Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Use of alcohol among Vermont high school students decreased significantly in the past two years, according to the newly released 2015 Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey. In 2013, nearly 60 percent of high school students reported ever drinking alcohol. In 2015, that figure dropped to 56 percent. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is administered at school every other year to students in grades six through 12, and details the prevalence of a wide range of behaviors that affect health – from smoking, drinking and drug use, to physical activity, nutrition and weight, to violence and mental health status. The survey is conducted by the Vermont Department of Health and Agency of Education. More than 21,000 high school students (grades 9-12), and 13,600 middle school students (grades 6-8) participated in the latest survey, conducted during February and March 2015.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin today urged the Vermont Pension Investment Committee to reevaluate their opposition to divesting Vermont of coal and ExxonMobil stocks. The governor called for Vermont to divest from those assets in his State of the State Address. State Treasurer Beth Pearce has opposed the plan in order to keep the pension funds financially sound. The governor believes strongly that divestment is a tool that should be used to address climate change, especially after California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill last year to divest the state’s nearly $500 billion in pension assets from coal and study divestment from oil. Acknowledging VPIC’s past opposition to arguments about the moral imperative of using divestment to combat climate change, Shumlin focused his remarks on the bad economic investment that coal and ExxonMobil represent.  

Vermont Business Magazine The Gifford Health Care Board of Directors announced on Friday that long-serving Administrator Joseph Woodin will be leaving the organization in May to live in Massachusetts where he has accepted the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital CEO position. In announcing his resignation, Woodin stressed that the move was for personal reasons. “There is not a single reason why I should leave, or want to leave Gifford,” Woodin said. “In the last three years I lost my wife, and then my mother, and it has been a time of personal reflection for me. It’s the right time for me to move forward in life and pursue another opportunity.”

Joe Woodin. Courtesy photo.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Foodbank’s Veggie VanGo, a mobile food pantry, will deliver its second round of healthy groceries to the University of Vermont Health Network – Central Vermont Medical Center in partnership with Hunger Mountain Coop on Friday, February 26. All families and individuals in need are invited to pick up free, fresh produce and other groceries from 9 to 11 a.m. in Conference Rooms 1 and 2 on the lower level of the hospital in Berlin, Vt. More than 150 people turned out for the first event in January. The Veggie VanGo will continue to distribute food at the hospital on several Fridays throughout the winter and spring including April 1, April 29, May 27 and June 24.

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) has announced the appointment of Richard Ader, Kathleen Fisher, and Sue Maguire to its Board of Trustees. “These individuals have unique skills and experiences and will make tremendous contributions to our Board of Trustees,” said David Meiselman, the board chair. “I am delighted to welcome them and eager to see what we can accomplish together.” Ader is the founder of U.S. Realty Advisors, LLC and a recognized real estate expert. He is a graduate of the University of Vermont and serves on the Board of the University of Vermont Foundation and as Chairman of the Advisory Board to the College of Arts and Sciences.

Ader is the owner of the Bennington Tennis Center. He became aware of the hospital when a family member was a patient in the emergency department.

Vermont Business Magazine Members of the Cancer Center Community Crusaders (known as the 4Cs) and the Quiet Valley Quilters have joined forces to support patients at Southwestern Vermont Regional Cancer Center in Bennington. In October, the three organizations worked together to provide 14 handmade quilts to cancer patients whose treatment had ended who had transitioned to hospice care. The quilters are preparing quilts for six additional patients now. Cancer patients and staff build deep relationships throughout their appointments, sometimes over many years. Once a patient has transitioned to hospice care, they no longer come to the Cancer Center. Both patients and staff feel that separation.

Vermont Business Magazine Champlain College, recently named the “#1 Most Innovative School in the North” by US News and World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges,” will hold an open house on Monday, March 21 to highlight its career-focused professional degree programs for adults. The open house at the Champlain College Miller Center at Lakeside, 175 Lakeside Ave., from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., will offer information on more than 50 online programs in the areas of business, education, cybersecurity, healthcare, human studies, law and technology, plus two campus-based Emergent Media master’s programs, to encourage local residents to take advantage of the offerings. It is free and open to the public.  

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin issued the following statement after the Senate Appropriations Committee (on a vote of 4-3) today passed S241, legislation to legalize marijuana in Vermont. This follows favorable votes in both the Senate Judiciary and Finance Committees. The bill is scheduled to go to the full Senate later this week, where it is expected to pass. Its future in the House is less certain. Opponents see the House as an opportunity to stall the bill. Proponents of legalization will push hard to get a bill through the House and all the way to the governor for his signature this year. If the bill fails to pass this session, it would have to start over next year with a new governor and a new Legislature.

Public Assets Institute On opening day of the 2016 legislative session, House Speaker Shap Smith had this advice for his colleagues: “There will be those who suggest that because this is an election year, that we will focus on politics rather than the people’s business. I reject that premise. I know each and every one of you and know that you are here because you believe that we can help make Vermont a better place.” A good way for legislators to heed the speaker’s suggestion would be to resist the temptation to spend all of the Education Fund surplus just to hold down taxes in an election year. It will come back to bite their constituents next year.

Vermont Business Magazine Secretary of State Jim Condos and the Vermont Elections Division would like to remind all Vermonters that the deadline to register to vote is Wednesday, February 24^th! You must register by this date in order to vote in the March 1^st Town Meeting Day and Presidential Primary. Vermonters are welcome to register in person at their town clerk’s office, by mail or online. It must be submitted to the Town or City Clerk of the town or city in which you reside. If you register in person or by mail, you must complete this application:

https://www.sec.state.vt.us/media/33935/VTVoterApp.pdf.

To register online, go to our website and locate the online application. It can be found here:

https://olvr.sec.state.vt.us/.

Vermont Public Radio VPR has released a sweeping poll on several of the most compelling topics in Vermont today. What do Vermonters think about the coming election? What about renewable energy? Guns? Marijuana? School consolidation? Vermont Public Radio has released the full results of a statewide poll that measures Vermonters’ opinions about the presidential race and other key issues facing the state. From February 3 through February 17, 2016, VPR and The Castleton Polling Institute surveyed 895 people living in all of Vermont's 14 counties via landline and mobile phone.

Vermont Business Magazine At an annual meeting of the nation’s governors, Gov. Peter Shumlin led a successful bipartisan effort to create nationwide prescribing protocols to reduce the availability of Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) approved opiates in America. The protocols, which are likely to include restrictions on the number of opiates that can be prescribed, will be developed in the coming weeks and submitted for ratification by the National Governors Association (NGA).

Near the end of a meeting of the NGA’s Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee on Saturday, Shumlin urged that instead of dancing around the issue, the governors should come up with prescribing protocols that would be recommended for all 50 states.

“Let's figure it out,” Shumlin said. “Let's come up with a suggested list of protocols, and as governors let's drive them through our states.” The HHS Committee unanimously approved Shumlin’s motion to do that.