Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is asking hunters to participate in its annual deer hunter effort and sighting survey. The survey asks hunters to record how many hours they hunted and how many deer, moose, bears, or other wildlife they saw each day they hunted. This information helps the department evaluate how hunting pressure and the number of these animals varies around the state. The easiest way to complete the survey is to use the Deer Hunting Log feature in the Vermont Outdoors mobile app. 

Vermont Business Magazine Casella Waste Systems, Inc (Nasdaq: CWST), a regional solid waste, recycling, and resource management services company, announced that the Company is adding a new member to its senior leadership team. President & Chief Financial Officer, Edmond “Ned” R. Coletta, will retain his role as President while the Company hires Bradford J. Helgeson to serve as the new Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, effective November 6, 2023.

Vermont State Police Initial investigation into a fire that destroyed the RK Miles lumber yard Wednesday night, Nov. 1, 2023, in Montpelier has uncovered no evidence to indicate the blaze is suspicious. The origin of the fire is undetermined. No injuries were reported. The fire was reported at 6:14 p.m. Wednesday when emergency dispatchers received multiple calls that a building at the lumber yard, at 707 Stone Cutters Way, was engulfed in flames. The Montpelier Fire Department had a crew on scene within four minutes and began an initial attack on the fire. Suddenly shifting winds pushed the flames in the direction of the fire engine, forcing firefighters to evacuate. The engine was a total loss.

Vermont Business Magazine ISO New England has released its draft report on the results of the 2050 Transmission Study. The first-of-its-kind study, driven by assumptions about the region’s future resource mix and demand for electricity provided by the New England states, offers an overview of the regional transmission system investment needed into the middle of the century to ensure reliability throughout the clean energy transition. Cumulative costs to upgrade the transmission system could reach $17 billion to reliably serve a 51 gigawatt (GW) peak in 2050, or $26 billion to support a 57 GW peak, the ISO’s report said. To reach those levels, the region’s annual investment over the next 26 years would need to roughly keep pace with or exceed the average spent each year over the past two decades. The Burlington area presents its own problems, especially in the winter as heating becomes more electrified, because of a lack of generation and high-voltage transmission options.

Vermont Business Magazine The DeltaClimeVT climate economy business accelerator is seeking innovative, start-up and/or seed stage, energy companies offering innovative products or services aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to help Vermont meet its climate goals. During Energy 2024, entrepreneurs will work directly with Vermont utilities who are looking to deploy innovative services and technologies 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 with mentors.  

Vermont Business Magazine Just in time for the holidays, an innovative online shopping platform is bringing locals a new way to shop. Marrying the convenience of online ordering with a value-driven, locally minded philosophy, Myti aims to keep dollars in Vermont while competing with large-scale global ecommerce giants. Twenty-five local businesses currently partner with Myti, with more being added all the time. A catalog of 19,000+ products is available to shoppers. 

Vermont Business Magazine Senators Peter Welch (D-Vermont), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), and Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) today commended the Senate’s passage of their bipartisan amendment requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to conduct a review for veterans who served in Kosovo and engaged in a toxic exposure risk activity, on mortality data for these veterans, toxic exposure data, and the type of toxic exposure risk activities these veterans engaged in. 

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Killington Resort, the largest ski and snowboard destination in Eastern North America, and part of POWDR, will kick off the 2023-24 winter season at 10 am on Friday, November 3, 2023, becoming the first resort in Vermont to open for skiing and snowboarding. The first turns of the season on November 3 will be reserved exclusively for Killington Season Pass, Beast 365 and Ikon pass holders. The resort will open to the general public on Saturday, November 4 at 9 am and will remain open 7 days a week, weather permitting.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and Chief Recovery Officer Doug Farnham today announced the appointment of Patricia Moulton as Central Vermont Recovery Officer. This is the latest step in building out the necessary organizational infrastructure to coordinate the long-term recovery process for Vermont following this summer’s historic flooding. The Recovery Office is the state-level entity that is tasked with coordinating funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act programs, alongside hazard mitigation and ongoing community revitalization work, to ensure that activities are in sync across the many government, nonprofit and volunteer efforts already underway or slated for future deployment. 

Vermont State Police On Wednesday night, the Vermont State Police were notified of a tractor trailer in Smugglers' Notch. When Troopers arrived on scene, they located the tractor trailer in the Notch blocking the roadway. The operator of the truck was identified as Shakur Awfarah, 44, who was working for Sagal Transport LLC. Awfarah told Troopers that he was following his GPS and subsequently got stuck while heading north through Smugglers' Notch.

Vermont Business Magazine Opportunities Credit Union (OCU) will offer a Change for Good 6 Month CD to benefit local Vermonters. When customers open this CD, they will earn 2.5% interest and United Way of Northwest Vermont will earn 2.5%, too. United Way brings local people together to work on local solutions to our community’s greatest challenges. In 2023, UWNWVT is investing $6.5 million in local organizations, strategic initiatives, and its own programs.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Board of Trustees reviewed and approved a tuition rate package for academic year 2024-25 in a special meeting today. The approved figures include a 3.5 percent increase in tuition for out-of-state students and an extension for Vermonters of the tuition freeze that has been in place since 2019. The university will also make more Vermont households eligible for the UVM Promise by increasing the household income threshold by 25 percent to $75K beginning next fall. The UVM Promise commits university financial aid resources to ensure that admitted students from more than half of Vermont’s households can attend UVM paying zero tuition.