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Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) is among 36 Democratic senators, led by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich), Ranking Member of the US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, urging Vice President Mike Pence and other members of the Trump Administration to take action to help ensure the safety of the nation’s food supply and protect essential workers in the food supply chain. Leahy, a leading member of the Agriculture Committee, is a former Chairman of the panel and now is Vice Chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) also signed the letter, which they sent on Monday.

Vermont Business Magazine Adam Higginbotham has won the 2020 William E Colby Award for his book, “Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster.” Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont, presents the award, now in its 21st year, annually to a first solo work of fiction or nonfiction that has made a major contribution to the understanding of military history, intelligence operations, or international affairs.

Higginbotham’s narrative nonfiction and feature writing has appeared in magazines including GQ, The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine. Many of his stories have been optioned for development for film and television. “Midnight in Chernobyl” (Simon & Schuster, 2019) was named one of The New York Times’ 10 Best Books of the Year, and awarded the 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.

Vermont Business Magazine This weekend the Vermont State Colleges United Professionals, The VSEA Staff Federation, and the faculty assemblies of all four Vermont State Colleges overwhelmingly voted "No Confidence" in Chancellor Jeb Spaulding. These votes have been under consideration for several weeks, but Friday's announced plan to close three campuses increased their urgency.

Linda Olson, Vice President of Higher Education for AFT Vermont stated "There are many reasons for this vote of no confidence, but the most important is that Chancellor Spaulding has repeatedly made decisions without adequate consultation, without a thorough analysis of the data and without thoughtful consideration of the long-term consequences."

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Vermont Business Magazine As of Sunday, nearly 32,000 claim issues had been cleared, allowing claimants to proceed with filing a weekly claim and start collecting benefits. For the remaining eligible claimants (8,384 people) that did not have issues cleared, Governor Scott asked the Treasury to issue payments to them in the amount of $1,200. These checks were processed over the weekend and will be mailed out to claimants on Monday, April 20.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported nine more cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for a total of 812 statewide. There were no more deaths, which held at 38. The number of hospitalizations -- a key metric in the infection rate -- fell by three patients to 53. There are over 300 beds available for COVID-19 patients statewide and the surge capacity is over 800 beds.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont State Colleges System (VSCS) Board of Trustees Chair, J Churchill Hindes, announced today that Monday’s meeting of the Board will be informational in nature. The Board does not plan to vote on recent transformational changes at that time. Chancellor Jeb Spaulding recently unveiled plans in response to ongoing challenges facing the VSCS magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic. His plan was to close the campuses of Northern Vermont University in Johnson and Lyndon and transfer those students to Castleton University. The plan also would close the Randolph Center campus of Vermont Technical College and transfer classes to the non-residential Williston campus.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today issued the following statement: “Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, Vermont State College trustees faced a difficult and unsustainable financial reality: A declining enrollment and systemwide overhead costs rising much faster than tuition and taxpayers can afford. The board has been signaling for years that the system is not financially sustainable. We’ve seen many private colleges across the country close for similar reasons. Now, accelerated by the economic impacts of the pandemic, we must have some difficult discussions about how to save the state college system."

Vermont Business Magazine General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB) Friday delivered the nuclear-powered attack submarine Vermont (SSN 792) to the US Navy. The future USS Vermont is the first of ten Block IV submarines. Vermont is the 19th submarine of the Virginia-class, which provides the US Navy with the capabilities required to retain undersea dominance well into the 21st century. Vermont is the first of ten Block IV Virginia-class submarines. These ships embody a US Navy and industry commitment to affordably deliver new submarines to the fleet with unmatched stealth and strike capacity.

by Labor Commissioner Michael A Harrington Here is an update as of Saturday, April 18, 2020. Beginning last Thursday, our team was able to successfully manipulate our system to open up past benefit weeks for claimants who had missed a filing deadline. This change allows claimants to file for one missed week per day, while our system processes each new filing overnight. If you have missed multiple weeks, you should be able to get caught up in your filing over the next few days. As many of you may have heard, the Governor has asked Labor to get as many people paid as possible by tonight (Saturday), at which point, anyone who opened a claim between March 1 – April 4, but has not received a benefit payment, will receive a $1,200 check from the state.

The University of Vermont Health Network The ties that bind us have been severely tested by the COVID-19 pandemic. But even as this terrible virus has kept many of us apart, there are examples everywhere of how we are united in purpose and community spirit – from our heroic health care workers who continue to serve our patients in so many ways, to those who are staying home and trying their best to stay well. In this newsletter, you’ll see the story of a UVM Medical Center nurse who isolated herself from her family in order to protect them. This is another example of how sacrifice is a big part of our effort to combat COVID-19. The work we’ve done so far shows that we’re up to this task, as long as we keep working together, as a community.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health reported 803 total cases of COVID-19, an increase of 24 cases since yesterday's report. There were also three more deaths for a total of 38. Total hospitalizations remained at 56.

Vermont Business Magazine Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) unveiled a proposal to establish the Paycheck Security Act, a program to cover the wages and benefits of employees of affected businesses and nonprofits until the economic and public health crisis is resolved. All employers who have suffered a month-over-month drop in revenues of at least 20 percent will be eligible to receive grants covering a portion of payroll and benefits for at least the next six months.