vermont. The names of Assistant Federal Defender Steven L. Barth, Vermont Law School Professor Jessica C. Brown and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael P. Drescher were on the approved list compiled by a special screening committee, according to two sources familiar with the process, but not authorized to speak publicly. All three candidates declined public comment when reached by Vermont News First about filling the post. A screening panel, after completing interviews in January, sent the three names to U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. and Peter Welch, D-Vt.

Public Assets Institute Those who keep a close eye on the State House know that this week is “money crossover”—the deadline for bills requiring significant financial appropriations to move from one chamber to the other. Any bills that don’t cross over by close of business Friday are on hold until next year. We’ve been watching to see whether the Fair Share for Vermont proposal, championed by Public Assets and the other members of the Fund Vermont's Future coalition, to add a 3 percent surcharge on annual incomes above $500,000 moves on to the Senate. The revenue proposal was added to a housing bill (H. 829), and was voted out of both House Ways and Means and House Appropriations yesterday, so it officially made crossover.

Vermont Business Magazine This week the House voted to approve two bills that will significantly increase access to cancer screening for Vermonters. House bills, H.621 and H.741, expand health insurance coverage for diagnostic breast imaging and colorectal cancer screening respectively. Under current Vermont law and the Affordable Care Act, access to preventative screening mammography is available, however when results from these screening are inconclusive further imaging and follow-ups are required, which are not covered by current law. H.621 aims to broaden the scope of follow-up screenings mandated by insurers, providing more comprehensive coverage to Vermonters.