Vermont
As Vermont launches retail cannabis sales, customers line up in downtown Burlington
Amy Bacon was afforded two honors on the opening of Ceres Collaborative dispensary in downtown Burlington on Saturday — the primary day hashish might be offered at retail shops in Vermont.
Bacon, the corporate’s manufacturing supervisor and its longest-tenured worker, received to open the doorways to its Faculty Road retailer promptly at 10 a.m. after which develop into its first official buyer.
By then, a protracted line of consumers had shaped, extending via an alley to a car parking zone close to the Heart Road bar Day by day Planet.
After years of buildup, chief working officer Russ Todia stood outdoors the shop and shouted to the group, “Let’s open these doorways!” As prospects cheered, Bacon complied with a beaming smile. A couple of minutes later she reemerged with a small paper bag.
“We’ve labored towards this present day for a very long time,” Bacon stated. “It’s simply an unbelievable feeling.”
Opening day got here almost two years after state lawmakers signed off on retail hashish gross sales — and greater than 4 years after they OKed private cultivation and possession of small quantities of marijuana.
The state Hashish Management Board, which regulates the trade in Vermont, had been working to clear a backlog of license requests within the weeks main as much as Oct. 1. Together with Ceres, a complete of 4 shops had been licensed by the state to open Saturday: Mountain Lady in Rutland, FLORA in Middlebury and Bud Barn in Brattleboro, although Bud Barn’s homeowners stated they seemingly wouldn’t open for a number of extra weeks.
In Burlington on Saturday, Ceres’ storefront was adorned with banners and balloons. A person filmed the primary 20 folks to enter the shop for promotional use by the corporate.
The primary member of the general public in line was Bryan Menard of Burlington, who stated he arrived round 6:30 a.m. on Saturday.
“I ought to have stated 4:20,” Menard joked.
An hour earlier than opening, Menard waited outdoors the door with about 5 others, none of whom needed to be recognized apart from Menard. By the point Bacon opened the entrance door, greater than 100 folks stood in line.
Only a few days earlier, even these in control of the corporate had their doubts about whether or not it might all come collectively.
“As of Monday, I might have guessed there’s a 20% likelihood we’d have been open on Saturday,” Todia stated.
The ultimate weeks and days previous to opening had been stuffed with new hurdles, he stated, together with questioning whether or not Burlington had communicated to the state that it had accepted Ceres’ license. “We didn’t have any of that data till the tip of this week. So it’s been type of a mad sprint.”
Bacon, who Todia described as the corporate’s “head chef,” credited a group of staff with making it occur.
“The group has been working across the clock to get product lab-tested, into packages, making extracts, making gummies,” Bacon stated. “It’s been quite a lot of work.”
In accordance with Todia, everybody concerned in establishing Vermont’s hashish market has needed to be taught the foundations on the go attributable to its “fluid” regulation.
“I believe each potential operator on this trade has felt these twists and turns all through this course of and lots of are nonetheless feeling it,” Todia stated.
Ceres did brisk enterprise all through the morning. Patrons who managed to make it to the entrance of the road reported a 30- to 40-minute wait.
Nicholas Mark of Milton stood close to the again of the lengthy line close to Day by day Planet when he spoke with VTDigger.
“It’s simply good to have the comfort of going right into a retailer and purchase product,” Mark stated.
One other man forward of Mark within the line, Ron Sexton, stated he used hashish to alleviate ache related to a degenerative disk illness. Sexton, who makes use of a cane, stated hashish “actually makes a distinction.”
Many different prospects in line, whereas enthusiastic, resisted the concept of talking with reporters.
By early afternoon, the road had shortened considerably. Two safety guards coordinated what number of may enter the shop at a time. Todia greeted prospects close to the entrance whereas staff helped prospects at counters, tables and show instances across the retailer.
Todia stated that whereas his group had the Oct. 1 date in thoughts for years, figuring out whether or not the date was attainable was one other matter given what number of components had been out of their management. Ceres submitted its license utility in April or Could, he stated, however the state hadn’t begun reviewing its license till September. Ultimately, although, all of it labored out.
“As a state, we did it. We opened on October 1st,” Todia stated. “There is definitely extra to come back — extra nice retailers, extra choices for folks will come over the following weeks and months, however we’re simply completely satisfied that we’re in a position to promote immediately.”
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The personal data of students and staff at several dozen Vermont school districts may have been compromised in a nationwide data breach of a student information system, according to state education officials.
PowerSchool, a California-based company that provides a student information system and cloud software used by 39 school districts in Vermont, told its customers on Tuesday that personal data of students, staff and faculty of school districts throughout the country were hacked, according to officials.
The company serves more than 75% of students in North America, according to a report from TechCrunch, and its software is used by roughly 16,000 customers to support more than 50 million students in the United States.
Schools use the software to manage student records, grades, attendance and enrollment.
It is unclear how many school districts in Vermont were affected by the data breach. Lindsey Hedges, a spokesperson for the state Agency of Education, said in an email that not all of the 39 districts that use PowerSchool were affected, but noted that the agency “will continue to work with districts and remain in contact as the full impact of the incident unfolds.”
Champlain Valley School District was among the affected districts. Adam Bunting, the district’s superintendent, said in a letter to families that “the Agency of Education is actively working with PowerSchool to determine the next steps.”
“We understand that the situation is concerning and will keep you informed as we learn more,” Bunting wrote in the letter.
In a phone interview, Bunting said PowerSchool informed the district that the breached personal information of faculty and staff mainly included things like contact information.
“The information, as far as we understand, does not include things like Social Security numbers,” he said. “The initial information we have is that it’s more about contact information.”
Student information, Bunting said, may include names, address, emails and birthdates.
A spokesperson for PowerSchool, Beth Keebler, said in an emailed statement that the company “is committed to protecting the security and integrity of our applications.”
“We take our responsibility to protect student data privacy and act responsibly as data processors extremely seriously,” the statement reads. “Our priority is to support our customers through this incident and to continue our unrelenting focus on data security.”
TechCrunch reported that hackers successfully breached the company’s school information system, and the company was made aware of the breach on or around December 28.
“As soon as we learned of the incident, we immediately engaged our cybersecurity response protocols and mobilized a cross-functional response team, including senior leadership and third-party cybersecurity experts,” the company’s statement said.
The company said it does not anticipate the data being shared or made public.
Zoie Saunders, Vermont’s secretary of education, said in correspondence to superintendents of the affected districts that the impact of the breach may vary from district to district.
“We understand that this news may be concerning, but please be assured that the agency takes incidents involving student information very seriously and is committed to ensuring that all necessary measures are in place to safeguard it,” she wrote.
Vermont
Grace Potter 'Emotionally Preparing to Lose' Home in L.A. Fires as She Reveals Vt. House Destroyed in Flood Last Summer
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2)/grace-potter-fires-tout-010925-d2c8e62a185845dc85646ac8779d95d2.jpg "Grace Potter 'Emotionally Preparing to Lose' Home in L.A. Fires as She Reveals Vt. House Destroyed in Flood Last Summer")
Grace Potter is staying safe amid the fires in California.
In an Instagram Reel shared on Wednesday, Jan. 8, the “Mother Road” singer spoke about evacuating the Los Angeles fires after recently being in New Orleans during the terror attack on Jan. 1 and losing her Vermont home amid the flooding in July 2024.
“We are safely evacuated from Topanga Canyon but many are still in harms way,” Potter, 41, wrote. “Just now we discovered that the place we evacuated to is also under evacuation orders. They just announced the schools are shut.”
Potter said that she had just arrived in L.A. after a cross-country trip after being in New Orleans “amid the terror attack.” She also mentioned that last summer her Fayston, Vt. farm was “devastated by the floods.”
“Life is wildly unpredictable and it’s important [to] keep your heart strong and your mind clear. If you see smoke, don’t wait for cell signal,” Potter continued.
“Trust your gut. Pack the necessities & GET OUT. I’m feeling deep gratitude for family, friends, the firefighters and for community. We are lucky. Stay safe out there folks.”
Her Jan. 8 video showed her driving away from the smoke. “Am I a storm chaser, or do I just like being places where really bad things happen? Or is this just happening everywhere? I don’t know,” she said in the clip, adding that she would pick up her son Sagan, 7 this week, from school and found a hotel to stay at.
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On Jan. 1, Potter was in New Orleans celebrating the New Year when a truck intentionally drove through the crowd on Bourbon Street leaving at least 14 people dead and dozens injured.
“We were standing at the corner of the intersection where only hours later a car came crashing through in a terrifying & violent act,” Potter’s joint Instagram post with husband Eric Valentine read.
“Then this morning, as we were in our room packing our bags to leave, a bomb was detonated less than a block away from our hotel in the quarter.”
Valentine added: “I am grateful my family is safe. I am grateful for the brave people who put their lives on the line to do their best to keep us safe. Our hearts go out to those who were injured and to the families and friends of those who were lost.”
In July, the singer posted pictures and videos of the damage from the floods with water overflowing rivers and roadways. Following the flooding, Potter said that the annual Grand Point North Festival would also serve as a benefit for those affected by the Vt. floods.
“Vermont, my heart is with you. I’ll be home soon, and we will rebuild as we always do,” she wrote.
Grace Potter/Instagram
Potter also shared a picture of a map of the blaze on her Instagram Stories on Jan. 8, pointing out where her home was. “Emotionally preparing to lose our home,” she wrote. “All i can do now is hope for a miracle & send love to the Canyon that brought me back into the daylight.”
The L.A. fires began on Tuesday, Jan. 7. Thousands of structures have been affected by the disastrous blaze.
Click here to learn more about how to help the victims of the L.A. fires.
UVM hockey legend Eric Perrin returns to Burlington on coaching staff
Eric Perrin, UVM hockey’s all-time leading goal scorer returns to Burlington helping out on the coaching staff for the past nine days.
Vermont basketball scored the game’s first seven points and built multiple 10-point leads early in the first half of Saturday’s America East Conference showdown at Bryant.
But everything unraveled after the Catamounts’ roaring start.
The Bryant Bulldogs seized control by the halftime horn and rolled in the second half for a 73-53 victory, handing Vermont its biggest conference defeat in two decades.
The Catamounts (9-9, 2-1) haven’t loss by at least 20 points to a league opponent in the regular season since the 2004-05 finale at Maine, 87-66, when stars Taylor Coppenrath and T.J. Sorrentine did not play. They also suffered a 22-point setback to Stony Brook in the 2011 America East semifinals.
Vermont opened a 24-14 lead on a Shamir Bogues 3-pointer with 8 minutes, 21 seconds before the break. Then the Bulldogs unleashed a 20-6 spurt to close the half. Bryant, though, kept momentum on its side, scoring 20 of the first 22 points of the second half.
The advantage ballooned to 57-32 by the 12-minute mark. All told, Bryant had a 43-8 run spanning the two halves to carve out the insurmountable advantage.
Connor Withers, who started Bryant’s comeback in the first half with a 3-pointer, paced the hosts with 19 points. Rafael Pinzon and Barry Evans each had 13 points, and Early Timberlake added a dozen points for Bryant’s first win over Vermont since joining America East ahead of the 2022-23 campaign.
For Vermont, Bogues totaled 17 points and six rebounds, and Ileri Ayo-Faleye collected 15 points. Sam Alamutu picked up 11 rebounds.
The Bulldogs scored 22 points off Vermont’s 17 turnovers. Bryant also made 11 3-pointers.
The Catamounts return to action for the league home opener Thursday night vs. Binghamton.
Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.
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