Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced he has appointed Shawn Nailor as secretary and chief information officer (CIO) of the Agency of Digital Services (ADS), and Denise Reilly-Hughes as the Agency’s deputy secretary. Secretary Nailor has spent 34 years in public service. He started his career in engineering with the Agency of Transportation (AOT) and crossed over to information technology with the multi-state development of a construction management system. Reilly-Hughes comes to ADS with over 20 years of technology experience in the private sector. Her background includes licensing contracts, technology strategy, customer success, and executive leadership.

Vermont Business Magazine The Richards Group has acquired the WH Shaw Insurance Agency of Manchester, Vermont. The partnership with The Richards Group will benefit clients by ensuring that decisions and service remain local for years to come, while expanding client services and resources. Shaw Insurance's staff will remain at their current office, located at 135 Bonnet Street, Manchester, Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich Solar has received a Certificate of Public Good (CPG) from the Vermont Public Utility Commission for a 500 kW AC solar array in Barnet. The ground-mounted system will generate enough renewable clean energy to power approximately 135 homes per year, and offset the carbon emission equivalent of almost 150 cars per year. Milarepa Center, located off Route 5 in Barnet, will host the array. Milarepa Center is a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center named for an 11th century yogi famed for attaining enlightenment in a single lifetime.

Vermont Business Magazine United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Northeastern Regional Field Office based in Harrisburg, PA, has released its field crop summary for New England. Vermont produced the most dry hay, alfalfa and maple syrup of any New England state, as production is up significantly in all three, with Maine leading the way in oat, barley and potato production.

Vermont Business Magazine TD Charitable Foundation, the charitable giving arm of TD Bank has launched its 17th Annual Housing for Everyone grant competition. This year, the competition will focus on organizations delivering rental assistance, rehabilitating affordable housing properties, and building organizational capacity to address resident sustainability for the long-term. The Foundation will award a total of $7 million to 37 non-profit organizations across 17 states and Washington, DC. TD Bank has branches across Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Representative Becca Balint (D-VT) delivers an urgent call for protecting reproductive rights during her first speech on the House floor. Representative Balint stands united with her Democratic colleagues as the House considers misleading and dangerous Republican-sponsored anti-abortion legislation. Rep. Balint has long been a champion of reproductive freedom and plans to fight continued attacks on abortion access for all Americans.

Vermont Business Magazine Polly, the leading embedded insurance marketplace for automotive retail, today released an in-depth study on car shopper expectations about insurance that found 72% of recent car buyers saying that they would like an opportunity to get auto insurance at the dealership. The study also found that compressed consumer budgets and inflation, along with shifts in insurance buying preferences, are reshaping consumer expectations about insurance in the dealership.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Mayor Miro Weinberger with local leaders announced the Administration’s next steps to protect public safety in Burlington. The plan includes 16 near-term initiatives focused on four areas of priority; ending the recent spike in gun violence and preventing future gun violence, improving the downtown climate, making progress on 21^st Century Policing, and rebuilding the Police Department. The BPD has now resolved 81% of shootings since 2020, and 100% of homicides. Many serious offenders have been charged and incarcerated, and there have been no new shootings and only one gunfire incident since early October. However, the possibility of a resurgence in gunfire is not remote. Included in the Mayor’s call to action for the Vermont legislature to advance Statewide gun safety laws, including; requiring the safe storage of firearms, prohibiting guns in bars, restaurants, and other sensitive spaces, making reckless endangerment with a gun a felony, and funding gun violence research.

Vermont Business Magazine The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has announced 12 grants totaling $210,000 to Vermont arts and cultural organizations, including one Literature Fellowship to a Vermont poetry translator. The Vermont awards are part of more than $34 million in NEA funding to support the arts nationwide.

Vermont Business Magazine Union Mutual Insurance Company recently announced a multi-year financial commitment to Central Vermont Medical Center's Workforce Development: Nursing & Clinical Pathways Program. The Montpelier-based insurance carrier will donate $50,000 to the initiative over the next 5 years. The growing Nursing Pathways program provides education and clinical training to support the opportunity for career growth while simultaneously addressing the critical shortage of nurses at all levels throughout the state.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) has announced the four selected communities for their Climate Economy Resilient Communities (formerly known as Climate Economy Model Communities). For the 2023 Resilient Communities program, over 15 communities submitted applications and through a competitive selection process, VCRD and its Climate Economy Advisory Committee have chosen Arlington, Lyndonville, Randolph, and the greater Randolph/Rochester/Bethel region. The four selected communities will receive targeted facilitation, strategic planning, and/or project support from VCRD through direct partnership with a community committee, organization, or leader working on local climate action solutions.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Conservation Voters (VCV) has released the 2023 Environmental Common Agenda, which lays out this year’s top legislative priorities for the Vermont environmental community. VCV releases the Common Agenda each legislative session in partnership with other advocacy organizations across the state. This year, 17 organizations participated in the process of developing and setting the agenda. This year’s Environmental Common Agenda puts forward critical solutions to help address some of the most pressing issues facing our state— in particular, the ongoing and worsening climate crisis, and the need to support more efficient, equitable, and clean ways to heat our homes, get where we need to go, and generate our electricity.