Current News

by Paul Cillo, Public Assets Institute While the bill has provisions that would improve the current system, it also unfortunately makes the school funding system more complicated for voters and consequently weakens the connection between voters and the tax consequences of their votes on school budgets.

Vermont Business Magazine Over the past eleven months UVM Police has collaborated with several law enforcement partners to investigate the theft of a valuable rhinoceros horn that had significant historic importance to the University. The horn was reported stolen on 4/27/2017 from UVM’s Torrey Hall/UVM’s Department of Wildlife Biology and was estimated to be valued in excess of $200,000.

Bill Kilpatrick holds the famous rhino horn. UVM photo.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Agency of Agriculture has canceled the 2018 Vermont Farm to School and Childcare Grant Award Ceremony due to weather, which was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon (March 14, 2018), in the State House cafeteria. Legislators and others will still enjoy the school lunch planned by Vermont FEED and the agency, as served by the staff at the State House Café.

The event will not be re-scheduled. Official award certificates will be mailed. The list of grantees for 2018 can be found below. Click on the image to see the 2018 Farm to School and Childcare Program Report, which was published this week.

Vermont Business Magazine State Representative Corey Parent (R-St Albans) announced today that he’s a candidate to represent Franklin County and Alburgh in the Vermont Senate. “I want to thank the people of St Albans for allowing me the honor to serve on their behalf for past four years. I also want to thank Senator Carolyn Branagan for her service to the people of Franklin County.” Parent said. Branagan, a Republican, has announced she will step down. Franklin County has long been a Republican stronghold.

“I’m excited for the opportunity to campaign in my home county and to speak with folks from across our corner of the state about their dreams and hopes for the future and how we can build a county that’s truly affordable for everyone,” he said in a press release.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Mutual Insurance Group recently presented a check for $9,900 to the Boys & Girls Club of Burlington, Vermont as part of their partnership with UVM and the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative. The check was presented on the ice by Dan Bridge, president and CEO of Vermont Mutual and Mark McDonnell, executive vice president and COO, to Tanya Benosky, executive director of The Boys & Girls Club of Burlington. Joining the presentation were Men’s Basketball Team Captains, Trae Bell Haynes and Payton Henson along with Taylor Willard from Women’s Hockey; and Courtney Cole, Alex Bernier, and Elena McWright from Women’s Lacrosse.

Vermont Business Magazine As part of Governor Phil Scott’s overall plan to ensure Vermont’s schools remain safe – as outlined in a memo to legislators in February – the Vermont State Police, Vermont Sheriffs and municipal police departments have begun meeting with school officials throughout the state to conduct school safety site assessments. The assessments seek to gather information on current school emergency preparedness planning, training, policies, security systems and school safety practices being used across Vermont. This data will assist the Vermont School Safety Center, school safety partners, communities and school boards in identifying common school emergency preparedness gaps and areas to focus future planning, training, exercise and equipment initiatives.

Vermont Business Magazine Match Day – the annual rite of passage that ignites a senior medical student’s future – is on Friday, March 16, 2018. Beginning at noon EDT, medical students in the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine’s Class of 2018 and soon-to-be-doctors from across the US and world will learn which US residency program they have been matched to for the next three to seven years.

At UVM’s Larner College of Medicine, the celebration begins at around 11:35 a.m., when members of the Class of 2018 process down the hall of the Given building, following bagpiper H. James Wallace, M.D., a medical alumnus and radiation oncologist, into the Health Science Research Facility’s Hoehl Gallery. A video livestream will allow off-site students, family and friends to participate in the event’s excitement.

Vermont Business Magazine Seven communities around Vermont were announced on Tuesday as the inaugural winners of Main Street Grants, a program the National Life Group Foundation created in partnership with the Vermont Community Foundation. The grants include funding for signs to guide visitors through downtowns, renovation of a community center, and updating a historic performance space. In all, $85,500 in grants were awarded to Barre, Bennington, Montpelier, St Albans, St Johnsbury, Waterbury, and Wilmington. The National Life Foundation provided $70,500 of the funding and the Vermont Community Foundation provided $15,000.

by US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) The only predictable thing about this President is that nothing he says or does survives the test of time. Cabinet officials are fired without even the courtesy of a phone call. Policy pronouncements made with fanfare yesterday are repudiated today. One minute a corrupt foreign dictator is publicly ridiculed, the next minute he is called a great leader and friend. Running our government and foreign policy like an erratic ratings-driven TV impresario is damaging America’s image, interests and leadership.

Firing a Secretary of State by Twitter may make for great drama and instant TV ratings, but this, and countless other instances like this, produce undiluted instability that damages the nation and the office of the presidency at just about every level.

by Secretary of State Jim Condos As Vermont’s Chief Elections Officer my responsibility is to ensure that our fundamental democratic voting rights are protected. I recently learned of language included in Section 4012 of H.R.2825, which provides for the reauthorization of the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which would allow armed Secret Service agents to enter polling locations – at the direction of the president. To say that I am shocked would be a severe understatement.

by Dan Monahan, SBA Mamava The owners of a Burlington company were named the 2018 Vermont Small Business Persons of the Year Monday. Sascha Mayer and Christine Dodson of Mamava are being recognized by the US Small Business Administration for employment growth, financial success, expansion and community involvement. Mamava designs and manufactures free-standing lactation suites for nursing mothers.

by Bob Bick and Catherine Simonson In the two weeks since the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, we’ve again come together as a community to say “never again.” As an organization whose mission is to actively promote well-being and a safe and healthy community, we know that we cannot fully understand the depth of the grief and trauma felt by those impacted. Here in Chittenden County, our school based clinicians, teachers, professional staff, and First Call for Chittenden County crisis responders are providing support to children and families who are experiencing heightened anxiety for their personal safety.

Following these now too common events, the national conversation often turns to the need for better mental health care as a preventive measure. We in the mental health care field have an important role to play in these conversations as a source of accurate input in support of informed dialogue.