Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Conservation organizations planted 5,500 trees and shrubs earlier this year in watersheds hit hard by the July storms, the Vermont Land Trust (VLT) and Franklin County Natural Resources Conservation District announced Wednesday. The plantings will help restore streams and reduce flood damage, and also improve wildlife habitat. They took place along wetlands, Lewis Creek and tributaries of the New Haven River as well as the Lamoille River. These restoration projects were completed on farms in Middlebury, Hinesburg, Charlotte and Fletcher.   

The Vermont Chamber is steadfast in helping businesses recover from recent flooding. Businesses are already facing severe economic challenges with workforce shortages, ongoing pandemic recovery, and inflationary pressures. Right now, many business owners are being forced to consider if they can afford to reopen. Our sincere hope is that state and federal funding resources will be allocated with urgency to allow Vermont businesses to continue to be the cornerstones of their communities. 

by Grace Sherwood, Community News Service With the passage of Act 11 this past Statehouse session, legislators have cleared the way for survivors of sexual and domestic violence to take matters to a nearby community justice center. Before the act, those cases would have only been allowed to go through the traditional criminal justice system. In Vermont, sexual and domestic violence cases were the only cases outlawed from being referred to a community justice center. Act 11 updates the law governing the centers to give survivors an alternative to lengthy, taxing trials — or the chance to find closure by talking with the person who has harmed them.

Vermont Business Magazine Family-owned company Lake Champlain Chocolates (LCC), known for their award-winning chocolate confections and commitment to Fair Trade ingredients, is thrilled to announce it is opening a retail shop on Main Street in Stowe Village, in the former Laughing Moon Chocolates’ location. 

Vermont Agency of Transportation This weekly report is a list of planned construction activities that will have traffic impacts on state highways and interstates throughout Vermont for the week of July 31, 2023. Some projects are not included in the report this week as they have been temporarily suspended due to flood damage, the work site is inaccessible, or the contractors were repositioned to assist AOT with emergency response and repairs. Please remember to drive safely in all work zones. Lives depend on it. 

Associated General Contractors of Vermont This week we received notification that AGC of Vermont Inc was selected as a 2023 Power of Associations Gold Award Winner which for us is a huge success and measurement of our programs. We are very honored that AGC/VT, a statewide association, is one of the only statewide associations to win. The other winners are mostly made up of large nationwide associations like AGC of America, but this brave little state association stands among them.

Saint Michael's College History scholarship, cutting-edge technology, and impromptu creative flexibility among faculty and staff merged for a well-received educational and entertaining summer event in the College’s new Media Creation Studio Wednesday afternoon. A mid-day July 26 screening of the movie Hamilton featured interesting introductory historical context from both a professor and her summer research student, Emma Anderson ’25 (top photo left foreground), along with an explanation from Studio Director Patrick Bohan (who also took these photos) about the studio’s vast capabilities that allow students and beyond to optimally experience media with a just-installed Dolby Atmos Digital Sound System and super-high resolution big-screen visuals. Alexandra Garrett, early American specialist of the Saint Michael’s history faculty, also presented before the screening

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation has announced the reopening of most of the State Historic Sites, which had closed to preserve public safety and property of the State in response to the severe flooding.  After a thorough assessment of the integrity of the historic structures and archeologically sensitive grounds, the following State Historic Sites will reopen: July 28, Friday - Bennington Battle Monument in Bennington and President Calvin Coolidge Historic Site in Plymouth; July 29, Saturday - Hubbardton Battlefield in Hubbardton; August 1, Tuesday - Mount Independence in Orwell; August 2, Wednesday - Chimney Point in Addison; August 5, Saturday - President Chester Arthur Historic Site in Fairfield.

Vermont Business Magazine Berkshire Bank, a leading, socially responsible community bank with financial centers in New England and New York, announced more than $845,000 in Foundation philanthropic investments during the second quarter of 2023. These investments contributed to helping the communities Berkshire Bank serves.  Berkshire has branches in southern Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Fidium Fiber is expanding service coverage of its all-fiber internet network in Salisbury. Construction has already started in some locations, with additional build-out scheduled for the coming weeks. Through this expansion, hundreds of homes and small businesses in the community will have access to Fidium’s multi-gig speed fiber internet service.

Vermont Business Magazine On Wednesday evening, Senator Bernie Sanders hosted a statewide telephone town meeting on Vermont’s flooding disaster with Senator Peter Welch, Representative Becca Balint, and Governor Phil Scott, as well as federal and state agency leaders playing a critical part in the response and recovery process. Nearly 12,000 Vermonters from across the state joined the town meeting by phone, while thousands more listened in by livestream. More than 3,000 Vermonters have applied for Individual Assistance through FEMA; FEMA has visited over 6,800 homes and more than 350 businesses; FEMA has approved more than 680 Individual Assistance applications so far, totaling $4.7 million in aid to Vermonters; SBA has approved $770,800 for a total of 16 loans to homeowners;464 FEMA staff are in Vermont assessing damage and assisting with sign-ups, 14 teams are going door-to-door to help residents sign up for FEMA.

Vermont Business Magazine Teams from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience are going door-to-door to contact survivors of the severe storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides that began July 7. They are notifying Vermont businesses damaged by the storms that they are eligible to apply for SBA low-interest disaster loans. Team members will be wearing SBA Disaster Assistance shirts or jackets, have Federal ID cards with their name, photo and SBA logo on them, and will not hesitate to produce their IDs if requested. Survivors will be asked for their names, and the names of the owners of the damaged properties but will not be asked for any personally identifiable information such as Social Security numbers or date of birth by these outreach teams. That information should only be provided when applying online or when visiting a recovery center.