Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Dennis Moynihan will relocate from London to take the helm of the three-year-old organization, the city announced at a news conference Wednesday. He'll replace Mike Schirling, a former Burlington police chief whom Gov. Phil Scott chose in December to serve as Vermont's commerce secretary.
"We live in an ever more rapidly changing world that's not only benefiting from technology, but being really disrupted by it," Moynihan said. "My job ... is to help Burlington, Chittenden County and Vermont thrive in this 21st century digital world."
Moynihan comes to Vermont after 11 years working across the Atlantic, most recently as the London node director of EIT Digital, a branch of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. He led an "innovation accelerator" that invested in digital technologies to integrate education, research and businesses.
Tags: BTV Ignite , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Mike Schirling , Dennis Moynihan , Image , Web Only
Friday, February 17, 2017
The station said the loss of the license would not cause any reduction in over-the-air coverage. Instead, the windfall could transform the sleepy station into one of the most financially powerful media organizations in Vermont.
Vermont PBS, which airs syndicated shows such as "Sesame Street" and "NOVA," along with local productions "Outdoor Journal" and "Vermont This Week," says it plans to use the bulk of the money to provide expanded offerings in both over-the-air and digital platforms. It has no plans to use the money for "brick and mortar" improvements, Vermont PBS president Holly Groschner said during a press conference inside the station's Colchester studios.
"We are doubling down on the Vermontness of our broadcast," Groschner said. "We are hoping to be able to produce more Vermont content and [explore] more Vermont issues."
Tags: Vermont PBS , Holly Groschner , FCC , broadband , Image , Web Only
Friday, January 6, 2017
It wasn’t until after 8:20 p.m. that Kanarick heard about a Washington Post report, posted 25 minutes earlier, that suggested that the municipal utility had been hacked by Russians. By then the news had already gone viral; Kanarick’s work phone was inundated with calls from unfamiliar numbers. He called back one he recognized: BED general manager Neale Lunderville’s.
Lunderville had gotten wind of the story around 8:15 p.m. He and his wife were at dinner at a friend’s house when Green Mountain Power spokesperson Kristin Carlson called to ask: “Has your electric grid been hacked?”
Tags: Burlington Electric Department , Mike Kanarick , Neale Lunderville , Miro Weinberger , Image , Web Only
Monday, October 17, 2016
The tech-based roundtable discussion, part of Innovation Week in the Queen City, exposed that and other key differences between Democrat Sue Minter and Republican Phil Scott just weeks before Election Day.
“The governor does need to actually drive this forward,” Minter said. “We cannot have kids unable to actually do their homework in the same speed and at the same conditions as others.”
Scott countered that he won’t promise to bring universal broadband across Vermont. Both current Gov. Peter Shumlin and former governor Jim Douglas proclaimed they’d make such a vision a reality — but never saw it through.
“I’m going to stop short of promising that,” Scott said, later calling for incentives to encourage private companies to expand broadband coverage.
Tags: Sue Minter , Phil Scott , Bill Lee , Peter Shumlin , Innovation Week , election 2016 , Image , Web Only
Thursday, April 28, 2016
The legislation sets guidelines for how and when the police may use drones, and it reauthorizes police use of cameras that capture photos of license plates and establishes the procedures that law enforcement agencies must follow to gain access to electronic communications.
“What is important is the balance between protecting individual privacy and enhancing public safety,” said Rep. Maxine Grad (D-Moretown), chair of the committee.
Tags: ACLU of Vermont , drones , Vermont Police Association , House Judiciary Committee , Rep. Maxine Grad , Rep , Willem Jewett , Rep. Gary Viens , Rep. Vicki Strong , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
The administration now intends to break the large projects into smaller components to increase the chances of successful implementation, Secretary of Administration Justin Johnson explained to the Senate Committee on Institutions Tuesday afternoon.
The state has spent several years planning the two big technology upgrades at the Agency of Human Services. One, with a price tag of more than $147 million, would have created an integrated eligibility system for dozens of social service programs. The other, required by federal health care regulators and with a cost estimated at $75 million, would have overhauled the Medicaid management information system. The state had selected vendors for these IT projects. Johnson said that last week the state halted its negotiations on the scope and payments of both projects.
Tags: Justin Johnson , Medicaid , Sen. John Campbell , Sen. Peg Flory , information technology , Agency of Human Services , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Friday, January 29, 2016
After spending more than 11 years in Washington, D.C., Graff moved to Burlington last fall and said he'd explore a run for the state's second-in-command. Just one catch: The Vermont Constitution states that candidates for the position must have lived in the state for four years before the election.
Graff made his case that he should be eligible for the position before a legislative committee Wednesday, stating that though he'd moved away, Vermont has always been his "mental home."
The denizens of Twitter seized on that phrase, asking the big questions: How do you get food delivered to #mymentalhome? What are the taxes like there? And, most importantly — it's Vermont, after all — what is #mymentalhome's carbon footprint?
The hashtag originated with Shay Totten (who, full disclosure, is a former Seven Days political columnist). But others jumped in on the action, too.
Friday, January 22, 2016
In addition, the agency plans to rebrand itself as Green Mountain Transit.
CCTA said its Automatic Vehicle Location system will feed information about the location of buses and any last-minute schedule changes to users' cell phones. The initiative will be largely paid for by funding from the Vermont Agency of Transportation.
"This highly sought after system has been a high priority for CCTA and its passengers for quite some time," CCTA General Manager Karen Walton said in a prepared statement.
On Tuesday, CCTA's Board of Commissioners decided to seek bids to implement the mobile ticketing system, which will allow riders to purchase tickets and board buses with their phones.
Tags: CCTA , Burlington , Green Mountain Transit , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 14, 2016
The bill is a first step to bring privacy protections up to speed with evolving technology, Sen. Tim Ashe (D/P- Chittenden) told his colleagues.
Before passage, the Senate Judiciary Committee had stripped out the provision that generated the most controversy — a proposal to allow individuals to sue and collect penalties and legal expenses if the privacy of their medical records was breached. "We agreed that provision wasn't fine-tuned," Ashe said, but he also acknowledged heavy lobbying by physicians.
Tags: Sen. Tim Ashe , Senate Judiciary Committee , Paul Harrington , Vermont Medical Society , ACLU of Vermont , Allen Gilbert , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said Schirling's appointment was part of an effort to reboot the two-year-old BTV Ignite initiative: Officials also announced that a board of directors has been appointed, and that the organization was filing for nonprofit status.
"This creates the footing for BTV Ignite to take off," Weinberger said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference outside the Burlington Electric headquarters. "Burlington has the building blocks to be a great tech city. The simple idea was if we got people from throughout the city together, we would accelerate its arrival."
Schirling, a Burlington native, started work last week. He is the first full-time employee of BTV Ignite, a group focused on bolstering educational opportunities in technology and helping Burlington's established tech companies and startups grow.
"What we're envisioning is everything from getting elementary students, all the way through high school, engaged more in [science, technology, engineering and math] and thinking about tech jobs, to making enhancements to the college and university curriculums so that Dealer.com, MyWebGrocer and Social Sentinel can find local talent," Schirling said in an interview.
Tags: BTV Ignite , Michael Schirling , Miro Weinberger , Burlington , technology , Image , Web Only