Current News

Vermont Business Magazine KeyBank Vermont has updated its leadership position. According to KeyBank, Vermont District President Joseph McGowan is departing KeyBank to pursue a new opportunity outside of the bank. According to a statement from the bank, a new market president will be announced once he or she is named. In the interim, Vermont’s Key Private Bank Market Leader Tony DiSotto will manage the market president responsibilities. 

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Nut Free Chocolates is marking a major milestone with innovations in the growing ‘Free From’ food category. The Vermont-based gourmet chocolate manufacturer just launched 100% natural and allergy friendly Hot Cocoa Bombs and is on target to become a 100% Egg Free manufacturer in 2024. 

Vermont Business Magazine The holiday season can be a joyous time of gatherings and celebrations — but can be dangerous for many Vermonters. That is because the holidays can bring extra stress and new incidents of domestic abuse. Now there's a new tool to help people escape abuse. Legal Services Vermont has launched an online guided interview that helps Vermonters prepare forms to ask for protection from abuse.

Vermont Business Magazine As the winter season approaches, bringing with it challenging weather conditions, the City of Burlington, South Burlington and Winooski, in collaboration with Bird and the Chittenden Area Transportation Management Associate (aka CATMA), are committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all its residents and visitors. With this in mind, we wish to inform you of an important seasonal adjustment to our shared micromobility services.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger, Champlain Housing Trust (CHT), Evernorth, CityPlace Partners, and Cambrian Rise announced milestones on three significant Burlington affordable housing projects. Over the next 2-3 years these projects will create a total of more than 180 new permanently affordable homes in Burlington. The new milestones include: Mayor Weinberger is seeking City Council approval at the December 18 meeting of $1 million commitment of the City’s American Rescue Plan Act funds to Post Apartments, a 38-unit apartment building to be built on the current site of VFW Post 784. The project will also include a new home for the VFW, community space, and office spaces for Burlington’s Community Justice Center, and is expected to start construction in the spring of 2024.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) would like to remind all farm operations that the annual winter manure spreading ban begins today, December 15th. VAAFM is aware that many Vermonters experienced unprecedented rainfall this summer, and these conditions reduced manure spreading opportunities and stressed manure storage capacity for farms. The winter manure spreading ban is still in place, but farmers can seek exemptions for emergency situations occurring because of the historic wet weather Vermont experienced in 2023.

Vermont Business Magazine With nearly 19,000 people killed and more than 50,000 wounded in Gaza since October 7 – seventy percent of whom are women and children – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) Thursday introduced a resolution under Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act to force a debate on the indiscriminate bombing being carried out by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government. The Foreign Assistance Act prohibits security assistance to any government “which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” Section 502B(c) of this law allows Congress to request information on a country’s human rights practices – such requests are privileged, allowing the sponsor to force a floor vote on the requesting resolution. If the resolution passes, the Department of State must submit the requested report within 30 days, or all security assistance to the country in question is cut off. 

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Thursday issued the following statement after the White House announced that the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) would make “fair pricing” a standard part of contract negotiations for tests, treatments, and vaccines. In March, the HELP Committee held a hearing on Moderna’s decision to quadruple the price of the COVID-19 vaccine, which was developed through a partnership with the federal government.

Vermont Business Magazine iSun, Inc (NASDAQ: ISUN) from Williston, a leading solar energy and clean mobility infrastructure company with 50-years of experience accelerating the adoption of innovative electrical technologies, today announced the closing of an $8.0 million senior secured loan with Decathlon Capital Partners, the country’s largest revenue-based funding investor, to refinance in full the prior senior secured convertible facility which had become overly dilutive. The transaction, which carries a 48-month term, is a straight debt instrument, thus avoiding any equity dilution. Debt service payments begin at a smaller initial level and increase over the course of the loan in several step-ups, tracking the company’s revenue growth. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Brewers Association is gearing up for an exciting new year with the appointment of an Executive Director and the addition of three dynamic individuals to its Board of Directors. The decisions were made official during the association’s Board Meeting on December 12, 2023. The VBA also announced the official appointment of Emma Arian as the new Executive Director.

Vermont Business Magazine Rutland Regional Medical Center’s Bowse Health Trust (BHT) committee is pleased to announce funding for three important projects over the next three years. The Rutland Pride Center, Companions in Wholeness, and the Rutland Free Clinic have been awarded funds to implement important projects in our community.  Each project addresses priority needs identified in the 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment with a focus on improving health equity in the areas of Housing, Childcare and Parenting, Mental Health, and Supporting the Aging Community.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Corrections (DOC) today announced Southern State Correctional Facility (SSCF) Interim Superintendent Michaela Merrill will officially assume the role of SSCF Superintendent effective immediately. The leadership change comes after former SSCF Superintendent Mike Lyon retired in August. Merrill stepped into the role of Interim Superintendent shortly after Lyon’s retirement.