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Attorney General William Sorrell announced today that he had settled a lawsuit with Charles Nestor of St Johnsbury, Vermont. Nestor, the organizer of a “Made in Vermont Festival” that was to be held in Burlington in 2011, collected over $24,000 from local businesses and craftspeople who paid to be exhibitors, vendors, and sponsors. The festival never took place and more than forty-five businesses lost their money.

Under the terms of the settlement, Mr. Nestor must post a $20,000 bond prior to organizing any trade shows or festivals and escrow the first $20,000 of any such event, for the next five years. Nestor has also agreed to refund businesses that lost their money, and to pay a $10,000 penalty, if he receives sufficient income or assets. He is required to submit his financial status to the Attorney General’s office annually for the next five years.

Source: Attorney General, May 20, 2014

Vermont Business Magazine TDI New England announced that it has filed a Presidential Permit application with the United States Department of Energy, formally requesting authority to construct the New England Clean Power Link electric transmission project. The Clean Power Link is a proposed 154-mile underground and underwater electric transmission line that will run from the U.S.-Canadian border to Ludlow, Vermont. The project will import clean, reliable, cost-competitive renewable power from Canada and promote economic development, strengthen New England’s fuel diversity, and combat climate change. Burying the line means the project will have less environmental and community impact than above ground power lines.

Vermont Public Television today announced the station’s rebranding to Vermont PBS, to better reflect its evolving mission as a multi-platform media company and to align itself more closely with the national PBS organization. Over the past few years, and especially with the advent of new digital technologies, the statewide PBS affiliate has steadily expanded its content offerings and community engagement activities, as part of its ongoing commitment to improving the quality of life for Vermonters.

Vermont Business Magazine Many states have fallen behind in providing funding, implementing policies, and placing a high priority on improving rural and small-town schools—led by Mississippi,Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina and Arizona—according to the new biennial Why Rural Matters 2013-14 report from the nonprofit Rural School and Community Trust. In contrast, five of the New England states, including Vermont, are among the 10 highest scoring states.

The 50-state report, released Monday at the Education Writers Association national conference in Nashville, shows some states have taken steps to address rural education issues, to varying extents—including Kentucky, New Mexico, North Dakota and Oklahoma. But many of those states still rate among the nation's lowest on a variety of rural education measures.

Fletcher Allen has been selected for the National Kidney Registry’s (NKR) Excellence in Teamwork award to honor its participation in the world’s 2nd longest kidney “swap” procedure chain last year. In most swaps, as in this one, it starts with a living donor whose kidney is not a good match for a loved one in need. That donor offers a kidney to the NKR with the promise that their loved one will get one in return from another donor in the same situation. The Registry finds as many matches as possible until the chain cannot be continued. In some cases the first donor has no intended recipient and is just doing it out of generosity.

Meeting this complicated challenge in last year’s swap resulted in 19 top centers providing lifesaving transplants for 28 people, 10 of whom were very difficult to match. This chain was also completed in the shortest period of time to date for such a large number of patients.

by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org Governor Peter Shumlin lit a firecracker as the legislative session began this year when he made opiate addiction his top priority.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org Hospital budget instructions from the Green Mountain Care Board released this month allow Vermont’s 14 hospitals to increase spending by 3 percent. The increase represents roughly $66 million. The instructions allow for an additional 0.8 percent increase for “health care reform investment” — or projects — that dovetail with Vermont’s health care reform agenda. The costs for those projects are not included in the $66 million. The overall increase would mean roughly $2.7 billion in total spending for the hospital system.

Gifford Medical Center in Randolph has been named among the nation’s top 100 performing Critical Access Hospitals by iVantage Health Analytics. iVantage has developed what it calls a Hospital Strength INDEX and for 2014 measured 1,246 Critical Access Hospitals across the nation on 66 different performance metrics, including quality, patient outcomes and satisfaction, affordability, population health and hospital financial strength.

After weighing all of those factors, Gifford for 2014 has been named among the Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals in the nation – meaning it does well in a variety of areas as compared to its peers.

US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) on Monday said that President Obama will nominate Vermont Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Crawford to be the next judge on Vermont’s US District Court.

Leahy had recommended Justice Crawford in March to the White House, after screening by a nine-member nonpartisan Vermont Judicial Nominating Commission. Justice Crawford had been one of the panel’s two finalists, who then were interviewed by Leahy.

Leahy said, “The President sees in Justice Crawford what I, the members of the merit commission, and all Vermonters have come to know about him. He is a fine jurist in the finest Vermont tradition, and he is committed to the highest standards of public service. I look forward soon to bringing Justice Crawford before the Judiciary Committee for a confirmation hearing.”

Attorney General William Sorrell has issued guidance concerning the contribution limits applicable to candidates who do not run in a primary. For the most part, the clarification affects independent candidates and those nominated by a minor political party through the caucus process. The Attorney General’s policy stems from his Office’s examination of the impact of the Legislature’s passage of Act 90, the law that revised Vermont’s campaign finance laws.

While the law that goes into effect in January 2015 sets contribution limits per general election cycle, the law in effect through December 2014 sets limits “per election.” This approach leads to lower contribution limits for independent candidates who do not have a primary, as opposed to major party candidates who run in both a primary and general election.

Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy formally opened the renovated Bentley Hall today following Green Mountain College’s 177^th commencement ceremony last Saturday. The Queen Anne-Colonial Revival house, built in 1900 and historically known as the CW Humphrey House, recently underwent substantive renovations. The college-owned building will serve as a join community center for the town of Poultney and the college. The project recently won a 2014 Preservation Trust of Vermont award for creative repurposing of a historic building.

The grand house at the northeast corner of Bentley and College Street in Poultney is remembered variously as a private home, a residence for women faculty, a college dormitory and a dean’s residence.