Current News
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by Morgan True vtdigger.org Vermont officials announced on Wednesday that the state will offer special enrollment options in Vermont Health Connect to anyone who has had trouble signing up for health insurance on the state-run website. The scheduled deadline is Monday, March 31.
Mark Larson. VBM Vermont Business Magazine photo October 1, 2013.
State officials extended the enrollment deadlines on the same day the federal government and other states announced they will offer people who have been stymied by website glitches more time to obtain medical insurance.
If an individual has made an effort to sign up for health insurance through Vermont Health Connect before the March 31 deadline for open enrollment, the state will work with them to make sure they get that coverage, regardless of whether they complete the process before the deadline.
In some cases, the state will offer retroactive coverage.
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Related Company: Champlain CollegeChamplain College officials broke ground Tuesday on the $24.5 million Center for Communication and Creative Media (CCM) project which will provide students and faculty state-of-the-art facilities for current and emerging fields of study and serve as a campus center for student services.
Champlain’s Division of Communications and Creative Media is the largest division of the College’s four focus areas, offering innovative undergraduate programs in video game art, animation, and design, filmmaking, broadcasting, professional writing, graphic design, creative media, interaction design, sonic arts, public relations, and communication, as well as two graduate programs in emergent media.
by tim
Related Company: Fat Toad Farm Fat Toad Farm, a small business specializing in hand-crafted goat’s milk caramel sauces, has been announced the winner of the second-annual FedEx Small Business Grant Contest. Fat Toad Farm, which is based in Brookfield, Vermont, will receive a $25,000 grant to put toward its business and growth plan.
Now in its second year, the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest attracted more than 5,000 entries and garnered more than 1.4 million votes.
“The outstanding quality of entrants again this year is indicative of the passion, commitment and creativity required by small business owners every day,” said Rebecca A. Huling, vice president of Customer Engagement Marketing. “Small businesses have always played a large role in the FedEx customer community, and we are proud to be a part of their continued success through the FedEx Small Business Grant Contest.”
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Related Company: Vermont Law SchoolCommunity College of VermontJohnson State CollegeVermont Law School (VLS) has entered into an agreement with Community College of Vermont (CCV) and Johnson State College (JSC) to make higher education more affordable and accessible for Vermonters through a new program, “Pathways to Law and Policy for Vermonters,” launching this spring.
Designed to develop the next generation of leaders in law and policy, the Pathways program will help students at CCV and JSC explore their options to earn either a master’s or a JD degree from Vermont Law early in their academic career, and to prepare them for the challenges of graduate study. The program will provide intensive academic support as well as financial incentives for enrolled students, including a $15,000 annual scholarship for scholars who matriculate into Vermont Law and maintain good academic standing.
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by Hilary Niles vtdigger.org
Senate Transportation Committee chairman Sen. Dick Mazza, D-Chittenden/Grand Isle, said Tuesday he doesn’t expect to make many changes in a proposed $685 million transportation bill.
The proposal for fiscal year 2015, H.872, passed the House last week. The dollars to fund the Transportation Bill are reflected in the state’s budget bill, slated for House votes Thursday and Friday.
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Related Company: FirstLightby Hilary Niles vtdigger.org
FirstLight Fiber is doubling capacity at its data center in Williston. The facility is one of the larger of FirstLight’s four data centers in Williston, Albany, NY, and Lebanon and Keene, NH. The expansion will increase data capacity at the Krupp Drive location without expanding the building’s footprint. No new employees beyond the current seven will be added.
Formerly Tech Valley Communications, founded in Albany in 1994, the company rebranded as FirstLight in September 2013. In July, Tech Valley acquired Vermont-based TelJet Longhaul LLC — and with it about 190,000 miles of fiber optic cable, according to a news release.
FirstLight now operates one of the largest and most dense fiber optic networks in upstate New York and Northern New England, with connections to Canada.
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by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org
Lawmakers narrowly defeated amendments on Tuesday that would have publicly funded college classes for private and religious school students. The split vote, 76-65, was an uncommon event in the House, where two-thirds of the lawmakers are Democrats.
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by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org
Kate Webb, D-Shelburne, was unanimously nominated by the House Democratic caucus to become the next majority whip for the House of Representatives. She first joined the Legislature in 2008 and she has served on the House Fish and Wildlife committee.
Webb replaces Tess Taylor, D-Barre, who suddenly left office on Friday to take a job lobbying for the pro-single payer 501c4 group VTCURE, or the Vermont Coalition for Universal Reform.
Sarah Copeland Hanzas, D-Bradford, was elected to deputy majority whip.
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by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org
In the annual dance to balance the state budget, zero is the magic number. This year, the budget and revenue committees in the House got as close to nada as possible.
They reduced spending without cutting programs, and managed to fill a $14 million hole with less than $1 million in new taxes on tobacco products.
Both the budget and the miscellaneous tax bill passed out of committees on Monday afternoon, preparing the way for debate on the House floor later this week. (The property tax rate bill, meanwhile, will be finalized on Tuesday.)
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The Tax Foundation has released its 2014 report on state sales taxes. While Vermont agonizes over New Hampshire's zero sales tax rate (one of only four in the nation), Vermont's overall rate is similar to many other states for its base rate (6 percent and ranked 16th) and relatively low when state and local rates are combined (34th).
Retail sales taxes are one of the more transparent ways to collect tax revenue. While graduated income tax rates and brackets are complex and confusing to many taxpayers, the sales tax is easier to understand: people can reach into their pocket and see the rate printed on a receipt.
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) on Tuesday responded to President Obama’s announcement that he will work with Congress to pass legislation to end the bulk surveillance of Americans’ phone records. Leahy is the lead Democratic coauthor of the bipartisan USA FREEDOM Act and has presided over five public hearings since last year on the government’s surveillance programs.
“I welcome the President’s statement that he plans to end the bulk collection of American’s phone records. That is a key element of what I and others have outlined in the USA FREEDOM Act, and that is what the American people have been demanding.
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In the state of New York, a family of four can make up to $95,400 annually and still qualify its children for comprehensive health coverage, while families in Arizona must make less than $33,400 to qualify their children, according to a PointCare analysis of 2014 Medicaid data.
For uninsured low-income families with children ages 0-18, it's important to know the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) limit under which Medicaid and some state's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will cover their children. When a state has a higher FPL limit, more working families are afforded a greater opportunity to have their children covered. Other states may not be as "generous," having lower FPL limits for these programs. PointCare, a screening and enrollment software company that assists the uninsured in hospitals and health centers, has identified the top 10 most and least generous states as it relates to a family's annual income.