Current News
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Vermont Business Magazine OneCare Vermont is Vermont’s local, 501(c)(3) accountable care organization (ACO) that partners with health care providers to transform the state’s healthcare system. OneCare maintains a governance board that includes managers from throughout the state that represent the full continuum of care and consumers. The board recently endorsed and approved changes to the membership roster in alignment with the recent governance change announcement. John Brumsted, MD will step down as chair of OneCare board of managers in January 2022.
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by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health is reporting 517 COVID-19 cases, which was up from Wednesday's 245. The daily record was 591 cases reported last Thursday. The 16 worst days have all come since mid-September, following from the Delta variant surge that began in July. Reported cases have tended to ramp up later in the week as people get tested and results come back.
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Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) received confirmation from the National Veterinary Services Laboratory last week that a cow in Pittsford is infected with epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD). The Vermont State Veterinarian collected samples from the cow as part of a Foreign Animal Disease investigation that was initiated upon notification by the accredited herd veterinarian of concerning clinical signs in the sick cow. This case constitutes the first confirmed positive EHD infection in a cow in Vermont. Earlier this week, the Agency received a report from an accredited veterinarian that a second cow in a separate herd in Pittsford has also tested positive for EHD.
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Public Assets Institute Right now, Vermont municipalities have an opportunity to make investments that will move their communities forward with federal pandemic relief funds. You may be asking: How is my community using these funds? How can I participate in the process? The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocated over $200 million to Vermont cities, towns, and villages. This is nearly 40 percent of the amount collected in local taxes in 2020.
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Vermont Business Magazine Recognizing that high and rising costs of prescription drugs present barriers to care and difficult choices for too many people in Vermont and Northern New York, The University of Vermont Health Network has launched a program to provide low- and middle-income patients with prescription medications at no cost.
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Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan today announced he is leading a nationwide investigation along with seven attorneys general into Meta Platforms, Inc, formerly known as Facebook, for providing and promoting its social media platform – Instagram – to children and young adults despite knowing that such use is associated with physical and mental health harms. The bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from across the country is examining whether the company violated state consumer protection laws and put the public at risk.
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Vermont Business Magazine Yesterday, the Attorney General’s Office filed a motion with the Criminal Division of the Bennington County Superior Court requesting that the Court revoke Max Misch’s right to bail. In its motion, the Attorney General’s Office requests that bail be revoked based on the totality of Mr. Misch’s conduct across numerous pending cases, which the State believes “constitutes an aggregate threat to the integrity of the judicial system.”
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Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Justice today announced more than $139 million in grant funding through the department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) COPS Hiring Program (CHP). The awards provide direct funding to 183 law enforcement agencies across the nation, allowing those agencies to hire 1,066 additional full-time law enforcement professionals. In the District of Vermont, two awards were granted totaling $248,257.00.
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Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s smallest citizens will provide insight into brain development during the first few years of life and help determine what factors influence a young person’s life trajectory. Researchers at the University of Vermont recently received a $5.5 million, five-year grant to participate in the Phase II portion of the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study, an initiative focused on gathering data on brain development from birth through early childhood. UVM is one of only a handful of universities to have received both awards.
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by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims were down from last week and remain at a higher level than last summer. The summer claims were similar to a pre-pandemic summer, with typically low claims about or below 300 a week. The holiday season usually results in wild swings in claims as retailers hire and fire workers to meet the ebb and flow of customers. Those swings have not been witnessed yet.
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Vermont Business Magazine Howard Center is pleased to announce it will expand its outpatient medication-assisted substance use treatment services to patients served by the regional provider Phoenix House of New England. The organization is discontinuing its service footprint in Northwest Vermont. With the help of the 12 clinical and program staff who will be joining Howard Center from Phoenix House, the organizations are working collaboratively to put in place a coordinated transition process to ensure continuity of care for patients currently receiving medication-assisted treatment and telehealth services. With this change, Howard Center will be serving an additional 450 patients.
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Vermont Business Magazine Green Lantern Solar, based in Waterbury, has received approvals for three net-metering projects in Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) territory, bringing the total number of Green Lantern projects in Vermont to more than 100, located in nearly 70 towns across Vermont. One of these 500 kW(AC) projects is located in Bloomfield on a gravel pit.