Current News

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) has closed the historic Scott Bridge in the Town of Townshend. A recent inspection led to the recommendation that the covered bridge be closed to all traffic, including pedestrians. Primarily a tourist destination since Tropical Storm Irene, the bridge has been used as a school bus drop-off point and pedestrian crossing due to the closure of the nearby Townshend Dam Road.
‘We understand the disruption this closure is going to cause the neighbors who have been using the bridge during the road closure,’ said Transportation Secretary Brian Searles. ‘But public safety is our first responsibility and when a report recommends closure, we must act upon that recommendation.’
The bridge is owned by the Division for Historic Preservation and has been closed to vehicular traffic for many years. The Town of Townshend is working to replace a destroyed culvert and reopen Townshend Dam Road.

by Alan Panebaker vtdigger.orgLegislation that would require utilities to purchase green energy will go back to the drawing board, according the chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources and Energy.
The bill, H.468, would have required utilities to purchase 80 percent of their power from qualifying renewable sources in 2025.
The bill set out ambitious goals for utilities, but after weeks of testimony, the second draft eased these qualifications by requiring 75 percent renewables by 2032. Thirty-five percent of those would have to come from ‘new’ generation that came online after Dec. 31, 2004.
That draft, Rep. Tony Klein, D-E. Montpelier, said, is history.

Gifford Medical Center has been awarded a $35,000 grant from the Avon Breast Health Outreach Program to increase awareness of the life-saving benefits of early detection of breast cancer.
The Avon Breast Health Outreach Program (BHOP) supports community-based, non-profit breast health programs across the country and is part of the Avon Foundation for Women, the largest corporate philanthropy dedicated to women’s causes globally.
This is the 11thconsecutive year that Gifford’s Breast Health Program has received funding from the Foundation, resulting in a more than $415,000 investment regionally to increase awareness of the life saving benefits of mammograms and clinical breast exams.
The only Vermont recipient, Gifford was selected as one of 120 grantees nationwide. Organizations like Gifford are chosen based on their ability to effectively reach women, particularly minority, low-income and older women, who are often medically underserved.

by Kevin Kelley Vermont Business MagazineBased on State Street in Montpelier for the past 184 years, the Vermont Mutual Insurance Group is ‘part of the fabric’ of the state, says its president and CEO, Thomas Tierney.
And in keeping with what he describes as ‘the Vermont culture,’ the company ‘goes above and beyond in meeting the needs of neighbors,’ Tierney suggests. He offers the example of Vermont Mutual's response to the damage that Tropical Storm Irene inflicted on many of the company's policyholders.
‘We've tried to put Vermonters back to where they were before their losses. A lot of the losses our clients suffered were not covered because they were victims of flooding,’ Tierney notes. ‘But even though we didn't pay them, we did help them throughout the recovery by putting them in touch with FEMA and others who could assist.’
Vermont Mutual continues to do well as it does good.

by Alan Panebaker vtdigger.orgThe Shumlin administration’s proposed health insurance exchange is being criticized by both ends of the political spectrum.
Single-payer advocates worry the governor’s proposal will reduce the availability of federal tax credits for individuals and leave more people with inferior health insurance through high-deductible ‘bronze’ plans.
Businesses say all companies should be allowed to opt out of the state’s health insurance exchange.
Shawn Shouldice, director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, said it’s unfair for the state to exempt large businesses while requiring smaller ones to buy insurance in the exchange.
Companies with 51 to 100 employees are getting an exemption from a state mandate to participate in the exchange, while businesses with 50 or fewer are required to buy health insurance on the exchange starting in 2014.

For the first time, Martin’s Point Health Care is offering in-person customer service to military families in the Burlington area. Denise Luck, health benefits specialist, will now be available to counsel local military beneficiaries on their health care options. Denise is a Registered Professional Nurse and brings with her more than 13 years of experience in assisting military members and their families with their TRICARE benefits.

Vermont’s independent colleges and universities annually pump nearly $1.4 billion into the state economy and attract 14,000 out-of-state students who spend their college savings in Vermont, according to a recent study by the Association of Vermont Independent Colleges (AVIC).
‘Vermont would be poorer without its private colleges ‘ more than a billion dollars poorer,’ said Susan Stitely, president of AVIC. ‘Our additional benefit is the first-rate education delivered to students served by these schools and the high number of degrees that are relevant to the needs of Vermont employers.’
Conferring more than half the degrees in Vermont, independent higher education also provides nearly 6,300 campus-based jobs throughout the state. These jobs account for $314 million in wages and benefits paid annually to employees and place private higher education among the top ten employers for Vermont.

US Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today awarded public housing authorities in Vermont $1.9 million in funding that will be used to make major large-scale improvements to their public housing units.
See below for a complete list of housing authorities in Vermont that will receive this funding.
Today’s grants are provided through HUD’sCapital Fund Program,which provides annual funding to all public housing authorities to build, repair, renovate and/or modernize the public housing in their communities. This funding can be used to make large-scale improvements such as new roofs and to make energy-efficient upgrades to replace old plumbing and electrical systems.

Healthy Living Market and Café is excited to announce plans to open their second location in the bustling community of Saratoga Springs, NY.
The natural foods market, located in South Burlington, grew carefully over 26 years, from a small store with around 25 customers a day to Vermont’s largest independently owned natural and organic food retailer. Now, Healthy Living is ready to expand and grow again.
After careful research and analyzing potential markets, Healthy Living’s CEO Katy Lesser found Saratoga Springs to be a similar dynamic to that of Vermont: a vibrant, growing community with a passion for good food and a certain quality life, and support for local business and agriculture.

By Ed Barna Vermont Business MagazineThose who believe the economic slump is moderating could cite the 2011 bankruptcy filings in support.According to figures provided by Thomas Hart, the clerk of Vermont’s federal bankruptcy court in Rutland, there were 1,127 filings last year, an improvement of nearly 31 percent from 2010’s total of 1,626. Though the current downturn is said to have begun in 2008, the full effects of the shock weren’t felt until then; 2009 totaled 1,541 filings, and 2008 had 1,208.
Those figures include both personal and business bankruptcies. Looking just at the business figures, which include those for Chapter 7 (liquidation), Chapter 11 (reorganization), Chapter 12 (family farms) and Chapter 13 (some repayment of debts), the picture is even better. Only in 2006 was that total lower.
The sums were: 33 in 2006, 64 in 2007, 48 in 2008, 60 in 2009, 67 in 2010, and 46 in 2011. The 2011 number was an improvement of a little over 31 percent.

By Anne Galloway vtdigger.org The Senate rejected an amendment to the Budget Adjustment Act that would have required the state to put revenue surplus money toward a gap in the Education Fund transfer from the General Fund.
Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin-Grand Isle, and Sen. Peg Flory, R-Rutland, proposed the amendment, which was similar to a plan the House passed. The provision would have required the state to funnel half of future surplus funds toward the $27.5 million gap in the General Fund transfer to the Education Fund that was created last year when lawmakers agreed to ‘rebase’ the transfer amount to 2008 levels.
The General Fund transfer amount, with inflationary increases, would have been $309 million in fiscal year 2012. The new rebased amount is $282 million.
Brock, who is the Republican candidate for governor, proposed the amendment because he said, ‘I believe we should adhere to our commitment to Act 68. This in effect raises property taxes.’

A study conducted at the University of Vermont/Fletcher Allen Health Care and three other sites and published in the February 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found significant variability ‘ by both surgeon and institution ‘ in the rates of follow-up surgeries for women who underwent a partial mastectomy for treatment of breast cancer. The research determined that these differences could not be explained by a patient’s medical or treatment history, and hypothesized that they could affect both cancer recurrence and overall survival rates.