Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont), and Representative Becca Balint (D-Vermont) on Monday sent a letter to majority, minority, and Appropriations Committee leadership in the Senate and House of Representatives urging them to ensure that Congress passes federal funding for essential recovery and long-term disaster mitigation work in Vermont following the devastating flooding that hit the state this summer. In the letter, the delegation also called for increasing FEMA's cap for hazard mitigation, making SBA loans forgivable in order to save small businesses, renters, and homeowners from taking on additional debt after experiencing a disaster, and expanding the USDA's emergency grant relief for impacted Vermont farmers, as well as opening eligibility for retroactive enrollment in the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.

Vermont Business Magazine Two months after the federal disaster declaration for the state of Vermont following July’s severe storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides, more than $54.7 million in federal assistance has been provided by FEMA and the US Small Business Administration (SBA) directly to Vermonters to aid in their recovery. The funds include grants from FEMA, payouts from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and long-term, low-interest disaster loans from the SBA. 

Vermont Business Magazine Leaders from Gifford Health Care and partners Capstone Community Action, Clara Martin Center, and Tri-Valley Transit will share information about their programs and services and invite feedback from area residents this month during Gifford’s second annual Community Listening Tour.  The Community Listening Tour will make the following stops. Community members are encouraged to attend the session most convenient for them. 

Vermont Agency of Transportation If you are considering acquiring an electric vehicle for the first time or wondering what it would be like to make the switch to electric, join the VTrans webinar next Tuesday, September 19, to learn more. The Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) is leading the State’s efforts to electrify transportation in order to reduce Vermont’s carbon output. 

Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center When you join CONNEX Vermont, thanks to VMEC's Supply Chain grant, you will have VT access for life from the day you register your company. And if you sign up by November 20, 2023, you will receive a FREE YEAR OF FULL NATIONAL ACCESS! Simply use promo code vmec1year to take advantage of this offer.

VermontBiz U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) joined Governor Phil Scott, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Saunders of the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC), Johnson Selectboard Chair Beth Foy, and community leaders, in the Town of Johnson, Vermont, to celebrate the town’s award of a NBRC’s Catalyst Award—a $10.8 million grant program across 13 projects to revitalize Vermont’s rural communities.  The Town of Johnson received a $862,000 grant to complete a new light industrial/commercial park on Route 15.  The other 12 Vermont Catalyst Award Winners hail from Addison, Caledonia, Essex, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Orange, Orleans, Rutland, Washington, Windham, and Windsor Counties. 

VermontBiz Secured by former Senator and Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) through the Congressionally Directed Spending Process, the Vermont Congressional Delegation today announced $9.9 million will be invested in the Burlington School District to educate and train the next generation in aviation and aerospace manufacturing. Administered by the United States Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, the federal funds will build a new aviation and aerospace manufacturing workforce training center that aims to serve up to 150 Vermont high school students and adults each year.

VermontBiz New research has revealed the best states for business growth, with Georgia taking the top spot. 

Business consulting firm Venture Smarter analyzed data from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics to discover the business growth rate in each state based on the number of establishments in December 2021 compared to December 2022. 

VermontBiz Governor Phil Scott today issued the following statement:

“Twenty-two years ago, our nation would change forever, as we lost nearly 3,000 innocent American lives to heinous acts of terror. Today, we honor and  remember those we lost, and the loved ones who were left behind with a void that can never be filled.

VermontBiz Becoming a homeowner is a goal of many, but with the sharp and steady rise of Vermont home prices, what used to be a challenge to attain has been pushed even further out of reach for low to middle-income Vermonters.  A Shared Equity homeownership program, such as the one offered through Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, can bridge that divide and create a path to homeownership for many who otherwise would never have the opportunity. 

VermontBiz The Vermont Department of Corrections today announced the death of a detainee at Northwest State Correctional Facility (NWSCF) in St. Albans, VT. 

Jeffery Nichols, 35, of Enosburg, VT, was found unresponsive early Sunday morning in a cell in the booking area of NWSCF. Department and medical staff immediately began life-saving measures and called for emergency medical services (EMS). Life-saving efforts, including CPR and multiple administrations of Narcan, were unsuccessful. 

VermontBiz A record number of union delegates – 153 in total – gathered at Jay Peak resort this past weekend and elected Katie Harris, Ellen Kaye, and Danielle Bombardier as the the next leaders of the largest labor federation in this state: the Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. It was a test of the Labor Council's Ten Point Program and cross-union reform caucus, United, which has won every election since winning its first in 2019. It was also a chance for workers across Vermont to come together, get to know each other better, and raise a glass to the working-class – all while democratically debating what workers need to do to build power.