It’s the “exciting hair-on-fire phase” of implementing the $195 million in rural health transformation grant funds Vermont is promised from the federal government, as Jill Mazza Olson described it to the House Health Care Committee this morning.

There has been a frantic, racing energy around acquiring and spending the federal funds since the applications opened in the fall, giving states just six weeks to build out their five-year plans. That effort paid off when the officials learned in December that Vermont would receive nearly double what they expected.

Now, the Vermont Agency of Human Services is working to obligate all of this year’s money by the end of September and spend it by the feds’ September 2027 deadline.

Olson and Sarah Rosenblum, who have been leading this work for the Agency of Human Services, gave both the House and Senate health care committees an update of where that work stands Thursday morning.

Right now, Olson and Rosenblum are in the throes of posting opportunities for sub-grants and contracts, for organizations to carry out the many facets of Vermont’s proposed work. 

So far, they’ve put out six such notices for work to bolster rural health care. There are notices for $1.45 million to bring dialysis and ventilators to nursing homes and $810,000 to develop licensed nursing assistant training programs. 

One project seeks bids for organizations to operate residences for people recovering from substance use disorders while another would invest in mobile clinics for dental, medical, mental health and substance use disorder services. Yet another proposal aims to put money toward pharmacists’ ability to “test-to-treat” and help reduce patient reliance on primary care or the emergency room. 

The last active bid seeks contractors who can help AHS build out an even more in-depth strategic plan for how to use these funds to help rural communities. 

Olson and Rosenblum said that they are close to posting the final 10 notices soon, which will center on improving technology and payments to support primary care providers. Once the last of those are out, they will shift into a new phase of this massive project.  

When the application windows close, AHS’s transformation team will begin sorting through the proposals and working with the federal government to figure out how to approve and implement the projects before the timeline is up.

With all the rushed excitement to spend this one-time money, Rep. Alyssa Black, D-Essex Town, the chair of the House Health Care Committee, worried about the Agency of Human Service’s ability to do its primary job.

“Do you think that this is so all-consuming that it might be a distraction? What are the essential things that we need our AHS to be doing that we want to make sure they’re still continuing to do and not get distracted by the shiny object?” she asked. 

The stability should come soon, Olson responded. The agency has already hired two full-time staffers to implement this plan and have the approvals they need to hire the rest of the team dedicated to working on this project.

Maybe then, Olson can douse the hair-on-fire feeling, and finally get a full night’s sleep.

In the know

A pop star in the People’s House?

That’s right — sorta. Vermont’s own Noah Kahan offered his endorsement of a bill currently making its way through the Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs Committee on Thursday.

The committee watched a brief video Kahan recorded explaining his support for H.512, a bill supporters hope will cut down on online ticket scams and scalpers.  

“As an artist I care very deeply about the fan experience,” Kahan said, “This bill is a critical step in eliminating predatory resell behaviors.”

Stick season? More like s-ticket season. Ugh.

— Ethan Weinstein

Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday appointed former Sen. David Soucy of Barre Town to the House seat recently vacated by longtime Rep. Topper McFaun.

Soucy, a Republican, previously served in the Senate, representing Rutland County during the 2017-18 legislative session. He was elected to the Barre Town Selectboard last year.

Scott, in a press release, said Soucy “has been involved in his community for many years and will be a strong voice for common-sense legislation” in the Statehouse.

Read the full story here. 

— Corey McDonald

The Vermont Supreme Court has declined to intervene in the Scott administration’s effort to uphold its employee return-to-office policy — for now.

Last week, the Vermont Labor Relations Board ordered that the administration rescind its policy requiring employees to work at least three days per week at their worksites. 

Gov. Phil Scott and top administration officials said at the time that the state would appeal the decision and request a pause on the order from both the labor board and Vermont’s high court. 

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration “must first seek a stay” from the labor board, denying a request to pause last week’s decision. 

Steve Howard, executive director of the Vermont State Employees’ Association, called the ramifications of last week’s legal proceedings “very confusing” for state employees.  

With its decision last week, the Vermont Labor Relations Board has called into question what working life could look like for the approximately 8,000 Vermont state employees. 

Read the full story here. 

— Ethan Weinstein

MONTPELIER — A local filmmaker’s latest movie is headed to Montpelier’s Savoy Theater next  week as part of a larger effort to bring more movie-making to the state.

Hosted by the Vermont Production Collective, the April 16 event will feature the latest version of  “Leather Clad,” written and directed by Thomas Benton. The movie itself was filmed in Vermont, after Benton and co-producer (and lead actor) Matt Munroe wanted to see what they’d be able to bring to the big screen.

Years later, the film has been shot and edited into this final version, now ready for its larger release.

“There’s something special about bringing it to Montpelier and exposing the lawmakers to this ground level of debauchery,” Benton said. “There’s something exciting about that.”

Filming in Vermont

Benton is one of many people across Vermont interested in growing the movie industry in the Green Mountains. Because, Hollywood isn’t doing so great. Worldwide box office numbers continue to deteriorate post-pandemic and few movies — outside of James Cameron’s “Avatar” films and endless CGI movies for kids — have been able to bring in the revenue that was common just a decade ago.

Could Vermont fill the gap? Maybe.

Benton and his team have tried to answer that entertainment problem by going niche. Using a low budget and unique approach, the goal was to film something that felt a little more real.

“We’ve gotten to such a corporate, mass media perspective, where we’re at such a point where nothing looks like life as we know it,” he said. “You look at movies in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and it was like, you look at the actors and think, they remind me of someone, or maybe I could be that. You can find that there was a still tangible connection in reality. There’s none of that now.”

Eventually, he was able to find the talent to do it. After a little searching, it turns out Vermont has an abundance of people with movie-making experience.

“We clearly have a really bizarre amount of film industry expats in the state who are just looking for work and going elsewhere,” Benton said.

In many ways, it’s how his own movie got off the ground. Benton ran into Munroe — who has performed in a handful of roles in movies and television — and found a shared vision about wanting to get a movie together. So they pushed ahead. 

The result is “Leather Clad.” Due to budgetary constraints, they stuck to simple locations and  cast Munroe to play the main character while bringing on multiple actors — some from New England — to fill out the ensemble.

Benton and his team then took care of much of the production crew work as well as post-production to edit the movie down into its current version. Benton already showed a first cut of the movie, rolling it out at the Welden Theatre at an event this past September, but he said that version has since been updated extensively for the showing at Montpelier’s Savoy.

“The first cut is – I think it should be this. The second cut is – okay, it’s not that. Maybe it could be this? And then the third cut is – this is what it is. Here’s what we actually shot. Here’s how it works,” he said. 

VPC and movies

If “Leather Clad” entertains audiences and gains fans, then Benton is hoping that Vermont’s moviemaking industry might gain some momentum. The Vermont Production Collective is definitely trying to push the needle by featuring the local movie. It’s the second feature to be a part of the new series rolled out by the organization, called VPC Presents, to focus on grassroot perspectives.

Altogether, the group has identified 55 separate movies — some features and some shorts — which have had portions shot in Vermont. Some are well-known, like “Beetlejuice,” but most come from Vermont’s slate of independent filmmakers, many of them organized under the VPC name.

Enosburgh’s own Shayna Sherwood, for example, serves on the group’s advisory board. As an experienced casting director, she too would like to see movie-making take off in Vermont.

“I personally believe we are at a turning point in film, television and media. The way we create and consume content has changed dramatically and is changing daily,” she said in a written statement. “My hope for this (VPC Presents) event is we start to build a bridge between Vermont’s creative community, its policymakers and the out-of-state professionals who have a connection to this beautiful place. Because there is a real opportunity in front of us.”

Benton agreed, although he sees three obstacles to that goal — funding, branding and bankability. Essentially, much of Vermont’s film industry consists of smaller productions, sometimes self-funded, and there needs to be more financial backers who are comfortable taking the chance to invest in something larger. 

Most states offer incentive programs to help, but Vermont has shied away from the approach after the legislature put together a report researching the idea.

There also needs to be a few more advocates for filmmakers, especially on the state level. While Vermont likes to brand itself as being a “remote worker” hub in order to grow its workforce, few lump film professionals into that list. That could be changed to help re-orient people’s ideas of what the state could be if there was a larger industry.

And finally, Benton said the local film industry could use a bigger hit — a movie that gets people talking on a wider regional level — in order to be able to expand and grow. Until that happens, any “grassroots” efforts will likely continue to be overshadowed by Hollywood’s glossy content factory.

“This isn’t a huge industry anyway, so how do you budge the needle? You’ve got to have, honestly, even just a big success splash or something, to get it going,” Benton said.

“Leather Clad” could be it. The movie starts at Montpelier’s Savoy Theater (located at 26 Main St.) at 7 p.m. on April 16. A pre-film reception is also planned at 5:30 p.m. at Hugo’s Bar & Grill

Following the showing, Benton said there will also be a panel discussion featuring moviemakers and film advocates for those interested.

As for “Leather Clad,” VPC provided the following movie summary: “After a shooting sends them running for cover, a newly released ex-con and a game warden’s daughter realize they’re being hunted—and neither knows why.”  From Vermont filmmaker Thomas Benton, starring Vermonter Matt Munroe, Anne Clark, Paul Romero, Jeff Elam and Jamison Jones. Runtime: 82 minutes.

Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, in partnership with Vermont Public

🎧 This story was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We’ve also provided a print version of the story below.

On solar farms, the ground beneath the solar panels is often planted with turf grass and left alone. But some Vermonters are experimenting with productive ways to use that land: grazing livestock, growing crops, and creating habitat for threatened pollinators and birds.

Solar makes up about 16% of the energy Vermont generates, and that number has been growing for over a decade. As solar grows, so does Vermont’s capacity for agrivoltaics — the dual use of land on solar farms for agriculture.

Lewis Fox is a sheep farmer in Leicester, Vermont. With his wife, Niko Kochendoerfer, he runs a business called Agrivoltaic Solutions. They are hired by solar companies to manage the vegetation on solar farms. “We’re in charge of keeping the vegetation within certain limits, and the sheep are the tools that we use to do it,” Fox said.

Fox said that sheep are ready-made for solar farms. “They’re pretty short stature, so they can really fit into nooks and crannies,” he said. “They’re also not really interested in chewing on wires or jumping on panels.” The panels also provide sheep with protection from the elements and shade, which means that the sheep don’t need to drink as much water on hot days.

Fox and Kochendoerfer work with farmers from Buffalo, New York to Bangor, Maine, helping them learn the ropes of solar grazing. Fox is also a founding member of the American Solar Grazing Association, an organization that promotes solar grazing and provides educational materials for farmers who want to get into it.

In the winter, when there is no grazing to be done, Fox and Kochendoerfer breed the sheep and sell grass-fed lamb. Fox said that the additional revenue they earn from agrivoltaics is a huge help financially. “For us as livestock producers, being able to use the animals in another way is very significant in terms of farm viability,” he said.

Solar grazing has exploded in recent years. There are currently about 130,000 acres of solar arrays in the United States grazed by sheep. “We think it’s got a bright future,” Fox said.

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Sheep aren’t the only animals that can find food on a solar farm.

The Weybridge-based nonprofit Bee the Change is turning solar fields into habitat for bees and other pollinators. Since 2015, they’ve created habitat on 30 solar sites.

Mike Kiernan is a co-founder of Bee the Change. He said one of the organization’s main goals is to support Vermont’s native bees, many of which are threatened by loss of habitat, disease or pesticides.

Kiernan said that although some invasive plant species can be helpful to pollinators, the team at Bee the Change tries to plant native species at these sites. “Our goal is to get the highest percentage possible of native plants, because they have the longest relationship with these species,” Kiernan said.

And their efforts are working.

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Through careful monitoring, the leaders at Bee the Change have seen pollinator populations on their sites increase dramatically in both number and diversity.

Supporting pollinators also helps support the plants they pollinate, which helps people, too. “We’re all actually connected, and our survival is connected,” said Kiernan. “And when people see a habitat that is enriched with pollinators, they are appreciative.”

Encore Renewable Energy, a Vermont-based B Corp, has hired both Kiernan and Fox to manage the vegetation on its solar sites. The company specializes in community-scale solar projects.

Chad Farrell is the co-CEO of Encore Renewable Energy. He said the company prioritizes using agrivoltaics because it’s good for local economies and good for the environment.

Solar grazing is often cheaper than mowing, and it cuts down on emissions because mowers, which run on fossil fuels, are not needed as often.

Planting native plants to build pollinator habitat can increase the soil’s potential to store carbon by 65%. It’s also good for the soil’s overall health — potentially paving the way for future agriculture on the land. “At the end of the useful life of the project, we’re actually able to return that land in a better condition than what we found,” Farrell said.

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Some Vermonters don’t like to see agricultural land repurposed for energy production, but agrivoltaics can help alleviate this tension. “Everybody loves driving by one of our projects and seeing a bunch of sheep out there doing their thing,” Farrell said.

Lewis Fox, the sheep farmer, agrees.

“It’s often difficult for people to see solar being built on ag land, for various reasons, and I think you could argue the merits either way,” he said. “But we can help bridge the gap in that. What we’re able to do is have solar production coexist with agriculture. And it’s not just window dressing. It’s real agriculture.”