Current News

Vermont Business MagazineThe University of Vermont was one of three institutions of higher education whose work to address high risk drinking and other substance misuse was honored with a Prevention Excellence Award at the ninth annual Campus Prevention Network Summit in Boston on June 12. The award was presented byEVERFI, Inc., a leading technology innovator. The Campus Prevention Networkis a nationwide initiative of over 1,700 institutions dedicated to creating safer, healthier campus communities.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott appointed David Soucy on Monday as Senator for the Rutland District, serving Rutland County. He will serve alongside Senators Peg Flory (R) and Brian Collamore (R).Soucy will be sworn in this week, and was one of three nominees put forward by the Rutland County Republican Committee. He will be participating in the veto session, which beginsWednesday.

Soucy, a resident of Killington, was appointed to fill the seat vacated by former Senator Kevin Mullin (R), who was recently appointed as chair of the Green Mountain Care Board. Keeping with traditional practice when replacing a member of the Legislature, Gov. Scott selected a replacement from the same political party.

Vermont Business MagazineVermont Attorney General TJ Donovan joined a coalition of states in filing alawsuitagainst the USDepartment of Energy (DOE) for failing to publish finalized energy efficiency standards for five products: portable air conditioners, uninterruptible power supplies, air compressors, walk-in coolers and freezers, and commercial packaged boilers.

Vermont Business Magazine DrJoanne Mather Conroy has been selected as the second Chief Executive Officer and President of Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, Board of Trustees Chair Anne-Lee Verville has announced. The appointment was made by a unanimous vote of the Board at a special meeting on June 14.Conroy will assume her role at D-H on August 7,2017.

Vermont Business Magazine The northern New England law firm Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC has adopted a new policy that awards up to 12 weeks of paid leave to new parents. Specifically, the new DRM policy, when combined with its short term disability program, provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave to mothers of newborn children and up to six weeks of leave to fathers and partners of birth mothers, as well as to the parents of adopted children aged 16 and younger. The policy was approved by directors in March and announced by Deputy Managing Partner Peter B Kunin in April.

Vermont Business Magazine Dragonheart Vermont’s Board of Directors announces the closure of Survivorship NOW, a wellness center for cancer survivors in our community. Begun in 2011 and based in Williston, Survivorship NOW has helped 400 Vermonters with their cancer recovery. Survivorship NOW will continue its free wellness programs until July 31, 2017.

According to Executive Director, Penni Cross, “Dragonheart Vermont has worked tirelessly for 6 years to help Survivorship NOW thrive. Our goal has been to provide needed support services to help cancer survivors find their ‘new normal’ after their cancer diagnoses. This difficult decision to end the wellness center resulted after careful consideration of Survivorship NOW’s programs, costs, and community outreach. We concluded that it is time to move on to new goals.”

Vermont Business Magazine Healthy Living Market and Cafe has partnered with Hope Lodge in Burlington to provide educational resources for patients and their families. Hope Lodge offers free lodging to cancer patients undergoing treatment at the University of Vermont Medical Center.Through this partnership, patients have access to information and recipes to make nutritious food choices while undergoing cancer treatment, and making healthy changes that they'll then take home with them once they leave treatment. Not only are we stressing the importance of making healthy, nutritious food choices, we're showing folks how they can implement changes into their everyday life.

by John McClaughry As the Republican Congress struggles to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, the political landscape is steadily shifting. Since the Democratic Congress enacted Obamacare in 2010 (without a single Republican vote), Democrats have increasingly been on the defensive about their creation. The individual mandate that Obamacare relied upon to corral healthy young people into insurance pools has failed to do the job – partly because the tax penalty was not severe enough, and partly because the Obama administration felt compelled to create 14 different types of “hardship exemptions” that exempted millions of young people from the penalty.

Vermont Business MagazineUSCitizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will present 82citizenship candidates to the USDistrict Court Vermont District during two separate naturalization ceremonies in Chittenden County,June 21 and June 23. The first will be at Essex High School and the second will be atEthan Allen Homestead in Burlington.

Weds.,June 21:

USCIS to hold citizenship ceremony at the Essex High School

by Senator Christopher Bray, New Haven Two weeks ago Governor Scott vetoed both of the state’s “must-pass” bills—the budget and the tax bill. His vetoes set us on a course for a shut down of state government on July 1st. This did not need to happen. The governor’s vetoes are both surprising and disappointing. In January, the governor issued a challenge to the legislature: pass a budget that relies on no new taxes or fees. In a time of rising cost of health care costs, an opioid epidemic, and a housing shortage, this was a difficult test—one that required months of hard work and compromise in the both the Senate and House.

Vermont Business Magazine Valley Vista, the 99-bed inpatient alcohol and chemical dependency treatment center in Bradford, is partnering with CDPHP, a Capital District health plan with nearly 400,000 members, to provide addiction recovery services to the health plan’s managed care members. As a new CDPHP provider, Valley Vista offers addiction treatment services to adult men and women, as well as adolescents ages 13 to 17. The partnership became effective June 1, 2017.

“As we continue to serve a growing number of members who require addiction services, we are proud to expand our provider network to include Valley Vista,” said Robert Holtz, vice president of behavioral health at CDPHP. “This partnership will allow CDPHP members access the additional care services they need at a time and place that’s convenient,” added Robert.

Vermont Business MagazineTwenty-nine students from the Class of 2017 who received diplomas at Southern Vermont College’s (SVC) commencement exercises onMay 13 in Bennington also celebrated the support they received from the TRIO Program, the federal outreach and student service support program, which provides services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.

SVC's federal TRIO grant, the only TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) program at a private college in Vermont, is administered through the College’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL).SVC's CTL provides a full range of free academic support and career-building resources, including academic counseling, tutoring, learning differences support, and help with strategic skill development, such as organization and time management, delivered by highly trained professional staff, to help students achieve their highest potentials.