46 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(01/15/14 10:14pm)
On Tuesday, Jan. 14, Vermont legislators proposed a new bill to formally decriminalize abortion statewide. The bill, S 315, was proposed by Senators Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden), Christopher Bray (D-Addison), Sally Fox (D-Chittenden), Virginia Lyons (D-Chittenden), Dick McCormack (D-Windsor), and David Zuckerman (P-Chittenden).
Although state law criminalizing abortion was previously nullified by the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, S 315 would officially repeal Vermont’s superseded laws.
Otherwise, such statutes may be reenacted if the Supreme Court decision is ever reversed. Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota have all passed laws that would do just that: immediately ban abortion after such a reversal.
According to its authors, the bill is an important step for women and their doctors due to the independence it grants them.
Abortion is a “deeply personal and often complex decision...[which] must be left to a woman, her family, and her faith, with the counsel of her doctor or health care provider,” the bill states.
The bill is part of a flurry of health care reform in Vermont. The state legislature plans to offer a state-run single-payer system as an alternative to the National Care Act, which critics have attacked for its disorganized implementation.
The bill also states, “It should be a public policy goal to enhance the health of all citizens, including women of all ages, and to strengthen individuals and families by encouraging and promoting access to comprehensive family planning services and to prenatal support services that help ensure that planned pregnancies remain healthy throughout their entire term.”
A similar bill, H 508, previously did not make it through committee in 2012.
(12/05/13 2:52am)
On Friday, Nov. 22, approximately 75 student-tenants who utilized the Old Stone Mill this fall to pursue their creative projects showcased their work at Crossroads. The Old Stone Mill facilitates student pursuit of extracurricular creative or entrepreneurial ambitions by providing students with office space and external resources.
Director of Programs on Creativity and Innovation in the Liberal Arts Elizabeth Robinson noted the diverse range of interests at the showcase.
“What I absolutely love is the range of activity at Old Stone Mill,” Robinson said. “There are musicians, artists, writers, students using the kitchen to explore new kinds of cooking, as well as entrepreneurs and students starting new organizations.”
Jack Cookson ’15, a co-founder of Middlebury Foods, presented at the showcase. Middlebury Foods seeks to address the problem of food insecurity by providing community members with an easier way to access affordable and healthy foods.
During Middlebury Food’s inception, Cookson noted that Old Stone Mill provided a vital role in connecting its seven founders.
“We were using it as an office space,” he explained. “Finding food distributors, finding storage space and doing some initial marketing” was part of a normal workday made easier by the Old Stone Mill.
Linnea Burnham ’15 used her Old Stone Mill space to prepare the wool of sheep she had sheared for sale and knitting at local markets.
“The Old Stone Mill is great because they’ve given me the space to do this,” Burnham said. “This is a very labor intensive and messy process, and there is no way I would have been able to do it in my room.”
Others, such as Annie Bartholomew ’17, presented work focused less on profit and more on personal interest. Bratholomew constructed a guitar that was featured at the showcase, and noted that the act of creating does not have to relate to a particular business or money-making project.
“I want to continue building guitars because I really like it,” she said.
President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz attended the showcase and noted that student projects in tandem with the Old Stone Mill are consistently impressive.
“As always, we hope that the Old Stone Mill will be a generator of creative and innovative pursuits,” Liebowitz remarked. “I think that it’s filled that objective very, very well.”
Robinson explained that before the founding of the Old Stone Mill, many of these projects would have had difficulty finding space to flourish.
“One of the best things about the Old Stone Mill is how it gives students a nudge to be creative,” she said. “It says, ‘we have space, what can you do with it?’”
Many projects that began at the Old Stone Mill have grown considerably since their inception: Quidditch, the Solar Decathalon teams and publications such as Middlebury Geographic have their roots at the Old Stone Mill.
The Old Stone Mill student board member Jake Nonweiler ’14 encouraged individual students or student groups with business or project ideas to apply for space during J-term. For more information, contact oldstonemill@middlebury.edu and go/osm.
(12/04/13 2:53pm)
Although mead is not typically stocked in fridges around campus, Ricky Klein, head brewmaster of the new Groennfell Meadery in Colchester, Vt., is confident that Vermonters will embrace the alternative drink.
Though it is not known by many, mead is one of the oldest drinks ever created, steeped in roughly 12,000 years of sweet history. Mead is an alcoholic drink made from water and fermented honey. Klein illuminated the otherwise mysterious process.
“The basic way to think about it is [as follows]: if it starts with grain, it ends up as beer, and if it starts as apples it ends up as cider, but if the fermentables start as honey, it ends up as mead,” Klein said.
Klein works alongside CEO Kathy Klein. He graduated from the College with focuses in religion and philosophy, but his interest in mead began during his exchange in Denmark.
“Mead is all over in Norse mythology and popular culture there,” Klein said, “but I couldn’t find it to save my life.”
When Ricky returned to the United States, he sought to change that.
“My first batch was terrible, absolutely horrendous,” he admitted. Despite this setback, he fused his brewing with his ongoing education by paying for his masters with the money he earned at a “homebrew brewery consulting business.”
It was during these formative years that Klein established his reputation at as “the mead guru.” Soon thereafter, he had a revelation.
“All of a sudden, I realized that I would much rather be doing this with my life than whatever I was going to do with my masters,” Klein said.
Klein and his wife then moved to Vermont, a state known for its pro-brewer legislation and culture. He has been working on the brewery almost full time since October, well over a year.
Although much of that time was spent wading through red tape and fixing equipment, the Groennfell Meadery is now moving product to local bars.
Klein has spoken with local restaurant 51 Main and plans to market his brews to students returning from the holidays this December. He added that, eventually, “we’ll be pretty much anywhere that you can buy hard cider.”
Despite its relative infancy, Klein hopes that the brewery will eventually grow to become the “Boston Lager of mead.” The meadery currently offers three different flavors. It has also experimented with hopped meads and plans to institute a publicly elected seasonal draft to its selection.
Much of the reason for his mead’s commercial viability, Klein contends, is because of its comparatively low price point. Most meads cost upwards of 15 dollars, a price steep even to Klein.
“If anyone out there should be buying Mead,” he pointed out, “it should be me.” Groennfell meads are available for just $2.50, roughly the price of a craft beer.
Klein pointed out that, “There are about a hundred meaderies in the US, and you’ve probably never heard of any of them.” He hopes that soon Groennfell Meadery will change that.
(11/13/13 11:32pm)
On Oct. 21, the Burlington City Council voted to approve several provisions of a new gun regulation in an effort to curb violence in Vermont.
The three resolutions passed would allow police to seize firearms in households of suspected domestic abuse, require safe methods of gun storage such as trigger locks and lockboxes and prohibit firearms in establishments with liquor licenses.
A fourth provision, which would have created a permit system for concealed carry in Vermont, was not approved.
A committee responsible for recommending changes to the city charter will review the legislation before it is brought to a public hearing. If approved by voters during a March referendum, the legislation still must be approved by the state legislature before it takes effect.
Mayor of Burlington Miro Weinberger and Police Chief Mike Schirling supported the three reforms that passed, but not the provision regarding concealed carry.
The Office of the Mayor released a statement commenting on the matter.
“The proposed Charter Changes on domestic violence reform, prohibiting guns in bars, and safe storage provide helpful new tools for law enforcement,” Schirling said.
Ann Braden, Lead organizer for Gun Sense Vermont did not believe that the permit system for concealed carry was as crucial.
“The issues that we have at the state level are youth suicide, domestic violence, gun trafficking, and the gun-to -drug trade,” Braden said. “I don’t think [a permit system] is directly tied to the problems that we have.”
Another piece of legislation that was eventually dropped would have made semi-automatic rifles illegal. The press release also included Weinberger’s opinion regarding that proposition. He opposed both this and the permit system, which he believed would create “a patchwork of local regulation that would be problematic for responsible Vermont gun owners.” Braden admits that the local legislation is potentially problematic.
“Ideally, it should happen at the federal level; it’s not going to happen at the federal level,” Braden said. “The next best situation is the state. I don’t think we really want to go town by town, but if we want that to happen the state legislatures have to actually take this issue up and make it happen.”
However, many opponents argue that all of the new legislation is illegal. Evan Hughes, vice president of The Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, cited “Dillon’s Rule” as grounds for his disapproval.
Colloquially known by gun owners as ‘The Vermont Sportsmen’s Bill of Rights’, Dillon’s Rule states that municipal power is vested only through explicit permission.
“Counties and municipalities are entities of the state and only have those powers granted by the state,” Hughes said. The new legislation, he argues, steps outside these bounds.
Hughes also cited Vermont Statue 24 V.S.A. § 2291, which states that local government has the power to “regulate or prohibit the use or discharge, but not possession of, firearms within the municipality or specified portions thereof.”
Councilor Norman Blais, a member of the Charter Change Committee, disagrees.
“Any suggestion that what we’re doing is illegal is just wrong,” said Blais in an interview with the Burlington Free Press.
“For someone to suggest this evening that what is being proposed is not reasonable regulation, I don’t think they’re facing up to the reality of what we’re talking about,” Blais said.
Braden agreed, stating that the reforms are “not about taking anything away from anyone, but about making sure that the people who have guns are responsible.”
Braden believes that gun reform has been overlooked for too long in Vermont. The Green Mountain State endures approximately 10 deaths from firearms per 100,000, the most of any state in the Northeast.
“What we need as a society to do, is to come together and say, ‘We all are in favor of responsible firearm ownership. Let’s make sure that only responsible people can get those firearms,’” Braden said.
In the referendum this March, Burlington residents will have to decide if this path is the right one.
(10/10/13 12:50am)
On Oct. 5, the College held the Cultivating Food Literacy symposium, and McCullough Social Space filled with educators, students, and activists to discuss how to educate students on the growth, distribution, and consumption of food.
“It was a great day of conversation,” said Tim Spears, vice president of academic affairs. “We spoke about education at the high school level, and heard from Middlebury students who had internships through the Foodworks program.”
Foodworks is a competitive nine-week internship program based in Louisville, Ky. as well as in Addison County which aims “to provide summer internship opportunities that enhance student learning and engagement in food studies.”
Participants work at internships to gain hands-on agriculutral skills four days a week and partcipate in a food studies curriculum on the fifth day, which focuses its sustainability, nutrition, safety, equity, distribution, economic influence, and other food-related issues.
Veronica Rodriguez ’16.5, an intern at Seed Capital Kentucky and a volunteer at the College Organic Farm said that Foodworks’ strength as a a program lay in the level of student involvement.
“My experience really implemented the idea that this was not only an internship, but also a program with the expectation that we would take ownership over our own education, and get our hands dirty in ways that we hadn’t expected before,” said Rodriguez
The symposium also featured representatives of the Navajo Kentuckians: a group of leaders of the Navajo Nation and teachers at Fern Creek High School in Louisville, Ky. The group aims to increase food literacy among at-risk students by examining the narrative and structure of digital storytelling.
Midway through the symposium, the group of educators and students visited Middlebury’s organic garden to witness the College’s own local food initiative and to demonstrate the emerging role of food in life at the College.
While the events at the symposium were intended to kick off the launch of the new Food Studies program, the administration is still in the process of further developing the program’s curriculum and academic infrastructure.
“We are moving ahead with a senior faculty hire in Food Studies,” said Spears. “We’re also starting to identify opportunities for students to pursue Food Studies at our partner schools abroad. We’re trying to create a program which, when you put all the pieces together, will give students an interdisciplinary, integrated understanding of food systems.”
Special Assistant to the Director at the Office for Careers and Internships Amy Mclashan also highlighted the role of Food Studies within the realm of an integrated liberal arts education.
“The traditional view of education was bounded by the walls of the classroom, but as I listened today, I was imagining those walls becoming increasingly porous, and that the classroom is really just a small patch of space on a much broader landscape in which learning is happening,” said McGlashan in address during the symposium. “Food provides us with a means to connect across cultures, across countries, and across languages.”
(10/02/13 11:42pm)
On Oct. 1, the Vermont Health Exchanges, the first of many sweeping health care reforms designed to propel the state towards a single-payer system, took effect. Green Mountain Care, the state-run insurance pool, will work collectively to distribute and manage funds from members by conglomerating the premiums from a variety of plans.
The Affordable Care Act, colloquially known as Obamacare, requires that all citizens be insured by the start of 2014. Full penalties, taking effect in 2016, requires that those who choose to remain uninsured pay a fine.
The fine varies by income, as well as by the number of dependents in a given household, but cannot exceed eight percent of a citizen’s income. The revenue generated will help to subsidize the costs of emergency care provided to uninsured patients.
Approved in the wake of national reforms, Vermont’s progressive single-payer model will be the first of its kind in the United States. The exchanges that open this fall will offer competitive rates, increased transparency and will focus on making premiums available to middle and lower income citizens who were unable to afford them before.
According to their website, the exchange will offer a variety of plans, such as Vermont Health Access Plan (VHAP), Catamount Health and Dr. Dynasaur, a program designed to offer “low-cost or free health coverage for children, teenagers under age 18 and pregnant women.”
Private insurance companies will continue to operate in Vermont alongside the public exchanges, in a health care system comparable to that of Canada or Australia.
Since Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law three years ago, Vermont has consistently ranked in the top healthiest states. In 2012, the United Health Foundation ranked Vermont as the healthiest state in the nation.
Emily Yahr, Education and Outreach Manager at the Vermont Health Benefit Exchange, said that Vermont’s success in the past will act as blueprint for successful future reform.
“What helps us [in Vermont] is we do have a tradition of health reform, by implementing insurance plans that have helped,” said Yahr. “Moving forward, because of that tradition, we’ll be successful here.”
Yahr doesn’t foresee the transition from private to public-based insurance having a detrimental effect, primarily because of the high percentage of coverage in Vermont.
“We already have a really low uninsured rate here in Vermont,” said Yahr. “It’s about 10.1 percent, and that’s the second lowest in the nation.”
However, a more contentious aspect of the legislation will be its effect on small businesses, which represent approximately 96 percent of all employers and 60 percent of employees in Vermont’s private sector.
“Small businesses can take one of two roads,” said Yahr. “They can either contribute to their employees costs, which about half of them do today, or they can let their employees go on their own.”
While the majority of Americans supported some sort of healthcare reform in the nation, there have been mixed responses to the changes this legislation will implement in Vermont.
Vicki Mckewen, a thirty-year-old grade school teacher in Vermont was initially unsure as to whether or not she supported the reform.
“When I was unemployed I was on the Vermont health care, which is great,” Mckewen said. “If that will change significantly for people, I think it might have a negative impact.” Still, she admired legislators efforts. “I think it’s wonderful that finally a president is doing what they say. Trying to get a system in place. Trying to make a change.”
Patrick Choi, a resident of Middlebury, agrees with Mckewen. “My parents are upper-middle class, so it wouldn’t really help us per se, but I think for the overall public, it’s something that’s very necessary,” Choi said.
Still, others view the reform as too radical. Roland Toledo, a 68-year-old town resident, is skeptical of the new legislation.
“[This is] not the solution,” Toledo said. “We do need a solution. But it’s not going to be driven this way, it’s going to be driven through health savings accounts, personal responsibility, and [holding] every single American responsible for their own health care and their own premiums. Then you would reduce costs.”
Others believe that this concern is shortsighted, and that the long-term benefits of such a system far outweigh any shorter financial concerns.
Gregory Dennis cited his experience with Medicare, signed into law by President Johnson in 1965.
“I’m old enough to remember when Medicare came in during the 60s,” Dennis said. “My dad was a small town doctor. He was against Medicare, and all the doctors were against Medicare, and now it’s been a huge safety net, and it’s a big piece of Doctor’s incomes. I’ve seen this movie before.”
When asked whether she thought the influx of new patients would put a strain on health care professionals, however, Yahr remained optimistic.
“We think that the uninsured rate will go down slowly in the next few years. I don’t think it’s going be a big shock where we have no one insured, and suddenly we have 50,000 more people looking for doctors. There’ll be some time for transition,” Yahr said.
The debate rages between those in favor of and those opposing healthcare reform. But as Grant, a 62 year old resident expressed, “I think that there are a lot of uninsured people that deserve help.”
The exchanges hope to provide it.