Current News

VermontBiz The Vermont Department of Labor has announced an increase to the State’s minimum wage. Beginning January 1, 2024, the State’s minimum wage will become $13.66 per hour. This is an increase of $0.48 from the current minimum wage of $13.18. 

This annual adjustment also impacts the minimum wage for tipped employees. The Basic Tipped Wage Rate for service, or “tipped employees,” equals 50% of the full minimum wage. On January 1, 2024, the tipped minimum wage will increase from $6.28 to $6.84 per hour. 

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont State University (VTSU) Interim President Mike Smith released the voluntary faculty buyout plan to university faculty on Monday afternoon as part of the ongoing academic Optimization efforts. Optimization calls for programs to be either maintained, sunset, moved, or consolidated to save as much as $3.35 million annually, to meet student needs better, and to grow more relevant and in-demand programs. Additionally, this plan seeks to increase student-to-faculty ratios from approximately 1 to 13 today to 1 to 18 in the coming years. The plan involves the reduction of between 20-33 full-time faculty positions out of the current 207. The voluntary buyout plan, released yesterday as the next step in Optimization, recognizes that faculty members have different personal and professional goals. Some may elect to leave Vermont State University after the close of the academic year, forestalling the need for layoffs.

VermontBiz Green Mountain Power (GMP) today launched its Zero Outages Initiative, the first utility in the country to commit to a comprehensive, data-driven plan that creates layers of resiliency across Vermont by building on GMP’s successful and proactive undergrounding and storm-hardening of lines, as well as deployment of energy storage through batteries and microgrids. Combined, this work will keep customers and communities connected while lowering costs for all. The phased initiative rapidly accelerates this resiliency work through 2030, tackling the hardest hit areas in rural central and southern Vermont first, following a devastating year for the state that saw an unprecedented string of damaging storms due to climate change.

VermontBiz Attorney General Charity Clark For nearly 40 years, October has been designated Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and for good reason. There is a chance that one in eight women will develop breast cancer. October also brings a wave of pink ribbons and pink products. As Vermont Attorney General, I strive to uphold Vermont’s consumer laws and educate Vermonters so that they can make informed decisions when supporting charities and purchasing products. This month, awareness is vital and particularly important given a practice known as “pinkwashing.”

VermontBiz The annual Paul Sweeney Memorial Coat Drive, which will be held at the Good Shepherd Catholic School, 121 Maple Street, 9 a.m. – Noon on November 4, is now accepting adult coats and children’s winter outwear.

Paul Sweeney had a 27-year career with Central Vermont Public Service Corporation. As Senior Energy Use Advisor, his duties included home visits where he would suggest ways to make homes more energy efficient. In November 2003, Rev. Jay Sprout and Paul Sweeney organized the first coat drive in memory of Sandy Broughton, a woman who organized previous coat drives and passed away that year from cancer. Coats were collected and distributed (with the help of the Salvation Army) to people in need in the Northeast Kingdom. Two months later, Paul Sweeney passed away at the age of 50. The following year the coat drive was renamed in Paul’s honor.

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), a member of the Dartmouth Health system, has completed Phase One of the organization’s most ambitious building project in the last forty years. A component of the Vision2020, A Decade of Transformation campaign, Phase One includes the opening of the new Kendall Emergency Department, the Richard and Pamela Ader Foundation Lobby, and Marro Café.

VermontBiz The Vermont State Police continues to actively pursue leads in the ongoing investigation into last week’s fatal shooting of Honoree Fleming, 77, on the Delaware and Hudson Rail Trail in Castleton.

Detectives have received more than 200 tips from the public since the homicide occurred and have been interviewing potential witnesses, nearby residents and people who were on the trail around the time of the shooting, among other individuals. On Monday, members of the Vermont State Police Search and Rescue Team and Crime Scene Search Team canvassed the rail trail in search of any additional evidence that might be relevant to the investigation. The section of trail remains closed to the public as the investigation continues.

VermontBiz Redhead Media, a full-service media planning and buying agency based in Boston, is proud to launch its new website at www.redheadmedia.com. The company is celebrating the launch of its new site just ahead of its 20th anniversary in November.

Redhead Media specializes in audience profiling and focuses on the best way to reach audiences for their clients’ products and services. Through traditional methods such as print, radio and TV ads, to digital media services, they are a local leader in executing comprehensive marketing campaigns. They design customized efforts in local and multi-city markets as well as national-level platforms.

VermontBiz The Senator James M. Jeffords Welcome Center, also known as the Bennington State Welcome Center, will be celebrating ten years of service on Wednesday, October 11 2023. Since its opening in 2013, the Welcome Center, located on Highway 279, has served as a beacon of hospitality and information for 1,082,746 visitors and travelers.

VermontBiz Average gasoline prices in Burlington have fallen 3.2 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.78/g today, according to GasBuddy's survey of 100 stations in Burlington. Prices in Burlington are 4.6 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and stand 5.1 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 4.0 cents in the last week and stands at $4.48 per gallon.

VermontBiz The Working Lands Enterprise Initiative is now accepting applications for the Business Enhancement Grant. Vermont-based farm, food, and forest sector businesses may apply for grants of $15,000 - $50,000.  

The application portal is open from October 6th through November 20th. There will be an optional applicant webinar on Wednesday, October 11th from 12:00–1:00 PM.  

Vermont Business Magazine Want to build electric airplanes? Design semiconductors? Develop renewable energy solutions to help fight climate change? You can find a job doing any of the above — and more — in Vermont. Come check out the options at this year’s Vermont Tech Jam, an annual career and tech expo on Saturday, October 21, at Hula — a coworking campus on the Burlington waterfront. Organized since 2008 by the newsweekly Seven Days, with help from the Vermont Technology Alliance, the Jam showcases some of the state’s most inventive enterprises. This year’s free event, presented by Marvell and Hula, starts with a one-of-a-kind job fair, where job seekers, college students and tech professionals mingle. Vermont colleges and technical programs will also be exhibiting, too.