Current News

Vermont State Police On March 20, 2024, at approximately 1024 hours, Vermont State Police dispatch received multiple 911 calls for reports of a TT unit that jack-knifed on Interstate 89 at mile marker 79.6 in the town of Williston blocking the flow of traffic. Preliminary investigation indicated that the operator was going too fast for road conditions. The result of this crash caused several other vehicles to initiate emergency stops. This resulted in several other crashes including a sprinter van into a TT unit, a dump truck going off into the median, a passenger vehicle into a TT unit and lastly a separate TT unit jack-knifed. One individual was transported to UVM Medical center for suspected minor injuries. 

Vermont Department of Economic Development It’s mid-March and we are in the throes of the legislative session. The dearth of housing across the economic spectrum is our greatest barrier to affordability and growing our economy. I know some of you have offered jobs to out-of-state candidates who can’t take them because they can’t find adequate housing at a reasonable price in Vermont. We need to increase our housing stock to keep the workers we have, bring in those who want to move here, and to entice our children to stay in the Green Mountains. We didn’t get here overnight. Vermont has been underbuilding for decades.  So, the Scott Administration is offering several ways to ramp up production; reform land use laws and permitting processes to incentivize housing development in areas where we want it, and make targeted investments in programs like the Vermont Housing Improvement Program that has created 535 affordable units since 2020. Right now, the legislature has two bills that deal with housing and land use.  In the Senate, S.311 is in the Natural Resources Committee. Meanwhile, House bill H.687 is a land use bill that doesn’t address housing at all. 

Vermont Business Magazine Today, US Senators Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) introduced the Tax Relief for Victims of Crimes, Scams, and Disasters Act, legislation to give relief to those who have been victims of fraud, scams, thefts, accidents, and other personal casualty losses. The legislation reinstates the tax deduction for personal casualty and theft losses that were stripped away by the 2017 GOP tax law, forcing victims of scams, robberies, storms, and fires to pay taxes on stolen assets, further wiping out their hard-earned savings and financial security.  

by Will Guisbond, Community News Service Vermonters got word last October that JetBlue Airways would leave Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport, a significant blow considering the airline’s lone route to New York’s John F. Kennedy International carried about 10% of all traffic coming in and out of the field. The airline, in a statement to local media at the time, cited air traffic controller shortages in the greater New York City area as the primary driver behind its decision. Those labor challenges appear to have hit other airlines in Burlington too: Delta Air Lines revealed around the same time that it would reduce service on its own route to New York’s Kennedy airport. But more was going on behind the scenes at JetBlue. Interviews with former congressional and airport staff — and airline schedule data analyzed by the Community News Service — show the New York-based airline was mulling a break with the Burlington airport almost five years earlier and had been struggling with revenue there for years. 

Vermont Business Magazine Last week, news media reported that transgender teenager Nex Benedict’s tragic and senseless death in Oklahoma was deemed a suicide. As details continue to emerge, one thing remains clear: the bullying and hate that led to Nex’s death is a call for all of us to stop physical and emotional violence against LGBTQIA+ youth, and to educate children and adults that all people are to be valued. Every young person deserves to feel safe and supported, especially at school. They also should be free to be who they are. But the reality is that queer and transgender youth across the country, and in Vermont, often do not experience the freedom to be their authentic selves.    

Vermont Business Magazine Patients and physicians can now experience a new level of Diagnostic Imaging at Springfield Hospital. A breakthrough in nuclear medicine technology is enabling high diagnostic accuracy and low radiation dose capabilities. Springfield Hospital has announced the reopening of its Nuclear Medicine program in early March. Symbia Pro.Specta X3 is a multi-purpose single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) system that makes it possible for Springfield Hospital to extend a wide range of advanced imaging exams to patients. The system is designed with specialized tools optimized for oncology, cardiology, neurology, and other medical fields. 

Pomerleau Real Estate has announced that Sparkle Klean has leased 1,300 SF in the stand alone building in the St Albans Shopping Plaza. Kendra Kenney represented both the owners, Pomerleau Real Estate, and the Tenants. Pomerleau also welcomes Wilder Art Studio to the Bailey Building in Montpelier. The Art Studio will be taking over the former first floor salon space, occupying 1,300 SF of prime retail frontage on Main Street! Kendra Kenney represented both the owners, Pomerleau Real Estate, and the Tenants. 

by Robert F. Smith, The Commons Plans are falling into place to make sure that a restored and reopened historic diner installed downtown 80 years ago heads into its next 80 years on a strong and sustainable foundation. Literally. Over a year ago, the citizen's group Rockingham for Progress Inc. signed a purchase-and-sale agreement with former owner Brian McAllister, for the Miss Bellows Falls Diner, on Rockingham Street. The 1941 Worcester Lunch Car has been closed for over three years. Rockingham For Progress, a civic organization formed in 2016, had been mostly inactive the last few years until it decided that restoring and renovating the diner would be a worthy next project. Board members include Bonnie North, Jeff Dunbar, Kristen Fehrenbach, Doug Anarino, and Charlie Hunter.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger and Burlington Electric Department (BED) shared Burlington’s Net Zero Energy (NZE) Roadmap update for 2023 and announced exciting new programs and incentives to accelerate electrification. The update shows a significant overall decline of 18.2 percent in greenhouse gas emissions in the ground transportation and thermal sectors from 2018 to 2023, marking the second largest year-over-year drop in that period. The greatest change was in the building sector, with a 19 percent reduction in fossil fuel use since 2018.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Governor Phil Scott tapped a maple tree at Buck Family Maple in Washington Monday to recognize this year’s maple season.  With sap boiling ongoing around the state, the governor joined the Buck family and Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Anson Tebbetts to join in the tradition of Vermont’s maple season and celebrate this important industry to the state’s economy and culture.

Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont) announced this week that he has secured nearly $30 million in federal funds in the recently passed budget to support 19 Vermont projects. The projects will improve local infrastructure and accessibility, bolster economic revitalization, preserve community landmarks, and build more affordable housing. Project recipients were nominated by Welch through the Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) process. One of the recipients was SRDC $1 million for the Springfield Regional Development Corporation for the Park Street School: Business Incubator & Accelerator in Springfield.

Vermont Business Magazine Craig Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Albany Field Office, and Col. Matthew T. Birmingham, director of the Vermont State Police, announced today the FBI is offering a reward of up to $40,000 for information leading to the recovery of Brianna Maitland. Brianna was last seen during the late evening hours of March 19, 2004, as she was completing her shift at a restaurant in Montgomery, Vermont. She was just 17 years old. She left the restaurant in a green 1985 Oldsmobile 88, which was later located backed into the side of an abandoned barn about a mile from the restaurant.