Current News

Congress learned today just how well their home states are doing in terms of caring for our sickest Americans. According to a "Report Card" published by the Center to Advance Palliative Care, the nation overall gets a "B" grade, up from a "C," when the report was first released in 2008.
"The good news is that over the last ten years hospital palliative care teams have more than doubled," said Dr. Diane E. Meier, director of the Center and co-author of the study America's Care of Serious Illness: A State-by-State Report Card on Access to Palliative Care in Our Nation's Hospitals. "The bad news is that despite its enormous benefits to patients and care givers, millions of seriously ill Americans still do not have access. Given the will of Congress to assure patients receive high quality care while reducing costs, it seems that palliative care should be a natural part of that prescription."

Vermont native Grace Potter will return to her home state on Sunday, Oct. 9, for her ‘Goodnight Irene: Flood Relief Benefit’ concert in Burlington. Potter and her band, The Nocturnals, organized the benefit to raise money to go directly to Vermont businesses, farms and families devastated by the flooding after August’s Hurricane Irene. Vermont Public Television (VPT) will broadcast two hours of the concert live from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. and webcast it at the same time on vpt.org.
VPT is a statewide network covering Vermont and neighboring areas of New Hampshire, New York and Canada.
The Vermont Disaster Relief Fund, the Vermont Farm Disaster Relief Fund and the Mad River Valley Community Fund will benefit from the event. VPT has arranged for TV viewers to contribute to the cause by phone or online as they enjoy the concert.
The concert will be at the historic Flynn Center. It sold out within hours after tickets became available.

On August 28, 2011 Tropical Storm Irene dumped torrential rain onto the Green Mountains, and Vermonters became victims of historic flooding. Among those who suffered the most devastating losses were the state’s farmers. As part of the nation-wide effort to help, Sam Lincoln and Buster Olney, brothers who grew up on a Randolph Center dairy farm, are raising funds to aid farmers in need through what is being called Going to Bat for Vermont Farmers.
The fundraising effort includes an online auction at www.BattingForVermont.com, a November 12th Baseball Roundtable being held at Vermont Technical College, and direct donations. All proceeds raised through Going to Bat for Vermont Farmers will be donated to the Vermont Farm Disaster Relief Fund. The fund was established by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and The Vermont Community Foundation in the aftermath of Irene and makes grants directly to farmers affected by the storm.

To show off its new finished office space, The Times Argus is welcoming local dignitaries and the public to attend an open house on Tuesday, October 11, from 1 to 6 pm at its plant at 540 North Main Street in Barre.
The daily newspaper has published every day since floodwaters May 26-27 knocked out the newsroom, business office and press. Over the last four and half months, the newspaper's staff has been working in temporary offices, as well as from the Vermont Press Bureau in Montpelier, while renovations were completed.
Last month, operations were moved back, and the building was re-opened to the public.

At the close of the fiscal year, September 20, 2011, SBA loans in New England totaled 4,543 loans worth $1.1 Billion, with SBA Vermont loan volume closing at 307 loans for more than $60 million. Spurred in part by unprecedented loan volume in the year’s first quarter, small business loans backed by the US Small Business Administration nationwide in FY2011 reached the highest mark in the agency’s history, supporting over $30 billion, continuing the rebound begun in 2009 and returning to healthy pre-recession levels in the final three quarters of the year.

The FEMA registration deadline for disaster assistance for individuals and families, called Individual Assistance, is October 31, 2011. This may include housing repair grants or temporary rental assistance as well as reimbursement for personal property losses. The designated counties eligible for Individual Assistance are: Addison, Bennington, Caledonia, Chittenden, Orange, Rutland, Washington, Windham, Lamoille, Franklin, Orleans and Windsor.
Register online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, by web enabled mobile device at m.fema.gov, or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362). Disaster assistance applicants, who have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY, should call 1-800-462-7585 directly; for those who use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS), call 1-800-621-3362. The only way to be eligible for FEMA assistance is to register with FEMA.

Vtrim Healthy Weight Management is now positioned to take it's science-based weight management program to the broader commercial market. Since raising $650,000 in capital, Vtrim CEO and Managing Director Krista M.C. Conley and her team have positioned Vtrim to be the leading online weight-loss treatment choice for individuals, families, and businesses seeking improved health and easier access to proven expert support.
Based on over 30 years of research within the field of obesity treatment, Vtrim began as a University of Vermont study measuring the effectiveness of online weight loss programs. In January 2011, University of Vermont leadership and Conley signed an exclusive license agreement, opening the door for their academic, college-accredited program to reach the broader public. The new firm has created six management positions in Middlebury and will hire additional personnel in 2012.

The Vermont Community Foundation has announced that its Special and Urgent Needs-Irene Recovery Fund has awarded $35,000 in its first month of grantmaking to seven Vermont nonprofit organizations impacted by Tropical Storm Irene. The grants come two weeks after application guidelines were posted and four weeks after the fund was established to address the short-term needs of nonprofits directly impacted by Irene.
Total contributions received or pledged to the fund exceed $228,000 and include a generous $100,000 donation from TransCanada, the fund’s lead contributor.
The grants, which fund up to $5,000, are available to nonprofits, public agencies, and municipalities that sustained damage from Irene or face significant resource challenges in providing services for those affected by Irene. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and grant decisions are made within 14 days of application submissions.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) at 10 am on Thursday, October 6, 2011, will close a small section of Route 14 in East Montpelier that was damaged by spring flooding and exacerbated by Tropical Storm Irene. The road is expected to remain closed into November.
Route 14 between its intersection with Route 2 and Northstar Fireworks was restricted to one lane on September 26 due to the roadway beginning to slide into the Winooski River. Engineers originally believed the road could be repaired while maintaining one lane of traffic, but the roadway continues to undermine.
Electronic message boards beginning Wednesday will warn motorists of the coming closure.

Stephen Leffler M.D. has been appointed Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at Fletcher Allen Health Care. He is currently medical director of the Emergency Department and president of the medical staff.

This month, acclaimed musicians Michael Franti and Grace Potter have joined with Green Mountain Coffee to spread the word about fair trade. Fair trade provides a fair price to coffee farmers for their beans, resulting in high-quality coffee and a higher quality of life in coffee-growing communities. Through exclusive live performances on Green Mountain Coffee's Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/GreenMountainCoffee) on October 8, Franti and Potter will share how small choices ‘ like the coffee we drink ‘ can help drive big change.

Vermont’s congressional delegation ‘ Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders and Representative Peter Welch ‘ and Governor Peter Shumlin today announced that over $200,000 in Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC) funds will go to support two economic development projects in Lyndon and Brighton.
Lyndon State College and the Northeastern Vermont Development Association will receive $128,500 to boost manufacturing in the area. The funds will help develop professional resources, create collaboration among Northeast Kingdom manufacturing employers, expand training programs and further collaborative programs between area high schools, career and technical centers and Lyndon State College.
The town of Brighton will receive $78,190 to construct a new 2,100 foot walking path along a section of Island Pond Lake, connecting it to the downtown area. This project resulted from a year-long study aimed at enhancing tourism and recreation in the community.