Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont.) and Representatives Elijah Cummings (D-Md), Ro Khanna (D-Calif), Peter Welch (D-Vermont), Joe Neguse (D-Co) and other cosponsors in the House and Senate will hold a press conference Thursday morning to announce a legislative package that would drastically reduce prescription drug prices in the United States.

Vermont State Police On January 9, 2018, at approximately 0951 hours, State Police pulled into the "On The Run" Mobil station near exit 19 in Saint Albans. At that time, they observed a vehicle parked in the clearly marked handicap spot and verified it did not have a placard on it. There was nobody in the vehicle at the time, and it was believed the operator was inside the store.

A short while later, a female came outside and got into the passenger side of the vehicle. When approached, she advised that her brother had been driving and she refused to give her name. She advised that her brother was inside the store using the bathroom. A check of the store showed that this was false, and the female was still not giving her name. A tow truck was then called to the scene to remove the vehicle.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders both offered reactions to President Trump's speech Tuesday night concerning the president's efforts to fund a wall along the Mexican border. He has partially closed the federal government in order to force Congress to fund the project. The Republican-controlled Senate has refused to force the government back open and the now Democratic House has refused to fund the wall, creating a statement with the president. Leahy and Sanders oppose the wall and are urging their colleagues to re-open the government.

Vermont State Police The Vermont State Police have established the following time line regarding their involvement in the Everett Simpson investigation. Simpson was subsequently arrested for kidnapping and sexual assault after a car chase in Pennsylvania. In a statement, the VSP acknowledges missteps in its investigation. This information was released late Tuesday night.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont continues to have one of the lowest rates of uninsured residents in the country. According to the 2018 Vermont Household Health Insurance Survey published by the Vermont Department of Health, the statewide rate of uninsured Vermonters is 3 percent, less than half that from just a decade ago (8 percent). Nearly all counties in the state have rates of 4 percent or less, comparable to the best-performing states.

Vermont Business Magazine For the fourth year, a group of ski enthusiasts from the Boston area will host their annual Snow Ball event to benefit Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports. All proceeds from the event this year will go directly toward the organization’s new adaptive sports facility at Mt. Ellen at Sugarbush Resort, with anticipated groundbreaking this Spring, 2019.

Vermont Business Magazine The Berlin Mall and the Green Mountain Club will join forces once again in hosting “Walk the Long Trail at Berlin Mall.” This event has quickly become a winter ritual for central Vermonters looking to keep fit, meet new friends and avoid cabin fever. From January 19 (MLK Day weekend) through April 21, (Earth Day weekend), the Berlin Mall welcomes walkers to experience an indoor version of the Long Trail, and help raise funds for the Green Mountain Club—official stewards of the Long Trail.

Vermont Business Magazine Two Vermont military families were selected anonymously to be the recipients of Davis & Hodgdon Associates CPAs’ 2018 holiday gift drive. The families, from Georgia and St. Albans Vermont were selected on the basis of need, and each family includes at least one parent who is currently deployed overseas. Staff from Davis & Hodgdon offices in Rutland and Williston provided unwrapped gifts for the family’s children, as well as donations in the form of holiday breakfast baskets and grocery gift cards.

“In past years we have enjoyed participating in various state-wide holiday gift drives”, said John Davis, managing partner at Davis & Hodgdon Associates. “It was especially satisfying for our staff this year to be able to give back to military families who have sacrificed, and continue to sacrifice, so much on our behalf.”

Senator Patrick Leahy Today marks the eighteenth day of the Trump Shutdown. For more than two weeks now, the President has held the paychecks of over 800,000 Americans hostage in order to extort Congress into funding his border wall — a wall for which he promised the American taxpayers, over and over again, that Mexico would pay.

Vermont Business Magazine In response to the crisis in agriculture and rural communities, Sterling and The Berry Center have announced that they will collaboratively launch The Wendell Berry Farming Program of Sterling College in Henry County, Kentucky, a no-tuition undergraduate sustainable agriculture degree program, inspired by the lifework and writing of farmer and environmental activist Wendell Berry. The $2.5 million grant and challenge, once met, will provide a total of $3.5 million for operation of the program through 2024. Sterling College is based in Craftsbury Common.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington-based Howard Center, Inc and Local #1674 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 93, AFL-CIO jointly announced today that on Monday, December 31, 2018, their respective negotiating teams reached a tentative agreement on a three-year renewal to their collective bargaining agreement which expired June 30, 2018. Details of the tentative agreement will not be released pending ratification by the Union’s membership and Howard Center Board of Trustees.

Bargaining for this new agreement commenced in May of 2018. Negotiations continued through the summer, fall and early winter, assisted at the end by Federal Mediator Annie Rutsky of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Vermont State Police An arrest warrant has been issued for an Arlington man who was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with two Vermont State Police troopers early Monday morning outside his home. Matthew Novick, 40, of 535 Red Mountain Road in Arlington, faces charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a weapon.