Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Department of Regulation ordered Sigue Corp. to cease engaging in money transmission activities in Vermont as the company can no longer responsibly serve customers due to its declining financial position. Thirty-nine states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia coordinated to issue this consent order. Sigue is a state-regulated money transmission company licensed in Vermont and 48 other states (NMLS ID 915912). Over the past several months, Sigue experienced significant financial deterioration. The company failed to complete multiple money orders and transmissions and to maintain adequate net worth and permissible investments to cover outstanding liabilities, both violations of state money transmission law. Many customers are still waiting for their funds.

Department of Economic Development In less than three weeks, the 2024 Great American Eclipse will throw northern Vermont into total darkness. Depending on where you are in Vermont, the total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8 will last up to 3 minutes 26 seconds. There will be a partial eclipse before and after the total eclipse. Vermont is expecting tens of thousands of people and possibly up to 145,000 visitors to join us to watch the moon block out the sun. Read on for how you can be best prepared.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Department of Labor reported today that the February 2024 seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate for February was 2.3 percent. This reflects no change from January's revised estimate. Vermont has the third lowest rate in the nation, behind North (2.0%) and South (2.1%) Dakota. California (5.3%) has the highest rate. The comparable United States rate in February was 3.9 percent, an increase of two-tenths of one percentage point from the revised January estimate. The seasonally adjusted Vermont data for February show a modest improvement from January. The Vermont civilian labor force increased by 730 from the prior month’s revised estimate. The number of employed persons increased by 741 and the number of unemployed persons decreased by 11.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced his appointment of Zoie Saunders to serve as Vermont’s next education secretary. Saunders is an accomplished education leader with broad strategic and operational experience driving school improvement, increasing student outcomes and enrollment, closing service gaps, and optimizing school support services. Currently, Saunders works as the chief strategy and innovation officer for Broward County (Florida) Public Schools, the sixth largest school district in the country. In this role, she is responsible for aligning resources, maximizing facility usage, strengthening partnerships, and enhancing support services for 230 schools serving over 200,000 students. Using a collaborative approach, Saunders has led discussions with community stakeholders to develop the goals and criteria for redefining the future of education in the county from an equity lens. Saunders will assume the role effective April 15.

Vermont Business Magazine Celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2024, School for International Training (SIT) in Brattleboro is kicking off a series of events spotlighting the institution’s unique history and its dynamic future as a 21st-century global university. SIT was officially established in 1964, 32 years after the launch of World Learning’s foundational youth exchange program, The Experiment in International Living. When President John F. Kennedy tapped program alumnus Sargent Shriver to become the inaugural director of the Peace Corps, Shriver turned to the Experiment to train some of the first Peace Corps volunteers. Out of that activity, SIT was born. Today, SIT is the only accredited institution of higher education in the United States that is part of an international nongovernmental organization, World Learning.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont House of Representatives gave initial endorsement Thursday to legislation designed to protect bees and other pollinators in the state from toxic neonicotinoid pesticides, known commonly as neonics. The vote in the House was 112-29. The bill (H.706) has four main components: (1) it prohibits the use of field crop seeds (corn, soy, wheat, and cereal) treated with neonicotinoids; (2) it restricts outdoor uses of neonicotinoids that are harmful to pollinators; (3) it requires best management practices for allowed neonicotinoid uses; and (4) it incorporates neonicotinoid-treated seeds into the regulatory framework that already applies to other neonicotinoids. It also includes an emergency exemption that allows the Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets, in consultation with the Agency of Natural Resources, to lift the prohibition if seed companies fail to provide farmers with a sufficient supply of neonicotinoid-free seed or if requiring farmers to purchase neonicotinoid-free seed would cause financial hardship. 

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington-based real estate firm V/T Commercial has released their transactions for the first quarter of 2024. These include: The State of Vermont leased 37,195 square feet of office space at the Innovation Center of Vermont, located at 128 Lakeside Avenue, Burlington from Fortieth Burlington, LLC; Benchmark Systems sublet 39,320 square feet at the Innovation Center of Vermont, Building 21, 128 Lakeside Avenue, Burlington from Dealer Dot Com, Inc., and Fortieth Burlington, LLC; at the Innovation Center of Vermont, V/T announced that the Internal Revenue Service leased 13,229 square feet in the building.

Vermont Business Magazine On March 27th the Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) will host its biannual “Road Show” educational event at the Hilton Burlington Lake Champlain Hotel in Burlington, VT. The event, tailored to prospective captive insurance companies, has been hosted in over 20 cities, including internationally in Mexico City. The format includes two parts, the first being a deep dive into the basics of captive insurance and the benefits of domiciling in Vermont, and the latter featuring three captive owners sharing their formation story. Captive owners include two Vermont-based organizations, University of Vermont Health Network and employee-owned multinational manufacturing company, Carris Reels, Inc., and one Missouri-based multinational construction company, Alberici Corporation.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington City Arts (BCA) announces the application period for the 2024 BCA Community Fund will open on April 10. The fund, which was expanded this year thanks to a $40,000 gift from Tito’s Handmade Vodka, along with other supporters, awards $5,000 grants to individual artists, artist groups, and arts organizations to support Burlington-based projects that promote a vibrant creative community and contribute to the greater public good. Applications will be accepted from April 10 through May 28. Thanks to a $40,000 gift from Tito’s Handmade Vodka and support from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), BCA will be able to double the granting ability of the Community Fund in 2024. The increased granting capacity will provide greater resources and opportunities for artists and organizations to realize their artistic visions and make a lasting impact.  

Vermont Business Magazine New products from a centuries-old industry are making their way to the marketplace. This is thanks to a five-year initiative designed to generate market demand for sustainably sourced wood from the Northern Forest of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. Included in the initiative were two projects in Vermont: Steam-based heating project in Burlington and for the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund's "Wood-Based Textiles in the Northeast." The Future Forest Economy Initiative (FFEI) funded 13 projects that generated substantial economic development opportunities within the region's forest sector and in economically distressed rural communities across the area.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont House of Representatives passed H.289, to modernize Vermont’s Renewable Energy Standard. The bill would put Vermont on track to achieve 100% renewable electricity across all the state’s utilities by 2035, which would make Vermont only the second state to meet that critical benchmark, and would significantly increase the requirements for Vermont utilities to support the deployment of new renewable energy. The bill will now head to the Senate for consideration. If enacted, H.289 would be the first major update to the Renewable Energy Standard since its enactment in 2015. In terms of cutting carbon pollution, this bill will be the equivalent of taking approximately 160,000-250,000 cars off the road, for good. This bill represents the largest single move towards renewable electricity and away from fossil fueled power that Vermont has ever taken, by a wide margin, according to the Vermont Natural Resources Council. 

Vermont Business Magazine Today the Vermont Senate passed S.213, the Flood Safety Act, on a voice vote. The bill passed second reading yesterday on a tripartisan vote of 24-4-2. This bill will help reduce the risk of future flood damage by addressing dam safety, improving the state’s approach to development in river corridors and wetlands, and making watersheds more resilient in the face of the climate crisis. Without these important changes, the risks to Vermonters living in flood-prone areas remain unaddressed. Data released by Vermont Emergency Management indicate that 2023 flooding events caused damage to over 4,000 homes and 800 businesses and led to over $200 million in damage to public infrastructure. This bill will help mitigate future flood risks by improving dam safety, wetland mapping and reporting and improving the management of high-hazard river corridors.