Current News

Pollard Banknote Limited (TSX: PBL) of Winnipeg has been named the primary supplier of instant ticket printing services for the Vermont Lottery Commission. Under this new agreement, Pollard Banknote will provide the Vermont Lottery with instant scratch tickets, game design, and related services. The three-year contract began January 15, 2014, and includes provisions for two additional one-year extensions. The estimated contract value is $6.3 million (USD) over the first three years.
This contract award marks Pollard Banknote's first opportunity to work with the Vermont Lottery. This new partnership allows the Lottery to take full advantage of Pollard Banknote's creative game concepts and designs that feature unequalled playability, expertise in creating sales-driving prize structures, as well as a number of innovative and propriety products, including the company's extraordinarily successful, Pollard PlayBook concept and Scratch FX games.

On Monday, January 13, 2014, North Country Hospital was presented a $5,000 award from Vermont Information Technology Leaders (VITL) for the hospital Emergency Department’s participation in the VITLAccess Pilot Program. VITLAccess is a secure website that authorized health care providers and their staffs can use to search for and view information about their patients to improve the quality and efficiency of care. Information is available through the statewide Vermont Health Information Exchange (HIE), which is managed by VITL.
Robert Gibson, VP Marketing & Business Development for VITL, presents a
$5,000 check to North Country Hospital President & CEO, Claudio Fort Seated
with them is Dr. Kate McIntosh, VITL's Medical Director. ‘ Other project team
members standing L to R include Christine Sweeny, eHealth Specialist for
VITL, and North Country's Sharon Mallett, RN, Emergency Room Nurse Manager,

by John Herrick vtdigger.org An effort to use Burlington Telecom’s high-speed bandwith to ‘develop public, non-commercial Internet applications’ has won a $35,000 charitable grant.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded a Knight Prototype Fund grant to the Civic Cloud Collaborative, a group of eight local organizations, to build a ‘Civic Cloud’ on Burlington’s gigabit network, according to a news release.
The collaborative says the project will be a tool for community organizers, nonprofits and civic hackers to develop public, non-commercial Internet applications.
The Civic Cloud combines Burlington’s fiber-optic gigabit network and donated servers to build a public access Internet platform available to the community for non-commercial Internet applications and digital creative works, the release said.

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Department of Environmental Conservation has agreed to pay $12,000 in civil penalties and $6,000 to fund a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) under a proposed Final Judgment Order entered into with the Vermont Attorney General’s Office to settle claims that the Agency’s RA LaRosa Environmental Laboratory failed to make a hazardous waste determination prior to shipment, and failed to timely investigate and report on a hazardous waste shipment.
‘Like all other laboratories, the Agency is accountable for its non-compliance with environmental laws,’ said Attorney General William H Sorrell. ‘However, to its credit, the Agency self-reported these violations to our Office, cooperated fully with our investigation, and took responsibility for the incident,’ Sorrell added.

by Morgan True vtdigger.org Ken Thorpe, a consultant who helped Vermont design its Catamount Health program, returned to Montpelier for the 2014 legislative session as a resource for lawmakers as the state continues to rapidly reshape its health care landscape.

The Town of Stowe Electric Department (SED), a municipally-owned electric system serving Stowe, Vermont, announced today that it will soon apply a 3.5 percent uniform rate reduction to all current rates as well as issue approximately $125,000 in customer refunds retroactive to July 2013.’ While still subject to Public Service Board approval, the rate reduction will result in yearly savings to Stowe ratepayers of an estimated $400,000.
‘Maintaining a continued focus on cost containment, while ensuring the reliability of our system, has allowed us to pass savings on to our valued customers,’ said Ellen Burt, General Manager SED. ‘As a municipal utility, all efficiencies we achieve result in direct savings to our ratepayers; we are committed to pushing the envelope to provide the greatest possible value without compromising on reliability and customer service.’
Burt noted that refunds are expected to be issued in the spring of this year.

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org On Wednesday night Democrats will recommend three candidates for the state Senate seat from Chittenden County formerly held by Sally Fox.
Fox died on Jan. 10.
Gov. Peter Shumlin must appoint a new senator, and Chittenden County Democrats will offer him a selection of three candidates to choose from.
There are six candidates in all vying for the seat: Rep. Tim Jerman, D-Essex, and Jake Perkinson, the former chair of the state Democratic Party, Rep. Kesha Ram, D-Burlington, Crea Lintilhac, a philanthropist from Shelburne, Debbie Ingram, who placed seventh in the last race, and educator Dawn Ellis.
David Scherr, chair of the Chittenden County Democratic Committee, says the process will be simple ‘ candidates will give speeches and the 80 members of the committee will vote.
‘Everybody will have three votes, everyone can vote for one candidate and you can’t vote for one candidate more than once,’ Scherr said.

The Vermont Individual Income Tax Return Booklet for tax year 2013, which includes instructions and commonly used forms, is now online on the Vermont Department of Taxes website. All other tax forms will be available online by’ Jan. 31. Taxpayers also may order paper copies of the booklet and forms by contacting the department by email or phone. The booklet and forms will no longer be distributed through town offices, post offices and libraries.’
According to statistics gathered by the department, of the approximately’ 64,000 Individual Income Tax Return booklets distributed for tax year 2012, only about 18,000 forms were filed from the booklet. Many taxpayers used paper forms obtained online on the department’s website or filed electronically.’

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org Extreme temperatures ‘ deep cold alternating with freezing rain and flooding ‘ have made maintaining the state’s highways this year a challenge. So much so that the Agency of Transportation has asked for a $1.3 million increase in funding for road maintenance this winter.
A legislative panel has approved the additional spending for the Transportation Fund in addition to the Shumlin administration’s $12 million mid-year budget adjustment proposal for the fiscal year 2014 General Fund.
The House Appropriations Committee passed the Budget Adjustment Act in a 10-1-0 vote on Friday afternoon. Rep. Phil Winters, R-Williamstown, cast the only dissenting vote. His two fellow Republicans on the panel endorsed the proposal.

by Laura Krantz vtdigger.org It is too soon to increase the number of methadone clinics in the state, even though some patients travel an hour or more to get help for heroin and prescription drug addiction, a report scheduled to be discussed at the Statehouse on Thursday says
More Vermonters than ever are asking for help to battle addiction, according to state statistics, and more addicts want treatment that includes methadone and buprenorphine, two powerful drugs that can help people recover.
Experts say the key to success for recovering addicts is finding help close to home, but with only seven methadone-dispensing clinics in the state, patients often have to travel great distances.
Peter Albert, senior vice president of the Brattleboro Retreat. Photo by Randy Holhut/The Commons

If you live in Vermont and have a CAT Scan (CT) in a hospital's Emergency Department (ED), chances are the radiologist will report a positive finding. But if you live in Washington, DC, there is a significantly lower chance of having a report with a positive finding. This is according to vRad's (Virtual Radiologic) RPC (Radiology Patient Care) Indices, the first-and-only set of findings-based radiology imaging metrics, found at www.vrad.com.

Just months after announcing plans to contrbute to Green Mountain Power’s Rutland Solar Capital initiative, the College of St Joseph is helping create clean energy on its gymnasium roof.’
GMP and CSJ officials announced Tuesday the completion one of the largest rooftop projects in GMP’s service territory, an array that could become a model for future rooftop development. The 98-kilowatt project, known as the College of St Joseph Solar Farm, has a perfect southern exposure.’
‘We are thrilled to be able to put our gymnasium rooftop to good use, generating clean, renewable energy and contributing to the Rutland Solar Capital initiative,’ CSJ President Rich Lloyd said.’ ‘It will serve as a physical symbol of the connection we are making to the GMP Energy Innovation Center and will serve as an educational tool for our students and visitors.’’