Designated Agencies Opposing SSA Medicaid Funding Designation for Pathways Vermont

by Norsehorse | State News

(cross-posted to Green Mountain Daily, here; original version posted to Vermont Watch, here)

It was recently learned that Pathways Vermont, a housing first program currently serving six different regions within the state, is pursuing Specialized Service Agency (SSA) Medicaid funding designation status as a way to replace the federal grant funds the housing first program will be losing later this year, to the tune of $600,000.

Read the Pathways Vermont SSA designation application letter, here.

It is my understanding that this SSA designation status, if granted, would permit Pathways Vermont to receive medicaid funding the program currently does not have access to and of which the Designated Agencies (DA’s: i.e., Community Mental Health Centers: CMHC’s) basically have enjoyed what amounts to a virtual monopoly when it comes to these type of program and service funds.

Top 5 Reasons To Come Out For The Kurn Hattin Jazz Invitational!

by KurnHattin | Music

Kurn Hattin holds its 7th Annual Jazz Invitational TONIGHT at 7 PM in the Higbie Auditorium in the Mayo Memorial Center at Kurn Hattin in Westminster, VT. With performances by several special guests and area youth jazz ensembles, it’s sure to be an amazing evening of swinging entertainment! AND…admission is FREE with a canned food donation for Our Place Food Shelter in Bellows Falls.

Need more encouragement? Here are our top 5 reasons why you ought to be there!

1) You’ll enjoy the sultry New Orleans sounds of local jazz singer, Samirah Evans, up close and personal!

2) Scott Mullett and the Keene Jazz Orchestra really know how to bring the swing!

3) Master of Ceremonies, Eugene Uman of the Vermont Jazz Center, makes everything go down smooth.

Primary Care Crisis in America – Sanders Proposes Legislation

by Not Signed In | Politics

WASHINGTON, April 9 – A Senate panel heard today from the founder of an organization that stages medical clinics for patients who wait day and night in long lines for basic health care in parts of the world with severe doctor shortages – not in a Third World country in Africa or Latin America but right here in the United States.

“Health care in America is a privilege of the well-to-do and the well-insured that leaves about 50 million people flat out of luck,” said Stan Brock, president of Remote Area Medical. People travel hundreds of miles and wait for days to see a doctor or dentist or to get their eyes checked at clinics Brock’s organization has held in communities like Los Angeles and Knoxville, Tenn.

Brattleboro Wins Energy Challenge Award

by Not Signed In | Home & Garden

The Town of Brattleboro will receive a $10,000 grant from Efficiency Vermont in recognition of its efforts in the Vermont Home Energy Challenge, a statewide initiative to increase energy efficiency in homes and apartments. Brattleboro achieved the highest percentage of completed home efficiency projects in the Windham region while exceeding a minimum of 10 projects. Brattleboro homeowners and landlords completed 41 efficiency projects during the Challenge, which ran from January 1, 2013 to February 15, 2014.

The grant can be used for a municipal or school energy efficiency project which achieves either thermal or electrical energy savings in buildings, street lighting, or water/wastewater treatment facilities.

Another Phone Scam

by annikee | Other

I’ve just heard of someone being scammed. A phone call from a “Live Technician” with a Las Vegas number and a Canadian billing address, scammed this elderly woman for several hundred dollars and wiped much of her laptop, iPad, and iPhone clean. The caller “knew” which devices she owned before she told him and she unwittingly gave him access to her devices. He was claiming that she needed to buy his company’s malware and that her computer was loaded with troubles. He wiped out whole programs she’d paid for, and supposedly installed their malware. Of course, all of her information and identity is now stolen.

Mud Season Trash Pickup

by Not Signed In | Town News

Due to the difficult mud season this year, there will be no trash and recycling pick-up on the following gravel roads on Wednesday, April 9th or Thursday, April 10th, 2014:

Pleasant Valley Road:
Gibson Road
East Orchard Street
Orchard Street
Pleasant Valley Road
Meadowbrook Road
Wickopee Hill Road

East Side of Main Street Closing April 10

by Not Signed In | Town Plan

The Brattleboro Parking Enforcement Division would like to advise the public that on Thursday, April 10, the east side of Main Street will be closed for on-street parking beginning at 7:00am. Green Mountain Power will be performing a street light conversion on Main Street. The work is expected to be completed on Thursday and on-street parking will be returned into service as the conversion progresses.

Please contact the Parking Enforcement Division at 257-2305 with any questions.

Brattleboro Special Election – Early/Absentee Ballots and Voter Registration

by Not Signed In | Politics

Early/absentee ballots for the special Town wide vote to be held on April 17, are now available in the Brattleboro town clerk’s office. Anyone wishing to vote prior to April 17, may apply for an early/absentee ballot until 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16. Early/absentee ballots may be voted in person in the clerk’s office, mailed to the voter by the clerk’s office, picked up by the voter or delivered to the voter’s residence by two justices of the peace.

Route 30 Closure Schedule Change – April 10 to 17th

by Not Signed In | Town Plan

ROUTE 30 CLOSURE SCHEDULING CHANGE: April 10th to 17th: The closure is now scheduled to begin Thursday night, April 10th and will be complete by the afternoon of Thursday, April 17th. The shearing of the steel of the bridge that is being demolished will be noisy, and will be limited to the hours of 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM, so as to minimize the noise impacts on nearby residents. Once the closure begins, no through traffic will be permitted on VT Route 30 through the I-91 right-of-way.

Brattleboro Skatepark Site Selection – On Site Visits

by cgrotke | Town Plan

The Skatepark Site Selection Committee is starting site visits this Thursday (rain or shine). Here’s the agenda; come to part or all.

Thursday April 10, 2014
1. 5:15 P.M. Site Visit Elliot St. Park–190 Elliot St.
2. Recess
3. 5:45 P.M. Site Visit Elm Street Park Lot–At the Corner of Elm St & Flat St
4. Recess
5. 6:15 P.M. Meeting Gibson Aiken Center–207 Main St.
6. Public Input via E-Mail – skateparkideas@brattleboro.org
7. Report on Act250 Properties (Cedar St.)
8. Review Site Visits
9. Next Meeting Wednesday April 16, at 5:15 P.M.
10.Other business

Blanche Moyse Chorale: Make A Joyful Noise!

by Pam Lierle | Music

Sacred Works of Schütz and Mendelssohn
Directed by Mary Westbrook-Geha 

This weekend, the Blanche Moyse Chorale will make a joyful noise with performances of sacred works by the German composers Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) and Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847). The concert will be performed twice: at 8:00 P.M. on Friday, April 11, at the Immanuel Episcopal Church in Bellows Falls, VT, and at 3:00 P.M. on Sunday, April 13, at Centre Congregational Church, in Brattleboro, VT.

Under the direction of Mary Westbrook-Geha, the Chorale will treat its audience to a rich selection of a cappella works by Schütz , from the heart of the Baroque period, and by Mendelssohn, from the heart of the Romantic period. The selected texts used by both composers are similar — either psalms or shorter biblical excerpts — but their musical settings are strikingly different. The contrast between their dynamic, harmonic, and polyphonic treatment opens a fascinating window into the cultural evolution that took place over the two centuries between the composers’ births. The concert’s title, “Make a Joyful Noise”, is derived from the text of Psalm 100, which appears twice in the program, in contrasting musical interpretations by both Mendelssohn and Schütz. 

Sanders, Leahy, Other Senators Support Meals on Wheels

by Not Signed In | Politics

WASHINGTON, April 7 – More than two dozen senators have called for a significant funding increase for Older Americans Act programs like Meals on Wheels in order to keep up with the increasing needs of a growing population of elderly Americans.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of a Senate subcommittee that oversees seniors’ programs, was joined by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and 25 of other colleagues in urging the chairman and ranking member of a Senate appropriations panel to provide at least a 12 percent increase in funding for the coming year.

Helping Adolescents Cope With Loss

by Not Signed In | Education

Hospice Foundation of America’s Annual National Living With Grief Program, sponsored by Brattleboro Area Hospice and The Retreat, Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014, 1:00-4:30. This educational event is free of charge to attend.

This program focuses exclusively on the issues that adolescents face as they cope with death loss, and explores ways that professionals and other adults who work with adolescents can help them cope. The format for the afternoon is an archived webcast featuring national experts as well as a live discussion led by local professionals who have expertise in this area.

The teleconference will be held at the Brattleboro Retreat Education Center. Refreshment will be provided. Continuing Education Credits are available through Hospice Foundation of America.

$20 Of Coffee For $15. Deadline For Donations Is April 12, 2014

by Rolf | Food

 If you drink coffees at Mocha Joes, you can get $20 worth of coffee for only $15. 

All you have to do is donate $15 to their fundraiser for Cameroonian organic farmers, and VOILA ! you get a gift certificate that you can use yourself, to get any coffee drink you so choose.  

April 12 is the last day of the campaign. Help yourself, and help others. It really is that easy. 

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mocha-joe-s-cameroon-organic-coffee-project

Strolling of the Heifers 2014 Locavore Index Highlights Benefits of Food From Local Farms

by MartinLangeveld | Food

Brattleboro-based Strolling of the Heifers has released its third annual Locavore Index, a state-by-state ranking of commitment to local foods.

By compiling the Index, Strolling of the Heifers hopes to strengthen local farms and food systems by encouraging efforts across the country to increase the use of local foods in homes, restaurants, schools and institutions.  

The 2014 Locavore Index incorporates four measures for which current data is available for all states: the number of farmers markets, the number of consumer-supported agriculture operations (CSAs), the number of food hubs — all compared on a per-capita basis — plus the percentage of each state’s school districts with active Farm-to-School programs. But more data on local foods should be gathered, Strolling of the Heifers says.

BCTV Channel 8 & 10 Schedules for the Week of 4/7/14

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV Ch.8 Schedule for the week of 4/7/14

                   Monday April 7                

12:10 am      Windham Orchestra: Bratt Senior Meals Benefit – 3/20/14 at Latchis

1:30 am       The Artful Word: Irish Heritage Celebration – 3/17/14

2:00 am       FSTV Overnight

4:00 am       That Was The Week That Was – Educational Governance in Vermont

5:30 am       Abolition and the Underground Railroad in Vermont

Friends of Brooks Memorial Library Spring Book Sale

by Brooks Memorial Library | Books

This year’s annual Friends of Library Big Book Sale is coming early with Spring flowers. Join your fellow community members and sift through the thousands of  paperbacks, DVD’s, and audio books for the Big Spring Book Sale, to raise funds for the support of the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library.

The sale is scheduled for Friday, April 11, 10 to 6 and Saturday, April 12, 10  to 2. Books and other items are piling up for this important annual event. Come early for the best selection! Remainders will be on sale during the month of April during regular library hours.

Birth Ambassadors: Doulas and the Re-emergence of Woman-supported Birth in America

by Brooks Memorial Library | Health

On Monday, April 7, at 7:00 p.m., local author and women’s health advocate Elayne Clift will be at Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro to read from and discuss her latest book, with Christine Morton, Birth Ambassadors: Doulas and the Re-emergence of Woman-supported Birth in America.

Published by Praeclarus Press in January, the book about women who offer physical and emotional support to birthing mothers, is already garnering rave reviews. Clift, a volunteer doula at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital’s Birth Center, will be joined by doula Carol Schnabel, volunteer coordinator of the Doula Program at the hospital, and a contributor to the book.

Anyone Missing a Hound?

by Roo | Pets

This hound (mix? looked houndier in person) was running in traffic on Canal Street (*NO* traffic sense whatsoever) Sunday around 5pm.  I followed him up Maple St., but lost him near the corner of Locust when he started cutting through yards. He was traveling at speed.  I called the ACO and left a message with dispatch.

Sorry about the crappy photos.