Current News

With the launch of a new patient portal this month, called “MyHealthPortal,” BMH Physician Group now offers patients the option to access select portions of their health records online. MyHealthPortal, featured on the BMH Physician Group home page will launch June 2014, giving patients fast, easy access to their personal health information. MyHealthPortal is a personalized, safe, secure and completely confidential communication link between the patient and the providers. Through a secure Internet portal, patients will be able to view portions of the medical record, including lab results and medications. Patients will also be able to schedule routine appointments online, request a prescription renewal, complete patient registration and health forms, as well as view and pay bills.

by Kate McCarthy, VNRC Vermonters may think of VNRC as primarily an environmental organization: one that supports healthy land, air, water and wildlife, and clean energy. That’s all true – and has been since VNRC was founded over 50 years ago. What many people may not always realize, however, is that we also see our downtowns and villages as an essential part of sustaining Vermont’s environmental values.

In addition to being an important part of our history, heritage, and sense of place, our downtowns and villages give us all more housing options, reduce our reliance on cars, and take development pressure off our rural lands.

Start saving your flashlight batteries for recycling: On May 22, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed into law Act 139, the first battery recycling law of its kind in the country. Act 139 lays the groundwork for free and convenient recycling of most single-use batteries sold in Vermont by 2016. The law requires single-use battery manufacturers to plan, implement, and manage a statewide battery collection program by January 1, 2016.

Northern Power Systems Corp (TSX:NPS), a next-generation renewable energy technology provider based in Barre, is developing along with its Brazilian partner WEG (IBOVESPA: WEGE3) a new 3.3MW wind turbine. WEG is one of the world's largest manufacturers of electrical equipment. This new development effort will further complement WEG and Northern Power Systems' existing portfolio of utility class wind turbines currently led by a 2MW-class on-shore turbine offering. The 3.3MW turbine development is part of an agreement between WEG and Tractebel Energia (IBOVESPA: TBLE3), a company of GDF Suez Group, under the Brazilian National El ectrical Energy Agency (ANEEL) research and development program.

As part of TODAY's Shine a Light series, a campaign to support worthy causes throughout the year, TODAY anchor, Carson Daly has chosen to shine a light on childhood hunger and healthy eating in America. He’s teamed up with KidsGardening.org, a national nonprofit organization based in Vermont, that's on a mission to get a Garden in Every School® across the country.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three kids in America is overweight or obese. Additionally, the USDA reports that one in four American kids live in food insecure homes, which means that some children are going to bed hungry. School gardens provide an opportunity for children to explore new foods, while giving easier access to fresh produce. On top on these benefits, gardening allows for hands-on learning, which better enables academic success while building skills that will last a lifetime.

Enjoy a free sample of Vermont’s fishing, State Parks and State Historic Sites during the annual Vermont Days weekend celebration on June 14-15. All Vermont State Park day areas, State Historic Sites, and the Vermont History Museum in Montpelier will be open at no charge all weekend. Saturday, June 14 is also free fishing day – the one day of the year when residents and non-residents may go fishing without a license in any Vermont State Park.

“Vermont Days is a great opportunity to explore Vermont’s outstanding variety of recreation, culture and history,” said Governor Peter Shumlin. “We have more than 50 state parks and nine historic sites all around our state, each offering their own unique and authentic Vermont experience.”

Q Burke Mountain Resort has announced that a mutual agreement has been reached with Kingdom Trails Association regarding the operation of the Q Burke Mountain Bike Park, and the cross-country bike trails that lie on Q Burke Mountain Resort property. The agreement allows for Q Burke Mountain Resort to maintain and operate the trails within the Bike Park, while Kingdom Trails Association will continue to maintain the cross-country trails on Q Burke Mountain Resort property under their standard landowner agreement. Kingdom Trails members will have access to the cross-country trails seven days a week and the bike park trails during non-operating hours, free of charge. In recognition of Kingdom Trails Association’s efforts towards winning the Bell Helmets Grant that allowed for the construction of Roly Grail, Q Burke Mountain Resort has made a monetary donation to Kingdom Trails to go towards the construction of a new trail within the KTA network.

by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org Jay Peak’s developers announced at a hotel groundbreaking in Burke on Tuesday afternoon that their proposed biotechnology plant in Newport had gained a key federal approval.The news that the Newport project had won EB-5 approval further buoyed the optimism on Burke Mountain, where planned expansions have been pushed back due to delays in the same immigrant investor program that will fund the proposed AnC Bio facility. Q Burke Resort’s 180,000-square-foot hotel is slated to open in December 2015, along with an aquatic center and tennis facility. Construction will commence next spring or summer. Two more hotels, adding another 116 units to the mountain, are set to follow.

Vermont will collect $1.4 million as its share of a settlement reached between GlaxoSmithKline, LLC, Attorney General William Sorrell and the attorneys general of 43 other States and the District of Columbia. The settlement, totaling $105 million, resolves allegations that GSK unlawfully promoted its asthma drug Advair, and antidepressant drugs Paxil and Wellbutrin, by misrepresenting the proper uses and qualities of these drugs.

“A drug manufacturer cannot be allowed to lie about which patients can safely use its drugs, nor to incentivize and reward sales teams for spreading misinformation about its drugs,” said Attorney General Sorrell. “The settlement addresses this misconduct.”
GSK must reform its marketing and promotional practices under the settlement in a number of ways. For example, GSK cannot:

Attorney General William Sorrell issued a GE Food Labeling Questionnaire today in his first official solicitation of public input on the rules that will implement Act 120 — the law requiring the labeling of foods produced with genetic engineering. All interested persons, including food processors, grocers and other retailers, distributors, the agricultural community, and consumers, are encouraged to take the questionnaire, which is available here (at www.surveymonkey.com/s/vt-ago-gefoodrule), and to forward it to others who may desire to provide input. The questionnaire will be open until June 30, 2014.

Vermont Business Magazine At the Vermont Ski Areas Association annual meeting at Killington Resort, the state’s resorts celebrated another stellar season with 4,503,269 skier & rider visits, nearly identical to last year’s near-record numbers. The 2013-14 season tally once again ranks Vermont number one in the East and number three in the country, according to preliminary figures from the National Ski Areas Association. The record early start and strong finish to the season were welcome boosts to Vermont’s coffers as well, with November business netting a 13 percent increase in the rooms & meals tax revenue over last year while March posted an 8.5 percent gain. Overall, the winter season generated a 6 percent increase in the rooms & meals tax revenues while matching last year’s strong sales tax revenues, once again highlighting the ski and snowboard industry as a cornerstone of the Vermont economy.

Governor Peter Shumlin joined Vermont employers, colleges, chambers of commerce and others in Waterbury today in announcing the new ‘Great Jobs in Vermont’ campaign, a marketing and job listing effort to connect job seekers in and out of state with exciting available job openings in Vermont businesses. “With the second lowest unemployment rate in the country, we need to make sure people know that we have great jobs in Vermont – and lots of them,” the Governor said at a news conference at the Keurig Green Mountain, Inc Beverage Technology Center in Waterbury.