WCAX: UVM researchers look at police funding across Vermont. “As funding for police departments is under scrutiny across the country, a new database compiled in collaboration with UVM researchers is comparing police budgets from more than half of Vermont cities and towns.”
Vermont
Washington Post: Vermont borders states with major covid-19 outbreaks, but you won’t find that here
Washington Post: Vermont borders states with major covid-19 outbreaks, but you won’t find that here. “Months into the pandemic, Vermont’s governor says the state is ‘the envy of the nation,’ with little more than 1,100 confirmed covid-19 infections and 56 deaths. Perhaps most remarkable is that Vermont has been relatively spared the effects of the disease even though a huge swath of the nation’s cases are mere hours from its borders; neighboring New York and Massachusetts have approximately half a million confirmed cases between them, and more than 37,000 deaths.”
ABC 10: New ‘Try Telemedicine First website to increase access to virtual care
ABC 10: New ‘Try Telemedicine First website to increase access to virtual care. This site is for New York and Vermont only. “MVP Health Care and Media logic have launched a new website called Try-Telemedicine-First. The site provides access to telemedicine services, allowing people to search by their health insurance company or zip code.”
Vermont Public Radio: Vermont Coronavirus Updates For Tuesday, April 7
Vermont Public Radio: Vermont Coronavirus Updates For Tuesday, April 7. “The Vermont Department of Health has unveiled a new COVID-19 data dashboard. In addition to showing numbers for testing, monitoring, related deaths and a county-by-county map of cases, the new tool breaks down the number of coronavirus cases by age, sex and per capita.”
NECN: Vt. Businesses Struggling With COVID-19 Losses Get New Promotional Boost
NECN: Vt. Businesses Struggling With COVID-19 Losses Get New Promotional Boost. “Monday, positive tests for COVID-19 in Vermont climbed to 256, up 21 from Sunday, while deaths remained flat at 12, according to the Vermont Department of Health. Positive test results are expected to continue climbing, as the state recently made more options for testing available by a doctor’s referral, said Dr. Mark Levine, Vermont’s health commissioner. Meanwhile, as losses to many small businesses grow day-by-day during the COVID-19 crisis, a new push is underway in Vermont to encourage support for mom-and-pop operations.”
Building Vermont Art Online: Virtual tours of the state’s art museums (Rutland Herald)
Rutland Herald: Building Vermont Art Online: Virtual tours of the state’s art museums. “Sarah Laursen and Sarah Briggs are in the process of creating a statewide online hub for visual arts. It may be the only site of its kind in Vermont, and soon it will be host to virtual tours, online activities for home and links to art centers all over the state.”
Seven Days Vermont: Vermont Sues ‘Dystopian’ Facial Recognition App Maker Clearview AI
Seven Days Vermont: Vermont Sues ‘Dystopian’ Facial Recognition App Maker Clearview AI. “The Attorney General’s Office filed suit against the face-search company on Tuesday, alleging its practice of scooping up billions of online images to build a facial recognition app violates Vermont’s consumer protection statute. The civil suit is also the first legal test of a provision in the state’s data broker law, which was the only one of its kind when passed in 2018.”
Engadget: A Vermont bill would bring emoji license plates to the US
Engadget: A Vermont bill would bring emoji license plates to the US. “With their ability to add a dash of color and whimsy to a text message, emoji have become an indispensable part of our online interactions. Thanks to a new piece of proposed legislation introduced last week in the Vermont House of Representatives, they could soon start making state license plates more colorful as well.”
EurekAlert: Vermont releases report by nation’s first state-led AI taskforce
EurekAlert: Vermont releases report by nation’s first state-led AI taskforce. “Vermont, the first state in the nation to form a taskforce examining the role of artificial intelligence (AI), has released its final report on the topic today. The 35-page report includes several recommendations, the foremost of which is the establishment of a permanent commission on AI to support its development and to propose policy initiatives to make that development responsible.”
CNET: Vermont bill would ban cell phone use by anyone younger than 21
CNET: Vermont bill would ban cell phone use by anyone younger than 21. “A bill has been introduced in Vermont’s legislature that would prohibit anyone under 21 years old from using or possessing a cell phone. However, the bill appears to be more about gun rights than cell phones.” From the article it looks like a stunt.
Officer: Vermont City Plagued by Social Media Scandal Appoints 3 Police Chiefs in a Week
Officer: Vermont City Plagued by Social Media Scandal Appoints 3 Police Chiefs in a Week . I don’t usually post random municipal stuff like this but this is wild. “The state’s largest city, whose police department keeps getting mired in social media scandals, is appointing its third chief in a week as two have been forced to resign when underground Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts surfaced.”
My Champlain Valley: Public database of racial info from Vermont traffic stops launched
My Champlain Valley: Public database of racial info from Vermont traffic stops launched. “Five years after Vermont law enforcement officers first became required to document the race of all drivers they pull over in traffic stops, that information has proven to be difficult to come by. However, a Vermont racial justice group has just made the data significantly easier to find.”
‘There’s No Safe Level of Lead:’ Vermont Schools, Day Care Centers Undergoing Wave of Lead Tests (NECN)
NECN: ‘There’s No Safe Level of Lead:’ Vermont Schools, Day Care Centers Undergoing Wave of Lead Tests. “With a sweeping round of statewide lead tests now underway at Vermont schools and day care centers, some faucets and drinking fountains are getting failing grades….Wednesday, state health and environmental leaders unveiled a new website where families can check on lead levels in their kids’ drinking water sources.”
Rutland Herald Online: New tool measures academic performance in Vt.
Rutland Herald Online: New tool measures academic performance in Vt.. “At a cost of about $1 million, education officials described Snapshot as unique in the nation in terms of the range of criteria studied and the depth of data delivered. Using Vermont’s Education Quality Standards as a baseline measurement, Snapshot details the performance of schools and students in five major areas: academic proficiency, personalization, safe and healthy schools, high quality staffing and investment priorities.”
Digital Public Library of America: Vermont Green Mountain Digital Archive Joins DPLA
Digital Public Library of America: Vermont Green Mountain Digital Archive Joins DPLA. “Vermont Green Mountain Digital Archive’s 57,000 items include local and regional history like photographs capturing rural New England town life; Vermonters’ Civil War letters, and broadsides dating to the 18th century, alongside materials that are international in scope like Dr. Edgar Hyde’s photographs from his service as an Army Medical Corps officer during World War II. “
