Vermonters who lost their jobs during the pandemic have faced one challenge after another. Trying to get financial support from the state government is one of them.
The House committee on Commerce and Economic Development voted Wednesday to remove bigger benefit checks for laid-off Vermonters who have children from a Senate bill.
Vermont’s cost of unemployment insurance fraud during the pandemic “will be in the millions by the time this is all said and done,” Labor Commissioner Michael Harrington said.
As discussions build in Vermont about how to spend an influx of federal money, water access advocates hope to direct the money to underfunded rural water systems.
Rep. Mike Marcotte, R-Coventry, the House commerce committee chair, is not sure the bill is the right time or place to enact a dependent benefit, he said in an interview Friday.
The department said Friday that 90% of recent initial benefit claims had been fraudulent, prompting the department to shut down the online filing system earlier in the week.
Vermont’s labor commissioner said the federal directive could place Vermonters “in a significant overpayment status,” and called the request “unconscionable.”
The plan would offer the company financial breathing room and lessen the burden on Vermonters’ electricity bills, according to executives.
A growing number of people getting Covid-19 vaccinations “means more opportunities for Vermonters to return to work,” said Labor Commissioner Michael Harrington at Gov. Phil Scott’s Tuesday press conference.
The Senate Appropriations Committee chair’s announcement follows a decision by leaders of the U.S. House earlier this year to restore earmarks, which were banned in 2011.
The Vermont Natural Resources Council and the Lake Champlain Committee are asking a court to revoke a state-granted permit that would allow a 100-year-old ferry to be sunk in Lake Champlain.
Tesla maintains that its high-end electric cars must be sold directly by the company rather than through third-party dealers, the way most cars are sold in the U.S.
After determining there is little they can do to stall the scuttling of a century-old ferry on Lake Champlain, lawmakers are drafting legislation that would set parameters for sinking other vessels in future.
The Vermont Department of Health said Wednesday that college students who live in other states, and other part-time Vermont residents, may register to schedule vaccine appointments beginning April 29.
