Current News

by Roger Allbee Congress is finally taking steps to end surprise medical billing, a longstanding issue that for years has caused needless stress and financial woes for Vermont patients as well as patients across the country. No one should be subjected to the pain and hardship that comes with surprise billing. Yet, due to a number of factors—including insurance companies that continue to shrink their provider networks—more and more patients find themselves stuck with exceedingly high bills for treatments and services they assumed would be covered by their health care plans.

Vermont Business Magazine On Saturday, September 14, two locomotives and six historic coaches will depart from the historic downtown St Johnsbury train depot and head south on one of the most beautiful train rides in New England. The train rides, part of the daylong Colors of the Kingdom Community Festival, will start at 9:30 a.m. and be repeated at 11:30 am, 1:30 and 3:30 pm from the St Johnsbury Welcome Center. The train follows the tracks of the Connecticut and Passumpsic Railroad, established in 1850, and clings to the banks of the Connecticut and Passumpsic rivers, cutting through massive rock ledges and crossing many bridges.

Vermont Business Magazine On Friday, August 23rd, 2019, at approximately 0650 hours Troopers with VSP Williston were notified of a head-on collision involving two vehicles on I-89 Northbound in the area of Mile Marker 76 in the town of Richmond. Investigation determined that a 2015 Dodge Ram drifted from the southbound lanes of I-89, into the median, went airborne, and then struck a vehicle travelling north head on. The vehicle that was struck was a 2012 Ford F-350. Both vehicles sustained totaling damage.

Vermont Business Magazine Fall semester 2019 is officially under way at Saint Michael's College today with the arrival of our first-year students from the Class of 2023 on this Move-In Day. It was the typical happily chaotic scene in the main first-year Quad residences beginning at about 9 a.m. as families with plates from states near and far pulled in, to be greeted by helpful if noisy Orientation Leaders who were enthusiastically and efficiently helping schlep belongings up to new rooms.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor announced today the hiring of a new Assistant Director in their Workforce Development Division. Hugh Bradshaw will serve as the Assistant Director of Workforce Development, adding to the robust team of workforce and training professionals the Department of Labor has been assembling.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment numbers are holding at a low level. Summer usually brings low claim levels. Initial claims for the week of August 17, 2019, totaled 321, up 32 from last week. This is the first time they've been over 300 since mid-July. Claims are 56 more than they were at this time last year.

Altogether 3,129 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 241 from a week ago, and 250 fewer than a year ago.

Nationwide, according to the US Labor Department for the week ending August 17, initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped to 209,000, an unexpected decline of 12,000 claims. The 4-week moving average increased 500 to 214,500.

Vermont Business Magazine A pool of mosquitoes collected in Essex has tested positive for West Nile virus at the Vermont Department of Health Laboratory. This is the first positive pool – or group of up to 50 mosquitoes of the same species and location – of the 2019 mosquito surveillance season. The infected mosquitoes were collected by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and tested at the Health Department Laboratory as part of an ongoing interagency mosquito surveillance program that helps the state better understand the risk of diseases spread by mosquitoes. More than 2,000 mosquito pools from around the state have been tested so far this year.

Vermont Business Magazine Hydropower has provided the nation with clean, renewable energy for over 200 years. In recognition of the first form of renewable energy, the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority (VPPSA) today is celebrating National Hydropower Day. National Hydropower Day celebrates hydropower’s undeniable contributions to America’s clean energy infrastructure, electrical grid resiliency and reliability benefits, and environmental protections.

Hydropower has been the backbone of Vermont’s electricity generation since the late 1700s, when many dams were built to power grain mills. Today, VPPSA members own nine hydropower facilities with a total generating capacity of 21.9 megawatts (MW). In 2018, public power owned hydropower accounted for 14% of VPPSA’s energy portfolio. 

Vermont Business Magazine For the fifth year in a row, the University of Vermont's incoming first-year class has achieved the highest academic credentials in the university’s history. The Class of 2023, an estimated 2,640 students, has an average SAT score of 1275 and an average ACT of 28.9, record highs for any incoming class. UVM'S Move-in Weekend starts Friday, August 23, with first-year students arriving that day, and continues through Sunday. The university’s Convocation, which formally launches the academic year, will take place Sunday at 6:30 in the Patrick Gymnasium. 

Vermont Business Magazine The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that John Van Hazinga and Samantha Steady were arraigned today in federal court after having been indicted by the grand jury for conspiracy to distribute marijuana and delta-9- Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), both Schedule I drugs, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. Van Hazinga was also charged with multiple counts of distribution of marijuana and THC. Van Hazinga and Steady were both arrested this morning, and were arraigned before the United States Magistrate Judge John M. Conroy this afternoon in Burlington.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan today joined a coalition of 17 states and the District of Columbia in filing an amicus brief opposing the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) broad expansion of a fast-track process to deport individuals in summary fashion, often without adequate due process protections.

Vermont Business Magazine At a press conference Thursday at the YMCA in Burlington, Governor Phil Scott detailed newly implemented investments in child care funding passed in the budget bill (Act 72) in the 2019 legislative session. Scott was joined by members of the legislature, early care and learning advocates, and others who all championed these increased investments. The approximately $5.8 million increase in Vermont’s Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFAP) will lift rates for 2,000 families. More than 3,000 preschoolers and 2,500 school-aged children will also receive higher rates, making child care more affordable and accessible for working families.