Current News

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 158 cases of COVID-19 for Monday. Cases have been under 300 since last Friday. The VDH today also reported one additional death, with it being in the 80+ age group. While cases and hospitalizations have been falling, the fatality rate has remained relatively high and still about two a day on average.

Vermont Business Magazine Mayor Miro Weinberger announced today that Tyeastia Green, Burlington’s first Director of Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (REIB) is moving on from her position to pursue other opportunities. In Green’s two years with the City, she led work on many significant achievements, including: Building the REIB department which currently consists of 15 full-time employees; Establishing the Reparations Task Force; Deploying pandemic and recovery grant funding to BIPOC small businesses and non-profits.

​Vermont Business Magazine At Governor Phil Scott’s weekly press conference, state officials today announced that the universal mask recommendation for Vermont schools will not be extended past February 28, 2022. The announcement, which officials called a first step towards eventually fully removing school mask recommendations, means that after February 28, school districts and independent schools may consider lifting mask requirements for schools where the student vaccination rate is over 80%. The governor acknowledged that as of today, fewer than half the schools would meet that standard.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos, 71, announced that he will not seek re-election. Secretary Condos has been a leader in Vermont politics since 1989, when he was first elected to the South Burlington City Council. Condos, a lifelong Vermonter, has been Vermont’s Secretary of State since 2011. In addition to his leadership in Vermont, Secretary Condos has also gained recognition on the national level, most recently serving as the President of the National Association of Secretaries of State and working to make Vermont one of the most voter-friendly states in the country through the promotion and passage of key legislation that expands voters access.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Medical Center announced today that it has reopened two operating rooms at its location on the Fanny Allen campus in Colchester, as well as a main campus operating room. The move follows the reopening of the campus’s inpatient rehabilitation unit in January and is an important step in the UVM Health Network’s Access Action plan, which aims to reduce delays in patient access to outpatient, inpatient and specialty care.

Vermont Business Magazine In recent years total neoadjuvant treatment (TNT)—a potent new treatment approach for advanced colorectal cancer that confronts tumors with aggressive rounds of chemotherapy and chemoradiation followed by surgery to remove the cancerous tissue—has emerged as the standard of care. TNT’s strength is that, compared with traditional treatment regimens for the disease that sequence the majority of chemotherapy after surgery, it significantly lessens the chances that cancer will later return and metastasize, though research has yet to show it extends life.

Vermont Research News A recent study found climate change induced increases in flooding around Vermont could cost more than $5.29 billion -- a 148% increase over the base case. Low-income families who reside in areas at risks for flooding, including mobile homes owners are the most at risk, researchers found. However, the state can take steps to reduce the impacts, such as floodplain restoration which can reduce costs by an estimated 20 percent. Also: Pandemic fuels health declines; Vermont scores low in hospital staffing; Vermont initiates first school PCB tests; Few Black skiers; Dating in Vermont; The price of safety.

Change The Story After a successful 7 years, the Change The Story initiative is coming to a close. Change The Story was always envisioned as a time-limited initiative - one that would sunset after a certain number of years and accomplishments. We'll be proud to wrap up our work on March 31.

Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) customers can easily communicate with customer service representatives in any language, thanks to a new translation service that makes interpreters available whenever customers call to talk with a customer service representative. This ensures easy, welcoming communication for all customers looking to set up electric service, track energy use and manage their GMP residential and business accounts.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermonters and visitors to the state alike have a new way to charge up when they drive their electric vehicles. SunCommon announces the installation of the fastest solar-powered, EV chargers in the state at a new charging station located in South Burlington. Previously, the EV charging station that SunCommon installed at Mad River Taste Place in Waitsfield in 2020 held the distinction as the fastest in Vermont. The new charging station, which includes two DC (or direct current) fast chargers provided by ChargePoint, sits just off Exit 14E of Interstate 89, at the corner or Dorset Street in the common parking lot shared by CVS, Homewood Suites, Peoples United Bank, and is next to the University Mall.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, VSECU announced the five non-profits to receive funding through its annual member-directed giving program, We Care 2. The VSECU Giving Committee selected this year’s five We Care 2 finalists: COVER Home Repair, Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT), Pathways Vermont, Prevent Child Abuse Vermont (PCA), and the Vermont Recovery Network (which recently started doing business as Recovery Partners of Vermont).

Vermont Business Magazine The nonprofit affordable-housing provider Cathedral Square has received a $1,750 gift from Titus Insurance Agency and Co-operative Insurance Companies as part of the Co-op’s 2022 Community Grants program. The grant will be used to enhance and maintain the therapeutic gardens at Memory Care at Allen Brook in Williston, a Cathedral Square residential community in Williston for Vermonters with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. The gardens include a closed-loop walking path and a gazebo and are specially designed to promote calm and tranquility.