Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Peter Welch (D-VT), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) this week sent a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee, calling for increased federal funding for programs supporting Lake Champlain, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Lake Champlain Basin Program. In their letter, the lawmakers assert the importance of maintaining and expanding support for programs to address water pollution, curb the presence of invasive species and toxic substances, and promote scientific study of the Lake Champlain watershed.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s winter manure spreading ban ends today, April 1st, but with another snowy March having brought challenging field conditions to many parts of Vermont, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) is issuing a spring stewardship reminder to Vermont farmers and Custom Manure Applicators. The Required Agricultural Practices (RAPs) outline that manure cannot be applied to fields that are frozen or snow-covered, nor to fields that are saturated, likely to runoff, or are conducive to any other off-site movement regardless of nutrient management plan recommendations. Trends in Vermont’s weather show increasing precipitation through the spring season, rising temperatures, and more extreme precipitation events. These conditions provide the potential for increased flooding and require farmers and Custom Manure Applicators to remain vigilant through the spring season.

Vermont Business Magazine DR Power Equipment, a prominent producer of high-quality outdoor power equipment and a Generac Power Systems (NYSE: GNRC) company, has announced one of the first battery-powered brush mowers available in the landscape market, the DR FB26E Electric Field and Brush Mower. Featuring a high-capacity 2.5kWh removable and shareable battery, the DR FB26E Electric Field and Brush Mower has the strength to cut up to 90 minutes on a single charge. The DR FB26E Electric Field and Brush Mower has the power to cut through six-foot-tall weeds, four-foot-tall grass, and saplings with a two-inch diameter. A built-in battery caddy allows a user to transport a fully charged backup battery to the mowing site with ease.

Vermont Business Magazine The brews will flow once again as the Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce and Hopridge Farms partner together to produce the thirteenth Homebrew Festival and competition. Saturday, April 29th at the Bennington Sports Center in downtown Bennington, brewers will go head-to-head to be named the best homebrew in the land. The festival invites Northeast’s top home brewers asking them to bring their very best home brewed beer, cider, mead, braggot and wine for a chance to be crowned "Best Home Brewery." In addition, this year the festival has also invited home chefs to participate in a cook off to be crowned “Best Home Chef.”

Vermont Business Magazine As the youngest consumer generation, Gen Zers are becoming avid credit card users. A new study by LendingTree looked at how young Americans ages 18 to 26 use their credit cards by analyzing 198,000 anonymized credit reports of LendingTree users. Of note, Gen Z’s average credit card balance has gone up 55.6% since February 2022, while its average credit card limit has climbed 22.2% in the same period. Vermonters in this demographic rank 3rd in overall balance ($3,361); 31st in credit card limit ($6,490); and 12th in average number of credit cards (3.46).

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Creamery, makers of consciously crafted artisan cheese and butter, released its 2022 Mission Report, detailing the B Corp-Certified Company’s commitment to purpose in practice. It was a year of forged partnerships and shared wins – together with Vanguard Renewables, Vermont Creamery is making significant strides towards food waste reduction, sending its production biproducts to the Northeast’s largest anaerobic digester in Salisbury, Vermont. In August, Vermont Creamery formally joined the Farm-Powered Strategic Alliance, a precompetitive group of food and beverage companies committed to reducing food waste and sourcing renewable energy. The Alliance was founded in 2020 by Unilever, Dairy Farmers of America, Starbucks and Vanguard Renewables with the goal of avoiding or eliminating food waste through anaerobic digesters.

Vermont Business Magazine Lawson’s Finest Liquids, the award-winning Vermont craft brewery with a commitment to quality and sustainability, is releasing its newest year-round brand Hazy Rays. The tropical, fruit-forward hazyjuicylicious IPA comes in at 5.3% ABV and is bursting with flavor without being overly bitter. Hazy Rays joins Lawson’s Finest’s lineup of flagship brands and can be found year-round in 4 packs of 16 oz. cans and 12 packs of 12 oz. cans alongside Sip of Sunshine, Little Sip and Scrag Mountain Pils at retail stores across Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $57,253,000 from the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act for states, Tribes, and territories through this year’s Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF) in the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The funding will help communities upgrade essential wastewater and stormwater systems to protect public health and treasured water bodies across the nation.

Vermont Business Magazine Today the Vermont Senate passed S.100, the Housing Opportunities Made for Everyone (HOME) bill, on a vote of 27-2-1. This bill proposes to increase the supply of affordable housing in the state, promote homeownership and broaden housing opportunities for all Vermonters. The Senate did not make substantial changes to Act 250, despite amendments offered to do so. S.100 proposes to reduce regulatory barriers in designated growth areas and in areas served by municipal water and sewer to enable the development of more dense, multi-family housing. This bill was intentionally crafted to strike a critical balance between housing development and conservation.

The Vermont State Police on Friday, March 31, 2023, received autopsy findings from the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington regarding the death of Russell Giroux. The 60-year-old Alburgh resident died Jan. 31 at Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans just over two hours after he was involved in an altercation among multiple spectators at a middle-school basketball game. The medical examiner determined Giroux’s cause of death was an “acute cardiac event following altercation in an individual with coronary artery atherosclerosis.” The manner of death will be listed as “undetermined.”

Vermont Business Magazine Following an internal investigation, the Vermont State Police today announces the resignation of two troopers assigned to the Westminster Barracks. The voluntary resignations of Nathan Greco and Nathan Jensen were effective Friday, March 31, 2023. The Vermont State Police began investigating the troopers’ conduct in early February after VSP and Department of Public Safety leadership received complaints that the troopers had used inappropriate and racist comments as they played an online game while off duty. The comprehensive investigation was unable to substantiate every allegation raised against the troopers, but the information that was corroborated represented a serious violation of the Vermont State Police Code of Conduct.