Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that on March 22, 2022, Eike Blohm, 39, of South Burlington, Vermont, was sentenced in United States District Court in Burlington, Vermont, to serve 100 months of imprisonment following his guilty plea to one count of possession of child pornography. Blohm’s federal sentence of 100 months will run concurrently with the 80-to-82-month sentence of imprisonment Blohm received in Vermont state court as a result of his guilty pleas to lewd and lascivious conduct and voyeurism.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 77 cases of COVID-19 for Monday, down from 84 Sunday (120 on Saturday, 142 on Friday). There were two additional deaths, which stand at 613 statewide. Both deaths were in people over 60. There have been six fatalities since March 5. The 7-day case average increased 14% over the last 7 days and was flat over the last 14 days. Cases down 92% since the Omicron peak. In response to an overall decline in cases since February, and with the highest vaccination and booster rates in the nation, the state will discontinue their vaccination and testing clinics in mid-April.

by John McClaughry For the past decade the most popular idea for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to fight the Menace of Climate Change has been subsidizing the purchase of electric vehicles so that even low income and disadvantaged people can get one. Vermont has gone even further, signing on the dictates of the California Air Resources Board that will make it impossible for dealers to buy or sell an internal combustion car or light truck by 2035. From a political standpoint, the most attractive feature of boosting EVs, like the Clean Heat Standard advanced by the House last week (H.715), is that neither involves a visible carbon tax. The EV relies on government subsidies.

Vermont Business Magazine Union Mutual was proudly represented by nearly four dozen employees, independent agency partners, and family members at the Burlington Waterfront for the Penguin Plunge to benefit Special Olympics Vermont on Saturday, March 12, 2022. The Union Mutual Popsicles were the event’s leading fundraiser for the fourth year in a row, with a grand total of over $85,000. The event raised over $500,000 in total. The team fundraising all-time record was set by Union Mutual in 2020. Since 2016, Union Mutual has raised nearly $370,000 for Special Olympics Vermont through participating in the Penguin Plunge.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) Tuesday sent a letter to incoming Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz ahead of his announced return to the company, highlighting some of the egregious anti-union efforts the company has undertaken to fight employees who are building a movement to unionize Starbucks locations around the country. “If Starbucks can afford to spend $20 billion on stock buybacks and dividends and provide a $20 million compensation package to its CEO, it can afford a unionized workforce."

Vermont Business Magazine A new report finds that the $66.4 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants awarded in Vermont last year supported 1,026 jobs and $146 million in economic activity. The University of Vermont received the lion share of the grants, worth about $60 million in 2021. According to a report released Monday by United for Medical Research (UMR), research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supported 552,444 jobs and generated $94.18 billion in economic activity last year – or $2.60 of economic activity for every $1 of research funding.

Vermont Business Magazine At its March 21 meeting, the Burlington City Council passed a plan to build "pod" shelters for homeless people and a plan to add bike lanes to North Winooski Avenue, which had received some push back from residents and business owners. But the Council failed to override Mayor Miro Weinberger's veto of an ordinance that would add stricter requirements to short term rentals, such as Airbnb.

Vermont Business Magazine Gifford is contributing to the humanitarian effort in war-torn Ukraine by donating medical supplies such as band-aids, IV bags, gauze, rubber gloves, gowns and catheter IVs. The effort started after Ryan Langlois, an associate division manager at Applied Research Associates in Randolph, reached out to neighboring Gifford. Applied Research Associates is a globally recognized scientific research and engineering company with more than 1,500 employee-owners nationwide. In partnership with international logistics provider Meest, Applied Research Associates, is sending humanitarian supplies to Ukraine.

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Health Care’s (SVHC) Medical Matters Weekly with Dr. Trey Dobson is pleased to welcome Tracy Dolan, the director of Vermont’s Refugee Office, at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23.

The show is produced with cooperation from Catamount Access Television (CAT-TV). Viewers can see Medical Matters Weekly on facebook.com/svmedicalcenter and facebook.com/CATTVBennington. The show is also available to view or download a podcast on www.svhealthcare.org/medicalmatters.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports, a nationally recognized nonprofit organization that provides sports and recreational programs state-wide, year-round to people with disabilities, was recently awarded a $30,000 grant from The Hartford for new adaptive sports equipment. The grant enabled Vermont Adaptive, a member of the Move United Network, to purchase four sit skis; two Monique Mono Skis and two Dynamique Bi Skis. Each ski costs more than $5,500, plus other costs for outriggers and custom-fit accessories.

Vermont Business Magazine Sixteen-year-old Marcy Dukette made her way from Northfield School to her health occupations coop as a nurse’s aide, walking between her classes and Mayo’s residential care community. The year was 1974 and, as the world watched the unfolding Watergate scandal, Dukette embarked on a 48-year career with Mayo Healthcare. “I’ve always called Mayo my second family because I’ve been there since high school,” she noted. Marcy Dukette will retire on March 25.

Vermont Business Magazine The Case Management team at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC), was the recipient of the DAISY Team Award for Extraordinary Nurses in February. The department was nominated by a colleague who recognized the group’s extraordinary efforts to satisfy the complex needs of their patients.