Thursday, October 28, 2021
The court is considering whether Burlington's camp removal policy has “the force of law” similar to a city ordinance or state statute.
“That’s an important determination the court would have to make before the court even went down the path of determining whether or not the city has or has not complied with the policy,” Hoar said.
Tags: Sears Lane , Vermont Superior Court , City of Burlington , Mayor Miro Weinberger , homelessness , Web Only , Image , Slideshow
Vermont Daily Chronicle, an online media outlet, broke the news on Thursday, reporting that Billado was stepping away from the unpaid position so she could focus on a new job.
“I have committed 40 to 60 hours a week for this position for four years,” Billado told the outlet. “With new job responsibilities, I am no longer able to give the time and dedication this political job requires.”
The article did not reveal her new gig, and Billado did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday. The state party plans to elect a new chair at a November 6 meeting in Montpelier.
Tags: Deb Billado , Election , Vermont GOP , Vermont Republican Party , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
The state-federal agreement will provide access to as many as 10 inpatient mental health beds for civilian Vermonters, as long as no veterans would otherwise need the space. It went into effect Monday and will last 30 days.
“The VA has an enormous amount of skill and experience in the area of mental healthcare,” Emily Hawes, Vermont's commissioner of mental health, said in a press release. “We are fortunate that they are willing to help us out and open their doors to non-veterans for a period of time."
Tags: Mental health , Vermont , VA , Inpatient beds , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
The memo — which is advisory and not mandatory — encourages schools to require masks for all student athletes, coaches, referees and spectators during indoor practice, competition and games, regardless of vaccination status.
But there are several exceptions to the recommendation. Athletes in running events where they can physically distance from others do not need to wear masks. And masks aren't required for sports that require "inversion" — turning upside down — such as wrestling, gymnastics, cheer and dance, because of the safety hazard the masks could pose in such instances.
Tags: hockey , basketball , high school sports , Secretary Dan French , Vermont Agency of Education , Vermont Department of Health , Web Only , Image
The listening sessions are scheduled to take place this Wednesday, October 27, and Thursday, November 4. The events are part of the state’s investigation following a Seven Days cover story in early September that found patients sometimes have to wait up to a year to be seen by specialists within the University of Vermont Health Network.
Tags: Vermont , University of Vermont Health Network , Green Mountain Care Board , Web Only , Image
Monday, October 25, 2021
The group issued its plea during a press conference at the Statehouse on Monday that featured comments from Democratic and Progressive lawmakers, health policy researchers, school nurses and parents of young children.
They argued that the Scott administration's departure from proven mitigation measures has allowed the highly infectious Delta variant to run rampant through the state, disrupting schools and pushing case counts to unprecedented heights.
“While these numbers keep soaring, the administration keeps doing nothing,” said Rep. Tanya Vyhovsky (P-Essex), a school social worker, noting that Vermont at one point this month was reporting the largest increase in the country in cases over the previous 14 days. “This points to the need for swift and decisive action. Doing what we are doing is clearly not working.”
Tags: Gov. Phil Scott , Pandemic response , State of emergency , COVID , Surge , Web Only , Image
Friday, October 22, 2021
Vermont had 23,000 job openings that month, according to the state Labor Department. That's the equivalent of 7.1 percent of all the state's positions, according to the BLS. The U.S. rate is 6.6 percent. But Vermont's doing better than Massachusetts and New Hampshire, which both have 7.4 percent of jobs open.
“Two years ago, I could put an ad on Indeed and have 50 responses, and now I can get five,” said Katrina Spahn, who hires for Hannaford supermarkets in New York and northern New England. People who do answer Spahn’s help wanted ads are seeking $15 to $18 per hour, she said — but she’s only authorized to offer $13.
Spahn's company, SOS, recently started offering health insurance to part-time workers. People she talks to at job fairs tell her they'd prefer remote work because they're worried about being infected with COVID-19.
Tags: unemployment , labor , bureau of labor statistics , Web Only , Image
In previous school guidance, a close contact was someone who was within six feet or less of an infectious person for 15 minutes or more.
Tags: contact tracing , quarantine , Vermont Agency of Education , Dan French , American Academy of Pediatrics , Web Only , Image
The artist, Sam Kerson, sued VLS in December 2020 over its plan to hide his mural behind acoustic panels, claiming that doing so would violate his rights under the federal Visual Artists Rights Act, a 1990 law that protects an artist's work from "intentional distortion, mutilation, or other modification."
Tags: Vermont Law School , mural , Sam Kerson , court , judge , Web Only , Image
Thursday, October 21, 2021
John Belter alleges that the chemicals came from a firefighting foam long used by the Vermont Air National Guard, which leases a portion of the Burlington International Airport. The per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, contaminated the groundwater and a stream that runs across the farm, Belter has previously said.
Tags: PFAS , contamination , Burlington , Vermont Air Guard , Winooski , groundwater , dairy , Web Only , Image