Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Children experiencing an acute mental health crisis will have faster access to initial treatment thanks to a pilot project pairing emergency room doctors at Rutland Regional Medical Center with psychiatric specialists at the Brattleboro Retreat. Called the Vermont Emergency Telepsychiatry Network, the project is funded and managed by The Vermont Program for Quality in Health Care and is expected to be fully operational early next year. The Vermont Program for Quality in Health Care, Inc (VPQHC) received a $901,123 Congressionally Directed Spending grant from Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to support the coordination of a state-wide Vermont Emergency Telepsychiatry Network (VETN).

Senator Patrick Leahy Mr President, there are some things we experience in life that we can never prepare for...no matter how hard we try. Embarking on a life with the person you love is one. Having, raising and loving a child is another. And then there’s this one. I have been here 48 years. Perhaps to the dismay of hundreds of presiding officers, I have delivered many floor statements...some more eloquent than others. But I have never delivered a speech like this. And I so appreciate all of you indulging me.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the retirement of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks: It’s never easy to bid farewell to a retiring colleague. But boy, this one’s hard. It’s even harder to bid farewell to a friend—and everyone is Pat’s friend. Today, we say thank you not just to a colleague—and it’s not just to a dear friend—but to an institution all his own.

Governor Phil Scott will join Jewish community leaders today for the annual State House Menorah lighting ceremony on the third night of Chanukah. Following the ceremony, there will be additional activities and light refreshments inside the State House. The public event will be held Tuesday, December 20, 2022, at 5 pm.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Corrections (DOC) announced today that it will immediately move to digitize its grievance system and create an independent investigative unit following recommendations from a new report by the State Auditor’s Office. Vermont will be among the first states to deploy a digital, tablet-based grievance system statewide. The new software will move the current paper-based system—which involves collecting carbon copy forms and mailing them to a central office—directly onto the tablets all incarcerated individuals in Vermont already use for education, communicating with family, and entertainment. DOC is designing a larger technological modernization later next year but is expediting the plan for the new grievance system for early 2023.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Medical Society Education & Research Foundation (VMSERF) has announced the 2023 cohort of the Physician Executive Leadership Institute (PELI) Foundational Course, which commences remotely this January. The VMSERF leadership course is offered in partnership with the Daniel Hanley Center for Health Leadership and Lumunos Clinician Well-Being Services with funding from the Physicians Foundation. Perhaps more than ever before, physicians are being asked to step up and skillfully lead rapid change to ensure the best outcomes for Vermont patients.

Vermont Business Magazine Those heading out on the road for the holidays will receive the gift they’ve been waiting for all year: lower gas prices. Holiday prices this year will be $1.83 per gallon lower than they were just six months ago, according to GasBuddy. The national average price of gas is forecast to be $2.98 on Christmas Day, likely to drop below the critical $3 per gallon mark on or before Christmas Eve for the first time in nearly 600 days. In Vermont, today's average price is $3.42 per gallon, down 8 cents from last week, down 49 cents from last month, but still 6 cents higher than a year ago. However, the lowest price in Vermont is $2.99/g in West Dover. The highest price is $3.89 in Killington.

Vermont Business Magazine Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont announced today that they will forego a contract with OneCare Vermont (OCV) for the 2023 plan year. Despite having collaborated with OCV every year since its inception, Blue Cross is unable to reach an agreement this year due to the lack of tangible quality outcomes, inability to bend the cost curve, and the new data approach that introduces concerns about security and privacy. For nearly a decade the local non-profit health plan has led in the development of the commercial health insurance component of the Vermont All Payer Model (APM). As the first APM model is revised, improvements must be incorporated to better serve a diverse commercial population. Meanwhile, Governor Scott said he believed an agreement could still be negotiated.

Vermont Business Magazine The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that last Thursday, Serhat Gumrukcu, 39, of Los Angeles, California, and Berk Eratay, 36, of Las Vegas, Nevada, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a murder-for-hire conspiracy and the January 6, 2018 kidnapping and death of Gregory Davis, a resident of Danville, Vermont. The wire fraud charge was added to existing murder for hire conspiracy charges against Gumrukcu and Eratay and Jerry Banks, 35, of Fort Garland, Colorado, and kidnapping charges against Banks. The defendants’ arraignment on the second superseding indictment is scheduled for December 29, 2022.

Vermont Business Magazine Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Monday released the $1.7 trillion fiscal year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations bill. The omnibus includes $772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary programs, including $118.7 billion – a 22 percent increase – for VA medical care, and $858 billion in defense funding. To combat the pain of inflation felt by American families across the country, the bill makes significant investments in our communities, funds critical programs supporting America’s middle-class families, cares for our veterans, and invests in our national security. The bill includes $44.9 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and our NATO allies and $40.6 billion to assist communities across the country recovering from drought, hurricanes, flooding, wildfire, natural disasters and other matters.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt., President Pro Tem of the Senate, and chair of the Appropriations Committee) will deliver his farewell address on the Senate Floor TODAY (Tuesday, December 20) at about 11:15 am LIVE on C-SPAN 2.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) is joining with Vermont’s Congressional Delegation to call on the FCC to push back its deadline for challenges to its map and release the $100 million state minimum immediately.