Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan announced that Michael Powers, 27, of Bennington, Vermont, was arraigned today on two felony counts of Promotion of Child Sexual Abuse Materials, seven misdemeanor counts and one felony count of Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Materials, and one count of Resisting Arrest. The investigation was initiated when the VT-ICAC Task Force received CyberTipline Reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an individual was distributing what was suspected to be images of child sexual abuse materials, commonly referred to as “child pornography,” on the Instagram social media platform.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced a series of new pop-up walk-in vaccination clinics available across Vermont this week. Vermont leads the nation in COVID-19 vaccination rates with 82.8 percent of the eligible population already having received at least one dose of vaccine. The Vermont Department of Health is also reporting eight new cases of COVID-19 today and no deaths, which are holding at 258.

Vermont Business Magazine Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and a group of bipartisan Energy and Commerce members - Rep. John Curtis (R-UT), Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), Rep. Michael C Burgess (R-TX) - sent a letter Monday to Secretary Xavier Becerra urging the Department of Health and Human Services to work with Congress to develop a comprehensive telehealth strategy for Medicare beneficiaries to continue accessing critical virtual care services following the expiration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE).

Vermont Business Magazine Consolidated Communications (NASDAQ: CNSL), a top 10 fiber provider, is delivering symmetrical, gigabit, fiber internet to more than 30,000 residents and businesses in Barre, Bellows Falls, Brattleboro, Fair Haven, Rutland, West Rutland, Pittsfield, Montpelier and Proctor, Vermont, by end of September.

Vermont Business Magazine Colchester-based Vernal Biosciences, Inc a manufacturer of high purity mRNA for research and clinical use, today announced the closing of a seed round of financing. Alloy Therapeutics led the round and was joined by the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies and individual angel investors. The proceeds of the financing will be used to scale Vernal’s technical development and commercial operations in Vermont. The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are mRNA vaccines.

Vermont Business Magazine Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) Monday introduced a comprehensive emergency security supplemental to address the urgent security needs facing the Capitol and the country. The $3.7 billion bill would address the violent insurrection that took place on January 6, provide funding for costs incurred on the Capitol complex and the Department of Defense related to the COVID pandemic, and provide the resources to support our Afghan partners as the United States’ mission winds down.

Vermont Business Magazine Conversations between seriously ill people, their families and palliative care specialists lead to better quality-of-life. Understanding what happens during these conversations - and particularly how they vary by cultural, clinical, and situational contexts - is essential to guide healthcare communication improvement efforts. To gain true understanding, new methods to study conversations in large, inclusive, and multi-site epidemiological studies are required. A new computer model offers an automated and valid tool for such large-scale scientific analyses.

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Council on Aging will be hosting its popular “Powerful Tools for Caregivers” course virtually this summer with a six-week class kicking off on July 23. The course, which is free and offered to caregivers who are caring for family members, friends and neighbors, among others, is designed to give participants the tools to be a highly effective caregiver while also ensuring that they are taking care of themselves as well.

Vermont Business Magazine Camp Ta-Kum-Ta is thrilled to announce that Dr Alan Homans from the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital has accepted the volunteer role of Medical Director for Camp Ta-Kum-Ta effective July 1, 2021. As the previous director of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at UVM Medical, Dr Homans is well versed in the often-complex needs of our campers and their families.

Vermont Business Magazine In celebration of summer and the warmer weather, the White River Junction US Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Healthcare System announces the return of the Blessing of the Bikes event which will be held on Sunday, July 25, 2021 this year. The event will start at 11 am in the front parking lot of the White River Junction VA campus on Veterans Drive, where Chaplain Lorna Graham will bless all the motorcycles and their riders.

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Health Care’s (SVHC) Medical Matters Weekly with Dr. Trey Dobson—a weekly interactive, multiplatform medical-themed talk show—will feature Dr Lisa Downing-Forget, a physician at SVMC Internal Medicine, and Rebecca Filson, FNP, a hospital medicine provider, on its July 14 program. The show will air live at noon. Both guests are involved in diversity and inclusion programs at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC).

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) has announced the graduation of two residents from its 3-year Podiatry Residency Program. At a gathering of health system leadership and faculty on Tuesday, June 29, Breton Fox, DPM, was awarded a certificate of completion. Shazad Buksh, DPM, also graduated but was unable to attend the event.