Current News

Leonine Public Affairs The Vermont legislature shifted into high gear this week, as committees increasingly focused on priority legislation with the Town Meeting break quickly approaching. Solid waste, data privacy, protections for health care workers and climate legislation had a lot of air time across various policy committees. The Senate began to work on legislation to expand childcare and the House continued to work through legislation to create a paid family and medical leave program. The money committees in the House dug into the FY2024 spending proposals, with the House Appropriations committee taking testimony from departments and agencies across state government regarding their budget requests. The House Transportation committee and House Institutions and Corrections committee continued to work through their respective spending bills that fund the state’s transportation and capital infrastructure. In the Senate, the Appropriations committee worked to finalize its version of the FY2023 Budget Adjustment Act (BAA). Senate Appropriations expects to finalize FY2023 BAA next week.

Saint Michael's College Saint Michael's President Lorraine Sterritt announced Tuesday that she will be retiring from the college at the end of this semester. Also, Professor Crystal L’Hote of the Saint Michael’s philosophy faculty did an interview this week with reporter Melissa Conney from WCAX Channel 3, the Burlington-area CBS affiliate, airing Tuesday of this week. They talked about ChatGPT, a popular new Artificial Intellegence (AI) “chatbot” some educators fear might be used by college students to cheat on work they submit.

Vermont Business Magazine TRORC announced its 2023 Scholarship Program on February 10, 2023. This year, TRORC will be awarding ten $1,500 scholarships to the area’s graduating high school seniors. The Scholarship Program is open to all students residing in one of TRORC's thirty towns who are successfully completing a state-approved secondary (high school) education program and have been accepted into an accredited post-secondary education or career program. TRORC’s scholarship award payment is made at the end of the awardee’s first college semester provided they receive an average grade of B or better.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) on Friday issued the following statement after meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva: “I enjoyed a productive meeting this morning with President Lula of Brazil and his cabinet. Our countries share many challenges, including the threat of right-wing authoritarians who seek to undermine democratic institutions in both countries. I am very impressed that in his short visit to the United States, Lula chose to speak to the AFL-CIO. In that regard, we discussed ways to build an economy that serves all people, not just the wealthy and large corporations. We also discussed ways to advance workers’ rights and build strong unions."

Vermont Business Magazine Casella Waste Systems, Inc, a Rutland-based regional solid waste, recycling, and resource management services company, today announced an amendment to its existing $650 million credit facility that links borrowing costs to progress in achieving certain annual sustainability goals. The company also announced an amendment to its credit facility associated with the early adoption of Term SOFR as its reference rate, replacing LIBOR in advance of its anticipated cessation later this year. The company established the following two measurable key performance indicators as part of its Sustainability-Linked Credit Facility: Improving its safety performance by lowering its Total Recordable Incident Rate (“TRIR”); and Growing its Resource Solutions business by reducing, reusing, or recycling more tons of solid waste material.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Medical Center today submitted a certificate of need (CON) to the Green Mountain Care Board for a multispecialty outpatient surgery center (OSC) to be located at its current Tilley Drive campus in South Burlington. The new facility will help meet the need for surgical services for an aging and growing population in the hospital’s service area. Population forecasts show that by 2030, the total population in our service area will grow by 4 to 8 percent, and the 65-plus population will grow by 30 to 60 percent.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, the House gave final approval to H. 89, known as the “Shield Bill.” The bill provides protections for patients and providers from prosecutions and investigations by states that have criminalized reproductive and gender-affirming care that is legal in Vermont. Following today’s 130-13 roll-call vote, the bill will now move to the Senate for further consideration. After passage, House Speaker Jill Krowinski, Rep. Martin LaLonde, Chair of the House Committee on Judiciary, and Rep. Taylor Small spoke on the importance of passing the bill.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported February 8, 2023, that COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations were largely unchanged over the last week. COVID-19 activity remains in the "Low" range, according to the VDH. Hospitalizations decreased to 48 last week (they were as low as 30 last fall). Total cases increased to 509. There were four COVID-related deaths in the last week as total fatalities in Vermont surpassed 900. This brings the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Vermont to 901, as of February 4. Of those, 712 have been of Vermonters 70 or older. There have been 3 deaths of Vermonters under 30.

Vermont State Police The victim in this incident, Wayne Alexander, 62, of Grand Isle, was pronounced deceased at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington. An autopsy will be conducted at the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington to determine the cause and manner of death. This incident appears to be an accident and is not considered suspicious at this time. The Vermont State Police is investigating after an ice fisherman fell through the ice Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023, on Lake Champlain in Grand Isle.

Maple Broadband is bringing high speed future-proof fiber internet to Addison County. Service will be launching later this month in portions of Cornwall, Salisbury, and a small corner of Middlebury. We know you’re eager for faster internet, and we’re working as quickly as safety allows to complete the mainline build so we can get you connected. Fiber internet service is available at speeds of up to 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps) upload and download.