Current News
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WHEN: Now, 11/2/20
WHERE: VT-108, “Smugglers Notch”
WHAT: CLOSED
Scenic VT 108 “The Notch” is CLOSED at this time due to snow. Crews are closing the gates on either side of the mountain and Digital Message Signs are being edited to indicate the closure.
As always, VTrans will monitor the weather and road conditions in the days to come and will re-open “The Notch” if road conditions improve. An update will be provided if the roadway re-opens before closing for the winter season.
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University of Vermont Health Network The University of Vermont Medical Center is experiencing outages across a number of systems. Impact on patients is as follows: Our urgent and emergency care locations are open and we encourage you to seek the care you need; Some services and procedures may have been impacted and you will be contacted if your appointment or procedure needs to be postponed. Call your provider's office if you have concerns about an upcoming appointment; If you have a scheduled appointment, please bring your complete list of medications. You may be asked about your medical history; If you need to schedule a non-urgent appointment or contact us about a non-urgent matter, we ask that you wait until this situation is resolved.
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Vermont Research News More than half of Vermonters have voted -- above 240,000 votes -- according to the Community News Service Vote tracker map based on data from the Office of Secretary of State. The town by town map shows Shelburne, Norwich, Calais, Plainfield with the highest vote by mail numbers and Searsburg, Panton, Plymouth and Pownal as towns where voters prefer to vote in person.
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Vermont Business Magazine Vermont based Green Lantern Solar recently completed construction of a 150 kW AC solar array in Stamford, Vermont, providing Healthy Living Market & Café with significant savings annually in net metering credits. Sixty-six towns across Vermont now host Green Lantern arrays adding nearly 40 megawatts(MW) of in-state, renewable power to Vermont’s grid.
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The University of Vermont Health Network is continuing to make progress on responding to the cyberattack event this week. Our IT team is on site and working through the weekend on this effort. Our staff continues to utilize standby procedures and offer high-quality care to our patients across the Network. Some patient's appointments at UVM Medical Center may be impacted over the next several days and we encourage patients to verify their appointments with providers. We will continue to provide systems and patient service updates when they are available. The UVM Medical Center in Burlington has been the most impacted. Most but not all services are available, some procedures have been rescheduled and currently there is no access to the MyChart patient portal.
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Agency of Commerce & Community Development While the deadline for businesses applying through the Department of Taxes for the Expanded Economic Recovery Grants has now expired, the application window for businesses applying through ACCD will remain open until Monday, November 9th. Visit the ACCD Recovery Resource Center for full details. Also, the application portal for the second round of the Vermont Frontline Employees Hazard Pay Grant Program is now open. This is a first come, first served program so employers should apply right away.
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Vermont State Police On 10/30/2020 at approximately 2251 hours, the Vermont State Police responded to a report of several individuals in a pickup truck shooting cows on a property in the Town of Orwell. During the investigation, Troopers located six deceased cows with apparent bullet wounds. Troopers checked several local farms in the area and were unable to locate the owner of the cows.
The Vermont State Police were assisted on scene by the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The Vermont State Police is seeking information regarding the owner of the cows and individuals involved in the incident. Anyone with information is asked to contact Tpr. Josh Gurwicz at the New Haven Barracks at (802) 388-4919.
CASE#: 20B502840
RANK/TROOPER FULL NAME: Trooper Josh Gurwicz
STATION: VSP – New Haven
CONTACT#: (802) 388-4919
DATE/TIME: 10/30/2020 @ 2251 hours
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Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s Killington Resort, the largest ski and snowboard destination in Eastern North America, has announced further details for its parking reservation system, an important way Killington plans to manage the number of people on property in order to ensure the wellbeing of its guests, staff and community. The parking reservation system, part of Killington’s Operation Stay Safe, will be in place every day of the season and parking spaces must be reserved before arriving to the resort to ensure availability.
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More than $25 million available annually for eligible Vermonters
Vermont Business Magazine Join Vermont Student Assistance Corp for its next VSAC Shows You How webinar, November 18, from 6-7 pm, on how to apply for a Vermont state grant and any of the 120+ scholarships managed by VSAC. During the live presentation, simulcast to Facebook, Marcia Corey, manager of VSAC’s grant operations, walks you through how to complete the Vermont state grant application, question by question, followed by the steps needed to apply for scholarships.
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Vermont Business Magazine State Epidemiologist Patsy Kelso and Commissioner of Financial Regulation Michael Pieciak presented details Friday of what started as an outbreak of COVID-19 at a central Vermont hockey rink and led to four more outbreaks. Officials at Friday’s press conference said the outbreak now stands at 87 confirmed cases, impacting 18 towns and four counties, and resulting in 473 contacts identified. Kelso said contact tracers found some themes that contributed to the spread, including people gathering without wearing masks and people failing to quarantine — after they had been identified as a close contact, returned from travel, or had COVID-like symptoms.
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Vermont Business Magazine The final tally is in from the 19th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on October 24, 2020. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s New England Field Division and its partners, over the course of four hours, collected 115,944.24 pounds or over 57 tons of expired, unused, unwanted prescription drugs, electronic vaping devices and cartridges at 586 collection sites throughout New England. This is in comparison to the first National Prescription Drug Take Back Day in September 2010, when the division collected 25,810 pounds of unwanted drugs.
Vermont, the least populated state in the region, reported the smallest return of about 4,500 pounds. Massachusetts was slightly higher than Maine, which had a whopping 40,100 pounds.
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Vermont Business Magazine Today Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos issued a message to Vermont voters reminding them of their safe voting options for the November 3rd, 2020 General Election: “vote your ballot!” The Town Clerk must receive the voter’s voted ballot by 7pm on Tuesday, November 3rd for it to be counted.