Current News

Theresa Ambrose of Springfield, Vermont, was convicted on March 16, 2015, in Vermont Superior Court, Windsor Criminal Division, of two misdemeanor counts of False Pretenses. The convictions stemmed from Ambrose’s submission of false timesheets in order to obtain payment for services that she did not provide while she was employed as a home-based health care worker under the Choices for Care program, a Vermont Medicaid program.

Ambrose was sentenced to 12 to 24 months in jail, all suspended, and placed on 24 months of probation subject to standard conditions, and the additional conditions that she complete 40 hours of community service and not work as a care provider under any Vermont Medicaid waiver program. Ambrose was also ordered to pay $4,841 in restitution to Vermont Medicaid.

The case was investigated and prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud and Residential Abuse Unit within the Vermont Attorney General’s Office.

In an effort to understand the effectiveness of its traffic safety efforts, the Vermont State Police is looking for public feedback. A new survey has just been posted on the Vermont State Police website, where people are invited to share their observations on certain topics like seatbelt and cellphone use. This survey provides the public an opportunity to have input into an important statewide safety campaign.

Vermont has made positive strides saving lives through enforcement, education, engineering safer roads and an improved ability to render medical aid immediately following a crash, but the VSP needs the public's assistance in keeping the roads safe for everyone. 2014 saw the lowest number of fatalities since 1944 and the lowest number of alcohol impaired related fatalities (6) in decades. But even one fatality is an enormous.

Governor Peter Shumlin today renewed an historic agreement between the States of Vermont and New York and the Government of Québec to collaboratively enhance and preserve Lake Champlain and its watershed. The partnership dates back to 1988 and has been renewed seven times in the 27 years since. Through a memorandum of understanding signed today, Vermont, New York, and Quebec agree to share research and information on water quality and conservation, improve the flood resilience of communities in the Lake Champlain watershed, protect natural and cultural resources, reduce polluted storm water runoff and blue-green algae blooms, and protect the lake from aquatic invasive species. The partners will also work closely with the Lake Champlain Basin Program to implement Lake Champlain’s long-term management plan, Opportunities for Action.

So far this year, the Vermont Attorney General has filed four Assurances of Discontinuance, settling violations of Vermont’s Prescribed Product Gift Ban and Disclosure Law by prescribed product manufacturers. Each of the four manufacturers agreed to prospective compliance with the law, which bans most gifts to Vermont health care providers and requires manufacturers of prescribed products to disclose expenditures deemed appropriate by the legislature. All violations were self-reported. The four manufacturers paid a total of $137,750.00 to settle the claims.

In re Leica Microsystems, Inc of Buffalo Grove, IL, paid $50,000. Assurance of Discontinuance. March 9, 2015

A national firm has released its monthly mortgage data indicating that the number of bad mortgages (delinquent plus foreclosures) are falling faster than the national average and that homes are more affordable now than before the housing bubble on the mid-2000s. Nationally, every state has shown a decrease in the number of non-current mortgages, while some states are now less affordable than they were.

Black Knight Financial Services has released its latest Mortgage Monitor Report, based on data as of the end of January 2015. The month's data showed that both first-time and repeat foreclosure starts reached 12-month highs, although there was clear separation in the levels of increase between the two. According to Trey Barnes, Black Knight's senior vice president of Loan Data Products, separation also continues to be seen between judicial and non-judicial foreclosure states across multiple performance indicators.

The Vermont Environmental Consortium and Vermont Technical College (VTC) have announced that registration is open for its spring conference: “The 4th Annual Water Quality Conference: Learning from Other Successes.” The conference will be held Friday, May 29, 2015 at VTC’s Judd Hall on its Randolph Center campus.

by Bruce Lisman Recently, I pointed to a few examples of how our government has failed us – the large budget deficit and the failed rollout of Vermont Health Connect are headliners. But, so is the stubborn insistence by the Governor and many legislators that the education system and its ruinous funding system work for Vermonters. It doesn’t.

Even the proposed solutions to the budget deficit – a relentless search for increased fees, taxes and a new payroll tax suggest our Governor has learned little from four years of budget mismanagement. Add to that, the newly proposed education reforms that would do little to solve our funding problems while advocating for forced consolidation of school districts which is unsupported by available research.

The Vermont Agency of Education has approved Goddard College for an Early College Program beginning in the 2015-2016 academic year, making Goddard only the second private college in the state with this enrollment option for high school students. Students who are at least 16 years old and enrolled full time in high school or in an approved home-school program may take a full year of college-level classes while completing their high school degree. Tuition is free to Vermont high school students, though students are responsible for books and related fees. Funding comes from the Vermont Agency of Education.

The Vermont Department of Labor (VDOL) has identified an intentional, unauthorized acquisition by an employee of “personally-identifiable information” from its unemployment insurance program database. The now-former employee had access to such information because her regular work duties required her to utilize the department’s UI system; however, the department does not permit any employee to copy, transfer (by hard copy, electronic/downloaded transfer, or any other means), disclose or retain such data for any purpose unrelated to the department’s business. The Department has confirmed that none of its computer systems were breached.

Vermont will be among the first states in the country to pilot a program designed to help Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-eligible (3SquaresVT) participants find new jobs and develop new skills for the workforce, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced Friday. The State of Vermont community partners across Vermont are being awarded $9 million in competitive federal grants to fund the pilot program and evaluate the results, so the best approaches can later be tried in other states. Vermont is one of only ten projects selected across the nation in this competitive process.

Vermont Business Magazine If a new plan laid out Friday by the Shumlin Administration does not meet intended goals, the governor said he will move the state health insurance exchange to a new model which could include dropping much of VHC and using the federal exchange. Governor Peter Shumlin today has announced that Vermont has finalized a contract and timeline to deliver long-sought automated “change of circumstance” functionality to the Vermont Health Connect website, and will present a plan to deliver improved customer service to Vermonters that includes specific legislated milestones and contingencies in the event Vermont Health Connect fails to meet expectations for improved service in the coming months.

Chief of Health Care Reform Lawrence Miller outlined the plan in the Legislature.

On Tuesday, the Vermont State Board of Education unanimously voted to suspend the use of Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) scores for the 2014-2015 school year for the purpose of annual school evaluation determinations. These English Language Arts and Mathematics assessments were developed to measure student mastery of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which were adopted in 2010. The Board said it first wants to see if the test can be administered equitably for all students, given that it must be taken on a computer, and if the results can be construed as reliable assessments of educational attainment.