Current News
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National Life Group has been granted a permit by the Vermont Public Service Board to build a 500-kilowatt solar array project on about 4.5 acres of its Montpelier campus.
National Life Group said it was pleased that the Public Service Board supported the company’s goal of generating renewable, sustainable electricity. The company is reviewing the project and the board’s decision.
The 2,090 stationary, ground-mounted panels would be installed on 95 racks near the southern portion of the company’s property, approximately 325 feet from the closest neighbors on Northfield Street/Vermont Route 12 and would be screened with 20, five-foot-tall hemlock trees.
The proposed project has been endorsed by the city of Montpelier and the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission.
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This morning, the Senate passed by voice vote legislation authored by Representative Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and Representative Greg Harper (R-MS) to boost funding for pediatric research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act (HR 2019) passed the House in December by a vote of 295-103. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law.
The legislation is named in memory of Gabriella Miller, a 10-year-old children’s health research advocate from Virginia who recently died of brain cancer. Her story is told in this December CNN report which features Representative Welch.
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A Senate panel chaired by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) heard today that other major countries offer better health care at less cost than the United States.
“What this hearing is really about is two fundamental issues. First, the U.S., the wealthiest country on the planet, is the only major industrialized country in the world that does not guarantee health care as a right to its citizens. Should we consider joining the rest of the world? I’d argue we should,” Sanders said. “Second, the U.S. spends twice as much as other countries that have much better health outcomes. What can we learn from these countries?” asked Sanders, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging.
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by Rob Roper The past year has been a hard one on Vermont employees. For example, IBM, Vermont’s long-time top private employer laid off 419 workers from its Essex facility last summer and just announced another 140 jobs will go. Up north, Energizer closed its St. Albans factory in September, costing us 165 jobs. Down south, just this past month Plasan Carbon Composites of Bennington announced it is moving to Michigan along with 143 more jobs. Vermont Yankee and its 600 plus jobs, which average over $100,000 per year salaries, will close its doors at the end of 2014.
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by Morgan True vtdigger.org Governor Peter Shumlin won’t introduce tax options to pay for a universal health care system this year, despite promising on several occasions that they would be presented to lawmakers before the end of the legislative session.
“We’re not ready, it’s as simple as that,” Shumlin said at a press conference Monday.
Making the transition to universal health care is the most important move to improve job growth and Vermonters’ prosperity in the state’s history, Shumlin said.
“All I’m saying is let’s get this right. That’s more important than meeting some arbitrary deadlines,” he said.
However, all deadlines at this point are self-imposed, because Shumlin missed the statutory requirement to present financing options in January 2013.
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The state of Vermont is once again in the crosshairs of a significant winter storm with more than 18-inches of snow possible for areas of the state.
The National Wather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning in effect from March 12, 08:00 AM EDT until March 13, 08:00 PM EDT for most of the state due to that snow - and the possibility of some mixed precipitation. Total accumulations expected in northern Vermont of 12-18 inches, with less so and mixed with rain in the southern part of the state. Heaviest snow expected during the day Wednesday.
As with all storms, the Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security reminds the public to keep a few things in mind:
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US News & World Report has released its rankings for the Best Law Schools for 2015, and has rated Vermont Law School as the No. 1 environmental law school in the nation for an unprecedented sixth consecutive year.
In addition, U.S. News ranked Vermont Law No. 18 nationally for clinical training. This category recognizes the best law schools for providing “hands-on experience.”
“We are extremely proud and humbled by this ranking as the number one school for environmental law,” said President and Dean Marc Mihaly. “I applaud our faculty, students, staff, and alumni who use the power of the law to make a difference in their communities and the world. This ranking reflects their unwavering commitment.”
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by Morgan True vtdigger.org
Governor Peter Shumlin’s proposal to raise the state’s Medicaid reimbursement rate by 2 percent may not pass muster in the House of Representatives.
Increasing the Medicaid reimbursement rate is important to addressing the shift in health care costs from people with publicly financed coverage to the commercially insured, according to state regulators and other officials.
Lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee, who are responsible for raising revenue, aren’t enamored with Shumlin’s proposal to double the claims assessment. They say it is a tax on insurers who will pass the cost on to customers through premiums.
Part of the increase in the claims assessment would go to cover the Medicaid rate hike.
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by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org What do a South Burlington doctor, a Williston health clinic secretary, a Price Chopper pharmacist and a relapsed drug addict and his brother-in-law have in common? Prescription fraud charges.
As Vermont public health officials drill down on how to help drug addicts recover, police are pursuing sticky-fingered individuals – from all walks of life – whom they believe funnel painkillers into the wrong hands.
A Vermont State Police cruiser.
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by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org Governor Peter Shumlin highlighted the opiate addiction crisis in Vermont in his State of the State address, but statistics show no significant rise in accidental drug overdose deaths from opiates over the past eight years, according to a new Health Department report.
In 2013 there were 62 drug overdose deaths in Vermont from Schedule II, III or IV drugs, the report says. In 2006 there were 57 overdose deaths. In the interim years, the number of overdose deaths rose and fell slightly.
Of 62 deaths last year, 51 involved a prescription opioid. Eleven were suicides, the report says.
For the purposes of comparison, there were 71 traffic fatalities in 2013.
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by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org Gun rights advocates Sunday gathered on the Statehouse steps for a three-hour rally to oppose votes the Legislature could take in the next two months about guns.
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Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, a subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE:TEVA) and Volunteers in Medicine (VIM), based in Burlington, Vermont, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping communities provide free primary healthcare clinics for families and individuals, today announced their 2014 National Partnership to make healthcare services more readily available to the uninsured.