by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Newport businessman Bill Stenger, the former president of Jay Peak resort, was released from prison today, according to a Facebook post by his son Andrew. The post from Wednesday morning reads: "Just under 7 years ago a long, complicated journey started for my father and our family. I’m extremely grateful to report the journey is finally over. Next stop- large fries at Mc’Ds drive through. Bringing the big man home today." The post shows father and son, but when the photo was taken was not clarified nor was the time of release. Stenger began an 18-month federal prison sentence at Fort Devens, MA, on June 7.

Vermont Business Magazine Yesterday, the Vermont House of Representatives passed H470 which would make cocktails-to-go permanent. The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration. Currently, cocktails to-go are set to expire on July 1, 2023. H470 removes the sunset date and allows on-premise licensees to sell cocktails to-go for carryout with a food order. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 18 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws to permanently allow cocktails to-go, and 14 others have enacted laws that allow cocktails to-go on a temporary basis. Numerous states are still considering cocktails to-go legislation. 

Vermont Business Magazine The US Department of Labor has requested that a federal court in Vermont allow the department to intervene and seek the court’s dismissal of a counterclaim that Bimbo Bakeries USA Inc. – one of the nation’s largest baking companies – has asserted against its own workers who are seeking the overtime compensation that they are allegedly owed. In October 2022, bakery distributor drivers who work for Bimbo Bakeries USA Inc. and Bimbo Foods Bakeries Distribution LLC filed a private lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Vermont alleging they were misclassified as independent contractors, rather than employees as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act. They claimed that, as employees, the companies owe them overtime back wages.

Vermont Business Magazine The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, chaired by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), will hold a hearing this morning, March 22 at 10 am ET entitled, “Taxpayers Paid Billions For It: So Why Would Moderna Consider Quadrupling the Price of the COVID Vaccine?” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel – who became a billionaire during the pandemic after US taxpayers gave his company billions of dollars to research, develop, and distribute its COVID-19 vaccine – has agreed to appear, and a panel of experts will also give testimony.

by The Executive Committee of the VSCS Board of Trustees 10 years from now, we believe Vermont will have a state-wide hybrid university that supports access and aspirations of students from across the state’s rural communities, strengthens Vermont’s workforce, and demonstrates sustainable quality. We are confident of this because of what we have seen faculty, staff, and leaders of the future Vermont State University already accomplish in just a few short years. We pivoted in the emergency of the pandemic. Classes and meetings on Zoom. New and new uses of digital resources and technologies for student advising and collaboration. In the challenges of that time, people came together, sharing resources and expertise across campuses. In a time when interaction was of necessity primarily virtual, human relationships across distance were maintained, and new connections formed.