Current News

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.

by Basil Waugh, University of Vermont When the calendar turns to 2023, sustainable food and agriculture researcher Meredith Niles will take a new role at the University of Vermont—as acting director of the Gund Institute for Environment. Niles will lead the Gund Institute for Environment—a research center with the ambitious mission of mobilizing scholars and decision makers to tackle urgent environmental challenges—until August 1, 2023, while director Taylor Ricketts embarks on a research sabbatical.

Vermont Business Magazine US Attorney Nikolas P Kerest announced today that the District of Vermont collected $1,597,621.03 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2022. Of this amount, $1,076,812.47 was collected in criminal actions and $520,808.56 was collected in civil actions. Additionally, the District of Vermont worked with other US Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $23,423.31 in cases pursued jointly by these offices.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Electric Co-op is urging members to prepare for extended power outages later this week as very high winds, followed by dangerous icing, are in the forecast. The National Weather Service office in Burlington is calling for wind gusts well in excess of 60 mph for much of the Green Mountain State starting late Thursday night into Friday evening. Winds are expected to take down trees and powerlines causing widespread and numerous power outages. Compounding the challenge will be flooding caused by heavy rain and snowmelt, followed by rapidly dropping temperatures Friday night into Saturday creating icy conditions as the storm passes.