Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Regarding S100 (An act relating to housing opportunities made for everyone) now being considered in the Legislature, Vermont Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Government Affairs, Megan Sullivan: “For an economically secure, sustainable, and equitable future, Vermont needs more people to be able to move here to live and work. S100, the ‘HOME’ bill, would make meaningful progress to create more housing, but only if the legislation is not stripped of its essential zoning reform elements.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Wednesday announced that next week the committee will hold a vote on issuing a subpoena for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to provide testimony about his company’s lack of compliance with federal labor law and to authorize a committee investigation into major corporations’ labor law violations. The subpoena and investigation votes will take place during an executive session of the committee on March 8 at 10 a.m. ET and will be followed by a hearing on defending the constitutional right of workers to organize a union and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. It will feature AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, SEIU President Mary Kay Henry, and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien.

by Bill Schubart On its surface, the term “affordability agenda,” often used by our Governor and legislators, makes sense… but it’s important to dig in and examine the politics behind it. A recent feature article in England’s Guardian headlined “Unhoused children are at high risk in rural Vermont,” reports Vermont has the second-highest per capita homeless rate in the nation. It further shows that a majority of Vermonters can’t afford to live here in reasonable middle-class comfort. Unfortunately, the administration and some legislators choose to see this only as the result of taxes, fees, and regulatory restrictions rather than inadequate investments in people, families, and communities.

Union Mutual Insurance Company was recently named one of the 2023 Best Places to Work in Vermont. This is the 10th consecutive year that the Company has received this award, which is based in part on anonymous employee surveys. The 17th annual list of the Best Places to Work in Vermont was created by Vermont Business Magazine, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, the Vermont Department of Economic Development, the Vermont Department of Labor, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) – Vermont State Council and Best Companies Group.

Vermont Business Magazine UnitedHealthcare (UHC) recently announced termination of its commercial insurance provider network contract with the University of Vermont Health Network. This contract non-renewal impacts providers and facilities in Vermont and upstate New York, including the University of Vermont Medical Center, Central Vermont Medical Center, Porter Medical Center, Alice Hyde Medical Center, Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital and Elizabethtown Community Hospital and takes effect April 1, 2023 for most affected plans. As a result, most non-emergency services will no longer be covered as an in-network benefit under commercial UHC plans. Only Commercial UHC plans, such as those provided by employers or purchased directly, are affected by the non-renewal.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles Enforcement & Safety Division can provide the following update on the collision that occurred Monday, February 27, 2023, between an Amtrak train and a commercial vehicle in Sharon, VT. The tractor-trailer unit was in motion as it crossed the tracks, at which point the Amtrak train collided with the trailer that was hauling stone. The trailer broke free from the truck at impact, keeping the truck from being dragged along the tracks. The driver of the commercial motor vehicle was issued a violation for attempting to cross the railroad tracks when unsafe to do so.

Vermont Business Magazine After decades of providing specialized educational services to pregnant and parenting teens, Lund has announced the discontinuation of the New Horizon Education Program (NHEP). Since the early 1990’s NHEP, a state of Vermont approved education program, has helped hundreds of young parents who were at risk of not obtaining their high school degrees. NHEP was originally launched to ensure that the educational needs of pregnant and parenting teens in Lund’s residential treatment program were addressed. At that time most parents in the Residential program were minors. Over the last decade, Lund has observed a change in the age of parents in the residential treatment program; and over the last several years, we have observed that more parents coming in to the program have already obtained their high school diplomas.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported February 22, 2023, that COVID-19 case counts were down and hospitalizations were largely unchanged over the last week. COVID-19 activity remains in the "Low" range, according to the VDH. Hospitalizations increased by a single case to 42 last week (they were as low as 30 last fall). Total cases fell to 433 (from 495). There were seven COVID-related deaths in the last week for a pandemic total of 917 as of February 18. Of the total deaths to date, 725 have been of Vermonters 70 or older. There have been 3 deaths of Vermonters under 30 since the beginning of the pandemic. There have been 15 deaths so far in February; there were 24 in January, as data was adjusted based on more information. Deaths are not spiking this winter as they have the previous two.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Mutual Insurance Group, one of the oldest property and casualty insurers in the Northeast, has contributed more than $550,000 to local charities in 2022 through its Charitable Giving Fund. Since its inception in 2014, the Vermont Mutual Charitable Giving Fund has donated more than $3.5 Million to help support organizations in communities where they do business, including $1 million in COVID-19 relief efforts in the state of Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Hunger Free Vermont received a $36,090 grant from Shaw’s and Star Market Foundation’s Nourishing Neighbors Program. The grant was provided from funds donated by generous customers at checkout last September and will be used to help schools and communities across Vermont to increase the number of children who consistently participate in their school breakfast programs.

Vermont Business Magazine Following the US Food and Drug Administration’s proposed guidance last week allowing nut, oat, soy, and other non-dairy products to use the name "milk,” Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jim Risch (R-ID), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Peter Welch (D-Vermont) today introduced bipartisan legislation to combat the unfair practice of mislabeling non-dairy products using dairy names. The Defending Against Imitations and Replacements of Yogurt, milk, and cheese to Promote Regular Intake of Dairy Everyday Act (DAIRY PRIDE Act) of 2023 would require non-dairy products made from nuts, seeds, plants, and algae to no longer be mislabeled with dairy terms such as milk, yogurt or cheese.