Current News

Vermont State Police Vermont State Police investigators are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying a woman whose body was discovered last week in the Winooski River in Middlesex. The deceased is a white woman standing about 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighing 206 pounds, and between 30-50 years old. She has tattoos of the names “Sue” and “Patty” on her left forearm, along with other tattoos on her body including a red and blue butterfly, a pink and yellow five-petal flower on her right foot with leaves going up her ankle, and two roses on her right wrist. She was wearing a large ring on her right index finger with a carved face and headdress.

Vermont Business Magazine The Northern Forest Center today announced 10 towns and organizations that will receive $302,000 collectively to improve outdoor recreation opportunities in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Seven of the grants go to organizations in the Northeast Kingdom. The grants are provided by the Northern Forest Destination Development Initiative, which is managed by the Northern Forest Center in partnership with the Northeastern Vermont Development Association and NEK (Northeast Kingdom) Collaborative of Vermont. Funding comes from the Northern Border Regional Commission. In the NEK, the $214,800 grant investment is matched by more than $400,000, bringing total NEK project investments to $634,072.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and the Vermont Department of Labor today announced changes to the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program that will reduce employers’ UI tax rates and increase the maximum weekly benefit amount for UI claimants. The Department of Labor will move to UI Tax Rate Schedule I, reducing individual employers’ UI tax rates on July 1, 2020. Employers’ tax rates vary according to their experience rating, which is based on UI claims charged to their account, total payroll and their ranking among all employers who contribute to UI. Schedule I decreases the upper and lower thresholds for these tax rates, as well as reducing the taxable wage base amount beginning January 1, 2021. In addition to this tax rate change, the maximum weekly benefit amount paid to unemployed Vermonters will increase from $513 to $531.This increase is effective beginning the first full week of July.

Vermont Business Magazine Using a team approach, the physicians, nurses, and physical therapists at Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) now offer same-day knee and hip joint replacement. Same-day surgery means a patient comes in for the surgery in the morning and is resting in their own home that night. When most people think about knee or hip joint replacement surgery, they expect a long period of recovery: multiple days in the hospital and weeks or months of being laid up at home.

​Vermont Business Magazine The VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region (VNAHSR) is re-opening its outpatient therapy clinic in Manchester with robust safety measures in place to protect the health of patients and staff. To protect patients, appointments will be staggered and therapeutic equipment will be disinfected between uses. Patients will be pre-screened prior to their appointment through a series of questions about the patient’s health and any potential signs, symptoms or exposure to COVID-19. Patients will be temperature checked at entry before their appointment. Additionally, staff will utilize personal protective equipment (PPE) and patients will be asked to wear masks.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont has launched a new doctoral program in Sustainable Development Policy, Economics and Governance. The new program will equip a rising generation of action-oriented researchers with the skills they’ll need to address sustainable development challenges in local, state, national and global communities.

Vermont Business Magazine When a group of dedicated agencies known as the Vermont Youth Project of Rutland County realized that youth summer camp programs were going to be limited, they acted. Working together, Mentor Connector, 4-H, and the Partners for Prevention put out the call to action to their partners. Multiple agencies including, Wonderfeet Museum, Boy Scouts, Rutland City Recreation Department, Rutland Partners for Prevention, Project Vision, Tobacco Prevention, and Slate Valley Trails heard the call and came to the table.

Vermont Business Magazine For the second straight day, Burlington Electric Department (BED) issued a peak alert for today, Tuesday, June 23, as part of its Defeat the Peak program launched during summer 2017, encouraging members of the Burlington community to reduce their energy usage from 5-9 pm this evening.

Vermont Business Magazine The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is proposing to offer $146 million to help communities make improvements to water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure. The funding would allow communities to make major infrastructure improvements while keeping costs affordable for users. The money is available in the form of low- and no-cost loans, many of which include substantial loan principal forgiveness. Funding through the State Revolving Fund (SRF) is available to municipalities, non-profit and private community water and wastewater systems.

Vermont Business Magazine The Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission has been awarded a Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) award for development of a Food Access Map for the Hunger Council of Washington County. The SAG award is given annually to a limited number of ESRI’s GIS clients around the world to recognize outstanding work with Geography Systems Technology (GIS) technology in a field of over 100,000 organizations.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a framework using hardware, software, data, and people to gather, manage, analyze, and visualize data. The resulting maps provide deeper insights into data and help users make informed decisions.

“Helping the Council visualize food access was a natural fit with the Commission’s GIS skills. The map demonstrates that decisions related to community design can affect people’s health,” said Bonnie Waninger, Executive Director of the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission.

Vermont Business Magazine The VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region (VNAHSR) has announced this year’s Employee of the Year and HEALTH Matters Award Winners. Thirty-eight employees were recognized for years of service including Sharon Davis, Utilization Review Specialist for 35 years of service. Davis was also recognized as the VNAHSR’s Employee of the Year.