Current News

Vermont Business Magazine In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) pressed U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director Colette Peters on why Vermont remains one of only two states without a Residential Reentry Center (RRC), despite unanimous support for an RRC from the Vermont Congressional Delegation and other federal stakeholders in Vermont’s legal community. At a September committee hearing, Director Peters announced the development of an RRC but later stated she misspoke and intended to place another type of facility in Vermont. Crucially, Director Peters said she would reconsider her decision if the Vermont Delegation presented support for the facility, which it did in a December letter to the BOP. At the same time, Judge Geoffrey Crawford, Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont, sent Director Peters a letter expressing the federal judiciary’s strong support for a residential facility in Vermont.

Department of Motor Vehicles On 2/28/24 at approximately 2:30 a.m., DMV Enforcement Inspectors were dispatched to a single vehicle commercial motor vehicle crash on Vermont Route 105 in Bloomfield. The tractor trailer was traveling east on VT 105 when it encountered black ice on a sharp curve. The vehicle left the roadway, and the trailer overturned. The tractor trailer was towed due to disabling damage. Three other vehicles subsequently were involved in crashes at the site.

Vermont Business Magazine Last week, Retreat Farm announced the opening of the Retreat Farm Market in June 2024. Located in the former Grafton Village Cheese Company facility, this high-traffic location sees over 90,000 visitors annually, providing a unique opportunity to showcase the intersection of the land, farmers, and food production. The 2,300-square-foot Retreat Farm Market will be part of a new Food Center at Retreat Farm that highlights regional food producers dedicated to stewarding the land and their communities through environmental leadership, employee commitment, community giving, and workplace culture. Since acquiring the facility from the Windham Foundation in 2022, Retreat Farm has drawn on expertise from a regional advisory committee and local partners to develop the museum-inspired retail concept and food center. Partners include the Brattleboro Food Co-Op and Food Connects. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Federal Nuclear Waste Policy Committee of the Vermont Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel will meet on Monday, March 4, 2024, from 12:00 Noon to 1:00 PM.  As permitted by ACT 1 of the 2023 Vermont Legislature, this meeting will be conducted solely as a webcast and teleconference. At this meeting, representatives from Vermont’s Congressional Delegation will discuss current and recent bills before Congress regarding spent nuclear fuel policies.  FNWP Committee members will provide feedback on these policy proposals and share concerns raised at recent VT NDCAP meetings about spent fuel legislation.  The Panel’s 2023 Annual Report will also be discussed with the Delegation representatives. 

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General Charity Clark wants to hear young Vermonters’ thoughts on the future of environmental advocacy. For the fourth year in a row, the Attorney General’s Office is holding an Earth Day Essay Challenge for fifth and sixth graders to submit essays on the environment. The Earth Day Essay Challenge is open to any fifth- or sixth-grade student in Vermont, including home-schooled students. The Challenge is currently open through April 5, 2024. Ideas for topics include things like: What do you love about Vermont’s environment? How do you enjoy Vermont’s environment? What do you care most about and what does Earth Day mean to you? What are your concerns about the future of Vermont’s environment? What do you think we should do to help protect the environment? 

Vermont Business Magazine NOMAD Transportable Power Systems of Waterbury has released the NOMAD PATHFINDER, a 200 kW/220 kWh system that brings unrivaled flexibility and application opportunities in the transportable power sector. The PATHFINDER is a complete battery energy system. For towing, the system and trailer total less than 10,000 pounds. The system can be a completely off-grid asset, charged by solar through 10 kW DC input. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation's Urban & Community Forestry Program (VT UCF) has announced the recipients of its 2024 grant program, supporting three key categories: Communities Caring for Canopy, Growing Urban Forests in the Face of Emerald Ash Borer, and Urban & Community Forestry Grants. This year, VT UCF is awarding over $710,000, marking the largest amount the program has ever distributed, made possible with funding from the USDA Forest Service.

Vermont Business Magazine At his weekly press conference today, Governor Phil Scott highlighted his concerns about additional costs associated with new proposals in the Legislature given the new budget reality the state faces. The Governor concluded by reminding Vermonters of the importance of making their voices heard. "As we prepare to head into Town Meeting Week – roughly halfway through the session – I want to remind you of the priorities I laid out in January: public safety, housing and affordability. As I said in the State of the State, these are issues that are affecting Vermonters every day, so we have an obligation to prioritize them for the people we serve."

Vermont Business Magazine As a primary care physician of more than 25 years, Marie Sandoval, MD, has seen many routine patient visits unearth a serious health concern requiring follow-up care and specialist expertise. In November 2023, when one of Dr. Sandoval’s patients mentioned feeling tightness in his chest and shortness of breath when he exercised, Dr. Sandoval ordered an electrocardiogram and stress test of his heart. His results were concerning, and Dr. Sandoval needed the insight of a cardiologist. In the past, Dr. Sandoval, a physician at Adult Primary Care in South Burlington, would have needed to refer her patient to an in-person cardiology appointment. The patient would have had to schedule that appointment and wait until it arrived to find out what, if anything, was wrong. But instead, Dr. Sandoval simply submitted an eConsult, and in less than 24 hours got detailed guidance from Kevin Carey, MD, a cardiologist colleague at the UVM Health Network.

Vermont Business Magazine Today the Vermont Senate gave preliminary approval to S.209, a bill to support public safety through the prohibition of unserialized firearms, on a tripartian vote of 26-3-1. The bill would address the increase in sales of “ghost guns,” which are unserialized, untraceable homemade firearms often made from kits or through 3D printing. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the number of ghost guns recovered by law enforcement agencies “increased by more than 1,300 percent from 2016 to 2022. Because “ghost guns” do not have serial numbers, they are also untraceable and inhibit law enforcement’s ability to solve gun-related crimes.  

Vermont Business Magazine After a yearlong creative development process, the University of Vermont today announced refreshed and refined branding, including new positioning and the first major revision to its primary logo in more than 30 years. “For people and planet” is the core of UVM’s new positioning, reinforcing the distinctive excellence of the institution’s academic and research activities centered on human health, thriving communities, and the environment. The university offers some 50 majors and dozens of graduate degrees that span these areas. The university partnered with Generation Communication and Branding of Hudson, New York, to develop the positioning and new logo system. The collaboration included a steering committee and a working group comprised of faculty and staff. Additionally, dozens of group and individual interviews included students, alumni, deans, trustees, and university leadership. The cost of the engagement with Generation was $145,650, co-funded by UVM and the UVM Foundation.

Vermont Business Magazine Change Healthcare, which operates Vermont's Medicaid pharmacy claims system, experienced a significant cyber security issue last week. In an earlier press release, the Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) had confirmed that this issue has impacted pharmacies and providers across Vermont and New England. The Department has since learned that this cyber security issue has caused service interruptions in all 50 states, and that more provider types than just pharmacies have been impacted. In a filing today, Change Healthcare said it is still "experiencing a cyber security issue, and our experts are working to address the matter."