Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Mutual Insurance Group has again been recognized as one of the Top 50 Property and Casualty insurers in the U.S. by Ward Group, an Aon company, and one of the industry’s most respected benchmarking organizations. This is the 15th consecutive year that the Vermont-based insurer has been designated as a Ward Top 50 P & C insurer. Every year Ward Group identifies the industry’s top insurance companies through a comprehensive financial analysis of nearly 3,000 U.S. property and casualty insurers. The “Ward’s 50” designation recognizes insurers for their consistency, safety and superior financial performance.

Vermont Business Magazine Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch and Congresswoman Becca Balint sent a letter today, urging United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack to approve Governor Phil Scott’s request for a Secretarial Disaster Designation for the State of Vermont following catastrophic flooding to farms and rural farming communities. The letter also asked Secretary Vilsack to take steps to expand USDA workforce capacity in Vermont to support loss assessment documentation and the provision of technical assistance to our farmers, residents, and communities.

Saint Michael's College Near the end of June, members of the summer Farm crew at Saint Michael's College and other volunteers were at work at center-campus between Joyce and Alliot Halls as they installed raised beds -- conceived and constructed through the Center for the Environment and the initiative of leaders Kristyn Achilich '05 and Christine Gall, with a goal of greater accessibility for members of the community faced with challenges of access to ground-level gardens and plots. 

Vermont Business Magazine President Joseph Biden has approved Governor Phil Scott’s request for a major disaster declaration for Vermont to assist individuals and communities recover from historic flood from July 7-12, 2023. The approval was given in under 24 hours. The declaration provides funding under the federal Public Assistance (PA) and Individual Assistance (IA) programs. A Public Assistance disaster declaration allows communities to receive at least 75% reimbursement for emergency storm repairs to public infrastructure. A further declaration for recovery repairs is pending an official Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA)

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott has requested that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issue a disaster designation for the State of Vermont in response to severe July flooding. A Secretarial Disaster Designation would open the availability of financial assistance, including low-interest USDA Farm Service Agency emergency loans for eligible producers in the approved counties. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets is encouraging all those who sustained losses to report their damages to their local Farm Services Agency office with USDA.

by Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger As the stormwaters recede, the City team has been hard at work assessing and repairing damages and supporting community members and other Vermont towns impacted by the floods. The major impacts of this emergency on Burlington and our local recovery efforts are focused on two serious events, a sewer line break under the Winooski River which brings wastewater from the east-side of the New North End to the City’s North Plant, and substantial flooding at the Intervale – which has devastated several small farms in our community with a near total loss at the height of their productive growing season.  

Vermont Business Magazine As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Business-Cooperative Service Administrator Dr. Karama Neal today announced that USDA is making $21 million in technical assistance grants available through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) to help agricultural producers and rural small businesses access federal funds for renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements. This works out to roughly $450,000 per state.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Green Mountain Care Board set 2024 budget targets for OneCare Vermont. The budget targets outline GMCB’s expectations for increased accountability for health care costs and improving accountability for health care quality at the provider level. The targets for OneCare’s 2024 budget submission include requiring OneCare to hold 100% of Medicare Advanced Shared Savings dollars as risk at the entity level (up from approximately 40% in 2023) instead of passing this risk along to the provider network. This target protects providers in OneCare’s Medicare payer program from outsized risk associated with this federal money, which funds the statewide Blueprint and SASH programs.

Vermont State Police On July 14, 2023, at approximately 2:15 AM the Newbury and Corinth Fire Departments were dispatched to a structure fire at a single-family residence located at 2464 Bowen Rd in Newbury. When fire crews arrived, they discovered the structure fully involved in fire. Fire crews learned that all occupants had initially made it safely out of the residence, but James Lacount went back inside to retrieve car keys in hopes of moving a vehicle away from the burning building. Lacount never returned and soon after the structure collapsed. Defensive firefighting actions were taken, and the fire was extinguished.   

Vermont Business Magazine NextGen Healthcare, Inc, an electronic health record technology vendor, has agreed to pay $31 million to resolve allegations that NextGen violated the False Claims Act by misrepresenting the capabilities of certain versions of its EHR software and providing unlawful remuneration to its users to induce them to recommend NextGen’s software. The case against NextGen, which has done business in Vermont, was filed in federal court in Burlington.

Vermont Business Magazine Flood events require work within rivers and streams to protect and repair human investments and related infrastructure. Towns have the authority to implement Emergency Protective Measures to protect public safety when a flood occurs. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) regulates activities in rivers and streams to ensure that work does not create additional flood hazards. The most common issue after a flood is over-dredging of rivers or excessive streambank filling.

Vermont Business Magazine As we all watched Vermont communities become inundated with flood waters after an unprecedented rainfall on Monday and Tuesday, our thoughts are with all Vermonters and their families who are recovering from this devastating event. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) has assembled important guidance and resources for the state’s agricultural members and communities to facilitate recovery.