Current News
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Vermont Business Magazine Today at the University of Vermont Medical Center, former patients of the UVM Children’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), their families, clinicians and hospital leaders, gathered to celebrate a $1 million donation from New England Federal Credit Union (NEFCU). The donation kicks off a project to renovate the UVM Children’s Hospital’s NICU.
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Vermont Business Magazine The US Senate late Tuesday passed a new five-year Farm Bill that includes significant wins for Vermont families, dairy, organic and hemp farms, and the state’s rural communities, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont). As a member of the conference committee that negotiated the bill, Leahy played a central role in shaping the final provisions that are vital to Vermont’s economy, farmers, working landscape, the food and nutrition of Vermont’s families, and the economic vitality of rural communities throughout the state. Leahy also is a former chairman of the Agriculture Committee and is the panel’s most senior member.
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Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott has appointed Ed Adrian of Burlington, Lisa Carlson of Danville, and Heidi Tringe of Montpelier to serve on the Vermont Commission on Women (VCW), the state’s non-partisan commission working to advance rights and opportunities for women and girls.
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Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power filed its 2018 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) Monday with the Public Utilities Commission, outlining its efforts to continue to deliver clean, cost-effective and reliable power to customers, while cutting carbon through innovation. The IRP is a road map for GMP’s approach to serve Vermonters over the next ten years. Utilities are required to file a new IRP every three years.
“Our focus on customers facilitates and guides our decisions—some that are unique in our industry nationally —so that every action we take distinctly benefits our customers,” said GMP President and CEO Mary Powell in a press release. “We are adopting new, clean, distributed-energy technologies on both sides of the meter and, together with our customers and Vermont energy companies, changing the way energy is delivered. Vermont is at the forefront of this work nationally and every day more are following our lead.”
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Vermont Business Magazine US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) issued the following statement announcing that the Senate will vote tomorrow on the resolution to end US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
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Vermont Business Magazine Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vermont) tweeted today that Vermont has won a preliminary victory in the effort to defeat the FDA’s proposed rule to require “added sugar” labels on pure maple syrup in the text of the Farm Bill. The Farm Bill is expected to pass the House and Senate this week.
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Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan and members of the Attorney General’s Office will co-host an expungement clinic with Vermont Legal Aid and the Chittenden County State’s Attorneys Office this Friday December 14, in Winooski. This is the first in a series of expungement clinics that Attorney General Donovan and Vermont Legal Aid will host around the state.
Expungements erase an individual’s criminal record after they have lived without further criminal involvement for a period of time. Most misdemeanors and some felonies are eligible for expungement. As of July 1, 2018, all dismissed charges are eligible for expungement. Attorney General Donovan has been an outspoken advocate to lower barriers to expungement by decreasing the fees necessary to file a petition for expungement with the courts.
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Vermont Business Magazine Wintertime has arrived in Vermont, and so has flu season. With cases already reported in the state, health officials are urging Vermonters to get their annual flu vaccine. “Getting a flu shot is the best way to protect ourselves from the flu,” said Health Commissioner Mark Levine, MD. “When we all take this one simple step, we do more than just protect ourselves – we help keep the people around us healthy and safe from potentially deadly flu complications.”
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Vermont Business Magazine A partnership between Let’s Grow Kids, Vermont Birth to Five and Casella Waste Systems was recently recognized in a national report from Child Care Aware of America, one of the country’s leading voices advocating for a child care system that effectively serves all children and families. The report, called “The US and the High Cost of Child Care: A Review of Prices and Proposed Solutions for a Broken System,” references Vermont’s child care crisis and how it impacts the employees of Casella Waste Systems, located in Rutland County.
According to statewide advocacy campaign Let’s Grow Kids, in Rutland, 63 percent of infants likely to need care do not have access to any regulated child care programs and 87 percent don’t have access to high-quality child care programs. The fact that most programs in the area are not open before 7 AM or after 6 PM exacerbates the problem for some Casella employees.
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Vermont Business Magazine A new scholarship advancing addiction recovery in Vermont has been established to support the Vermont Foundation of Recovery (VFOR) by Dominion Diagnostics, a leading national medical laboratory with a two-decade long history in the state and deep roots in its treatment and recovery community. The Dominion Diagnostics VFOR Scholarship, which will be initially established with $9000, will begin in January 2019 and offers VFOR the opportunity to provide accessible recovery housing for individuals transitioning from addiction treatment, to recovery, to independent living.
Dominion's scholarship addresses a recommendation of the Vermont Governor's Opioid Coordination Council (OCC) to expand access to quality, affordable recovery housing, which supports the company's long-time commitment to discovering and developing new ways to enhance the treatment community at varying stages in care.
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Vermont Business Magazine A new three-year study by Dartmouth-Hitchcock physician Timothy Fisher, MD, will seek to understand why nine rural New Hampshire hospitals have closed their maternity wards since 2000, outline the impacts of these closures, and provide policy makers and hospital leaders with recommendations to better serve women in these communities and others that may be at risk.
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Vermont Business Magazine People’s United Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of People’s United Bank, NA, today announced that it awarded $92,000 to Vermont non-profits during its third grant cycle of 2018. Funding was allocated to 19 non-profit organizations in support of activities that ranged from basic needs services and affordable housing initiatives, to education and workforce development programs.
Some of the grant recipients included:
- Lake Champlain Maritime Museum at the Basin Harbor
- King street Center
- Cathedral Square Corporation
- Habitat for Humanity of Rutland County
- Capstone Community Action
- Windham & Windsor Housing Trust
- Twin Pines Housing
“We are proud to partner with a number of non-profit organizations that are creating positive change for individuals and strengthening our communities,” said Karen Galbo, Executive Director of the Foundation.