(Roundup of news from the last month)
Vermont’s unemployment rate unchanged at 2.6% in June
The Vermont Department of Labor has reported that the seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate for June was 2.6%. This reflects no change from the prior month’s revised estimate. The Labor Force and Employed were both down, offset by a decrease in Unemployed from May. The civilian labor force participation rate was 64.9% in June, a decrease of one-tenth of one percentage point from the prior month’s revised estimate. Vermont has the third lowest jobless rate, behind South (1.8%) and North Dakota (2.5%). Nevada has the highest rate again, tied with California, at 5.4%. Washington DC has the overall highest rate at 5.9%. The national rate is 4.1%.
Vermont will receive $25 million in withheld public education funding
The U.S. Department of Education notified the Vermont Agency of Education in late July that a series of federal funding allocations will be made available to Vermont public schools after initially being withheld by the Department. Together with another federal funding allocation that was released earlier this week, these allocations amount to $25 million statewide in congressionally approved funding that Vermont school districts have included in their budgets for the 2025-2026 school year. This is part of nearly $5.5 billion that was held back nationwide.
Scott announces over $67 million in Disaster Recovery Block Grants
Governor Scott and the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) have opened the application process for $67,845,000 in Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding in response to the July 2023 floods. These funds will benefit communities most impacted in regions designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in consultation with state officials. Designated Most Impacted and Distressed (MID) areas include Lamoille, Washington, Caledonia, Orleans, Rutland, Windham, and Windsor counties.
Appointments made to school redistricting task force
Appointments to the School District Redistricting Task Force, which was created in H.454 (Act 73) of 2025, have been made by the governor, Senate and House. The legislation gave the House and Senate the task of each selecting five appointees and Governor Scott appointed the Task Force’s Chair, David Wolk. Wolk is former president of Castleton University and Vermont education commissioner. The Task Force is charged with recommending new school district boundaries and configurations to the General Assembly for action next legislative session.
The House appointees are: Rep. Edye Graning (D - Chittenden 3) as one of three members of the House; Rep. Rebecca Holcombe (D - Windsor Orange 2); Rep. Beth Quimby (R - Caledonia 2); Dr. Jay Badams; and Kim Gleason. The Senate appointees are: Dr. Jennifer Botzojorns; Chris Locarno; Senator Scott Beck (R-Caledonia); Senator Martine Gulick (D-Chittenden Central); and Senator Wendy Harrison (D-Windham).
The Task Force is the first part of the sweeping H.454, the education transformation bill, that the governor signed into law July 1. The legislation provides a roadmap that begins with setting school district boundaries by July 1, 2026, which is a year earlier than in the initial version.
VTSU awarded $6 million for TRIO Student Support Services
Vermont State University (VTSU) has been awarded $6 million in federal funding to continue its TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) programs, an investment that will directly benefit hundreds of first-generation, low-income students and students with disabilities across four campuses. The five-year grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, will provide $1.2 million annually to support academic success, degree completion, and equitable access to higher education at VTSU’s Johnson, Williston, Randolph, and Castleton campuses.
Corrections Commissioner Nick Deml departs, Scott appoints Jon Murad as interim
Governor Phil Scott has announced Commissioner Nick Deml will be leaving his role leading the Department of Corrections on August 15 and has named Jon Murad to serve as interim commissioner of the Department of Corrections (DOC). Following Deml’s departure, Jon Murad will serve as interim commissioner. Born and raised in Underhill, Vermont, Murad served in a variety of police roles in the New York City Police Department, retiring as an assistant commissioner, and most recently served as the chief of police in Burlington. Deml was appointed in 2021 and worked to build public trust with the Department, prioritizing accountability and transparency.
Scott appoints Teachout, Batchelder, Sinsigalli to leadership posts
Governor Scott has announced three leadership appointments: Sara Teachout to the Green Mountain Care Board, Jason Batchelder as commissioner of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Misty Sinsigalli as commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation. Sara Teachout brings nearly 20 years of experience in healthcare policy and fiscal analysis from both the private sector and Vermont’s Joint Fiscal Office to the Green Mountain Care Board, which is responsible for regulating Vermont’s healthcare system and has a mission to reduce the rate of health care cost growth while ensuring high quality, accessible care for Vermonters.
UVMHN hospitals file FY26 budgets for review, cut insurance rates
The Board of Trustees of University of Vermont Health Network have prioritized efforts to advance the ongoing regional effort to make health care more affordable. As part of that work, Central Vermont Medical Center, Porter Hospital and University of Vermont Medical Center submitted budgets for Fiscal Year 2026 that follow Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) guidelines for revenue, operating expenses and commercial insurance rates, include further administrative cuts, and seek to maintain essential patient care services close to home. GMCB will announce all hospital budget allowances in August.
UVM Medical Center and CVMC both submitted budgets that include negative commercial insurance rate requests. UVM Medical Center’s proposed budget reduces commercial insurance rates by -7.9%; CVMC’s budget reduces commercial insurance rates by -3.3%. Porter Hospital requested a 3% increase to commercial rates. UVM Medical Center and CVMC’s rate requests are the result of submitting budgets that follow GMCB commercial rate guidance of 3%, less the impact of rate enforcement actions for FY23 and recently passed legislation in Vermont to cap prices on prescription drugs. UVM Health Network has budgeted for a 2.1% operating margin in FY ‘26.
Vermont to get $1.8 million from settlement with opioid manufacturers
Attorney General Charity Clark has announced that a nationwide coalition of attorneys general have secured a settlement of approximately $720 million with eight drug makers that manufactured opioid pills and worsened the opioid crisis. Vermont is expected to receive a total of approximately $1.832 million from this settlement. Based on the overwhelming participation by attorneys general across the country, all eight defendants have agreed to proceed with a sign-on period for local governments.
Howard Center to cut 27 positions in strategic realignment
After three consecutive years of multimillion-dollar operating deficits driven by rising health care costs and rising program costs, Howard Center has announced a strategic realignment of services to address ongoing financial challenges and protect its ability to deliver critical services across the region. Adjustments to programs and services will begin in September and continue through the end of the calendar year. Changes include a reduction of 13 supportive housing beds and closure of day programming at Westview House. All of which result in the elimination of 27 filled positions and 30 vacant positions - 13 of the positions are administrative. As a direct services organization, more than 90% of Howard Center’s budget is dedicated to staff salaries and benefits.
Joseph Bator to succeed Tom Leavitt as president of Northfield Savings Bank
Northfield Savings Bank Chair of the Board of Trustees, John W. Lyon, has announced that Joseph B. Bator is being appointed President & CEO of Northfield Savings Bank, effective September 1, 2025. Bator will also be elected to the boards of Northfield Mutual Holding Company and NSB. He is succeeding Thomas S. Leavitt, who is retiring in September following 11 years leading the company. Bator has extensive background in commercial banking.
25 affordable apartments open in downtown Windsor
The Windsor community have completed the Central and Main Apartments in Windsor. Co-owners and co-developers, Windham & Windsor Housing Trust (WWHT) and Evernorth partnered to develop these 25 newly constructed, highly energy-efficient, and permanently affordable apartments on Main Street in the heart of the Designated Downtown. The Windsor Improvement Corporation generously donated the land for this project and garnered widespread community support to transform the previously vacant and underutilized site into the home of Central and Main Apartments. This development features an all-electric building design, incorporating technologies such as heat pumps, whole-building ventilation systems, and a robust thermal shell.
ImageTek Manufacturing expands to 2nd location in Springfield
ImageTek Manufacturing has announced that they are expanding their operations to a 2nd site, at 36 Precision Drive in North Springfield, Vermont. The company will be moving into a 35,000 square foot space and adding 50 new jobs in this new location. This expansion is the culmination of several months of work over the past year and has been supported by a Vermont Employment Growth Incentive, Green Mountain Power’s Economic Development Incentive Program as well as a Vermont Training Program award.
AG Clark sues Trump Administration to block federal restrictions on public benefits
Attorney General Charity Clark has joined a coalition of 20 other attorneys general in suing the Trump Administration to stop its unlawful attempt to restrict access to critical health, education, and social service programs. Earlier this month, in a chaotic reversal of agency policy, the Administration issued notices prohibiting state safety net programs from serving all residents, regardless of immigration status. The change threatens access to critical services like Head Start, Title X family planning, adult education, mental health care, and Community Health Centers. This is one of several suits brought by a coalition of attorneys general against the administration.
Winooski superintendent detained by border agents
Winooski schools superintendent Wilmer Chavarria was detained by immigration agents and questioned over the course of five hours July 21 in Texas after returning from Nicaragua, Seven Days reports. Chavarria, who grew up in Nicaragua and has been a U.S. citizen since 2018, told Seven Days that immigration officials seized his phone and computer, separated him from his husband, and prevented him from speaking to anyone he requested to contact.
It happened at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston as Chavarria was going through security. He was pulled aside and taken by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to an interrogation room and subsequently released without further action.
Delegation secures $22.7 million for Winooski River bridge
The Vermont Congressional Delegation, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont), and Representative Becca Balint (D-Vermont) have announced a $22.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to help replace the Winooski River Bridge in Chittenden County. The federal funding, provided through DOT’s Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Grant Program and made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will replace and upgrade travel lanes and incorporate shared-use paths to improve safety on the bridge for cars, bikes, and pedestrians.
UVM attracts $5.5M from NSF for AI supercomputer, underground robots, health science
The University of Vermont has secured over $5.5M in National Science Foundation funding to support researchers investigating next-generation artificial intelligence computing, human tissue mechanics, atmospheric science, underground robots, and renewable energy systems. The largest grant of $2.1M is for a new supercomputer for artificial intelligence research at UVM’s Vermont Advanced Computing Center. Named IceCore, the new, high-performance computing cluster is 100 times faster than existing UVM systems. Led by Chris Danforth of UVM’s College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, this grant will enable about 1,000 UVM researchers and collaborators from across Vermont and New England to study such timely topics as infectious diseases, computational social science, and the behavior of large language models like ChatGPT.
ISONE: Grid remains reliable as June heat wave brings highest peak in over a decade
ISO New England system operators used well-established procedures to balance supply and demand on the regional power system during a capacity deficiency on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. Consumer demand for grid electricity unofficially peaked that evening at 26,024 megawatts (MW), the highest level seen in the region since 2013. That was roughly in line with the ISO’s pre-season forecast for above-average summer weather. It was still well below the region’s all-time peak of 28,130 MW, set in August 2006. The peak hour was between 6 and 7 p.m., when the average temperature in New England was 95.6° Fahrenheit (F) and the dew point, a measure of humidity, was 68.0°F. The heat and humidity drove air conditioner use, creating increased demand for electricity.
Judge says no delay in considering death penalty in Youngblunt case
The woman that is accused as part of the fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent in the Northeast Kingdom in January will not get a six-month extension for her defense team to try to block consideration of the death penalty in her case. Vermont’s chief federal judge, Christina Reiss, issued a ruling rejecting the defense request on behalf of Teresa Youngblut, 21, of Washington State. “The overwhelming majority of courts have held that a federal court, due to the separation of powers doctrine, has no authority to interfere in the Attorney General’s Capital Case Review or dictate the protocol for that process,” Reiss wrote in her two-page decision. U.S. Border Patrol Agent David “Chris” Maland of Newport was killed during a deadly traffic stop near the Canadian border on Interstate 91 in Coventry about 3 p.m. Jan. 20. Felix Bauckholt, 28, a German national, the car’s owner and passenger, was shot dead by other officers as he attempted to draw his gun
Mosquitoes test positive for West Nile and Jamestown Canyon viruses
The first positive results of mosquito testing this year have detected two viruses in the state: West Nile virus in St. Albans and Jamestown Canyon virus in Rutland. This is the first year Vermont is testing for Jamestown Canyon virus, which can cause illness in people similar to other mosquito-borne viruses. There have been no human or animal cases of mosquito-borne illnesses reported so far this season. Health officials are encouraging people in Vermont to protect themselves from mosquito bites and the potentially dangerous diseases they can spread.
Treasurer’s Office returns record $9.9 million in unclaimed property
Fiscal year 2025 was a record-breaking year for the Unclaimed Property Division of the Vermont State Treasurer’s Office. The Treasurer’s Office returned a record $9.9 million in unclaimed property to Vermonters, processing a record 31,593 individual claims. It was the second consecutive year that the office paid a record number of claims, up significantly from 19,010 in fiscal year 2024.
Local leaders mark anniversary of 2023-24 flooding in Vermont
From July 2023 to July 2024, Vermont experienced multiple flooding events with enough damage to secure five federal disaster declarations. Collectively, these floods spanned every one of Vermont’s 14 counties and more than 150 cities, towns and villages, causing well over a billion dollars in damage. With the two biggest storms hitting the state on the exact same dates (July 10-11) in both 2023 and 2024, Governor Phil Scott is taking this week to reflect on the impact, the progress, and the work left to do to recover, rebuild and increase resiliency. Last week Senator Peter Welch introduced legislation to reform FEMA.
UVM secures $1.2M grant to address Vermont’s mental health workforce crisis
In response to Vermont’s growing mental health crisis and a critical shortage of trained professionals—especially in rural communities—the University of Vermont (UVM) has received a $1.2 million federal grant to expand and enhance its clinical psychology doctoral training program. Awarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the grant—titled VT HEALS—will support UVM’s nationally accredited clinical psychology Ph.D. program over the next three years. The funding will bolster training in integrated care, substance use treatment, and trauma-informed approaches, equipping future psychologists to meet the state’s most urgent mental health needs. The initiative is led by Matthew Price, the George W. Albee Green & Gold Professor and Director of Clinical Training in the Department of Psychological Science in UVM’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Vermont joins lawsuit over fed rule making it harder to obtain health coverage
Attorney General Charity Clark has joined a lawsuit challenging an unlawful final rule promulgated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that would create significant barriers to obtaining healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Trump Administration’s final rule would make amendments to rules governing federal and state health insurance marketplaces which the administration estimates will cause up to 1.8 million people to lose their health insurance, while causing millions more to pay increased insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs like copays and deductibles. The final rule also excludes coverage of gender-affirming care as an essential health benefit (EHB) under the ACA.
AG Clark joins suit against White House for cutting over $5 million in disaster mitigation funding
Attorney General Charity Clark has joined a coalition of 20 states in suing the Trump Administration over its decision to illegally shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) bipartisan Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, designed to protect communities from natural disasters before they strike. Since 2020, the BRIC program has provided communities across the nation with resources to proactively strengthen their infrastructure against natural disasters.
Feds release of $6.5M in summer and afterschool funding for Vermont
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), has welcomed the announcement that Vermont would receive $6.5 million in funding for afterschool programs through the 21st Century Learning Centers program, as a result of his demands that the Trump administration release illegally and unconstitutionally withheld federal funds for public education. Newly released funding supports nearly 100 afterschool and summer programs in Vermont that serve 11,000 students.
Burlington unveils new visual art installation surrounding Memorial Auditorium
The City of Burlington has unveiled a 360-foot visual art installation now covering the fence around Memorial Auditorium, which showcases works from ten local artists. The installation is part of a larger initiative by the City of Burlington to address the persistent challenge of graffiti (tagging) on Memorial Auditorium. This initiative, led by Burlington City Arts (BCA) in coordination with the Department of Permitting & Inspections, and with $14,000 in funding from the City Council, aims to beautify the space around one of Burlington’s most treasured landmarks, which is often referred to as the “gateway” to the city.
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