Monday, April 26, 2021
The department is reporting a huge increase in fraudulent claims this spring, part of a national wave. The scope of the fraud is “unprecedented,” said the U.S. Department of Justice, which has set up a task force to combat it.
As many as 70 percent of the claims filed this month in Vermont are fraudulent, state Labor Commissioner Michael Harrington said Monday.
Under the schemes — which are now being investigated by an alphabet soup of federal and state agencies, as well as banks and state attorneys general — scammers use unsuspecting people's personal information to collect benefits.
Tags: unemployment insurance , fraud , Howard Dean , Web Only , Image
The powerful chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee announced his committee would be accepting limited requests for such “congressionally-directed spending items” for the upcoming fiscal year, beginning in October.
“The Constitution vests the power of the purse in Congress,” Leahy said in a statement. “In recent years, Congress has ceded too much of its Constitutional authority over spending to the Executive Branch to make decisions about how and where to invest Federal taxpayer dollars. A rebalanced process will allow Members to better utilize their knowledge and experience to thoughtfully direct federal funds, and do so with transparency and accountability.”
Republicans did away with earmarks in 2011 following a wave of scandals that included lobbyist Jack Abramoff bribing members of Congress to insert earmarks favorable to his clients.
Tags: patrick leahy , earmarks , appropriations , Web Only , Image
The official tally of Green Mountain State residents was 643,077, up from 625,741 in the 2010 count, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. Vermont's growth lagged behind the 7.4 percent increase in the United States overall. The national growth, the New York Times reported, is the nation's most sluggish recorded population increase since the 1930s.
Aside from Massachusetts, which matched the national growth rate, New England states reported even smaller increases. Maine, with 2.6 percent growth, and Connecticut, with 0.9 percent, lagged behind Vermont. New Hampshire experienced 4.6 percent growth.
Gov. Phil Scott's office released a statement calling the bump a pleasant surprise, noting that 2019 estimates had suggested the state's population may have declined slightly.
"It is too early to see what might have driven that change, and we look forward to understanding why we outperformed the 2019 estimates," the governor's press secretary, Jason Maulucci, said in an emailed statement. "[B]ut one factor could be that Vermont’s leading response to the pandemic attracted people to move to our state."
Tags: U.S. Census , Vermont , population , increase , Web Only , Image
The shift was hailed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) at a press conference at the company’s newest fabrication plant in Malta, N.Y, outside Saratoga Springs.
“This is a huge shot in the arm for our Capital Region economy, and it’s a giant step in our goal to enhance Albany’s position as one of the chip fab capitals, not just of America, but of the world,” Schumer said.
The move puts the company's top decision makers just a three-hour drive from the Vermont facility where 2,189 people churn out massive quantities of semiconductor chips for use mostly in the telecommunications industry.
GlobalFoundries didn’t consider a move to the Green Mountain State, however, spokeswoman Gina DeRossi said.
CEO Tom Caulfield is a native New Yorker and was already based in Malta. The plant there, known as Fab 8, is the company’s newest and most advanced, “which makes it the logical choice for our global corporate HQ,” DeRossi told Seven Days. The company’s other New York fab is in East Fishkill. It also has a factory in Germany and six in Singapore.
GlobalFoundries will continue to have a strong presence in California. The shift of senior leadership and administrative functions from the West Coast to Malta have already taken place, DeRossi said.
Tags: globalfoundries , semiconductor , essex junction , chuck schumer , Web Only , Image
Friday, April 23, 2021
The Vermont Health Department announced that resumption in a press release Friday night, hours after a panel of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ended its recommended pause on the vaccine.
“I appreciate the transparent effort made by the CDC and FDA in reviewing the facts during the pause," Gov. Phil Scott said in the press release. "This demonstrates the commitment we all have to ensuring vaccine safety. I encourage all Vermonters who are eligible to get vaccinated as quickly as possible, with whatever vaccine is available and most appropriate.”
Tags: Johnson & Johnson , Vaccine , COVID-19 , Blood Clotting , Resume , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Three Burlington city councilors called for Benjamin Bergstein to step down from his post as president of the Vermont Performing Arts League, a week after VTDigger.org published a story outlining extensive allegations of sexual misconduct against him. They also demanded that April Werner, Bergstein's wife and business partner, resign from her role as the league's executive director.
Reached Wednesday evening, Werner told Seven Days that Bergstein has already resigned — and did so before VTDigger's story broke on April 15. Bergstein agreed to the board's request that he step down "because he felt it was really the only way the organization could move forward," Werner said. "This is no way an admission that these accusations are true in any way," she added.
Seven Days confirmed that Bergstein had resigned through an arts league board member who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Werner said she continues to work at North End Studios and serve as the art league's vice president and treasurer. Allegations that she witnessed Bergstein's misconduct "completely do not reflect any reality whatsoever" because "there weren't any" incidents to witness, Werner said.
The board plans to discuss "whether my presence is also that much of a detriment to the future of the organization," Werner said, adding that she'll accept the board's decision either way.
In 2016, Bergstein was investigated for sexual assault by the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations but was never criminally charged, VTDigger reported. The alleged victim told police that Bergstein had brought her to a bar when she was underage and had taken her to his home where he “sexually penetrated her,” the article says. Other alleged victims told VTDigger that they felt powerless against Bergstein, “given the influence Bergstein carried in Burlington.”
Bergstein has denied the behavior, according to VTDigger.
The arts league board has issued no statement since the story was published, and Bergstein's status has not been previously reported.
City Council President Max Tracy (P-Ward 2) and Councilors Brian Pine (P-Ward 3) and Perri Freeman (P-Central District) posted a statement Wednesday on Front Porch Forum. "[Bergstein's] pattern of behavior has turned a number of community and performing arts spaces in Burlington and Winooski from places of joy and expression to ones of fear, intimidation, and trauma," it says.
Tags: sexual misconduct , Ben Bergstein , April Werner , Old North End Studios , Vermont Performing Arts League , Web Only , Image
The Vermont Housing Conservation Board plans to use half a million dollars to fix up farmworker quarters in the coming year. That amount could be higher if the housing allocation in the state budget increases.
Momentum for fixing the longstanding problems, which affect an estimated 2,000 dairy farm workers, has picked up this year, said Rep. Tom Stevens (D-Waterbury), the chair of the House Committee on General, Housing, and Military Affairs. He held an informational hearing Wednesday with the House Committee on Agriculture and Forestry to hear from advocates, saying he had never tackled the topic in the committee before.
Tags: housing , Migrant Justice , Rep. Tom Stevens , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Details are still in flux, but after arriving at Burlington International Airport on Wednesday morning, Emhoff may visit two sites in the Old North End, according to Jordan Redell, a spokesperson for Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger. Stops tentatively include the Community Health Centers of Burlington and the Old North End Community Center, Redell said.
Tags: Doug Emhoff , second gentleman , molly gray , miro weinberger , Web Only , Image
Overall, “Montpelier was very welcoming” to the family, which had moved from Florida, Gordon said. Though she remembers only one other Black family in town, at most, "I loved growing up there."
Gordon went on to a career in education and as an advocate for equity and inclusion. On May 10, she starts a new position as the first equity director in Winooski, the most racially diverse municipality in Vermont.
Gordon’s position was created by a three-year, $300,000 working communities grant program run by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. She'll oversee aspects of the grant: creating an equity commission to ensure community members are heard during decision-making processes; and strengthening partnerships between schools, businesses and community organizations.
Tags: equity and inclusion , Yasamin Gordon , Vermont , Winooski , Xusana Davis , Tyeastia Green , Web Only , Image
Rene Sanchez, currently the assistant superintendent for operations at the South Bend Community School Corporation in Indiana, will start on the job in July. He will replace current superintendent Elaine Pinckney, who is retiring after 15 years in the district’s top job.
The district is comprised of six schools and serves nearly 4,000 pre-K through 12th grade students from Charlotte, Hinesburg, Shelburne, Williston and St. George.
Sanchez was chosen after a roughly three-month search process. He was one of two finalists interviewed twice by the school board in April; he officially accepted the job on Friday, board chair Angela Arsenault said.
Tags: Champlain Valley School District , Rene Sanchez , Vermont , Elaine Pinckney , Web Only , Image