Current News

by Peter Sterling One of the proven ways to tackle the climate change crisis is to “electrifying everything.” From the cars we drive to how we heat our homes, we are moving away from polluting fossil fuels to electricity. Therefore, it is even more crucial that this electricity comes from cleaner, stably priced renewable sources. After all, it makes little climate sense to buy an electric car and power it with electricity generated by burning dirty oil or natural gas is often the case now in Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine On May 31, 2023, the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) voted unanimously to uphold the two-year 8.6% net patient revenue target for Vermont hospitals. The vote was in response to a letter from the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems (VAHHS), requesting that GMCB either increase the target or waive enforcement of the target for Vermont hospitals for the second year.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is forecasting moderate concentrations of fine particle air pollution from smoke to affect the state Wednesday through Friday. The particle pollution is the result of wildfire smoke from Nova Scotia, Canada. Wildfire smoke can cause a hazy or milky appearance in the sky and may be noticeable by smell at times. Wind patterns will likely transport plumes of smoke from these fires across much of the northeast, including Vermont. Air quality is expected to improve Friday when forecasted winds will push the smoke plumes out of the region.

Senator Bernie Sanders Let’s be clear. The original debt ceiling legislation that Republicans passed in the House would have, over a 10-year period, made savage cuts to programs that working families, the children, the sick, the elderly, and the poor desperately need. The best thing to be said about the current deal on the debt ceiling is that it could have been much worse. Instead of making massive cuts to health care, education, childcare, nutrition assistance, and other vital programs over the next decade, this bill proposes to make modest cuts to these programs over a 2-year period. This bill will also prevent an economic catastrophe by extending the debt ceiling until January 1, 2025 – when we will have to go through with this absurd process once again. Having said that, I cannot vote for this bill.

Vermont Business Magazine The City of Burlington had four voter-approved charter changes awaiting state approval this legislative session. Last week, Governor Phil Scott allowed bill H.508, an act relating to the ranked-choice voting provisions of the charter of the City of Burlington, to become law without his signature, and he signed bills H.506, relating to election boundary provisions, and H.507, relating to polling place provisions. The governor vetoed bill H.509, an act relating to voter qualification provisions, which if allowed to become law, will expand voting rights for City elections to individuals who are 18 years of age or older on the day of the election, legally living in the United States, and who can claim Burlington as their primary residence. 

Vermont Business Magazine Catherine Turyamureeba can’t forget the day she climbed into an Uber and uttered a few words providing directions to the driver. To her surprise, he immediately recognized her distinctive Ugandan accent. Catherine and her driver, Hannington Kasagga, shared that they’d both emigrated to Vermont from Uganda, as had Catherine’s sister, Barbara Asiimwe. A friendship - and then a business - was launched.

Vermont Business Magazine The Burlington City Council yesterday approved settling a civil rights lawsuit involving the 2018 arrests of three brothers, Jeremie, Albin, and Charlie Meli. The ACLU of Vermont filed an amicus brief with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals last year on behalf of one of the brothers, Charlie Meli, asserting his arrest was one of several arrests in recent years in which BPD officers have targeted Black men for engaging in lawful First Amendment activity, and another example of a “troubling practice of police responding to Black men’s speech with handcuffs.”

Vermont Business Magazine Unseasonably hot temperatures are expected to impact Vermont this week, with high temperatures forecast in the upper 80s to low 90s from Wednesday through Friday. These conditions create a serious risk for heat-related illnesses, such as heat stroke, and state officials want people to know how to stay safe and healthy when the thermometer climbs. Vermonters can find tips and information in 12 languages, as well as an interactive map of cooling locations, at HealthVermont.gov/hot-weather. 

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today vetoed S.39, An act relating to compensation and benefits for members of the Vermont General Assembly. Legislative leaders had sought a pay hike for lawmakers in large part as a recruitment tool. They argued that it has become harder and harder to convince qualified Vermonters to run for office because of the relatively low pay given the time commitment. Scott, however, said in his veto: "it does not seem fair for legislators to insulate themselves from the very costs they are imposing on their constituents by doubling their own future pay."

Vermont Business Magazine When a Vermont employer fired an employee who said they would contact the “labor board” if they did not get paid for job-related travel time, the company violated federal protections against retaliation and found themselves facing costly consequences after a US Department of Labor investigation. An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined Bevins & Son Inc — operating as Bevins Excavating in Milton — terminated a worker for asking to be paid in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and fitness icon Jake (Body by Jake) Steinfeld, chairman of the National Foundation for Governors' Fitness Councils (NFGFC), today announced the three Vermont schools that were selected to each receive a state-of-the-art $100,000 DON’T QUIT! Fitness Center. The multi-million dollar DON’T QUIT! campaign has named Essex Middle School in Essex Junction, Milton Middle School in Milton, and Missisquoi Valley Union School in Swanton as the state’s most outstanding schools for demonstrating leadership in getting and keeping their students fit. 

Vermont Business Magazine Ahead of a hearing today in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on child care funding, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the committee, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a senior member and former chair of the committee, released a stunning new report finding that if Congress fails to act before September 30, 2023, child care across the U.S. could become more expensive and more difficult to find. The critical child care funding Democrats delivered in the American Rescue Plan saved the child care sector from collapse as the pandemic hit – saving high quality child care slots for 10 million children nationwide and 1 million child care jobs. But the funding is set to expire on September 30th, putting access to affordable child care at risk.