Current News

Vermont Business Magazine As a retired nurse practitioner, current state representative for Windham-3, and member of the health committee, Leslie Goldman has a unique perspective on health care. Medical Matters Weekly with Dr. Trey Dobson is pleased to welcome her on the show at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6. The show is produced by Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) with cooperation from Catamount Access Television (CAT-TV).

Vermont Business Magazine During the 2021 holiday season, Community Bank N.A. challenged the public to help low-income Vermont families heat their homes in conjunction with Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity’s (CVOEO) WARMTH program. The bank generously pledged to give $17,500 to WARMTH if the communities in which CVOEO operate could raise $30,000 via online contributions between November 16 and December 31. Thanks to Community Bank’s partnership, online donations to CVOEO for WARMTH exceeded $34,000 between November 16 and December 31, which is an increase over last year’s online donations during the same timeframe. Impressively, statewide donations to the WARMTH program equaled $746,269 for the entire year.

Vermont Business Magazine With the addition of Dr. Coombs to our team, Affectionately Cats in Williston is now proud to offer acupuncture for our feline friends. There are several benefits to acupuncture for cats. It is used for the treatment of chronic and acute painful syndromes as well as osteoarthritis, tendinitis, spinal injury, disk disease and more. It directly releases muscle tension and stimulates endorphin release throughout the process providing relaxation to patient while increasing blood flow and regeneration of tissue in damaged areas.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 43 cases of COVID-19 for Sunday (141 Saturday, 168 Friday, 158 Thursday, 171 Wednesday, 200 Tuesday, and 87 last Monday.) The VDH reported two additional deaths Sunday for 619 statewide. Both fatalities were in the 80+ age range. VDH has also reported that March (15) had the fewest COVID-related deaths since last July (2).

by Devon Green, VP of Government Relations, VAHHS The Senate passed S.204, licensure of freestanding birth centers. Senator Hardy noted that, like many births, it was a long and painful process. The point of contention was whether birth units should be required to go through a Certificate of Need process. As passed, the bill includes freestanding birth centers in the Certificate of Need process, but directs the Green Mountain Care Board to conduct a needs assessment and make recommendations by April 1, 2023.

​Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Professionals of Color Network (VT PoC) announced today the launch of their new survey to assess the needs of small businesses owned by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in Vermont. As part of a national initiative introduced by President Biden and Vice President Harris, Vermont Professionals of Color Network and the Main Street Alliance are thrilled to partner with Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC) as they begin to engage in the Small Business Administration’s Community Navigator Pilot Program.

​Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott has appointed Hazel Brewster of Stowe to serve on the Vermont Commission on Women (VCW), the state’s non-partisan commission working to advance rights and opportunities for women and girls. Born and raised in Morrisville, Brewster is a 2019 graduate of the University of Vermont and has since earned a master’s degree in public policy and global affairs from the University of British Columbia. During her undergraduate career, she also studied at the University of Edinburgh, where she worked with Members of Scottish Parliament and researched the outmigration of women in rural Scotland.

Vermont State Police The investigation into the death of an inmate at the Northeast Regional Correctional Facility in St. Johnsbury is continuing Monday, April 4, 2022. The inmate is identified as Dustin Dunkling, 29, of St. Albans. He was booked on March 24 for a violation of probation on a charge of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child. Preliminary investigation indicates the victim was alone in his cell and died by suicide. An autopsy is pending at the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington to confirm the cause and manner of death.

Vermont Business Magazine On Saturday night, UVM Medical Center’s main campus operating rooms experienced flooding when a water pipe burst. The hospital said many staff who worked throughout the night and on Sunday to protect equipment in their 22 operating rooms and set the stage for repairs. Two operating rooms functioned throughout the day Sunday, which provided the ability to handle emergencies. Central Vermont Medical Center (Berlin) and Porter Medical Center (Middlebury), which are partner hospitals, are also providing support as appropriate. Staff has cleared eight additional ORs to reopen, bringing the total number of operating rooms in service at the main campus in Burlington back to 10.

Vermont Research News The current legislative debate about using dogs to hunt coyotes illustrates the differing core values that individuals bring to wildlife protection, researchers believe. A survey of Vermonter’s wildlife values, finds 25% fall into the traditionalist camp, 34% mutualist; 29% pluralist and 12% distanced. Read the report and the definitions here. And listen to a recent conversation on VPR to hear state wildlife biologists discuss these values and their relationship to the conversation about hunting coyotes.

by Elizabeth Bridgewater, Executive Director of Windham & Windsor Housing Trust; Connie Snow, interim Executive Director of Downstreet Housing & Community Development; and Michael Monte, CEO of Champlain Housing Trust A tremendous amount of attention is being paid to Vermont’s housing challenges, which many call a crisis. We don’t disagree. Thankfully, our elected officials are prioritizing housing and have invested significantly in the past two years to address the inequities in access to housing and shelter, and more is being discussed in the committee rooms at the State House.

Vermont Business Magazine Employees of Centerpoint School/Northeast Family Institute Vermont in Winooski are seeking to unionize for better pay and working conditions so they can be better equipped to serve Vermont’s highest-need students, according to a filing late Friday with the National Labor Relations Board. The filing came after 90 percent of the school’s workforce signaled a desire to unionize, and after the school’s educators had asked Centerpoint School/Northeast Family Institute Vermont to voluntarily recognize their union, the Centerpoint Education Association, according to the Vermont NEA.