Current News

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.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Monday netted two more awards for his use of the Internet in his Senate work. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) was also recognized.

In their latest report and citations for the current 113th Congress, the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF), whose evaluations of congressional websites have become the standard, awarded Leahy a Silver Mouse Award for his website, and a Gold Mouse Award For Citizen Engagement On Social Media – the first time the group has assessed congressional use of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Leahy is one of only four members of the Senate or House to win awards in both categories.

In its report, CMF noted Leahy’s innovative use of Twitter during Senate action last year on the comprehensive immigration reform bill, in which Leahy created hashtags that he then used in posting real-time information and updates throughout the Senate’s legislative process:

by John Herrick vtdigger.org The House Ways and Means committee Thursday approved a bill to regulate toxic chemicals found in children’s products. The committee voted 8-3. The committee amended the bill, S.239, to require manufacturers to pay $200 every two years for each chemical they are required to report to the state health department. The previous reporting fee was set at a one-time $2,000.

The department will create a list of chemicals is determines could be harmful to public health. The department would then decide whether to require manufacturers to label or remove these chemicals from their products.

Governor Peter Shumlin on saturday addressed the 87 graduates of the Vermont Department of Labor's Registered Apprenticeship Programs in electrical, plumbing and tramway trades. The programs are run in conjunction with Vermont Technical College under a grant from the Department of Labor. The ceremony was held at the VTC campus in Randolph Center.

"This program is a great example of how Vermont is engaging the workforce in training and development. The graduates will have a bright future in Vermont and earn good wages as skilled tradespeople,” said Governor Shumlin. He said Vermont will be seeking additional federal funding under the recently announced “American Apprenticeship” grant initiatives so that more Vermonters can participate in apprenticeships in new, high-growth fields, including health care, engineering, telecommunications, green energy, information technology, and advanced manufacturing --- all areas where Vermont needs workers.

Vermont Business Magazine After a long downward trend, new unemployment claims in Vermont increased for the third time last week to run past 1,000. For the week of April 19, 2014, there were 1,105 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is an increase of 201 from the previous week's total, and 106 fewer than they were a year ago.

Altogether 8,210 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 115 from a week ago and 595 fewer than a year ago. The Department also processed 47 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 9 fewer than the previous week.