Monday, January 28, 2019
The January 25 ruling by Washington Superior Court Judge Mary Miles Teachout credited earlier allegations of food shortages, utility shut-off notices and "dysfunctional" management that failed to even cash rent checks at what are informally known as the Pillsbury homes.
The owner of the facilities, which are home to 200 residents, is in default on a $24 million loan he executed to buy the South Burlington and St. Albans properties in 2017.
Other bills went unpaid, too, the ruling says. Employees paid for food out of their own pockets. And when trash piled up because a hauler wasn't paid, one employee carted it off herself.
Three of the facilities are licensed residential care homes: Homestead at Pillsbury in St. Albans, and Pillsbury Manor South and Allenwood at Pillsbury Manor, both in South Burlington. The fourth, Harborview, also in South Burlington, is an independent living facility.
Tags: Pillsbury homes , Andrew White , receivership , T.J. Donovan , Image , Web Only
Friends of Bernie Sanders, the senator's campaign committee, spent big on Facebook ads in January after lying largely dormant for the last three months of 2018. The splurge hit a high of $45,908 last week, around the same time that Yahoo News reported Sanders will launch a presidential campaign "imminently."
The campaign's most recent big buy landed it in the top 20 for weekly political ad spending on Facebook, trailing companies such as ExxonMobil, advocacy groups such as MoveOn, and presidential candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). Sanders' campaign spent a total of $85,439 on Facebook ads over the past four weeks.
Friends of Bernie Sanders staff did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday afternoon.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Facebook , campaign finance , Kamala Harris , Donald Trump , Vermont , president , election , spending , Image , Web Only
Friday, January 25, 2019
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will announce another run for president "imminently," Yahoo News reported Friday evening. The outlet cited two unnamed sources with direct knowledge of Sanders' plans.
The senator "was emboldened by early polls of the race that have consistently showed him as one of the top candidates in a crowded Democratic primary field," Yahoo reported. That field already includes three of Sanders' colleagues in the U.S. Senate.
“What [Sanders] has this time that he didn’t have last time is, he is the most popular elected official in the country right now,” a source told Yahoo News. “That’s light years away from 2016, when very few people knew who he was.”
Shannon Jackson, a senior adviser on the Friends of Bernie Sanders political committee, declined to comment on the report Friday evening.
Sanders lost the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination to Hillary Clinton. But he has established himself as one of the most popular politicians in the country. He won reelection to the U.S. Senate last November by a wide margin.
Tags: Bernie Sanders , Vermont , senator , president , 2020 , Image , Web Only
Their first press conference of the new session was far different in tone from past Republican events. "There's a new wind blowing in the Statehouse," Senate Minority Leader Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) said. "We have the opportunity to address problems and not be labeled as the party of 'No.'"
Republican lawmakers called the Friday morning presser to give their reaction to Scott's budget speech, delivered Thursday afternoon. They praised the Republican governor's speech as a responsible approach to finding common ground with the Democratic majority.
Tags: Joe Benning , Phil Scott , Vermont , legislature , budget , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 24, 2019
MassLive reported Thursday that the Massachusetts state medical examiner listed "consequences of septicemia in the setting of tricuspid valve endocarditis" as Linsenmeir's immediate cause of death.
Septicemia is a blood infection. Endocarditis is an infection of the inner lining of the heart. People who inject drugs are at an especially high risk for endocarditis because bacteria from skin or syringes can enter their veins and reach the heart.
Tags: opiate crisis , madelyn linsenmeir , aclu , springfield police , endocarditis , addiction , Image , Web Only
Some things have changed. Scott actually pitched new or increased taxes and fees — a departure from his first term. And in an address Thursday afternoon to the House and Senate, he didn't unveil any big surprises of the kind that have led to past battles with the Democratic legislature. The budget "did not immediately set up a showdown," said Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) shortly after Scott's speech. "Even where there are differences, there is space for discussion."
Which does not guarantee an absence of showdowns. Lawmakers have yet to actually read Scott's proposed budget. Their initial reactions were entirely based on listening to the governor's address. A likely flashpoint will come later in the session, after voters approve school budgets and the Agency of Education sets property tax rates. In 2018, Scott sought to keep residential and nonresidential rates level, sparking a standoff that extended the legislative session by almost two months.
Tags: Phil Scott , Tim Ashe , budget , Image , Web Only
Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday outlined a state budget proposal he said would boost Vermont's economy and grow its stagnant workforce. “It’s the root of every problem we face,” he told a joint assembly of the House and Senate, referring to the state’s demographic challenges.
In a striking departure for the tax-averse governor, Scott said he would fund his budget, in part, with an array of new taxes and fees his administration had previously eschewed. If approved as proposed, Scott’s $6.1 billion budget for the next fiscal year would represent a 4 percent increase over this year’s.
While part of the budget boost would be made possible by an uptick in revenues from existing sources, Scott’s plan also relies on approximately $18 million worth of additional taxes and fees. Those include a new tax on e-cigarettes, enhanced collection of online hotel room taxes, and increased fees on stockbrokers, clean-energy developers and others.
The proposal represents a break from Scott’s 2016 campaign pledge to avoid new taxes. In recent months, he and members of his administration had telegraphed that they were open to the prospect. Even as he changed his tune, Scott reiterated his belief that “we need more taxpayers, not more taxes.”
Tags: Phil Scott , budget address , legislature , Image , Web Only
Cruz Alberto Sanchez-Perez, known as Beto, had just pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving under the influence when he was scooped up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, according to Migrant Justice.
The 26-year-old farmworker, who has been in the country since 2015, has filed for asylum in the U.S., claiming that he faced persecution in his home country based on his sexual orientation. After his arrest on immigration charges, Sanchez-Perez was being held at the Strafford County, N.H., detention center and was due to appear at an immigration court in Boston on Thursday, Migrant Justice said.
Tags: Cruz Alberto Sanchez-Perez , Migrant Justice , Marita Canedo , ICE , Pride Center of Vermont , Jay Diaz , American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont , Will Lambek , Image
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
The Vermont Statehouse has tightened up its credentialing process for journalists ahead of Gov. Phil Scott’s budget address Thursday. The stricter requirements come after an activist posed as a reporter and disrupted the governor’s inaugural speech earlier this month.
Media members who wanted to cover Scott’s address from the press gallery were required to email the sergeant at arms by noon Wednesday. Previously, reporters could sign in on the day of the event.
The governor's communications office detailed the new process in an email sent Tuesday to members of the media.
Reporters and photographers must show photo ID to pick up their yellow press badges ahead of the speech. Only those who follow the new registration rules will get access to the House balcony for the event, Sergeant at Arms Janet Miller said.
Tags: Statehouse , media , Phil Scott , governor , legislature , inaugural address , protest , Image , Web Only
Green Mountain College will shut down after graduation this spring, the private liberal arts institution in Poultney announced Wednesday.
"The decision to close Green Mountain College comes only after a tireless pursuit of multiple options to remain open, including the rigorous search for new partnerships and reorganization of our finances," president Bob Allen said, in a message posted on the college's website. "Despite our noteworthy accomplishments related to social and environmental sustainability, we have not been able to assure the economic sustainability of the College."
The Rutland Herald reported that Allen announced the closure during an all-hands meeting at the school's campus.
Tags: Green Mountain College , Bob Allen , higher education , liberal arts college , Prescott College , Hampshire College , Castleton University , Sterling College , Marlboro College , Image , Web Only