Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Today Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos announced the list of candidates who have qualified to appear on the ballot for the 2020 Presidential Primary Elections. In order to appear on the ballot candidates must file a petition, signed by 1,000 registered Vermont voters, with the Vermont Secretary of State.

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Council on Aging (SVCOA) today announced its 2019 service results in conjunction with the release of its 2019 annual report. Key outcomes include over 215,000 meals served and nearly 12,000 case management and option counseling hours provided to older Vermonters.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Medical Center will keep the operating rooms at its Fanny Allen campus in Colchester closed through the month of January while staff and outside experts continue to investigate the cause of two air quality incidents, in October and November. Planned surgeries will continue to be rescheduled.

Vermont Business Magazine Today, Vermont joined other New England and mid-Atlantic states, along with Washington, DC, in issuing a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI). According to the Vermont Natural Resources Council, the TCI is modeled on the successful Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) that Vermont joined under the Douglas Administration, the draft MOU outlines a proposed framework for TCI that would reduce carbon pollution in the transportation sector by placing a cap on emissions from fossil fuel companies and using revenue raised to help participating states invest in cleaner transportation options like public transit, electric buses and cars, park-and-rides, sidewalks and bike infrastructure, and more.

Vermont Business Magazine The House Monday evening released a $1.4 trillion bipartisan, bicameral agreement to fund the federal government through fiscal year 2020. Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) said the deal rejects "the devastating and short sighted cuts proposed by President Trump, and making historic investments in the American people and working families."

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and the Vermont Department of Labor today announced the recipients of $350,000 in 2020 Vermont Internship Program grant funding. These grants help connect Vermont employers with student-interns from regional technical centers and post-secondary educational institutions.

Vermont Business Magazine Statement from Mayor Miro Weinberger regarding Deputy Chief Jan Wright: Soon after today’s press conference at the Police Department, Deputy Chief Jan Wright shared with Mayor Weinberger that she had occasionally operated a Facebook account under the name “Lori Spicer” through which she made comments about and engaged citizens in discussion of Police Department policy and practice. In response, Mayor Weinberger released the following statement: I have now named Deputy Chief Jon Murad as Acting Chief. Murad has confirmed explicitly to the City Attorney Eileen Blackwood and HR Director Deanna Paluba that he has never engaged in anonymous social media posting...

Vermont Business Magazine After eight years of operating out of a mobile MRI unit, Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) in St Johnsbury held an official open house and ribbon cutting for its new MRI Suite on Friday, December 6, 2019. The new MRI addition is a significant upgrade for the hospital’s Diagnostic Imaging wing. The increased space and new layout improves workflow as well as efficiency for staff. The new space and equipment will also allow for future growth of MRI services.

by John McClaughry Thanks in part to fifty years of unflagging advocacy by Bernie Sanders, “socialism” has become a frequent  topic of partisan debate. Like its counterpart “capitalism,” socialism has meant several quite different things both to its partisans and its opponents. That can make it difficult to make out just what the debate is about.

Historically, the meaning of socialism was spelled out in detail by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels starting in 1848. Their scientific theory of history held that at some crucial point in history the oppressed working class would arise and expropriate all significant means of production from their owners – capitalists who had expropriated the labor value of the workers – and bestow it all upon the new socialist State. The State would banish, or execute, the former owners, abolish private property, and manage the economy and society in the name of “the people.”

Vermont Business Magazine In recent days, the Vermont media have published detailed stories describing profoundly disturbing reports of sexual misconduct, assault, and abuse at Vermont’s correctional facility for women, the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility (CRCF). The Vermont Commission on Women has been a long-standing advocate for ensuring that Vermont women in prison are provided equal rights and opportunities and that their health, safety, education, and overall welfare are safeguarded. We recognize that many of the conditions described in the media have been known and acknowledged for many years, without being remediated.

Vermont Business Magazine Mt Ascutney Hospital and Health Center (MAHHC) has announced the appointment of Amy Visser-Lynch, MSN, RN as Chief Nursing Officer (CNO). Visser-Lynch had served as interim CNO at MAHHC since early 2019. Visser-Lynch joined MAHHC in 2015 as Director of Staff Education. Since then, she has served as Interim Emergency Department Manager, as well as the Interim Director of Outpatient Clinical Practice. She has been a clinical nurse educator at Vermont Technical College and Grace Cottage Hospital.