Senator Patrick Leahy Marcelle and I are overcome with sadness. She was unmistakably kind and funny, and a fundamentally decent human being. Senators McConnell and Graham must not treat this President’s Supreme Court nominees differently than President Obama’s Supreme Court nominees. They must exhibit a shred of integrity and recognize that abandoning their word now, and breaking all precedents by ramming a nominee through — most likely after the election — would cause the nation tremendous pain.

Vermont Business Magazine The Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce will be hosting their inaugural golf tournament, the B2B Golf Classic, on Wednesday, September 30, 2020 at the Mount Anthony Country Club in Bennington, Vermont. The Chamber of Commerce invites the public and business leaders to enjoy an afternoon of golf and networking while enjoying the fresh Vermont fall air. The event serves as a delightful day out of the office and an opportunity to network with local business people in a beautiful, relaxed setting. Additionally, the event serves as a fundraiser for the chamber of commerce.

by C.B. Hall, Vermont Business Magazine While the prospect of Amtrak's Ethan Allen Express reaching Burlington late next year has many people excited, the train from New York's Penn Station isn't even getting to Rutland right now: In late March Amtrak cut its itinerary back to a New York-Albany run in view of the precipitous drop in ridership occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. The other Vermont train, the Vermonter, got similar treatment, and currently is coming no closer to the Green Mountain State than New Haven, CT.

Public Assets Institute The number of Vermonters who are working dropped by more than 2,000 in August, after recovering some over the summer. At 308,000, that’s more than 20,000 below pre-pandemic levels. And while 30,000 Vermonters are still applying for unemployment benefits, many of them are not included in the official federal unemployment rate. That rate is based on a narrow definition of unemployment that does not accurately reflect people who are still unable to work or look for work because of the pandemic.

Vermont Business Magazine Representative Peter Welch on Friday introduced legislation to extend the deadline for state and local governments to use funds appropriated by the CARES Act. Currently, the state and local relief funds from the CARES Act must be used by December 31st, making it impossible to complete long-term recovery projects. Welch’s bill would fix that by authorizing the use of these funds through September 30, 2021.