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Vermont Business Magazine In 2009, Parkinson’s disease patient Cassandra Blanchard would walk her youngest daughter to the school bus stop near her house in Randolph and then find herself unable to get back home, because her medication had worn off. “I had on and off fluctuations that were horrible,” Blanchard says. The drugs she took would help her regain function, but a couple of hours later, she’d suddenly weaken. “I’d get stuck in grocery stores” and particularly while shopping among crowded racks of clothing, Blanchard says. “I’d freeze, and I couldn’t move. My son had to just pick me up and carry me out.”

James Boyd, M.D., UVM Associate Professor of Neurological Sciences (Photo: COM Design & Photography)

by John McClaughry The ranks of people opposed to the controversial school consolidation act (Act 46) are rapidly growing. The Vermont School Boards Association has expressed grave displeasure with the provision that penalizes local school districts that spend more than the state thinks necessary. Districts exploring merging into larger unified districts are complaining about the confusion and uncertainty of the process. And friends of parental choice in the 93 tuition districts fear – rightly – that the merger pressure will force them to abandon choice.

The latter two issues are interconnected, and fortunately there is a happier solution than the mare’s nest of Act 46.

Imagine this: the voters of several towns agree to join a larger Unified District. That new district enjoys the combined tax base of the component towns and receives its budget funding from the Education Fund just as if it were one oversized town district.

Vermont Business Magazine As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, two local businesses organized fundraising activities for the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital Oncology Department and Comprehensive Breast Care Program. Robin White and her staff at Curves of Brattleboro held a Zumba dance party on October 30th, with the help of local Zumba instructors, Maribeth Fonda and Rachel Shaw. More than 30 women danced for over 2 hours to raise awareness and support for women battling breast disease. Three of the participating women, who raised over $500 each, received a free one-year membership to Curves. The event raised $3,719 and will be used to support BMH breast cancer patients by providing wigs, bras, breast prostheses, books and materials, groceries and gas cards to help women through treatment and recovery. “I wanted all the money to go to local women facing this disease head on,” said White.

Vermont Business Magazine University of Vermont (UVM) College of Medicine Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Russell Tracy, Ph.D., was awarded the Distinguished Scientist designation by the American Heart Association (AHA)/American Stroke Association (ASA) during the Opening Session at the AHA 2015 Scientific Sessions on November 8, 2015 in Orlando. In receiving this distinction, Tracy, who is a Fellow of the AHA, joins “a prominent group of scientists and clinicians whose work has importantly advanced our understanding of cardiovascular diseases and stroke,” according to the AHA. Created in 2003, the award recognizes AHA/ASA members for significant, original and sustained scientific contributions that have advanced the association's mission of “Building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.”

Vermont Business Magazine The People’s United Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of People’s United Bank, announced today that it has awarded $10,000 to King Street Center in Burlington. Founded in 1971, King Street Center offers educational, recreational, and social programs to disadvantaged youth and families. Of the more than 500 children and families served each year, over half are minorities, most of whom are refugees and immigrants whose first language is not English. The center’s programs include an accredited Head Start Pre-School, afterschool programs and tutoring and mentoring programs.

Vermont Business Magazine After a successful pilot program earlier this year, Gov. Peter Shumlin and Windsor County State’s Attorney Michael Kainen today announced that a Driver Restoration Day will be held in Windsor County on December 11th. Vermonters who have had their license suspended for failure to pay traffic tickets will be eligible to pay $25 per ticket to get their driving privileges reinstated. The effort is aimed at ensuring lower-income Vermonters are not forced to make choices between paying for overdue tickets or daily necessities as well as increasing public safety.

“No one is served by a system where Vermonters who cannot afford to pay traffic tickets are faced with the decision of breaking the law, and risking increased fines, in order to drive to work to earn a living,” said Gov. Shumlin. “We want Vermonters licensed, insured, and working, not stuck in a cycle of ballooning fees and fines that they’ll never be able to pay.”

Vermont Business Magazine AHS Secretary Hal Cohen and DCF Commissioner Ken Schatz have announced that Vermont has been awarded approximately $18.4 million in federal funds for this year's Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) also known as Seasonal Fuel Assistance. These funds will help about 24,700 low-income Vermont households to heat their homes this winter by paying a portion of their home heating bills. "This program is essential in keeping our low-income Vermonters warm throughout the winter," said AHS Secretary Hal Cohen.

"Lower caseloads and significantly lower fuel prices have allowed us to maintain the same buying power for Vermonters without requiring significant State funds," said DCF Commissioner Ken Schatz.

Vermont Business Magazine Mayor Miro Weinberger today was joined by Senator Patrick Leahy, Governor Peter Shumlin, other State and City officials, waterfront stakeholders, and community members to celebrate the opening of the northern waterfront. The celebration marks the conclusion and ribbon-cutting of Waterfront Access North (WAN), the first major new waterfront public infrastructure investment since the creation of Waterfront Park in the early 1990s, and stands as a major step in the decades-long effort to reclaim the waterfront from its post-industrial history and convert it to modern use. Further, the extension and improvement of Lake Street and public utilities will support new uses of the northern waterfront.

Construction of the WAN project began in August 2014 and includes the following key improvements:

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin announced today that for the first time in Vermont history, the State House Christmas tree will come from federally managed land within the 400,000-acre Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF). The 32-foot balsam fir will be harvested Tuesday on public land in Hancock, Vermont from a wildlife habitat management area. A tree lighting ceremony will be held December 1 at 4:30 pm on the State House steps in Montpelier. The event is open to the public. There will be remarks from Governor Shumlin, a certificate of appreciation presentation, the official tree lighting and refreshments in the State House lobby.

by Mike Smith Evil can’t be contained. It can’t be subdued, reasoned or negotiated with. Evil has no regard for morality or life. Evil is only interested in growing stronger, and it will destroy anything or anybody that may get in its way. The only way to eliminate evil is to defeat it. Evil exists in many forms. But the evil we are trying to come to grips with, in light of Paris, manifests itself in an organization called ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

by Mike Polhamus vtdigger.org Vermont must build future renewable power sources on a scale that fits with the character of Vermont towns, Governor Peter Shumlin said last week. Developers shouldn’t burden small towns with large energy projects, he said. Instead, smaller-scale production sources will ensure Vermonters profit most from the state’s renewable energy push, he said. Shumlin delivered his comments the day after Green Mountain Power released a map showing certain regions of the state produce renewable energy at a rate disproportionate to what they consume.

by Governor Peter Shumlin For most of the last two decades, Vermont’s prison inmate population has been rising. Between 1997 and 2008, it grew by 86 percent. Projections made in 2007 said that Vermont’s inmate population would grow to 2,619 by November 2015. After years of work to reform Vermont’s criminal justice system that trend has been reversed, and today Vermont has 1,734 inmates, 885 less than projected.

When I first ran for Governor I made reforming the criminal justice system a priority because it is the right thing to do. I also said doing so would save us money and allow us to invest in things early childhood education, which we know to reduce the likelihood that someone will land in jail later in life.