Older Vermonters Can Sign Up for Pfizer Vaccine Booster Shot

By Sasha Goldstein Posted on September 24, 2021 at 11:00AM

Texas Company Buys Gluten-Free Brattleboro Biz Against the Grain

By Anne Wallace Allen Posted on September 24, 2021 at 10:52AM

Against the Grain is a $20 million business that sells its gluten-free frozen pizzas in 15,000 stores around the country. The company was started in Brattleboro in 2006 by the Cains after Nancy, a former academic and investment banker, created gluten-free recipes for family members.

Burlington Police Chief Requests Coronavirus Relief Funds to Pay Officer Bonuses

By Courtney Lamdin Posted on September 23, 2021 at 8:08PM

The chief has criticized councilors for cutting the police force last summer without bolstering public safety in other ways. Last December, he proposed adding unarmed civilians — community service liaisons, or CSLs, and community service officers, or CSOs — to respond to nonemergency calls.

Orleans County Schools Shift to Remote Learning Due to COVID-19 Clusters

By Alison Novak Posted on September 23, 2021 at 7:51PM

Media Note: Fair Game Columnist Mark Johnson Departs Seven Days

By Colin Flanders Posted on September 23, 2021 at 1:45PM

Prior to joining Seven Days, Johnson spent five years as an editor at VTDigger.org. His career also includes stints as a Burlington Free Press reporter, the co-owner of WKDR Radio and as a talk show host on WDEV radio.

Some Vermont Businesses Received Excessive Pandemic Relief, Auditor Says

By Anne Wallace Allen Posted on September 22, 2021 at 7:57PM

Vermont Officials Favor Vaccine Mandate for Public School Employees

By Anne Wallace Allen Posted on September 22, 2021 at 12:26AM

The drug company Pfizer announced Monday that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination has been shown to protect children ages 5 to 11 against the virus. If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves, public health officials said, the vaccine might be available to kids by the end of October. No COVID-19 vaccine is yet available to kids under 12.

UVM Medical Center Can Begin Planning for Surgical Center, Regulators Say

By Colin Flanders Posted on September 21, 2021 at 2:17PM

If the hospital is allowed to build the new surgical center without first fixing its staffing shortages, then the current workforce crisis will only worsen, she wrote. “Our members, more than Hospital executives, are undeniably the best voices to weigh in on safe staffing levels for current and future UVMMC patient population and whether this project will serve the public good,” Snell wrote.

Advocates Ask State to Extend Pandemic-Related Hotel Program for the Homeless

By Anne Wallace Allen Posted on September 20, 2021 at 8:39PM

As the coronavirus spread in Vermont in 2020, the state used federal money to settle an estimated 6,000 households in nearly 75 motels and hotels to reduce crowding at shelters. The program — an expansion of earlier efforts to assist the homeless — has protected thousands of people from the virus, said Rick DeAngelis, executive director of the Good Samaritan Haven in Barre City.

Citing Staff Shortage, UVM Med Center Union Questions Surgical Facility Proposal

By Colin Flanders Posted on September 18, 2021 at 4:49AM

This isn’t the first time that UVM Medical Center employees have publicly questioned the hospital’s growth. The union also requested interested-party status six years ago, when the hospital sought a certificate of need to begin construction on a seven-floor, $187 million inpatient facility now known as the Miller Building.