Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) today released the following statement on President Biden’s decision to build an emergency port to immediately deliver critical supplies to Gaza: "I welcome President Biden’s decision to direct the U.S. military to establish an emergency port on the Gaza coast to allow large quantities of food, water, medicine, and other essential supplies to be delivered directly to the people of Gaza. This is a necessary step to respond to the horrific humanitarian crisis unfolding there and address the widespread starvation, disease, and desperation caused by this war and Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the area. But let’s be clear about why this extraordinary step is necessary: Despite months of increasingly urgent requests from the very highest officials in the U.S. government, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his extreme, right-wing government have refused to let in sufficient humanitarian aid."

Vermont Business Magazine A study by a nationwide collaborative group including Larner scientists was recently published in Nature Communications. The study explored how the human body responded to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines—such as PfizerBioNTech Moderna. Both vaccines work by helping the body produce antibodies against the COVID-19 virus’s spike protein, but the study team found that the efficacy of the vaccines varied among subjects. Researchers found that individuals over the age of 65, men, those with higher weight, smokers, diabetics, and those with a history of emphysema tended to have lower antibody levels. To contrast, subjects who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 previously—particularly those with COVID-19 severe enough to lead to hospitalization—had significantly higher levels of anti-S1 than other groups in the study. Surprisingly, those who had taken the Moderna vaccine also reported a significantly higher level of anti-S1 than the PfizerBioNTech recipients.

Vermont Business Magazine With the United States on track to spend more than $1 trillion on the military this year, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and five colleagues this week sent a letter to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urging him to reconstitute the World War II-era Truman Committee to investigate war profiteering and price gouging in the American military industrial complex. Sanders was joined on the letter by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Peter Welch (D-Vermont). Congress has already authorized an $886 billion base defense budget. When defense spending outside of the Department of Defense (DOD) budget is included, the total rises to more than $900 billion.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) announces the selection of the Energy 2024 cohort of the Vermont-based DeltaClimeVT climate economy business accelerator. Eight early-stage energy companies from across the U.S. and Canada will work directly with Vermont utilities to contribute to Vermont’s 90% renewable by 2050 and Burlington’s Net Zero by 2030 goals over three months of intensive work sessions, including two online and two in-person intensive sessions (each 2-4 days in duration), weekly assignments and bi-weekly webinars as well as frequent 1:1 engagement. The first in-person sprint starts March 25 in Burlington, VT at Burlington Electric Department and will wrap up with an awards ceremony in Burlington June 13.

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont are $3.22 per gallon, down 1.9 cents per gallon from last week's $3.24/g. The lowest price in the state yesterday was $2.97/g while the highest was $3.39/g, a difference of 42.0 cents per gallon. The national average price of gasoline has risen 10.0 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.34/g today. "As we enter the madness we tend to see in March with refinery maintenance hitting its peak, impacting how much gasoline can be produced as we make the changeover to the summer blends."

Vermont Business Magazine As Vermonters patiently wait for spring temperatures, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) invites the public to report when Vermont’s lakes and ponds lose their ice cover. Also known as the “ice-out date,” this date marks when lakes or ponds become ice-free from shore to shore. Tracking ice-out dates helps DEC scientists decide when to begin seasonal water quality sampling efforts. When ice covers lakes, the water below separates into layers based on temperature and density. When the surface ice fully melts in the spring, the heavy cold water sinks and the water column fully mixes. 

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today made a formal request to President Joe Biden for a Major Disaster Declaration to help communities and public utilities in Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Lamoille, and Orleans counties recover costs for repair of public infrastructure damage caused by damaging storms from January 9 – 13, 2024. If granted, a federal Major Disaster Declaration unlocks Federal Emergency Management Agency Public Assistance Program funding to reimburse municipalities and public utilities for 75% of eligible costs like power restoration, debris removal, road and public building repairs, and staff overtime responding to and cleaning up after the storm.

SBA Vermont District Office T.H.R.I.V.E. Emerging Leaders Reimagined is an executive-level training series designed to develop strong leaders and accelerate the growth of high-potential small businesses across the United States. Since its inception as E-200 in 2008, the series has trained more than 8,000 small business owners, creating over 11,000 jobs, generating nearly $1 billion in new financing, and securing over $4 billion in government contracts. The application is open for 2024 cohorts including one here in Vermont. 

Vermont Business Magazine If you would like to learn how to effectively hunt wild turkey gobblers in the upcoming spring hunting season, consider attending the turkey hunting seminar being offered by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and volunteer instructors on Saturday, March 23. Learning to Hunt Spring Turkeys, designed specifically for new hunters, will be held on Saturday, March 23, from 9 am to 4 pm at the Waterbury-Stowe Fish & Game Club, 5365 Waterbury-Stowe Rd, Waterbury Center, VT 05677. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Language Justice Project, which started as a volunteer effort to disseminate crucial information to folks throughout the pandemic speaking languages other than English, will celebrate four years of operation on March 18th which was when their first video was posted on the Vermont Multi Lingual Corona Virus Task Force YouTube Channel in Somali. This video shared lifesaving details about what the virus was and how to take care of oneself. Four years later with three full-time members of staff and 17 contractors working in 18 languages, VLJP has produced over 2,045 videos with over 183,000 views on YouTube, and now boasts 800 subscribers. We are now foreseeing a funding crunch as our major funding will end at the end of this year and are exploring creative means of keeping this important work alive. 

Vermont Business Magazine Today, millions of Xfinity Internet customers are waking up to faster speeds at no additional cost. As the need for data increases in ever-connected households, Xfinity is ensuring customers can stream, surf, and share on a network and service they can rely on today and in the future. Starting today, new and existing customers can take advantage of the following speed increases: Connect: 75 Mbps to 150 Mbps; Connect More: 200 Mbps to 300 Mbps; Fast: 400 Mbps to 500 Mbps; Xfinity Prepaid: 50 Mbps to 200 Mbps

by Don Tinney, Vermont-NEA My fellow 13,000 members and I know that last night’s rejection of nearly a third of all school budgets isn’t a repudiation of our local public schools and the tens of thousands of Vermont students they serve every day. Rather, it’s a reasonable reaction to completely unrealistic spikes in property taxes driven by events over which our dedicated local school boards have no control. We know that local communities are struggling, and most can’t afford year-over-year property tax increases of the sort proposed this week. For years, we have advocated for a simpler and fairer way to pay for our schools than the regressive property tax: an education income tax that will raise more money from those most able to afford it.