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ReArch Company is proud to announce the 2022 Employee Driven Philanthropy Recipients. This year’s donations totaled $32,000. With a mission to Improve Lives Through the Built Environment, ReArch Company believes in supporting the communities they serve by being involved, engaged and philanthropic. ReArch is committed to donating a substantial percentage of its profit every year to local charities and non-profit organizations.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Attorney General’s Office and the Orange County State’s Attorney’s Office today announced the conclusions of their independent reviews of the fatal officer-involved shooting incident that occurred on August 15, 2022, in Ludlow, Vermont. Attorney General Susanne Young and Orange County State’s Attorney Dickson Corbett have declined to prosecute Ludlow Police Officer Zachary Paul for charges related to the fatal shooting of Michael Mills. State’s Attorney Corbett agreed to conduct an independent review of the investigation, as the Windsor County State’s Attorney’s Office recused itself. Based on the facts and circumstances and consistent with Vermont law, Attorney General Young and State’s Attorney Corbett have independently concluded that the use of force by Officer Paul was objectively reasonable and justified.

Vermont Business Magazine The PUMP Act has just passed. The new law, Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act (H.R. 3110/ S. 1658), amends—and expands—the current federal law providing workplace lactation accommodation protections. Passed by the House with bipartisan support in October 2021, the bill stalled in the Senate until December 2022 when it was passed as part of the federal spending bill. The PUMP Act amends section 7R of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), “Break Time for Nursing Mothers,” to improve existing workplace lactation protections. Passed in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act, the current law requires employers to provide non-exempt (hourly) employees with break time and a private, non-bathroom space to pump.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Thursday cast his final vote in the Senate, and it was on a bill he led in writing: the Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill that funds the federal government. Leahy has now cast 17,374 votes, the second-highest vote total in Senate history. The Senate’s action sends it to the House. The final step will be as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Leahy, as President Pro Tem of the Senate, sign (engross) the bill, so it can be sent to the President’s desk to be signed into law. The bill contains more than $212 million in Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) included by Leahy, for 38 projects across Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) Thursday announced more than $42 million, which he secured on behalf of 51 Vermont projects, has been included in the $1.7 trillion omnibus legislation that passed the U.S. Senate on Thursday ahead of the Friday deadline. Sanders’ Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) projects for the Fiscal Year 2023 address critical needs across Vermont, including in health care, child care, infrastructure, clean energy and water, farming and agriculture, education, and housing. The year-end spending package, to fund the government through 2023, now heads to the House of Representatives before being signed into law by President Biden.

Vermont Business Magazine The average price of gasoline today in Vermont is $3.40 per gallon, down 8 cents from last week, down 49 cents from last month, but still 4 cents higher than a year ago. The lowest price in Vermont is $2.99/g in West Dover. The highest price is $4.29 in West Bridgewater. The national average price of gasoline is $3.06/g.

Vermont Business Magazine UVM Medical Center’s ongoing work to create partnerships and programs focused on sustainability and environmental excellence in health care has again been recognized by a leading international advocate for sustainable practices. Health Care Without Harm, an international organization focused on environmental reform, sustainability and equity in health care, recently named UVM Medical Center as the recipient of its 2022 Health Care Climate Challenge Silver Awards for Renewable Energy and Climate Resilience.

Vermont Business Magazine PC Construction joined PurposeEnergy last Friday to officially break ground on the Middlebury Resource Recovery Center (MRRC), which will convert residual materials from food and beverage manufacturing into renewable energy and cleaned effluent. This innovative project will provide a lower-cost, local, greener alternative for food and beverage waste disposal. When fully operational, the MRRC will treat approximately 80,000 gallons per day of food waste and wastewater, converting over 90% of the organic content into renewable biogas that will be used to generate more than one megawatt of renewable electricity for Vermont homes and businesses.

Vermont Business Magazine As the Northeast faces unprecedented uncertainty and challenges in the energy market, Global Partners LP has donated $2 million to provide heating oil for those in need. The donation was directed to seven states in the Northeast and distributed to local nonprofit entities serving low-income households: $1.3 million was evenly split between Massachusetts and New York; An additional $700,000 was split between Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.