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The Senate on Tuesday passed the bipartisan USA FREEDOM Act of 2015, an historic bill coauthored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) to rein in surveillance authorities for the first time since passage of the USA PATRIOT Act. As chairman of the Judiciary Committee last Congress, Leahy convened six high-profile hearings on surveillance authorities. The Senate’s Tuesday passage of his bipartisan and bicameral measure comes after two years of work and close consultation with partners in the House. In a rare break from his colleague, Vermont's other US senator and presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, voted against the measure, saying that while the bill was better than the PATRIOT Act, but still allowed too much infiltration into the lives of ordinary citizens.

Governor Peter Shumlin signed into law today the education reform bill that he said would help ensure educational quality for all Vermont students while bending the cost curve on education spending to address Vermonters’ calls for property tax relief. The governor signed the bill, H361, at the Smilie Memorial Elementary School in Bolton, which serves as an example of the type of reform the legislation is designed to facilitate. The bill offers financial incentives for small schools to merge, which in turn could save money and lower property taxes.

Vermont is below the US average in the percentage of women-owned businesses and near the bottom in the growth of such businesses since 1997. Vermont has an estimated 23,300 women-owned firms, employing 13,200 and attributing to roughly $2,062,300 in revenues according to the fifth annual State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, commissioned by American Express OPEN, a comprehensive report released today analyzing the 1997, 2002, and 2007 data from the US Census Bureau’s quinquennial business census, the Survey of Business Owners. Vermont is ranked 46th (36.8%) in growth of number of firms over the past 18 years and 42nd (57.1%) in growth of firm revenue between 1997 and 2015.

Nationally, the number of women-owned businesses has increased 74% since 1997. Much of that growth has been driven by multicultural enterprises.

Successful behavioral and mental health treatment relies on understanding the status of a patient's physical health as well. In order to make more informed decisions about patient care, Northwestern Counseling & Support Services, Inc (NCSS) Behavioral Health Division recently joined 1,000 other Vermont providers who utilize a secure portal to access their patients' health information. The provider portal, known as VITLAccess, was developed by Vermont Information Technology Leaders, Inc, the legislatively-designated operator of the Vermont Health Information Exchange (VHIE).

Vermont will receive over $179,000 as its share of an $8 million consumer protection settlement reached between 22 States and Classmates, Inc, Florists Transworld Delivery, Inc and FTD.com Inc. The multistate investigation into the misleading advertising and billing practices of Classmates and FTD focused on the companies’ relationship with third parties who used “negative options” to sell third party membership programs to consumers doing business online with Classmates and FTD. A negative option is an arrangement where goods or services are charged to you automatically unless you tell the seller you do not want them.

“This settlement will result in important protections to ensure that Vermont consumers are not deceived into paying for unwanted goods or services through negative option marketing,” said Attorney General William H. Sorrell.

A report released by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) confirms that Vermont continues to be a national leader in the fight to end childhood hunger, especially during the summer months when free school meals are not available. The “Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation” report shows the largest nationwide positive increase in participation in summer nutrition for children since 1993, with an average daily participation increase of 7.3%. The national Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) which has made outreach on summer nutrition a priority along with state partners such as Vermont’s Agency of Education and Hunger Free Vermont. Vermont ranks 4th in the country for utilization of this program.

The University of Vermont Medical Center's Frederick C Binter Center for Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders is one of just 29 centers in the US to be named “Centers of Excellence” by the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) for 2015. Other designees include Stanford University, Duke University, the Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins University. Centers were cited for "an exemplary commitment to bringing more comprehensive care" to Huntington's Disease (HD) patients and families.

(l to r) Nancy Binter, MD, Bela Ratovits, MD, and James Boyd, MD, director of the Binter Center at The University of Vermont Medical Center, celebrate the "Centers of Excellence" designation by the Huntington's Disease Society of America.

Southern Vermont College in Bennington has announced that its Baccalaureate Nursing program has recently been awarded accreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). SVC President David Evans made the announcement with a statement to the College community praising the program and SVC nursing leaders--Division Chair Mary Botter, Ph.D., and the faculty and staff, who developed the new BSN program and shepherded the accreditation process. “This Division is committed to excellence in nursing and has worked diligently to meet the standards of a rigorous nursing and health care program,” Evans said.

RAVNAH Hospice has recently launched “Veterans’ Voices”, a program that honors current active duty and former military members – and the families who support their service. It gives veterans, service members, and military families a chance to share their stories about their lives and their experiences, and leave an enduring legacy behind.

We record participants as they are telling of the accounts of their lives, pivotal moments and everyday memories. Once recorded on DVD, we preserve these recordings, give each participant a DVD and archive a copy at the Folk Life Center in Middlebury, VT if desired by the family. Their stories, told in their own voice, can be shared with current and future generations.

American Health Centers Inc (AHCI) has donated $2,000 to the Last Mile Ride, Gifford’s annual fundraiser to support services for those with advanced illness or needing end-of-life care at the Randolph-based hospital. AHCI brings affordable mobile magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) units to community hospitals throughout Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. MRI is a safe and painless test that uses a magnetic field and radio waves to produce detailed pictures of the body, and differs from a CAT scan because it doesn't use radiation. The AHCI mobile magnetic unit serves patients at Gifford health centers in Randolph, Sharon, and Berlin.

“American Health Centers has been bringing services to Gifford patients since 2001,” said President and Chief Operating Officer Dr. Donald N. Sweet, who visited the hospital to deliver the donation. “We are very pleased to be able to honor this partnership by supporting the unique end-of-life services funded by the Last Mile Ride.”

For the Greater Burlington YMCA, Wednesday night’s annual meeting was as an opportunity to highlight not only their own achievements, but to honor another area non-profit for its contributions to create a stronger community. The Y recognized Howard Center with a special award for their years of service to their clients and the impact of their work. Y President and CEO Mary Burns noted the longstanding partnership between the Y and Howard Center. Burns remarked that she did not remember a time during her 29 years with the Y that the two organizations did not collaborate.

“Each day, Howard Center’s compassion and commitment to improve the well-being of all in our community changes thousands of lives,” said Burns. “The Greater Burlington YMCA, time and again, has witnessed the immeasurable impact of Howard Center’s work.”

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Health Connect is still a long way from the seamless, on-line health insurance sign-up product it's supposed to be, but a major system upgrade should go a long way to toward enabling it to get there eventually. Governor Peter Shumlin announced this morning that the VHC system was successfully upgraded this weekend to update the so-called change of circumstance functionality, which will allow customer service staff to process requested changes more quickly.