Current News

by Paul Cillo, Public Assets Institute The total number of jobs in Vermont finally exceeded the previous high, reached in the summer of 2007, before the recession began. The latest figures show there were 311,700 non-farm payroll jobs in November, an increase of 3,600 from October. Most new jobs—2,200—were in the accommodations and food services sector. The number of employed Vermonters also rose last month, to 336,546.

Two weeks after wet, heavy snow blanketed Vermont in one of the longest lasting and most challenging storms to hit the state, Green Mountain Power is once again preparing for the possibility of outages from a wind storm forecasted for Christmas Day. The Christmas Day wind storm has the potential to knock trees and branches onto power lines, causing outages, especially in areas where there is tree damage from the recent unprecedented snow storm. Green Mountain Power has already lined up additional lineworkers and tree trimmers to assist GMP crews in any power restoration work required. Crews will be available in all parts of the state to begin to restore outages as they occur.

by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org The fate of Burlington College remains uncertain. The school is running on fumes as it attempts to strike a deal with real estate developer Eric Farrell, who wants to build 20 private homes and 500 housing units on a large portion of the 32-acre property located on Lake Champlain. While proponents say the deal with Farrell will eliminate much of the college’s debt and potentially save the school, critics believe cash from the land deal won’t be enough to bring Burlington College back into solvency.

The college’s troubled finances were thrown into sharp relief this month when students who were trying to focus on final projects and papers did not receive financial aid payments from the school.

AccuWeather reports following a wet, mild Christmas Eve across much of the Northeast, a windy and chillier Christmas Day is on the way. Christmas morning, though, will still be very mild along the I-95 corridor, where temperatures in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington will be near 60. Temperatures will then fall into the 40s during the afternoon. Across the interior Northeast, temperatures will go from near or above 50 on Wednesday to the 30s for much of Christmas Day.

Home sales in Vermont were down slightly in November, but prices were up, reflecting a pattern consitent across New England. For the region, year-over-year sales decreased by -8.0 percent, according to The RE/MAX of New England November Monthly Housing Report. Pending sales were up 5.8 percent over November 2013, while month-over-month figures declined -20.4 percent over October 2014. Across the region, homes are staying on the market an average of nearly three-weeks less than this time last year and pricing continues to hold steady.

The oncology program at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph has received accreditation from the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons. Every three years the CoC accreditation program reviews hospital oncology services to ensure that they conform to commission standards and are committed to providing the highest level of quality cancer care (learn more here). After a rigorous evaluation process and on-site performance review, Gifford received accreditation through 2016.

The nurses of the Porter Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (PFNHP) voted to ratify their first contract with an overwhelming majority on Monday. The group had reached a tentative agreement with the Porter Medical Center (PMC) in Middlebury last week. This contract is their first, after the nurses voted to form their union a year ago. The contract took effect upon ratification (December 23, 2014) and will continue through September 30, 2017.

Reflecting on the vote to ratify the contract, AFT Vermont President Ben Johnson said, "We welcome Porter nurses into AFT Vermont and we congratulate them on their historic win."

Janet Mosurick, RN, celebrated the vote, saying, "Two years of planning dreaming and hard work ended up to be a great accomplishment that led to the reality a first nursing contract for the hospital where I am proud to work."

US Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) on Monday welcomed a Department of Veterans Affairs announcement that the state-run Vermont Veterans’ Home in Bennington is in line for a nearly $1 million federal matching grant. The Bennington facility is on the USDepartment of Veterans Affairs’ priority list for construction grants during the coming year.

“I am committed to working with the state and the VA to ensure the veterans’ home can make these much-needed repairs,” said Sanders. “The men and women who have served our country in uniform deserve quality care in a safe home.”

The Bennington kitchen-renovation project is part of the VA’s commitment to providing a safe living environment and medical care for aging and chronically-ill Veterans. The federal share of the project is $994,045.

Source: BURLINGTON, Dec.22, 2014 – Sanders.

by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org Staffers in the Department for Children and Families lack knowledge and understanding about how to work effectively with families affected by substance abuse, according to a new report released Thursday by DCF. The Casey Family Programs study is the third to come out this fall, as part of a wide response to two child deaths in February and April. All three came to similar conclusions.

The new report grouped its findings into five categories. The key items include better training, more social workers, more transparency and a stronger focus on opiate addiction’s impact on family dynamics.

DCF Commissioner Ken Schatz and his boss, Agency of Human Services interim secretary Harry Chen, presented the 18-page report and seven-page summary along with Schatz’s deputy, Cindy Walcott at a morning news conference in Williston, attended by only three reporters.

The US Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury today issued proposed rules to help people who are shopping for health insurance coverage better understand their options. All health plans and issuers are required to provide consumers with a standardized, brief summary of what a health insurance policy or employer plan covers. This information allows consumers to make “apples to apples” comparisons when they are shopping for health insurance coverage, and to have a clear summary of what their insurance covers.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org The Shumlin administration spent about $1.6 million since 2011 to develop a proposal for a single payer health care program that is now on hold. In an interview with WDEV’s Mark Johnson on Thursday, Governor Peter Shumlin defended the money spent studying single payer. “I was optimistic we could make it work right now,” he said. “I was wrong. I accept that. I think we will get there, and I think the work we’ve done will be tremendously helpful when we do get there.”

by John McClaughry Single payer health care taxes are gone – for now – but there’s another hot idea in Montpelier for a new tax – the carbon tax. It’s being promoted by “Energy Independent Vermont”, a coalition led by the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG), the Vermont Natural Resources Council, and the Conservation Law Foundation.

Why, you might ask, do already overtaxed Vermonters need a new tax on natural gas, heating oil, propane, gasoline and diesel fuel? The coalition spokespersons are unanimous on this. We must defeat “climate pollution – the biggest environmental challenge of our generation”! They profess to believe – and some may actually believe – that human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide are giving us “super storms and extreme weather events.”