Current News

Vermont Business Magazine iSun, Inc (NASDAQ: ISUN), a leading solar energy and clean mobility infrastructure company with 50-years of experience accelerating the adoption of innovative electrical technologies based in Williston, announced Tuesday that it was awarded two new contracts valued at nearly $6 million combined to implement renewable energy solutions for community solar projects in Northern New England.

Vermont Business Magazine The ACLU filed a lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of John Chinnici, who was unlawfully arrested, interrogated, and searched by Bennington police after they repeatedly pressured multiple witnesses and suspects to name Mr. Chinnici as an accomplice in a January 2016 armed robbery, despite the fact that Mr. Chinnici did not match witness descriptions and no other evidence connected him to the crime. While still trying to get Mr. Chinnici named as an accomplice, Bennington police arrested Mr. Chinnici without probable cause, and went on to make multiple misrepresentations in their interviews with Mr. Chinnici and in their application for a warrant to search his phone. Mr. Chinnici was prosecuted based on evidence arising from these unlawful actions, though his resulting conviction was eventually thrown out. Mr. Chinnici now asserts that BPD officials and the Town of Bennington violated his federal and state constitutional rights.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Electric Co-op (VEC) is seeking petitions from eligible candidates for three board of directors’ seats that are up for election in May. In order to run for the board, a candidate must be a VEC member and may not be employed by the cooperative. Candidates must have a principal residence within VEC service territory and in the district they are running to represent. Directors are elected to serve four-year terms. The board generally meets in the afternoon on the last Tuesday of each month, either at VEC's main office in Johnson or virtually via teleconference.

The Vermont State Police on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, arrested four suspects in connection with the fatal shooting last month of Israel Jimenez Lugo, 49, at the St. Johnsbury apartment house where he lived. VSP was assisted by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations during the arrests. According to court papers prepared by investigators, the four suspects are alleged to have been involved with buying and selling illegal drugs and participated in a plan to rob Jimenez Lugo. During the commission of the robbery, which took place overnight Dec. 13-14, 2022, Rafael Rodriguez fatally shot Jimenez Lugo.

Vermont Business Magazine If you are 12 to 14 years old and want to learn about Vermont's wildlife and gain outdoor skills, consider attending one of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department's Green Mountain Conservation Camps this summer. If you are a GMCC alum,16 or younger, consider coming back for another summer. The one-week camp programs are held at Lake Bomoseen in Castleton and Buck Lake in Woodbury. Campers participate in hands-on learning about fish and wildlife conservation, ecology, forestry, orienteering, safe firearm and archery techniques, swimming, canoeing, fishing and more. Natural resource professionals come to the camp to share information on their programs and take campers out for field activities.

Senator Bernie Sanders As we enter the new year, as Congress begins its legislative session next week, and as we have just finished celebrating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the great fighters for justice in our nation’s history, it is appropriate that we ask two very simple questions. One: What is everyday life like today for the vast majority of our people – the working class of this country, the middle class and lower income Americans? What are the pains, struggles, and the hopes that they are striving for? And secondly, what is Congress going to do to improve life for working families? In the year 2023, amidst an explosion of technology, massive wealth creation and transformational economic change, how can we make certain that all Americans have the decent standard of living to which they are entitled? Is this a utopian idea? Is this pie in the sky or can we actually accomplish it? I think we can.

The Vermont Department of Corrections (DOC) is conducting internal administrative and medical reviews following the death of an incarcerated individual on Tuesday. Shawn Gero-Drew, 29, died Tuesday morning at the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) after DOC staff found Mr. Gero-Drew unresponsive in his cell at Northwest State Correctional Facility (NWSCF) in Swanton, Vt., on Monday evening. DOC and medical staff began life-saving efforts and immediately called for outside medical assistance. Emergency services transported Mr. Gero-Drew to Northwest Medical Center via ambulance. Mr. Gero-Drew was subsequently transferred to UVMMC, where he died Tuesday morning. The official cause of death will be determined by the Vermont State Medical Examiner but is suspected to be suicide at this time.

Vermont Business Magazine “We are deeply blessed by the gracious support we have received from Kohl’s. To have been only 1 of more than 150 organizations nationwide to have received support from Kohl’s A Community with Heart program is a strong affirmation of the positive and important work we are doing to provide affordable homeownership opportunities to income sensitive people in Central VT. We will use this $10,000 donation to purchase materials and equipment to help construct a side by side townhouse style duplex in Randolph."

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Captive Insurance Association is hosting “Captive Insurance Day” today at the Statehouse to highlight the continued success of the captive insurance industry in the state after another banner year in 2022. The State of Vermont licensed 41 new captive insurance companies in 2022. Vermont is now home to 639 licensed captives, consisting of 608 active and 31 dormant captives. Vermont’s 59 sponsored cell captives currently host over 500 cells and separate accounts, in addition to the licensed captive companies. The growth in captive formations in 2022 is Vermont’s 6th highest year of growth in its over 40-year history since passing captive-enabling legislation in 1981.

Vermont Business Magazine Following up on a previous letter sent in October of last year, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), the incoming chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, on Wednesday sent a letter to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz calling for the company to once and for all end its egregious union busting campaign against its own workers in stores across the country.