Current News

by John McClaughry This week will likely see a Trump initiative to drive down pharmaceutical prices, and passage of a bill in Montpelier (S.175) to again plunge Vermont into the arduous (and illegal) process of importing prescription drugs from Canada.

Leonine Public Affairs There is a storm brewing between Governor Scott and legislative leaders over how to bring the legislative session to a close. Bucking the custom since the early 1990’s, legislative leaders announced this week they do not intend to schedule a veto session in June for lawmakers to come back to Montpelier to try to override any gubernatorial vetoes. If the governor vetoes the budget and the tax bill and no override session is scheduled, the Governor would be forced to call lawmakers back for a special session. A special session would be necessary because the state cannot deficit spend and without a property tax yield set by law there would be an estimated $400 million hole in the Education Fund. Significantly, in an override session lawmakers are limited to considering only those bills that are vetoed, while a special session allows lawmakers to start from scratch on bills and they can consider any topic they choose.

Vermont State Police Early this morning, law-enforcement officers arrested Erika Guttilla and Corey Cassani without incident following a motor-vehicle stop in South Burlington. Members of the Vermont State Police, South Burlington police, Shelburne police and the FBI made the arrests at about 1:30 a.m. on U.S. Route 7 in South Burlington just north of the Shelburne town line.

​Vermont Business Magazine As part of the ongoing response to the recent discovery of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) within the state, Vermont has joined the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s 31-state quarantine boundary. The quarantine will help reduce the movement of infested ash wood to un-infested regions outside of Vermont’s borders. Ash wood may not be moved from Vermont to Maine, Rhode Island, or 7 counties in New Hampshire because the pest has not been identified in these states and counties. Vermont will be directing available resources to protect state forest health by providing Vermonters with low-risk options for use and disposal of wood that is already infested.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermonters turned in more than three tons of unused, unwanted and expired medication at nearly 70 collection sites across the state on National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, April 28. The 6,008 pounds of collected prescription medication marked the highest total in Vermont for the six Take Back Days since fall 2015.

Vermont Business Magazine Paul Donovan, DO, emergency medicine and sports medicine physician at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) since 2011, has written the third and final volume of a history of North Adams Regional Hospital (NARH), which closed in 2014. Donovan had worked at NARH for 22 years.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Attorney General’s Office continues its Elder Protection Listening Tour throughout May with public events in Washington, Bennington, Essex, Chittenden and Caledonia Counties. Attorney General TJ Donovan announced last month the launch of a listening tour to engage older Vermonters about their most pressing concerns. Staff from the Attorney General’s office will be at each event to facilitate conversation around two central questions:

• What are older Vermonter’s greatest needs, concerns and vulnerabilities?
• How can Vermont’s systems for elder support and protection be improved?

The events listed below are open to the public. The Attorney General’s Office will continue to notify the public as more public meetings are scheduled.

Vermont Business Magazine Champlain College Film and Broadcast student productions have earned high honors at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) New England Chapter.

The chapter announced that Filmmaking and Broadcast Media Production majors in the Division of Communication and Creative Media were selected for the Student Production Awards for Excellence in the categories of Fiction Short Form, Nonfiction Long Form and in Community Service Public Affairs. Several students earned honorable mentions.

Vermont Business Magazine To celebrate Older Americans Month, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) recognized the outstanding work of Vermont’s Meals on Wheels programs. Consistent with this year’s theme, “Engage at Every Age,” Sanders pointed to the hundreds of older Vermonters who volunteer their time to help deliver meals across the state.

Last year, Meals on Wheels delivered more than 1 million freshly cooked and nutritious meals to seniors across Vermont. “There is no question that Meals on Wheels is helping ensure Vermonters have access to adequate nutrition. However, the program does much more than just deliver a nutritious meal,” Sanders said.

Vermont Business Magazine More than $1.2 million in funding commitments are in place and remediation design work is currently under way at the former site of the abandoned and blighted Robertson Paper Mill in Bellows Falls. This high-profile Brownfields Economic Revitalization Alliance (BERA) project is being funded through a combination of federal, state and local sources, including grants from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Cleanup Program ($200,000), programs from the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development(ACCD) including the Brownfields program ($151,137), Community Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) ($150,000), and the Windham County Economic Development Program (WCEDP) ($300,000). In addition, there is support from the Windham Regional Commission’s Brownfields Assessment and Revolving Loan Fund ($301,061), loans through the Town of Rockingham’s Revolving Loan Fund ($140,000), and a grant for environmental assessment from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation ($10,000).

Surplus should be used to solve recurring problems & provide taxpayer relief

Vermont Business Magazine The state’s fiscal Emergency Board (also known as the E-Board) is chaired by the Governor, and includes the Chairs of Senate and House Appropriations, Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees. The E-Board is scheduled to meet Monday to assess anticipated revenues for the end of Fiscal Year 2018 in June. Governor Phil Scott today issued the following statement in advance of the meeting:

“I’m pleased the E-Board will meet this afternoon in order to come to consensus on expected revenue for the remaining two months of the fiscal year, after hearing from both the administration and legislative economists.

To help meet the dual demands for tech talent and job-based skills training, the founders of Burlington Code Academy (BCA) are rolling out the state’s first 12-week immersive coding bootcamp in June. The founding team of Benny Boas, Alex Horner and Alex Chaffee united their skills and experience in tech and teaching to develop a 12-week intensive coding camp specifically designed to train participants in coding for the job.