Current News
by tim
When 12-year-old Marisa “Missy” Magel passed away suddenly while at summer camp in rural Texas, it was from a disease her family never knew she had—brain aneurysm disease. The disease claims 32,000 lives annually in the United States—more than prostate cancer—partly because brain aneurysms are often misdiagnosed as migraine headaches.
Now a $150,000 grant to the Center for Telehealth at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (D-H) from the Missy Project, a foundation her family started in 1999 following Missy’s death, will help brain aneurysm patients in northern New England have rapid access to neurovascular specialists; access that may have helped save Missy’s life.
by tim
John McClaughry From 1906 to 1951 the Springfield municipal gas plant converted coal to gas and piped it to homes throughout the village. In that latter year liquid propane became a much better option, so grinding and heating coal was discontinued. Left behind was a bunch of contaminated structures, pipes and buried barrels of coal tar mixed with various environmentally nasty byproducts.
The old gas plant site was, however, right on Clinton Avenue, the main road into the village. The town government was eager to get the old plant demolished and the site returned to the tax rolls for some better (and cleaner) use. In 1997 Vermont-owned Bradford Oil Co. bought the eyesore of a site to build a modern gasoline plaza and convenience store. The Springfield Regional Development Corporation (SRDC) rejoiced.
by tim
CVAA will celebrate its 40th Anniversary on May 29, 2014, at the Doubletree Hotel and Conference Center in South Burlington. This dinner will also mark a milestone in its nutrition program, having served 9 million meals to seniors in the Champlain Valley. CVAA provides services and supports to enable seniors to remain in the setting of their choice for as long as safely possible. CVAA gives seniors a voice to be able to live the life they choose. Each year over 230,000 Meals on Wheels are delivered to seniors in the Champlain Valley.
This dinner will honor John Barbour and Amy Tarrant. Barbour is CVAA’s Executive Director who is retiring from the agency after 34 years of advocating for seniors. Tarrant is a longtime supporter of senior services whose generous support has allowed CVAA to weather federal budget cuts without denying services to any senior.
by tim
The Rite Aid Foundation has announced a $5,000 grant to the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (VABVI), which has four offices across Vermont and is the only private agency to offer free training, services and support to visually impaired Vermonters. The funding will provide scholarships to the Intensive Residential Life Experiences Camp, an annual opportunity to engage with and learn from children facing similar visual impairments.
The Rite Aid Foundation previously awarded $5,000 to VABVI in 2010, 2012 and again in 2013.
"The Intensive Residential Life Experiences Camp is three-fold opportunity for campers to improve their health and wellness, learn new skills and build self-confidence – all goals that The Rite Aid Foundation sets out to encourage and nurture," said Gayle Rife, Manager of The Rite Aid Foundation. "We hope that even more visually challenged Vermont children will get a chance to blossom because of this wonderful program."
by tim
Vermont ranked 4th senior health this year, according to the second edition of United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings Senior Report. Nationwide, seniors are showing encouraging gains in key health measures and taking more steps to improve their own health. Notable gains for senior health include declines in physical inactivity, improvements in quality of nursing home care, reductions in avoidable hospitalizations, and increased preparation for end-of-life care.
“United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings Senior Report is a valuable tool for measuring and understanding the key challenges and opportunities facing Vermont’s senior population,” said Donald Stangler, M.D., medical director, UnitedHealthcare of New England. “With the senior population expected to double in size in the next 25 years, it is important that we develop effective programs and solutions that address seniors’ health needs in Vermont and nationwide.”
by tim
At its meeting held last Thursday at Castleton State College, the VSC Board granted a request by Tim Donovan to step down as Chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges on December 31, 2014, six months prior to end of his current contract. His request to step down cited personal circumstances.
by tim
by John Herrick vtdigger.org An environmental law firm is again pushing the state to take stronger action on cleaning up Lake Champlain. The Conservation Law Foundation this week filed a petition asking the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets to enforce new regulations to curb agricultural phosphorus runoff into Missisquoi Bay.
“We’re hoping that this presents the state with the opportunity to change its approach from what’s clearly not working now, which is strictly voluntary measures, to more robust pollution control required when it comes to agricultural operations,” said Anthony Iarrapino, a senior attorney for CLF.
The state is in the process of submitting a final Lake Champlain cleanup proposal to the Environmental Protection Agency by the end of the month. The EPA will use the plan to issue the state a new phosphorus reduction plan, called the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), later this summer.
by tim
by John Herrick vtdigger.org Plans for the latest industrial-scale wind project in the Northeast Kingdom have taken a step backward. Eolian Renewable Energy, a wind developer based in Portsmouth, N.H., withdrew its application to connect power from the proposed Seneca Mountain Wind project to the region’s electric grid. ISO New England, the region’s grid operator, has halted its review of the project.
Project manager John Soininen declined to comment on the decision and company CEO Jack Kenworthy did not return a phone call requesting comment Thursday.
The decision to back off the 20-turbine ridgeline wind project in Ferdinand was likely due to the cost of upgrading the transmission infrastructure needed to connect the remote wind power to the weak rural grid network.
by tim
The Vermont Attorney General’s Office is warning Vermont businesses about a phone call or email from an out-of-state business asking the local business to donate money to support the area school by paying for an advertisement that that they will place on a full-color homework folder that will be provided to students free of charge. The out of state business is trying to collect money from local businesses far in excess of the cost of the “folders” that it may actually deliver to the school. Businesses are advised to be wary about contributing to this type of promotional scheme.
There may be more than one out- of-state business using this scheme. Some business names currently being used are “PNM”, Production Network Media, and “PMC”, Production Media Company. Previously, “American Youth Group” and “Student Relations Inc.” have used this scheme to raise money.
by tim
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) says the US Department of Agriculture this week is beginning to roll out two new programs in the recently enacted Farm Bill that will benefit diversified agriculture in Vermont and improve agricultural water quality in the state. Leahy, the most senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, worked to include the provisions in the 2014 Farm Bill.
NRCS Water Quality Grant:
The USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) in Vermont will receive a special allocation of $80,000 to improve agricultural water quality. This funding will be used to implement water quality conservation practices on farms in the Rock River Watershed in Vermont under the National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI). The Rock River is known to be seriously compromised by phosphorus pollution, which then quickly reaches the Missisquoi Bay on Lake Champlain.
by tim
At its annual meeting on May 13, the Governing Board of the East Central Vermont Community Fiber Optic Network (ECFiber) elected David Halpert, of West Windsor, to a three year term on ECFiber’s Executive Committee. He replaces Steve Willbanks, of Strafford, who had served on the Committee since ECFiber’s inception in 2008. “Since ECFiber's earliest days, Steve's common sense and two decades of Selectboard experience have helped guide us through dry spells and storms alike. All of us on the Executive Committee will miss his quiet wisdom,” said Irv Thomae, Chairman of the ECFiber Governing Board.
by tim
Ten New England educational, healthcare and other business institutions including Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont, have become members of EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge, a national initiative that encourages businesses, organizations and institutions to actively participate in food waste prevention, surplus food donation and food waste recycling activities.
The 10 new participants in EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge from New England include:
Boston Medical Center, (Boston, Mass.)
Colby College, (Waterville, Maine)
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, (Boston, Mass.)
Fairview Hospital, (Great Barrington, Mass.)
Framingham State University, (Framingham, Mass.)
Massachusetts Maritime Academy, (Buzzards Bay, Mass.)
Parkland Medical Center, (Derry, N.H.)
Stratton Mountain Resort, (Stratton Mountain, Vt.)
University of Massachusetts at Lowell, (Lowell, Mass.)
Signature Breads (Chelsea, Mass.)