Current News

Vermont Business Magazine A study by researchers from White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) and Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth shows VA hospitals across the country outperform or are equal to neighboring non-VA hospitals in surgical quality and overall patient safety satisfaction. The study’s findings were published June 26, in the Journal of Surgical Research.

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) has received the award for being one of Vermont’s Best Places to Work in 2020. It is SVHC’s 6^th consecutive year as an honoree, and SVHC is the only hospital ever to be named in the contest.

Vermont Business Magazine Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Ranking Member Jon Tester (D-Mont.) Tuesday called on Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Deputy Director For Policy Joseph Edlow to postpone plans to furlough 13,000 USCIS employees after revised revenue estimates show the agency will end the fiscal year with a surplus, not the originally projected $571 million deficit. Leahy previously suggested about 1,100 USCIS workers could lose their jobs in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) Tuesday released a letter calling on president Trump to utilize resources already passed by Congress and signed into law to increase production of personal, protective equipment (PPE) and testing capacity. Leahy is Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee and Durbin, Murray and Tester also are leading Democratic members of the panel.

Vermont Business Magazine Moody’s Investors Service affirmed the Burlington International Airport (BTV) credit rating of Baa2 with a stable outlook on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, citing BTV’s continued stability in liquidity and debt service coverage ratios (DSCR), as well as a multi-year airline agreement, as key components of the affirmed rating. The Baa2 with a stable outlook rating is unchanged since an upgrade in May 2018.

Vermont Business Magazine Zero Gravity Craft Brewery issued a statement on Instagram today that all employees have tested negative for COVID-19. The Burlington brewer, along with Foam Brewers and their associated restaurants Deep City and the Great Northern, were temporarily closed last week following a possible exposure of one employee. All subsequent tests, however, have returned negative results. They will reopen on Tuesday.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Health Department is reporting 10 new cases today of COVID-19 statewide. Deaths are holding at 56, where they've been for more than a month. As for possible cases in Manchester, Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD said: “Although the Health Department’s investigation is not complete, it appears that a majority of the positive antigen results have not been confirmed by subsequent PCR testing. We have not yet found connections that would lead us to believe there is an outbreak of COVID-19 in Bennington or Windham counties.”

Vermont Business Magazine As a reminder to individuals on unemployment insurance benefits, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), which has provided $600 per week in federal assistance, is scheduled to end on Saturday, July 25. FPUC has provided assistance to those on regular unemployment insurance, extended benefits, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC). The CARES Act requires states to provide FPUC through July 31. Vermont, like many other states, ends its benefit week on Saturdays. July 25 is the last Saturday in the month. Federal law does not allow the state to pay this particular benefit through Saturday, August 1.

Vermont Business Magazine Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) Monday highlighted the urgent need for a fourth coronavirus supplemental appropriations package. Ahead of the anticipated release of Leader McConnell’s bill this week, Leahy released nine documents outlining the need for additional funding for the Census, child care, domestic violence programs, education, election aid, food insecurity, foreign aid, rental assistance, and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Unemployment special benefits expire next week. The eviction moratorium expires next week. The Small Business Payroll Protection Program authority expires in less than three weeks.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General Donovan today joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to stop a new Trump Administration rule that makes it easier for health care providers and insurance companies to discriminate against certain vulnerable and protected classes of Americans. In a lawsuit filed against the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the coalition argues that the new rule emboldens providers and insurers to discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals, those with limited English proficiency, and women, among others, by stripping express protections for these groups in HHS regulations that implement the nondiscrimination provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). This provision of the ACA prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age by health programs or facilities that receive federal funds.

Vermont Business Magazine The Champlain Housing Trust’s Board of Directors announced today that CEO Brenda Torpy will step down at the end of 2020 after leading the organization for nearly 30 years, and that current Chief Operating and Financial Officer Michael Monte will be hired as its next CEO beginning in January 2021. Torpy was a founding member of the organization over 35 years ago when she worked in the office of Mayor Bernie Sanders and its first Board President. In these roles she was trailblazer for a new type of affordable housing called a Community Land Trust, which grew locally and more recently, across the globe. CHT is the largest Community Land Trust in the world.

Vermont Business Magazine The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) today released its review of Marlboro College’s proposed disposition of assets to Emerson College and campus sale to Democracy Builders. The AGO’s review, issued as a notice of non-objection, found that the proposed transactions are consistent with relevant state laws governing charitable nonprofits and their assets. The AGO acknowledged that Marlboro College’s impending closure is an occasion of significant and challenging import for many of the College’s students, faculty, staff, and alumni, as well as community members of Marlboro.