Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Opioid company Purdue Pharma LP pleaded guilty today in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, to conspiracies to defraud the United States and to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute. Purdue pleaded guilty to an Information charging it with three felony offenses: one count of dual-object conspiracy to defraud the United States and to violate the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and two counts of conspiracy to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute. The Vermont investigation revealed that, from April 2016 through December 2016, Purdue made nearly $1 million in payments to Practice Fusion, Inc., an electronic health records company, in exchange for Practice Fusion installing a prompt in its software intending to cause doctors to refer, recommend, and arrange for the ordering of Purdue’s extended release opioid products – OxyContin, Butrans, and Hysingla.

​Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor has received multiple reports of fraudulent communications relating to unemployment insurance benefits being sent to Vermonters. The Department reminds Vermonters filing for UI to be diligent in preventing fraud and to report any potential fraud to the Department of Labor and Attorney General’s Office. On Monday and early Tuesday morning, the Department received information detailing two different communications in which the senders fraudulently state that ‘eligible workers’ could ‘receive COVID-19 Benefits’ from ‘the Department of Labor’.

Vermont Business Magazine The Washington County Substance Abuse Regional Partnership (WCSARP) today announced that they have tapped Eva Zaret to run the partnership’s new $1 million, three-year “Building Safe Harbor in Central Vermont” project intended to increase access to affordable treatment for substance abuse in Central Vermont while learning about new challenges presented by COVID-19.

Vermont Business Magazine Land along three miles of the Missisquoi River and its tributaries, as well as 50 acres of wetlands, have been protected the Vermont Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy announced today. This is the latest in an ongoing effort by the two organizations to improve water quality in Vermont’s rivers that are a priority for clean water, biodiversity, and resilience to climate change. The Missisquoi and its tributaries are a state-recognized priority for clean water efforts because they are impaired, lack forested buffers along the water’s edge, and have high phosphorus levels.

by Jill Mazza Olson, Executive Director, VNAs of Vermont November is Home Care and Hospice Month, a time to celebrate the work of home health and hospice agencies. Usually it’s an opportunity to remind the public about the critical role home health and hospice agencies play in “normal” times—providing high quality health care at home, preserving the independence of individuals who would otherwise be in nursing homes and supporting individuals and their loved ones at the end of life. This November, I’d like to highlight the role of home health and hospice agencies in the pandemic response. It’s been an honor to watch home health and hospice agencies serve Vermonters throughout the pandemic—including people who are known to be COVID-19 positive.

Public Assets Institute The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed deep-rooted structural inequalities in the US Immense, historic, and racialized inequity in health and health care and the near-invisible “essential workers” who make everyone’s daily lives possible. Who is “essential?” Who is invisible? What rights do people have to safety and dignity in the workplace? Who is considered expendable? These issues are not new for people with disabilities, who have fought for access to employment and other civil and human rights for more than half a century.

Vermont Business Magazine Today the Vermont State Colleges System announced that the $2.3 million dollar Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) Workforce Initiative established by the state made free courses and trainings possible for 971 Vermonters. Many participants enrolled in multiple courses and a total of 1,398 classes and trainings are being taken this fall across all four institutions – Castleton University, the Community College of Vermont, Northern Vermont University, and Vermont Technical College – thanks to the investment in this initiative by the State.

Vermont Business Magazine The Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP) has been selected as a winner of New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof’s 2020 Holiday Impact Prize, supported by Focusing Philanthropy. For decades, the Himalayan Cataract Project has pioneered the delivery of high quality eye care in underserved areas of the world while concurrently training local personnel. HCP brings the joy of sight-restoration to those who need it most. Over the last 25 years, together with its partners, HCP has performed over 1 million sight-restoring surgeries and screened and provided treatment for over 12.5 million people.

Vermont Business Magazine At Monday night’s Burlington City Council meeting, the Council unanimously passed a resolution requesting that the city divest from fossil fuel companies. Mayor Miro Weinberger had previously announced he also supported the measure. The resolution requests that BERS provide the Council with a current accounting of the fossil fuel investments in its investment portfolio, including non-stock investments as soon as possible but in any event no later than its last meeting in April 2021. BERS currently holds a little over $3 million or less than 2% of its total equities’ portfolio in fossil fuel assets.

Vermont Business Magazine Over the past several weeks, Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC), has experienced an increase in patients who need to be admitted to the hospital for illnesses not related to COVID. It is likely that the increase is due to delaying care for chronic conditions out of fear of exposure to COVID-19 in a medical setting. Doctors and nurses would like to reiterate that SVMC is open, ready, and safe.

Vermont Business Magazine Food insecurity in Vermont has reached record levels during the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 30 percent of Vermonters experiencing food insecurity since March, new University of Vermont research finds. With Thanksgiving approaching, the research is the most comprehensive study of COVID-19’s impacts on food security in the Green Mountain State to date.

Vermont Business Magazine Aqua ViTea, a Middlebury-based kombucha company and the largest producer of kombucha on the East Coast, is utilizing its resources to donate 20 cases - 480 bottles - of the brand's handcrafted hand sanitizer to the state’s largest hunger relief organization, Vermont Foodbank, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.