Current News

by Morgan True vtdigger.org State regulators approved a 3.1 percent overall increase in hospital revenue for the coming year, budgeting a combined $2.2 billion for Vermont’s 14 hospitals. The Green Mountain Care Board approved the six remaining hospital budgets at its Thursday meeting, though the revenue figures won’t be final until hospitals receive signed orders Monday. The hospital budget year begins October 1. The overall increase is worth $67.8 million, and is larger than the approved increase from last year of $57.9 million. The lion’s share of that increase, 57 percent or $38.7 million, will go to the state’s largest hospital and only academic medical center, Fletcher Allen Health Care.

The Kelly Brush Century Ride Powered by VBT Bicycling and Walking Vacations drew more than 700 riders who raised $320,00 for adaptive athletic equipment for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) and to improve ski racing safety. Riding as teams and individuals, 724 cyclists, including 28 handcyclists, rolled out from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont on September 6 raising a record amount for the Kelly Brush Foundation’s mission to conquer the challenges of paralysis through love of sport and to raise awareness about and raise the bar for ski racing safety. The fundraising ride is Vermont’s largest.

by John McClaughry Once again Vermonters are preparing to go to the polls, and there are plenty of issues on their plate. For the one third of voters who must pay the school homestead property tax, the Big Issue is likely to be “why am I staring at yet another, bigger school property tax bill? Where does this end?”

The legislature and governor have increased the homestead school property tax rate in each of the past four years – and they are almost certainly going to do it again in 2015. The rate has climbed from 86 cents per $100 Fair Market Value (in 2011) to 98 cents (in 2014) – even as the number of public school pupils has dropped by a thousand in each of those years.

For the second year in row, Vermont is one of only four states to exceed the Healthy People 2020 breastfeeding goals established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A 2014 Breastfeeding Report Card published by CDC in August showed Vermont women breastfeed their babies at birth, three months and six months at a rate well above the national average. Vermont exceeded the national goals in five categories including rates of exclusive breastfeeding at three and six months.

“Vermont hospitals and our breastfeeding support community have done a phenomenal job,” said Breena Holmes, MD, director of maternal and child health for the Health Department. “Breastfeeding is the most protective and nutritious way to way to feed your baby. It contributes to brain development and acts as a protection against obesity and chronic disease later in life.”

Four Vermont citizens and environmental leaders -- Bruce Post, Curt McCormack, Charles W. Johnson, and Kevin B Jones -- filed a petition Monday with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate what they claim are deceptive trade practices of Green Mountain Power in the marketing of renewable energy to Vermont consumers. The petition was filed by the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic at Vermont Law School. The petition documents that, pursuant to Vermont’s Sustainably Priced Energy Enterprise Development (SPEED) law, GMP has represented to its customers and to the public that it provides electricity from renewable sources, thereby reducing the customer’s carbon footprint and protecting the environment.

Lake Champlain Transportation Company, which operates ship repair and painting facilities in Burlington and Shelburne will take actions to minimize air emissions and protect air quality. In addition, under the settlement, Lake Champlain Transportation Company will pay $100,000 in penalties to resolve EPA claims that the company violated both federal and state clean air regulations. The company, which operates ferry boat services for passengers and vehicles between Vermont and New York, performs maintenance on its ferry boats at the facilities, including coating operations with the use of paint spray guns.

Norwich University President Richard W Schneider will announce the university’s largest comprehensive fundraising campaign in its history. Called “Forging the Future,” the campaign kicks off Friday at a special gala during the university’s Homecoming 2014 celebration. University officials expect some 3,000 guests, more than half alumni, on campus over the course of the weekend, with events running Thursday, September 18, through Sunday, September 21. Schneider’s announcement will officially begin the five-year countdown to Norwich’s bicentennial in 2019 when the university will celebrate its 200^th anniversary and step into its third century of service to the nation.

Principal/Chief Creative Officer Michael Jager has revealed the new identity of the evolution of Jager Di Paola Kemp Design. The company, which reconfigured in late 2013, is now Solidarity of Unbridled Labour. Solidarity represents the unity of a focused group of design professionals who, along with clients, create a cohesive partnership that nurtures ideas and collaboratively builds better brands internationally. Unbridled perfectly captures the act of breaking free from the traditional marketing frameworks and constraints that limit creativity, in addition to acknowledging 30 years in the making, the vast unbridled network of talent of the Solidarity collaborators. Labour acknowledges the passion, energy and intention that the team and its client collaborators pour into what they create. The word honors the "makers" passion that brings the work to life and drives meaningful results.

At a ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the naming of the Rian Fried Center for Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems, President Matthew Derr announced Monday that an anonymous donor has pledged a gift of $1 million to be matched by gifts from trustees, alumni, and friends of Vermont’s college of environmental stewardship.

“This gift will be the largest single act of philanthropy in the history of Sterling College. It comes at a time when the College’s focus on the human relationship with the natural world is of increasingly critical importance to Vermonters and to all global citizens,” said Derr.

Vermont Business Magazine New unemployment claims in Vermont edged up again last week. Claims are typically low this time of year. They tend to rise in the transition from summer to back-to-school in early September. However, they remain under 500 as the school season begins. Levels this year have been running consistently lower than those of last year. For the week of September 6, 2014, there were 370 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is an increase of 37 from the previous week's total, and 63 fewer than they were a year ago.

A Vermont Law School student spent the summer shadowing a North Carolina lawyer in a case where two innocent men finally saw justice after 31 years in prison on a rape and murder conviction — making international headlines and forever changing the lives of the defendants and their defense team. Christopher Knowles ’15, a juris doctor candidate at VLS, worked closely with Leon Brown’s defense attorney Ann Kirby. Together they pored over thousands of pages of trial transcripts, discovery documents, and forensic reports in the case of Brown and his half-brother Henry McCollum, who were sentenced to death for the 1983 rape and murder of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie.

Ten community health centers in Vermont were awarded $2.1 million to expand primary health care services, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced today. The funds are to support 47 new full-time employees to care for 11,850 new patients across the state. The awards were Vermont’s share of $295.5 million in nationwide grants for 1,195 health centers. The federal funds were authorized by a Sanders provision in the Affordable Care Act that authorized $11 billion community health centers. This year, community health centers in Vermont will serve one in four Vermonters at more than 50 health center sites across the state. This funding will provide funds to hire new providers, expand services, and extend open hours.