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Vermont Business Magazine A new study finds Vermont is the No. 17 healthiest state in America this holiday season. The holidays are the perfect time to eat, drink, and be merry, but also a time when Americans fall off the wagon with excessive eating, drinking and stress. Overindulging can exacerbate the holiday blues. Instead of waiting to make a New Year’s resolution, maintaining a healthy lifestyle throughout the holiday season can help make it an even more joyous time of year.

Vermont Business Magazine In an effort to attract more dentists to Northern New England, Northeast Delta Dental has provided $6 million in funding over three years to be used for dental student loan repayments. The new program will be administered by the Recruitment Center at Bi-State Primary Care Association (Bi-State) and is governed by a Steering Committee with representatives from Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Workforce vacancies across all healthcare specialties have been rising in recent years, and there is an acute shortage in Northern New England for dentists across all specialties.

Vermont Business Magazine Convenience stores in central and northwestern Vermont are taking part in the annual Light a Light for a Child Campaign to benefit the work of Prevent Child Abuse Vermont. At thirty-six Champlain Farms locations and seventeen Simon’s locations, customers can purchase a paper circle with the image of a wreath with a lit candle in the center for $1.00, or any amount they choose to donate. They can write their names or a name of someone they wish to honor, and the wreaths will be hung in the store or can be taken home. All proceeds go to support the effective child abuse prevention programs and trainings of PCAVT.

Vermont Business Magazine The tri-partisan Rural Caucus met on December 7 with more than 45 members to elect its co-chairs and clerk and begin setting priorities for the 2023 Legislative Session. The Caucus unanimously elected four officers to guide the work of the group as they continue to expand the priorities from 2022 and dive deeper into the challenges faced by rural communities. The Rural Caucus is seeking to build on the success of the first-ever Rural Economic Development Omnibus Bill (H.581) in the last biennium and to address the opportunities and challenges in rural Vermont. Following elections, the group dove into a facilitated discussion to share individual members' priorities for the upcoming session to once again make a path toward collaborative efforts and joint statement.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington School District (BSD) has filed a lawsuit in federal court, suing Monsanto for its role in manufacturing, marketing and distributing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Contamination by PCBs led to the closure of Burlington High School (BHS) and Burlington Technical Center (BTC) in 2020 after air testing found concentrations significantly exceeded health and safety standards. Among other relief, the lawsuit seeks to recover for BSD’s injuries associated with the demolition and replacement of BHS/BTC that the District has been forced to undertake to provide students and staff with a safe learning and working environment; the project is estimated to cost at least $190 million.

Vermont Business Magazine Northwestern Medical Center has hired Peter J. Wright, FACHE, as the hospital’s new Chief Executive Officer. Wright most recently served as the President of Bridgton & Rumford hospitals, two rural facilities within Central Maine Healthcare. Wright will start at NMC in January of 2023. Wright fills the position previously held by Dr Dean French. French served for less than two years before announcing last May that he would leave for a Louisville-based health system. He has served as the President and CEO of Valley Regional Healthcare in New Hampshire; the Chief Operating Officer of Littleton Regional Hospital in New Hampshire; and Senior Director of Planning, Development, and Medical Group operations at Copley Hospital in Vermont. Wright holds a Master of Health Care Delivery Science from Dartmouth College, a Master of Science in Administration from St. Michael’s College

Vermont Business Magazine Two artifacts representing Vermont’s performing arts will be exhibited at the Vermont State House from December 12 through January, 2023: A saxophone belonging to blues legend Big Joe Burrell, and a commemorative quilt signed by generations of UVM Lane Series artists commemorating the series’ first 50 years. The exhibit is presented by Big Heavy World, Vermont’s independent, volunteer-staffed music development office and curator of The Tiny Museum of Vermont Music History, located in Burlington. Housed in a historic industrial building on the corner of Howard and Pine Streets, Big Heavy World operates the museum along with an archive of approximately 5,000 original recordings by Vermonters; a community radio station; and many ongoing and special projects that support a mission of preserving and promoting Vermont’s original music.

Vermont Business Magazine ReArch Properties and Resonant Link have announced that Resonant Link has expanded into a new office in Technology Park, continuing its growth and setting it up for continued expansion. Resonant Link, the leading wireless power provider for implantable medical devices, industrial electric vehicles, and more, has hired more than thirty new team members in the past year. Team members work from Resonant Link’s new headquarters in South Burlington, Vermont, co-working spaces in San Francisco, Boston, and Zurich, and remotely from more than a dozen states in the US and in Europe. The new headquarters is a 20,000-square-foot space located at 530 Community Drive in South Burlington, Vermont, which was previously occupied by the diagnostics healthcare company Aspenti Health.

Vermont Business Magazine Average gasoline prices in Vermont fell another 14 cents since last week. Today's average price is $3.58 per gallon. The national average is $3.20/g, down 15 cents in a week. Vermont prices are down 47 cents in a month and are still 21 cents higher than a year ago. The national price is down 58 cents in a month and down 8 cents from last year. Analyst GasBuddy expects the national average to fall below $3/g by Christmas. The national average price of diesel has fallen 14.9 cents in the last week and stands at $4.91 per gallon.

by US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) Today in America, after decades of consolidation and deregulation, some eight multi-national media companies control almost all the news you watch, read, hear, and download. All across the country, corporate conglomerates and hedge fund vultures have bought and consolidated local newspapers and slashed their newsrooms — all while giving executives and shareholders big payouts. The result of this trend has been the decimation of journalism.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Corrections (Vermont DOC) is conducting internal administrative and medical reviews following the death of an incarcerated individual on Sunday. Jack Martin, 49, of Windsor, died at Rutland Regional Medical Center on Sunday afternoon after being admitted to the hospital on Friday, December 9. Mr. Martin reported difficulty sitting upright while in his cell at Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility (MVRCF) in Rutland on Friday morning. Vermont DOC and medical staff called for emergency medical services, and Mr. Martin was transferred to Rutland Regional Medical Center.