Wednesday, December 23, 2020
"We’re surprised and very sorry to see him go," Seven Days publisher Paula Routly wrote in an email to staff. "But we congratulate him on this new chapter in his journalism career and look forward to competing with him."
Heintz, a Dartmouth College graduate, has worked at Seven Days since 2012, including stints as political editor, Fair Game columnist and most recently as a staff writer.
Tags: Paul Heintz , VTDigger.org , Vermont Digger , Media Note , Web Only , Image
A law firm hired to investigate Vermont's only prison for women documented an alarming number of allegations of sexual misconduct against inmates and employees of the facility, according to a report issued Wednesday.
"While even a single instance is intolerable, this misconduct occurred to a disturbing degree," investigators concluded.
The state hired the firm, Downs Rachlin Martin, in December 2019 after Seven Days published a series of stories describing allegations of sexual misconduct, drug use and retaliation at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington.
The report documents many of the allegations first uncovered by Seven Days. At a press conference Wednesday morning, Downs Rachlin Martin director Tristram Coffin said that, after a year of review, his team had concluded that those allegations “were largely accurate and needed to be addressed” by the state’s Department of Corrections.
“The prevalence of sexual assault, harassment and misconduct was surprisingly and alarmingly high at CRCF,” said Coffin, a former U.S. attorney.
Tags: Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility , Vermont Department of Corrections , Downs Rachlin Martin , Tristram Coffin , allegations , sexual misconducrt , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Officials had previously refused to say whether ransomware was used, citing guidance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. But the FBI recently gave the hospital permission to describe some aspects of the attack, said Dr. Doug Gentile, the medical center's chief medical information officer.
"What I can tell you is this was in the class of ransomware attacks," Gentile told reporters on a Zoom call. "We did not get a phone call. We did not get a letter. But we did have a file deposited [on our system] that gave instructions on how to contact the attackers."
That file provided a web address and instructed the hospital to contact the perpetrators if it wished to free its system, according to Gentile, who said he could not be sure of the motivation behind the attacks because the hospital ultimately never made contact — nor did it receive any ransom request.
"But we assume they were asking for money," Gentile said.
Tags: Cyberattack , UVM Medical Center , Ransomware , Web Only , Image
The Public Utility Commission restored the moratorium following the expiration of a state program that offered more than $8 million in financial aid to people who had fallen behind on their power, water, gas, internet and phone bills.
“Vermonters need to be able to keep the lights on, their homes warm, and their phone lines open as they survive the winter months of the pandemic,” PUC chair Anthony Roisman said in a statement.
The original March 18 ban on utility shutoffs, part of a suite of emergency rules passed during the early days of the pandemic, came at a time when stay-at-home orders were in effect.
Regulators lifted the ban on October 15 in an effort to steer people toward the financial aid available through the Vermont COVID-19 Arrearage Assistance Program. Lawmakers dedicated $8.8 million in federal relief dollars toward the aid program, which was due to end on December 15 but was extended a week.
Regulators say lifting the moratorium helped more people get the financial assistance they needed. A total of 10,630 people received relief from the program as of December 15, and a few hundred more applications have been processed since then, according to the Department of Public Service, which advocates for ratepayers.
A number of organizations, including Vermont Legal Aid and the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, argued for the reinstatement of the moratorium, citing the recent spike in infections and predictions of a difficult winter ahead.
“The case could not be clearer that the temporary halt of involuntary utility disconnections must be reinstated immediately and continue through the duration of the state of emergency,” David Koeninger, deputy director of Vermont Legal Aid, wrote in a petition filed with the PUC.
Without the ban, Vermonters “could be driven into unsafe situations that may include seeking refuge with friends or family in violation of the statewide ban on multi-household gatherings, which could in turn contribute to a worsening of the pandemic,” Ben Edgerly Walsh, director of VPIRG’s Climate & Energy Program, wrote in support of reinstatement.
It’s unclear if the latest $900 billion in federal stimulus funding will include additional financial aid for utility customers behind on their bills.
Green Mountain Power, the state’s largest utility, and others have pledged not to disconnect customers during the pandemic — with or without a moratorium. As of December 14, more than 6,500 GMP customers had benefited from the assistance program, according to the utility, which supports the moratorium reinstatement.
Another 27,100 GMP customers remain 60 or more days behind in their payments, totaling $14 million. Burlington Electric said 2,865 customers were more than 30 days behind on their bills, but the utility reported no shutoffs during the pandemic.
Some utilities worry that expanding the moratorium without additional financial aid will result in more and more customers getting behind on their bills this winter, then owing sums they can’t afford to pay. Despite the moratorium, customers will still need to pay unpaid power bills.
The Vermont Public Power Supply Authority, which represents 11 town-owned electric utilities, argued the moratorium “would not be in our customers’ long-term best interests.”
Its members “remain concerned that the Moratorium acts as a disincentive for customers to communicate with their utilities about unpaid balances and will result in customers accruing balances that they are ultimately unable to pay.”
Tags: COVID-19 , pandemic , utility bills , moratorium , Web Only , Image
More than two-thirds of residents received their first shots in their rooms, while half of the home’s workers took turns getting inoculated in a common area. The clinic marked a milestone in the fight against a virus that has proven especially devastating to nursing homes.
“It feels hopeful,” the home’s medical director, Dr. Karen Fromhold, said.
Tags: covid-19 vaccine , helen porter rehabilitation and nursing , long-term care , mark levine , karen fromhold , mary ann nottonson , healthdirect , Web Only , Image
Gram spent more than 30 years covering Vermont for the Associated Press and VTDigger.org. He most recently hosted "The Dave Gram Show," a two-hour daily talk program on WDEV Radio.
He was let go from that gig last month after station managers deemed him too opinionated on air — an assessment Gram linked to his personal criticism of President Donald Trump. Gram will have more freedom to opine in Fair Game, which has traditionally been a deeply reported hybrid of news and opinion.
“Here’s hoping I’ll be able to pull back a few layers of the proverbial onion as we grapple with the politics and economics of emerging from the pandemic and the Trump era,” he said. “I’m excited, grateful and humbled at the opportunity to join the team.”
Tags: Dave Gram , Fair Game. Seven Days , Political Column , Web Only , Image
Monday, December 21, 2020
Michael Dupont was found unconscious in his cell with a bedsheet wrapped around his neck shortly after 3 p.m. Staff tried unsuccessfully to revive him before he was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Barre City man had been arraigned December 17 on several charges including burglary, according to the Washington County State’s Attorney’s Office. Since then, he’d been kept in isolation at Northeast as required by the Department of Corrections’ COVID-19 protocols, interim Corrections Commissioner Jim Baker told reporters on Monday.
Each incoming inmate is tested for the virus multiple times and is quarantined for 14 days before joining the general population, Baker said. Staff are required to look in on isolated inmates every 30 minutes, he added.
“Leading up to the incident last night, we believe he had been checked on according to protocol,” he said.
Tags: Vermont Department of Corrections , Michael Dupont , suicide , prison , Web Only , Image
Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan announced the settlement with Big Brother Security Programs owner Shelley Palmer on Monday. Palmer was accused of selling surgical masks at an exorbitant markup in March, when personal protective equipment was difficult for health care providers to procure.
As part of the deal, Palmer also dropped off 10,000 KN95 masks to the Vermont Department of Public Safety for distribution to schools, health care organizations and other eligible groups.
The "face value" of the goods is approximately $80,000, said Christopher Curtis, the AG's public protection division chief. The office had accused Palmer of reaping roughly $100,000 profit on his earlier sales to the hospital.
Tags: Shelley Palmer , Big Brother Security Programs , T.J. Donovan , price gouging , PPE , personal protective equipment , Central Vermont Medical Center , Web Only , Image
Officials in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., on Monday pledged to join the regional compact known as the Transportation and Climate Initiative.
Eight states in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic area, including Vermont, signed a related document pledging to stay involved in the planning process but opting not to join the program at this time.
Scott has long expressed concern that the agreement would force Vermonters to pay more for gas, which has only deepened during the pandemic, said Peter Walke, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, who has represented Vermont in TCI discussions.
Scott also wants to monitor initiatives by the incoming administration in Washington and the work of the new Vermont Climate Council before committing to the compact as it is now structured, Walke said.
Tags: Transportation Climate Initiative , emissions , electric vehicles , Web Only , Image
Friday, December 18, 2020
Vermont Superior Court Judge Samuel Hoar rejected a bid by inmate Mandy Conte to compel the Department of Corrections to fix up the House 2 showers at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility. Hoar handed down his decision two months after a bench trial on the matter.
Conte, who has been incarcerated in the South Burlington prison since February 2019, sued the state that September, alleging that the department had failed to maintain safe and sanitary conditions at the facility. She claimed that the showers, which serve 30 to 40 women, reeked of human waste and were infested with sewer flies, maggots and mold.
"It smells like a sewer," she told the court in October.
Tags: Mandy Conte , Samuel Hoar , Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility , Vermont Department of Corrections , Web Only , Image