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by John Herrick vtdigger.org The House on Tuesday gave approval to a bill designed to prepare for the implementation of a universal recycling overhaul set to phase in this summer under Act 148. The House passed S208 by a voice vote on a second reading. The House will hold a final vote before it goes to the Senate for approval. The Agency of Natural Resources will set up a working group this summer and report to lawmakers next year on the state’s solid waste infrastructure needs, costs of the programs and a plan on how to dispose of architectural waste – drywall, metal, asphalt shingles, clean wood and treated or painted wood, as defined under the bill.

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Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power announced Monday that under a revenue sharing agreement stemming from the sale of Vermont Yankee in 2002, GMP will receive as much as $17.8 million. That money will be directed to GMP customers in the form of lower rates. Entergy reported last week in its first quarter 2014 financial report that Vermont Yankee contributed more than $100 million to Entergy's $400 million of pre-tax profits in its wholesale business. Entergy stated that higher demand because of the cold weather and rising natural gas prices in the Northeast made its nuclear fleet more profitable, especially VY which was not burdened with utility contracts and could simply sell to the open market at market prices. Entergy will shut down VY by the end of this year.

Dartmouth will serve as a Lead Academic Participating Site in the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) new National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN). The NCTN will improve the speed and efficiency of conducting cancer clinical trials, using select groups of investigators and distributing resources in a more effective way across fewer groups.

“Everyone—patients, providers, and family members—wants to see faster access to new treatments for cancer,” said Konstantin H. Dragnev, MD, principal investigator for the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center site. “This new framework will cut the startup time for a clinical trial by 75 percent in some cases. It removes obstacles we used to face for reporting and oversight, so we can now offer therapeutic advances to patients sooner.”

by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org It could soon be illegal to sell or possess powdered alcohol in Vermont after the Senate on Tuesday approved an amendment calling for more information about the new product. Federal regulators this month gave and then rescinded approval of Palcohol, which is mixed with water to create an alcoholic beverage. Palcohol also carries a warning against snorting the product, USA Today reported. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, part of the Treasury Department, said its vote was in error.

Worried about the potential abuse of powdered alcohol in Vermont, Sen. Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, proposed an amendment to study the substance and make sale and possession illegal until officials know more.

“This is a product that could be used very unwisely,” Mullin said.

by Morgan True, vtdigger.org A New Hampshire-based company with plans to build five urgent care centers in Vermont is encountering resistance from hospitals in the communities in which they hope to locate.

ClearChoiceMD of New London, N.H., intends to open facilities in Rutland, Burlington, Brattleboro, St. Albans and Barre.

The centers would provide an alternative for people with non-life-threatening injuries or illnesses, such as fevers, infections or fractures, who can’t get in to see their primary care doctor and don’t want to seek care in an emergency room, according to owner Marcus Hampers, an emergency medicine doctor at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org The Vermont Senate gave preliminary approval to a nearly $5.5 billion state budget Monday afternoon. The chamber will have one more chance to amend the so-called Big Bill before H885 is hashed out in a conference committee of House and Senate members.

Dartmouth researchers have found that the anxiety experienced with a false-positive mammogram is temporary and does not negatively impact a woman’s overall well-being. Their findings are reported in “Consequences of False-Positive Screening Mammograms,” which was published online in the April 21, 2014 JAMA Internal Medicine

by John McClaughry Is Vermont on the road to becoming a prosperous state with a strong economy and plentiful job openings? Or will its economy - despite some recent positive indicators - face a continuing struggle under the weight of too much high-cost government, only selectively alleviated by politically designed subsidy programs?

In a March 27 news release Governor Peter Shumlin highlighted the good news. The Opportunity Index, calculated by a broad group of civic organizations, ranked Vermont Number 1 in the nation. Its calculation included unemployment rate, poverty percentage, median income, housing costs, low crime rate, and high school graduation rates. Vermont’s commendably high rates of group membership and volunteerism made the point that we have an active and concerned citizenry. Vermonters can rightly be proud of this.

Governor Peter Shumlin and Vermont Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Director Joe Flynn have asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to add three additional counties to their request for a damage assessment following flooding from April 15-18. The assessment is to determine if counties in the state qualify for federal Public Assistance disaster funds to help repair public infrastructure damaged in the floods.

Additional damage reports from Franklin, Orleans, and Washington counties suggest those counties may also qualify for a disaster declaration. The Governor and Director previously requested a damage assessment for Caledonia, Essex, Lamoille, and Orange counties. State estimates place total damage at over the $1 million minimum required to qualify the state for assistance.

Vermont Tech is pleased to announce Roger Allbee as commencement speaker at the college’s commencement ceremony, taking place on May 17, 2014. Mr. Allbee, former Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets, will also be awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Science, honoris causa. The ceremony will take place in the Shapiro Field House on the Norwich University campus in Northfield, VT.

“Roger Allbee is an inspiration to the college community,” said Dan Smith, interim president at Vermont Tech. “Mr. Allbee’s long-term commitment to the role of agriculture and the working landscape has helped to guide our work at Vermont Tech. He is a friend to Vermonters and a strong advocate for Vermont farmers. We are extremely pleased to have him deliver the 2014 commencement speech and join us in celebrating the accomplishments of our new graduates and their families.”

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org It’s countdown time at the Statehouse. With adjournment set for no later than May 10, lawmakers are pressing to work through the money bills and must-pass legislation to make the deadline.

That means floor work Monday, long stints in the wells of the Senate and House and more than likely a few sessions that stretch past the dinner hour. As per usual, the final tussle will likely be over the tax bill. Another contender for bitter end bickering is a school board and district consolidation bill, which is a priority for the House and Gov. Peter Shumlin, but doesn’t have the support of the Senate.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org The question of whether Vermont Health Connect is expanding health care insurance coverage and reducing the number of uninsured Vermonters will remain unanswered for a while. State officials say it would be premature to parse the enrollment data collected through the exchange, and results of a survey by the Department of Financial Regulation won’t be ready until January 2015.

That isn’t soon enough for some advocates who would like to see uninsured estimates before the next open enrollment period, which begins in mid-November.

Peter Sterling, director of the advocacy group Vermont Leads, says it make sense for the state, navigators and insurance companies operating in the exchange to have information about who remains uninsured this summer — before the open enrollment period for health insurance sign ups at the end of the year.