Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) appears serious about running for an eighth term. 

Nineteen months before he faces reelection, Vermont's senior senator on Wednesday reported raising $416,000 in the first quarter of the year. That's more than he's taken in since the July 2010 reporting period, shortly before his last reelection. 

It's also more than Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a potential presidential candidate, raised. Sanders accepted $241,000 last quarter, he reported Wednesday to the Federal Election Commission. That's not exactly chump change for a guy who doesn't face reelection until 2018, but it's less than the $719,000 he raised in the quarter ending last June.

The third member of Vermont's congressional delegation, Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.), took in just $37,530 last quarter. 

All of these figures come with an important caveat: They cover only the congressmen's reelection campaign accounts. All three control separate political action committees through which they also raise and spend money, but reports for those entities aren't due until July. 

Sen. Brian Campion (D-Bennington) stood up on the Senate floor Tuesday and urged his fellow senators to declare “that climate change is a real and present danger to the health and well-being of all Vermonters.”

By a 23-5 vote, the Senate voiced its agreement.  

But what will the resolution do? Everything and nothing seemed to be the answer.

“What is the net effect of passing this and the purpose for passing this?” Sen. Peg Flory (R-Rutland) asked Campion during the debate.

“I see this as an important step reaffirming the basis for policy. It will also send a really important, clear message to the really young people in Vermont,” Campion responded.

Gov. Peter Shumlin surprised many Tuesday when he threw his support behind a long-languishing bill that would require companies to provide paid sick leave and urged passage this year.

Among those surprised: Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell (D-Windsor), who said there's no agreement the bill will pass this session. “That was the first I heard the governor saying that,” Campbell said. 

Shumlin offered his backing Tuesday, saying that the legislation under consideration now would be easier on employers than previous versions. “I believe that H.187 is well on its way toward addressing the needs of employers with those of their employees, providing this important benefit to Vermonters in a measured, thoughtful way,” the governor said.

Shumlin’s newly pledged support may give the bill momentum, but the notion that it will become law this year appears far-fetched. The bill has yet to pass either chamber, with only about a month remaining in the legislative session. It could theoretically reach the finish line this year if the House and Senate reached an agreement, as they did last year with a late-session bill to raise the minimum wage. But that doesn't seem likely with paid sick leave.

A medical mobile app designed to save the lives of children with potentially life-threatening medical conditions has begun its first phase of field testing, in Bangladesh, and is already showing very encouraging results.

As Seven Days reported in its March 4 story, "Pocket Pediatrics: A Vermont-Made App That Could Save Kids' Lives," pediatricians at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington worked with Vermont software designers to build an app. It enables frontline health care workers to determine the severity of a child's ailment and then provide immediate treatment recommendations. The app, called MEDSINC — short for Medical Evaluation and Diagnostic System for Infants, Newborns and Children — has the potential to save millions of lives each year in low- and middle-income countries that often lack medical staff with pediatric expertise.

Dr. Barry Finette is the Burlington pediatrician, pediatrics professor and director of UVM's Global Health and Humanitarian Opportunity Program who first conceived of the idea after years of working in developing countries where pediatricians are virtually nonexistent. Finette reported Tuesday that MEDSINC's rollout, at two field clinics in the Mirpur region of Dhaka, received enthusiastic responses from medical teams with the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research and their Bangadeshi health care partners, all of whom are eager to continue with future testing. 

"As anticipated, some community health workers experienced challenges in collecting accurate physical exam findings," Finette writes in a monthly newsletter for THINKmd, the Burlington-based benefit corporation formed to launch this and other humanitarian aid-oriented apps. "However, with a little training, they were able to capture accurate data."

According to Finette, health workers on the ground in Bangladesh identified areas in MEDSINC’s user interface that were somewhat difficult to understand, and also supplied his team with several helpful suggestions for improvements. Those suggestions are being incorporated into the product.

"Our near-term goal for MEDSINC is to continue with field testing at several different locations," Finette adds. "We are currently finalizing plans with key collaborators in Central and South America, where we hope to conduct MEDSINC field tests soon."

Finette had even more good news to report today: THINKmd has been selected as a finalist for the LaunchVT business pitch competition. The first prize for LaunchVT is $30,000 in cash and $45,000 of in-kind support.

"We are excited for the opportunity," Finette writes in an email, "and look forward to hearing feedback from the audience about our company and MEDSINC venture.” Winners of the LaunchVT business pitch competition will be announced on May 7.

Mayor Miro Weinberger presented the city council Monday with an 18-point plan for solving Burlington's affordable housing crisis.

The mayor has said that addressing this issue is a top priority during his second term. His administration has been working on the plan — with input from city councilors and members of the public — for roughly a year. Earlier drafts proved controversial, providing campaign fodder for his opponents. 

The plan calls for building housing for another 1,500 college students on campuses and downtown; considering more housing in the South End; and overhauling the zoning ordinance by adopting form-based code. It calls for making it easier for developers to build downtown by reducing permit fees and no longer requiring them to include a minimum number of parking spaces for each project.

Among other recommendations:

• Consider changes to the inclusionary zoning ordinance to reduce the costs of development. Created in 1990, the ordinance requires that at least 15 percent of new units in a project be reserved for lower-income households.
  
  
• Double the funding for the Housing Trust Fund, which supports permanent affordable housing.
  
  
• Encourage construction of small mother-in-law units as a housing option for elderly residents.
  
  
• Support a permanent cold-weather shelter that doesn't turn away homeless people who've been drinking or using drugs.

Notice that many Queen City sidewalks seem subpar? They are — and the problem is probably worse than you think. Mayor Miro Weinberger's administration spent a year calculating what it would cost to properly maintain all the sidewalks and other capital needs during the next 10 years.

He presented the price tag to the city council Monday evening: $211 million. More than half of the costs are road and sidewalk repairs. City buildings, vehicles, parks and the bike path make up most of the rest.

During the same 10-year period, the city expects to bring in roughly $150 million in revenue devoted to these projects. In other words, there's a shortfall of more than $60 million.

Weinberger gave the councilors what they jokingly referred to as "the mother of all spreadsheets" — a document outlining costs and revenues on a line-item level. 

After throwing the book at 2014 lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Dean Corren last month, Attorney General Bill Sorrell is trying to change the law he charged Corren with violating.

The Democratic AG approached Sen. Jeanette White (D-Windham) last Tuesday in the Statehouse cafeteria and urged her to update regulations governing public financing of state elections. Sorrell specifically requested greater flexibility in assessing penalties against those charged with running afoul of the statute.

"He said, 'Look, we're following the law exactly as it's written. You might want to think about changing the law, because [we're] getting a lot of flack,'" says White, who chairs the Senate Committee on Government Operations.

White says her committee expects to take testimony on the idea Tuesday, though she's hesitant to intervene in a matter currently being litigated.

As former secretary of state Hillary Clinton made her 2016 presidential campaign official Sunday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) praised her as "an experienced and well-qualified leader" with whom he was pleased to serve in the Senate. But he also warned her and other potential candidates to "address the great challenges of our time."

Those include economic inequality, unemployment, climate change and campaign finance, he said.

"I hope that Secretary Clinton will speak out on these and other important issues in the days and weeks ahead," Sanders said in a written statement released after Clinton formally entered the race.

The Vermont independent, who has been mulling a presidential campaign of his own, still hasn't decided whether to run, according to spokesman Michael Briggs.

Some high-earning state employees would likely get little or no pay raise next year — a move that the Shumlin administration proposed this week to obtain $2 million in personnel savings. The move would affect nonunion appointed employees, especially those making more than $100,000.

That was a sign of progress in the governor's search for $10.8 million in personnel savings to balance next year's budget. But as for the other $8.8 million? 

The administration made a new push Thursday, asking the state employees’ union to agree to furloughs, wage freezes and other changes.

Keep looking elsewhere, said Steve Howard, executive director of the Vermont State Employees' Association.  “We’ve been very, very clear. We’re not opening the contract," he said. "I don’t know how many more times we can say it. The support is just not there.” 

Brothers Ed and Frank von Turkovich are hoping to build 79 apartments across the street from the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington. 

They haven't applied for a permit yet, but last month they submitted a proposal — referred to as a sketch plan—  to the Development Review Board for preliminary feedback. The DRB will discuss it on April 21.

The von Turkovich brothers are planning to build a three-story building to house people who work nearby — at the hospital or at the university. Apartments would be studios or would have one or two bedrooms, according to Frank von Turkovich. Asked if they are hoping to attract students, he responded, "Definitely not."

The project includes parking both above and below ground level. It would occupy three acres between 80 and 94 Colchester Avenue, currently open space and parking lots.  (The houses lining Colchester Avenue would remain.)

This likely won't come as news to the neighbors — the developers have been discussing the project with nearby residents for several years. "We’ve had extensive conversations with individual neighbors and the neighborhood groups, and we expect those discussions to continue," von Turkovich noted.