Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) today announced the Vermont COVID-19 Agriculture Assistance Program for dairy producers and processors who have experienced income loss, additional expenses and market disruption as a result of the pandemic. The application will open on Friday, July 17 with an available $25 million in federal Coronavirus Relief Funds for qualified applicants.

Vermont Business Magazine Karen and Brian Wiseman carefully cultivated their careers. Both spent years at Boston-area bio-tech and pharmaceutical companies, dedicated to the advance of health, wellness and medicine. “I was a chemical engineer, working on the early development of protease inhibitors, now used to treat HIV,” Karen recalls.

Vermont Business Magazine The transportation sector accounts for 44 percent of Vermont’s total greenhouse gas emissions, and medium- and heavy-duty vehicles make up 14 percent of the on-road sector total. Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles include large pickup trucks and vans, delivery trucks, box trucks, long-haul delivery trucks and school and transit buses. Nationally, truck emissions are the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases and truck travel is expected to increase significantly in coming decades.

Vermont Business Magazine The SBA Vermont District Office hosts a free daily webinar from 9 to 10 a.m. Monday to Friday to discuss Paycheck Protection Program forgiveness and other changes. The SBA Vermont District Office also hosts a free webinar from 9 to 10 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays to discuss the Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Advance, and any pertinent updates.

by John McClaughry Six weeks from now the Global Warming Solutions Act will likely be on Gov. Scott’s desk. There are five compelling reasons for him to veto it. The bill declares that to deal with a “climate emergency” Vermont must observe the carbon dioxide emissions limits prescribed by the UN’s Paris Agreement of 2016. In particular, Vermonters must somehow be made to cut their yearly CO2 emissions from the present about 9 million metric tons of CO2, down to 7.5 MMt (-16%) by 2025, and down to 1.73 MMt (-80%) by 2050.

Vermont Business Magazine The Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) Foundation has announced that world-renowned vocalist Maxine Linehan will debut an original song, entitled “Stronger Together,” by the singer and her husband, songwriter, and producer Andrew Koss, at the Spirit of the Summer Gala, a virtual charity event, scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, July 17. The song is inspired by Southwestern Vermont Health Care’s clinical teams and all responders to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is a tremendous gift from these two exceptionally talented musicians,” said Leslie Keefe, vice president for Corporate Development at SVHC. “So much about this year’s event is different than those in years past. Especially, with this addition to the program, we anticipate that this event will be as engaging as ever.”

Vermont Business Magazine Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital is once again partnering with the Vermont Youth Conservation Corp to offer Health Care Shares. Health Care Shares is a farm-to-hospital public health program that connects Vermonters with fresh healthy local food. Participants receive a large bag of locally grown produce each week for twelve weeks. The participants in the program were referred by their healthcare provider, by the NVRH Community Connections staff, or recruited by hospital staff. Thirty families are participating this year, up from twenty last year.

VA Video Connect visits increase over 1,800% regionwide during COVID-19 pandemic

Vermont Business Magazine The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently announced that video telehealth appointments to Veterans’ homes increased over 1000%, as Veterans increasingly chose virtual care through VA Video Connect during the COVID-19 pandemic. The VA White River Junction Healthcare System in White River Junction is up 1,591 percent (4,563 visits).

In New England, VA medical centers and sites of care have conducted 87,296 VA Video Connect appointments between February and July 1. Because VA New England already had a robust telehealth infrastructure in place, the health care system was able to ramp up its telehealth capabilities to meet increased demand.

Vermont Business Magazine To continue meeting patient needs for essential sexual and reproductive health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) will begin offering at-home sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing for gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis next week. This new service comes as public health experts warn that STI rates appear to be on the rise during COVID-19 pandemic as health centers are seeing a decline in in-person visits and STI contact tracers are being diverted to COVID-19 contact tracing.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced actions on 10 bills passed by the Legislature. Bills with a corresponding message to the Legislature on racial justince and workers compensation for emergency workers responding to COVID-19 are included.

• Establishing a well-structured, collaborative senior leadership team
• Championing the transition to a more diverse Board of Directors

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health is reporting six new cases today of COVID-19 and 24 since Friday for a statewide total of 1,301. There have not been any deaths in nearly four weeks, which are holding at 56. A commentary published by two University of Vermont pediatric infectious disease specialists in the journal Pediatrics, the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, concludes that children infrequently transmit COVID-19 to each other or to adults and that many schools can and should reopen in the fall — provided they follow appropriate social distancing guidelines and take into account rates of transmission in their communities.