Current News

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.

Senator Patrick Leahy Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee will undertake one of its most consequential duties: to consider and vote whether to advance a nominee to the United States Supreme Court. Before us is a nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who embodies the highest ideals of our judiciary and the legal profession. During the confirmation proceedings, she put on a master class about what it means to be an independent, fair-minded Justice. Her grace, intellect, temperament and wit are exactly what Americans want — and deserve — on our nation’s highest court. I will proudly and confidently vote aye to advance her historic nomination to the Senate Floor.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) last Thursday joined Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), along with Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) in sending a letter to President Biden urging the administration to act now to extend the pause on federally-held student loan payments until at least the end of the year and to cancel student debt. If the pause on student loan payments is not extended, borrowers will have to begin repaying their student loans on May 1.

Vermont Business Magazine M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE: MTB) announced Saturday the successful completion of M&T's acquisition of People's United Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: PBCT) valued at $8.3 billion. The combined company employs more than 22,000 people and has a network of over 1,000 branches and 2,200 ATMs that span 12 states from Maine to Virginia and Washington, DC. People's has branches across Vermont and is the former Chittenden Bank. People's United common stock no longer trades on the NASDAQ after Friday, April 1, 2022.

Vermont State Police Troopers from the Royalton Barracks responded on Saturday to Suicide Six ski area in Pomfret for a snowmobile crash. During a snowmobile race event at Suicide Six one of the riders was traveling down the mountain when they left the course area and crashed into a tree. The operator sustained fatal injuries. Vermont State Police were assisted by Woodstock Rescue, Pomfret Fire, and DHART on scene. Following notification of next of kin, the Vermont State Police is identifying the victim in this incident as James C. Darrow Jr (56), of Monreau, New York.