Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud and Residential Abuse Unit (MFRAU) today announced a settlement with Health Care & Rehabilitation Services of Southeastern Vermont (HCRS) of Springfield resolving allegations that HCRS violated the Vermont False Claims Act. The settlement, reached in collaboration with the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont, resolves claims that HCRS improperly submitted Medicaid claims for services provided by an employee who was on the Office of the Inspector General, US Department of Health and Human Services (OIG-HHS) exclusion list and barred from receiving payments from federally funded health care programs. HCRS has agreed to pay to the State of Vermont and the United States a total of $170,037.76, of which Vermont Medicaid will receive $101,254.61 in program restitution.

Vermont Business Magazine Central Vermont Council on Aging has appointed John Mandeville of East Hardwick as its new executive director. An experienced senior-level leader, John has served for the last eleven years as Executive Director of the Lamoille Economic Development Corp in Morrisville, one of 12 Regional Development Corporations in the state. Mandeville will succeed outgoing Executive Director Beth Stern who resigned from CVCOA in October 2020, as well as Jeanne Kern and Davoren Carr who have served as Interim Co-Executive Directors since November of 2020.

Vermont Business Magazine Juniper House, Burlington’s newest affordable, service-enriched housing community for adults 55 and older, is now fully open on Cambrian Way off North Avenue in Burlington. To guard against COVID, move-ins have been staggered and carefully choreographed since mid-March. Today all but four of the 70 households have moved in; among them are nine residents who previously did not have a home.

Vermont Business Magazine At its meeting Monday night, the Burlington City Council approved the Mayor’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget unanimously by an 11-0 vote. The $87.5 million budget goes into effect July 1. Mayor Miro Weinberger said it continues the administration’s track record of responsibly stewarding the city’s finances while making new investments in equity, climate, and the economy. It also includes a municipal tax rate of $0.67, which is about 4 percent higher than the current year, but a lower rate than initially proposed because of a recent increase in property values. The goal was to return spending to pre-pandemic levels.

UVM Police has received multiple reports of burglary on the UVM Campus that occurred over the weekend of 6/26- 6/27/2021. Offices in Coolidge Hall and the Patrick Gymnasium were burglarized during this period. Taken from the athletic complex were several digital movie cameras used for broadcasting UVM athletic events, and other miscellaneous camera equipment.

by John McClaughry Two weeks ago I wrote a column on “The Vermont Proposition”, a product of 22 “rural summits” organized by the largely Federally-funded Vermont Council on Rural Development. While paying my respects to its authors – “well written, earnest, sometimes cogent, and in places inspiring” - I expressed considerable skepticism about such “vision statements”.

Many of the desired outcomes developed in the 26-page document are certainly worthwhile. Uniting to put an end to what racism may still exist is unarguable. Expanding economic opportunity, developing human capital, fostering innovation, creating jobs and creating a tax structure that encourages people to invest in Vermont are worthy goals, so long as the Vision stops short of using government to underwrite crony capitalism for favored people and businesses.

Having said that, the Vermont Proposition is open to considerable criticism.

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Health Care’s (SVHC) Medical Matters Weekly with Dr. Trey Dobson, a weekly interactive, multi-platform medical-themed talk show, will feature Nicholas Weinberg, MD, an emergency physician at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and a member of the organization’s Wilderness and Austere Medicine Fellowship faculty, on its June 30 program. The show will air live at noon.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced that he has appointed Don Rendall as the interim chair of the Natural Resources Board (NRB). The appointment comes following the resignation of Diane Snelling as chair, which is effective July 2. Rendall will serve as interim chair until a permanent replacement is identified. Governor Scott has asked Rendall to ensure that there is a stable transition, assess current operations and systems, and to recommend improvements and other considerations for a permanent replacement.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington Electric Department (BED) expects to issue a peak alert for tomorrow/Tuesday, June 29 as part of its Defeat the Peak program launched during summer 2017, encouraging members of the Burlington community to reduce their energy usage tomorrow from 4-7 pm BED tomorrow may issue a peak alert for Wednesday as well.

The Vermont State Police is investigating the accidental death of a painter working at home in Underhill on Monday, June 28, 2021. The incident was reported shortly after 9 am when emergency responders received a call that the victim had fallen about 30 feet from a ladder near the top of a three-story home.. First responders from the fire department notified the Vermont State Police of the incident at about 10 am. Subsequent investigation determined that the victim, Carlton Bernard Jones, 58, of Burlington, was part of a small work crew hired to paint the home and lost his footing on the ladder.

Vermont Business Magazine When Scott Fleishman joined Gifford Health Care in Randolph this month as a communications specialist, he brought with him several major accomplishments from 20 years in the broadcasting industry. However, last weekend Fleishman achieved a first-time honor that rivals his other achievements. He won a New England Emmy for Human Interest reporting. Fleishman spent 11 years as a sports and news reporter at WCAX-TV in Burlington before leaving in mid-June.

Vermont Business Magazine Today the Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) released a report examining the ongoing impact that climate change is having on Vermonters and the insurance companies that provide them coverage. The report was completed in conjunction with, and based on original research conducted by, Northview Weather, LLC, a Vermont weather modeling and forecasting firm with expertise in extreme weather events.