Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today announced the availability of $3.6 million in grants to municipalities to upgrade their wastewater pretreatment facilities and capacity management. These improvements protect the health and safety of workers at these wastewater treatment facilities while also improving clean water and environmental outcomes and ensuring capacity for future growth.

Vermont Business Magazine The increasing frequency and damage from cybersecurity attacks against public institutions are driving demand for improved protection and more effective security operations. In response to this challenge, NuHarbor Security, the industry’s most trusted managed security provider, has scaled rapidly to support the evolving and critical needs of this market. NuHarbor has expanded their team by over 150% since 2021 and today announces the arrival of seasoned business executive Mark Fleeman as Vice President of Commercial. Mark will lead the company’s continued expansion into new accounts and new markets.

Vermont Business Magazine State and regional planners are hosting two meetings in May 2023 about the state’s Draft Tactical Basin Plan for the Ottauquechee and Black Rivers and adjacent Connecticut River Tributaries (Basin 10). This Plan has been developed to protect and restore rivers, lakes, and wetlands in southeastern Vermont from Killington to Springfield. “Tactical basin plans are the guidebooks for achieving healthy watersheds – from identifying surface waters that need restoration and protection to outlining action items to achieve water quality goals."

Vermont Business Magazine State and regional planners are hosting two meetings in May 2023 about the state’s Draft Tactical Basin Plan for the Lake Memphremagog, Tomifobia, and Coaticook Basin that runs from Craftsbury to Newport and Averill (Basin 17). This Plan has been developed to protect and restore rivers, lakes, and wetlands in northeast Vermont including the Black River, Barton River Clyde River, Tomifobia River, Coaticook River, and several smaller streams that flow directly into Lake Memphremagog. “This Tactical Basin Plan identifies water quality concerns across the Lake Memphremagog watershed and strategies to restore the lakes and rivers that are so important to this region of the state."

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board are accepting public comment and will hold three public hearings on new proposed regulations for trapping and for hunting coyotes with the aid of dogs. The new proposed regulations come in response to the Vermont Legislature’s Act 159 and Act 165, both passed last year. Act 159 directed the department to improve trapping safety and the welfare of animals trapped during the state’s regulated trapping seasons. The department’s proposal includes establishing a safety buffer between public roads, state-owned trails, and places where traps can be set, and restricting the use of body-gripping traps to reduce the risk to pets.

by Logan Solomon, Community News Service Connecticut’s second biggest natural gas energy generator looms over Ian McDonald’s town, Killingly, where his two children belong to a school district with facilities just two miles from a plant that pumps nitrogen dioxide into the air. For every 200 people in Killingly, almost 30 live below the poverty line. It’s in a county that, in a 2012 report, had the state’s highest prevalence of asthma, an ailment aggravated by breathing in high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, federal officials say. Killingly is a poster child for the type of situation Vermont leaders say they can alleviate by amping up the state’s solar energy output. Tens of thousands of solar panels over the last six years have been dispensed across Vermont's roofs and yards.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation (FPR) is conducting road maintenance and improvements to the Pinnacle Meadow Road in Stowe. The construction started on May 1, and is expected to run into the second week of June. Public access to Pinnacle Meadow Road and the associated trailhead parking area is closed during construction. Work will take place on the Pinnacle Meadow Road between Upper Pinnacle Road and the trailhead, and on the forestry road between the trailhead and Pinnacle Meadow Vista. The project will install and replace culverts and improve erosion control features to improve water management and road bed integrity.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is accepting public comments on a new Accessibility Transition Plan that addresses the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards for recreational boating facilities on its more than 200 Fishing Access Area properties. The department’s fishing access areas allow the public to enjoy boating, fishing, hunting, and trapping on over 130 Vermont waterbodies free of charge. Over the past two decades, the department has upgraded features like parking areas, docks and fishing platforms to meet the standards outlined in the ADA as part of other infrastructure projects. The new Accessibility Transition Plan—drafted by department staff and reviewed by diverse stakeholders -- aims for a more deliberate approach to future upgrades.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Board of Education today voted to exempt private schools that receive public vouchers from the latest education quality standards. In response, the Vermont-NEA, the union which represents most teachers, said today that the state board provided yet another example of why the Legislature must end the practice of sending the public’s money to unaccountable private schools. The board – a majority of whom are private school advocates – made it clear that it doesn’t see the need to hold private schools to the same high standards required of public schools, according to the Vermont-NEA.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today reacted to the end of the legislative session at his weekly press conference. Much of the discussion involved possible vetoes of the budget and the child care bills, which he has yet to receive. The Legislature already has set aside a "veto session" for late June, as needed and expected. The governor reiterated his stance on what he views as over-spending on several measures passed by lawmakers. He also maintained that the hotel/motel program, which has housed homeless Vermonters since the beginning of the pandemic, will end for most of those now receiving vouchers next month. Scott has said that the cost (about $8 million a month) is unsustainable without the now-ended federal emergency funds. At this moment, the administration does not know exactly how many households and individuals will be affected. They are undertaking a survey of those on the program to understand where they will go.

Vermont Business Magazine OneCare Vermont has announced that Abe Berman has been selected as Interim Chief Executive Officer of the organization. Berman replaces Vicki Loner, who will step down from the role at the end of May. Berman currently serves as Vice President of Revenue Strategy for the University of Vermont Health Network where he is focused on the transition toward value based and fixed revenue streams. Prior to his current role, he was instrumental in the early development and launch of OneCare and served as Director of ACO Finance for several years before moving on to progressive executive leadership roles in network management for a large commercial insurer.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and Representative Becca Balint (D-Vermont), announced that NEK Community Broadband (NEKCB) will receive Vermont’s first ever United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) ReConnect grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network in Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans counties in Vermont. NEK Broadband will receive more than $17 million in grant funds through USDA ReConnect, helping to connect some of the most rural communities in Vermont with affordable, high-speed internet. Additional information on the grant will be made available during a press event in June.