Current News

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org The management of Jay Peak Resort is defending its right to convert $17.5 million in equity stakes held by immigrant investors into unsecured, nine-year loans. The conversion was implemented on Aug. 31, 2013, without the knowledge or consent of 35 immigrant investors who each put up $500,000 toward the construction of Tram Haus Lodge, which is part of the Jay Peak Resort. The deal was disclosed to reporters and the Vermont EB-5 Regional Center last year, but investors were not sent a copy of paperwork for the original loan until May of this year. Jay Peak has since offered a second IOU to investors that shortens the repayment period to five years. The promissory note is secured by the value of Jay Peak Resort, says company president Bill Stenger. But a group of 20 disgruntled investors question the value of the guarantee.

Funeral services for Vermont Law School Professor Cheryl Hanna will be held Friday, August 1, in the Ira Allen Chapel at the University of Vermont, her family and school officials confirmed Tuesday. VLS Trustee Emeritus and former Board of Trustees Chairman J. Scott Cameron will speak at the service, which will begin at 3 pm.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Cheryl’s family during this time of deepest sorrow—and with our students, alumni, faculty, and staff who mourn their colleague, teacher, and friend,” said President and Dean Marc Mihaly. “Cheryl’s legacy of leadership, scholarship, advocacy, and service is an inspiration to all of us.”

SEE FULL STATEMENT FROM PRESIDENT MIHALY BELOW

The Department of Environmental Conservation’s Compliance and Enforcement Division (CED) today announced that it formally settled environmental violations involving the Village of Essex Junction. Essex Junction operates a wastewater treatment facility which released 1,954,853 gallons of non-disinfected wastewater into the Winooski River. The settlement includes a $22,625.00 penalty. A CED investigation revealed that during construction activities at the facility last summer, operators moved a panel which controls the application of hypochlorite for disinfection.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) on Tuesday introduced legislation that would restore Americans’ privacy rights by ending the government’s dragnet collection of phone records and requiring greater oversight, transparency, and accountability with respect to domestic surveillance authorities. The updated version of the USA FREEDOM Act released July 29 builds on legislation passed in the House in May, as well as the original legislation Leahy introduced with Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) last October.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org Vermont will apply for an extension of its roughly $100 million in remaining federal grants for implementing the Affordable Care Act, state officials confirmed Monday. Vermont has spent more than $72 million thus far, and state officials have indicated they believe it will take the full $171 million earmark to complete the project.

As part of his Summer Solar Tour, Governor Peter Shumlin today visited Northern Reliability in Waitsfield, one of the many solar businesses that has helped Vermont earn the Number 1 national ranking for solar jobs per capita, to announce $442,750 in Clean Energy Development Fund grants for nine community solar projects. Overall these grants will support the installation of more than 500 kilowatts of solar for schools, towns, and communities in Vermont. This includes $80,000 for the Town of Waitsfield to install a 102 kilowatt solar project on the town garage to power Waitsfield’s municipal buildings.

Vermont Business Magazine Two Republican legislators are taking Governor Peter Shumlin at his word and are insisting that he immediately address the continuing difficulties many Vermonters are facing with Vermont Health Connect. In a statement released today, Representatives Patti Komline (R-Dorset) and Heidi Scheuermann (R-Stowe), called on the governor to take immediate steps to ensure timely access to health insurance and health care for all.

Patti Komline (R-Dorset). Photo by VTDigger.

A procedure tested during a clinical trial at Fletcher Allen Health Care and the University of Vermont to replace heart valves using catheters instead of open heart surgery has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for use in two categories of patients. The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology have also added Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) to their guidelines.

Patients from Vermont and northern New York with failing heart valves who could not tolerate open heart surgery – the current standard of care for valve replacement – or who were at “high risk” for complications or death during surgery were among the first in the country to receive this groundbreaking treatment as part of the Medtronic CoreValve® U.S. Pivotal Trial in 2012. Fletcher Allen/UVM was one of only 45 sites in trial, which produced these results:

· TAVR was proven to be safe and effective in inoperable patients

House and Senate negotiators late Monday signed a conference committee agreement on legislation that would allocate about $17 billion to overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs. The agreement, filed in the House of Representatives shortly before midnight, includes $5 billion for strengthening the VA by recruiting more doctors, nurses and other medical providers and other measures. It allots $10 billion to help veterans access care from private doctors if they have been on waiting lists for more than a month or don't live near VA facilities. Some $2 billion more is set aside for additional veterans benefits. “Planes and tanks and guns are a cost of war,” Sanders said. “'So is taking care of the men and women who use those weapons and fight our battles.”

by Morgan True vtdigger.org In the wake of further revelations about the extent of problems with Vermont Health Connect this week, Governor Peter Shumlin called the situation “unacceptable” and said it’s his responsibility to fix. “There’s been nothing more frustrating for me in my tenure as governor than the Vermont Health Connect website,” Shumlin told reporters at a news conference last week in Barre. Thousands of Vermonters have had difficulty verifying that they are covered because the website won’t allow users to fix mistakes in the information they enter or make changes to their coverage.

Many people aren’t finding out that there is a problem until they go to the pharmacy or visit the doctor. Others are seeing their payments lost in the system or receiving the wrong invoices.

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital's Birthing Center, the Windham County Breastfeeding Coalition, and the BMH Ten-Step Committee to Empower Mothers and Nurture Babies are joining forces to celebrate the 2014 World Breastfeeding Week during the first week of August.

This year's theme, as established by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), is "Breastfeeding: A Winning Goal - for Life!"

According to WABA Chairperson Dr. Felicity Savage, “Breastfeeding has been shown repeatedly to be the single most effective way to prevent infant death; it plays a major role in children’s health and development, and significantly benefits the health of mothers.”

The Vermont Community Loan Fund has awarded $64,770 in the most recent round of Building Bright Futures Facilities Grants to nine child care programs throughout Vermont. Building Bright Futures Facilities Grants (BBFFG) are funded by a consortium of private foundations, legislative appropriations, donations and sales of special issue BBFFG license plates. VCLF administers the grants on behalf of the Department of Children and Families’ Child Development Division, to promote facility improvements in physical environments for children and youth in Vermont.

BBFFG was established to assist child care business owners with real estate purchases, construction and renovations, with the ultimate goal of increasing the quantity and quality of child care programs in Vermont.