Brattleboro Memorial Hospital has reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations that the hospital violated the Americans with Disabilities Act during patient visits dating back to at least 2018.

The U.S. attorney for the District of Vermont received a complaint from a patient who said Brattleboro Memorial failed to provide qualified sign language interpreters and appropriate auxiliary aids and services during visits to the emergency department.

After an investigation, the U.S. attorney’s office said it discovered other patients, whose primary means of communication is American Sign Language, who did not receive adequate services from the hospital.

Under terms of the agreement, the hospital says it will provide qualified interpreters, create a new grievance procedure, provide training to its staff personnel on effective communication, and designate a program administrator who will coordinate 24/7 access to auxiliary aids and services.

“BMH believes the agreement represents a positive step forward and aligns with the Hospital’s ongoing commitment to accessibility, inclusion, and high-quality care for all patients,” hospital spokesperson Gina Pattison wrote in a prepared statement. “The agreement reflects improvements BMH has implemented over the past several years to better serve patients who are deaf or hard of hearing.”

Pattison wrote that the hospital worked cooperatively with the Department of Justice throughout the investigation, and that over the past few years a series of new steps have been taken to better serve the deaf and hard of hearing community.

Since 2023, Brattleboro Memorial has been working with the group Deaf Vermonters Advocacy Services to update policies, procedures, staff education and clinical practices, according to Pattison.

Pattison said the hospital now has an on-call, in-person interpreter program along with access to video remote interpreting services.

The settlement agreement also requires the hospital to establish a fund to compensate people who have been affected by the failure to provide appropriate communication services from 2018 through 2025.

“For the average person, going to the ER during a medical emergency is scary. Deaf individuals have the added stress and worry that they will not be able to communicate their symptoms, understand the doctor’s questions, or give consent because they do not have effective communication,” Deaf Vermonters Advocacy Services Director Rebecca Lalanne wrote in an email. “It is everyone’s hope that this agreement will change that experience and that BMH will assess and accommodate in accordance with the law.”

The U.S. attorney’s office will not pursue further legal action, according to the agreement.

Any person who visited the hospital and failed to receive appropriate services can contact the U.S. attorney’s office to fill out a civil rights complaint form.

“It is well settled under the ADA that patients have the right to effective communication in hospitals and doctors’ offices,” the Department of Justice press release said. “BMH has already taken steps to comply with its obligations under the ADA. And with the resolution agreement, BMH will timely provide qualified interpreters when necessary to ensure effective communication with patients and companions.”

Momo Nkugwa’s two free throws and TJ Hurley’s defensive block in the final 18 seconds of regulation allowed Vermont basketball to squeeze past Binghamton for a 60-59 America East Conference victory in front of 1,874 at Patrick Gym on Thursday, Jan. 8.

Nkugwa, a freshman, sank both attempts at the line with 18 seconds to play for a 60-59 advantage, and Hurley followed with a block in the paint to deny Binghamton’s Jeremiah Quigley’s layup attempt.

Despite Vermont’s second straight win to open conference play, coach John Becker said his team was fortunate to take the victory against a Binghamton ranked 362 out of 364 Division I teams in kenpom rating.

“Great to win a game you shouldn’t win. I thought Binghamton deserved to win the game with how we played,” Becker said.

Gus Yalden, who was limited with a calf injury, led Vermont (10-7, 2-0) with 15 points and five rebounds in 19-plus minutes. Sean Blake added nine points, while Nkugwa and Ben Michaels chipped in eight points apiece.

For Binghamton (4-13, 0-2), Quigley collected 21 points and 10 boards and Wes Peterson dropped 11 points. The visiting Bearcats owned a 36-31 margin at the break and led for the majority of the game, but shot just 26.9% from the floor in the second half.

“Obviously, not our best game. But a win is a win,” Hurley said. “Every game matters whether you win by one point or you win by 20. We are happy with the win, but we know we have to get better from this as well.”

Who’s next for Vermont basketball?

The Catamounts play host to Maine at Patrick Gym on Thursday, Jan. 15. It will be a rematch of last year’s America East semifinals, which Maine won to end Vermont’s three-year championship reign.

UVM women’s basketball falls at Binghamton

Yanniah Boyd’s layup with 8 seconds to play broke a tie and gave host Binghamton a 69-67 win over Vermont women’s basketball in an America East contest on Thursday, Jan. 8.

Binghamton (10-5, 2-0) rallied for the win with a 24-13 edge in the fourth quarter. The hosts also benefited from 21-for-25 effort at the foul line to Vermont’s 4-for-7 performance.

Bella Pucci’s 20 points and Boyd’s 16 paced the Bearcats.

For Vermont (13-5, 2-1), Malia Lenz recorded 21 points and nine rebounds, Nikola Priede tallied 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Keira Hanson added 11 points and Emma Haan tossed in seven.

Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.

MONTPELIER — In his annual address to Vermont legislators Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Phil Scott urged members of the House and Senate to move forward with the next stages of the sweeping education reform project they started last year, at his administration’s urging.

But as the 2026 legislative session got underway this week, it has seemed far from certain that the process of creating new school districts and developing a new funding model — with the goals of improving educational quality and making the system less expensive overall — will advance at the pace, or in the form, that the governor and his Republican allies want.

That’s in part because the school redistricting task force set up in last year’s education reform law, Act 73, did not recommend new proposed district maps in November ahead of the session — essentially flouting one of the law’s key directives. Any new maps would likely include far fewer school districts, with larger student populations in each, than what exists today.

Speaking to a joint assembly of legislators and other officials for his State of the State address in the House chamber, Scott called education reform “our most critical challenge.”

He pointed to how Vermonters could see a nearly 12% average property tax hike this year, about half of which is due to anticipated increases in school district spending in the 2026-2027 school year, according to estimates late last year from the Vermont Tax Department.

“These are the real costs of maintaining a system designed for a Vermont that no longer exists,” the governor said. “If there’s one thing you take away from this speech today, it’s this — education transformation is not optional. It’s essential.”

In fact, there was not much else legislators could take away from the speech, as Scott’s 35-minute address focused almost entirely on that topic. Scott also took the notable step of using his speech to issue an ultimatum: If lawmakers did not make the changes to the state’s education system that he wants to see, he would not sign other key pieces of legislation they pass, such as the annual state budget or the bill that sets property tax rates, known as the yield bill.

“From my perspective, the recent failure to produce maps was a political strategy to preserve the old system,” the governor said. “Following through is about keeping our word to students, teachers and taxpayers who all deserve better.”

Scott’s ultimatum drew criticism from the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate in remarks to reporters shortly after. House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, said she did not think the veto threat was productive and, in fact, could make it harder to persuade her colleagues in the chamber to move forward with the plan the governor has laid out.

“It’s disappointing to hear,” she said. “I am 100% at the table to figure this out with the House, with the Senate and with the governor — and I think we all are coming to a place of having to reset and figure out what we do to keep education transformation going. And — what does that look like in a map?”

She added, “I think there’s concern and fear about what might happen” among House members, “but I truly believe that every member in my chamber wants to do something. It’s just how we get there — and that’s going to be the tough work ahead of us this session.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, said he “would have probably preferred no threat, but a private communication of how serious (Scott) is.” Baruth called Scott’s speech “the most narrowly focused State of the State I’ve ever seen” in his 15 years in the Senate, though he understood why the governor would make that decision.

Asked about his own appetite for advancing the stipulations of Act 73, Baruth bristled slightly at a reporter’s suggestion he was “bullish” on the law.

“I would say I’m committed to it,” he said.

In a statement issued shortly after the address, the minority leaders of the House and Senate, for their part, praised the governor’s speech. Scott “correctly identified education reform as our most urgent challenge,” said Rep. Pattie McCoy, R-Poultney, and Sen. Scott Beck, R-Caledonia.

Scott also used his speech Wednesday to foreshadow — briefly — what he called the “hard choices” his administration, together with House and Senate budget writers, will have to make in the coming months when developing the state’s spending plan for the 2027 fiscal year. That time period runs from July 2026 to June 2027.

House and Senate leaders have already said they expect some existing programs will need to be cut as support from the federal government — especially for key human services programs such as nutritional benefits, Medicaid and assistance for home heating costs — wavers.

“This year’s spending package has required difficult decisions,” Scott said of his administration’s budget proposal, which he will present in another address later this month. From there, the House and Senate will develop a budget bill, which they’ll ultimately send back to Scott for his sign-off.

The governor said Wednesday that in national politics, “conflict is chosen over cooperation, division over decency and outrage over outcomes. People lose trust.”

He said he sees advancing the education reform plan he supports, and that legislators started last year in Act 73, as a way to set an example of how people’s “government still works for them.” Democratic leaders’ willingness to evolve the public education system in 2025 along the lines Scott proposed was, in part, a political response to voters’ outrage in 2024 over property tax increases. That spike led Democrats to lose a historic number of state House and Senate seats.

“We don’t need to be asked to do the right thing,” Scott said. “We just need to do it.”

This story was republished with permission from VtDigger, which offers its reporting at no cost to local news organizations through its Community News Sharing Project. To learn more, visit vtdigger.org/community-news-sharing-project.