Vermont

Report: Vt. insurers not providing no-cost contraception

Published

2 weeks ago

November 21, 2023

Report: Vt. insurers not providing no-cost contraception

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A contraceptive contravention from three Vermont insurance providers. That’s according to a new report from the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation.

The report found that Blue Cross Blue Shield Vermont, MVP Health Care, and Cigna Healthcare haven’t been providing cost-free contraceptives. That violates state and federal law thanks to the Affordable Care Act. The investigation found that between 2017 and 2021 patients were inappropriately charged $1.5M in contraceptive costs.

Vermont congressional delegation called on multiple agencies to better enforce the Affordable Care Act.

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Vermont

Vermont State House honors those lost to impaired and distracted driving

Published

5 hours ago

December 5, 2023

Press Room

Vermont State House honors those lost to impaired and distracted driving

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Red ribbons nearly covered a Christmas tree inside the Vermont state capital building this afternoon.

Each ribbon hung represented one person killed in crashes involving impaired and distracted driving. The Vermont State Highway Safety Office held the ceremony in the Vermont State House.

Speakers included a representative from the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Public Safety, who say each year, dozens of vehicle fatalities are caused by driving while under the influence or distracted. This year, the group placed 33 ribbons on the tree to remember those killed in preventable crashes in 2023.

Barbara Connelly spoke about her personal experience after a drunk driver killed her husband. “I hope in the time to come, each person can affect one other family and change their behavior so that yes, you can enjoy the wonderful season, the holiday season, but also be aware you are responsible if you get behind the wheel,” said Connelly.

The speakers also stressed that impaired driving doesn’t just mean alcohol. It could mean driving high, stressed or tired. They want to remind everyone to be aware of their headspace when they get in the driver’s seat.

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Vermont

More Than $1M Raised For Brown University Student Shot In Vermont

Published

11 hours ago

December 5, 2023

Press Room

More Than $1M Raised For Brown University Student Shot In Vermont

PROVIDENCE, RI — More than $1 million has been raised for the recovery of 20-year-old Hisham Awartani, a Brown University student of Palestinian descent who is one of three shot in Vermont last month, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his family.

One of the bullets that hit Awartani on Nov. 25 is lodged in his spine, his family said, writing that the campaign is intended to help cover the costs associated with Awartani’s lifetime of recovery and rehabilitation, as well as providing him “what he needs to enable him to change the world for the good.”

“The family is committed to his recovery and remain hopeful, in spite of the grave prognosis,” the GoFundMe continued. “If our prayers are answered and Hisham is able to recover in a way that he does not need the full amount raised, the family will create a foundation committed to supporting the most vulnerable members of his community who have not benefited from the humanizing media attention that has given Hisham this opportunity for recovery.”

Find out what’s happening in Providencewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The victims — Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad — are childhood friends who graduated from a private Quaker school in the West Bank and now attend colleges in the eastern U.S. Ahmed, 20, is a student at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and Abdalhamid, 20, attends Haverford College in Pennsylvania.

The students, all of Palestinian descent, were visiting Awartani’s relatives in Burlington for the Thanksgiving break. They were walking to the house of Hisham’s grandmother for dinner when they were shot in an unprovoked attack, the family said.

Find out what’s happening in Providencewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

All three were seriously injured. Abdalhamid was released from the hospital last week.

“Hisham’s first thoughts were for his friends, then for his parents who were thousands of miles away. He has demonstrated remarkable courage, resilience and fortitude — even a sense of humor — even as the reality of his paralysis sets in,” the fundraising page states.

The young men were speaking in a mix of English and Arabic and two of them were also wearing the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves when they were shot, Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said. Authorities are investigating the shooting as a possible hate crime.

“In a cruelly ironic twist, Hisham’s parents had recommended he not return home over winter break, suggesting he would be safer in the US with his grandmother,” the GoFundMe states. “Burlington is a second home to Hisham, who has spent summers and happy holidays with his family there. It breaks our hearts that these young men did not find safety in his home away from home.”

The suspected gunman, Jason J. Eaton, 48, was arrested the following day at his Burlington apartment, where he answered the door with his hands raised and told federal agents he had been waiting for them. Eaton has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder and is currently being held without bail.

The shooting came as threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities have increased across the U.S. in the weeks since the the Israel-Hamas war erupted in early October.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Vermont

CT man accused of possessing ammunition used in fatal Vermont shooting

Published

18 hours ago

December 5, 2023

Press Room

CT man accused of possessing ammunition used in fatal Vermont shooting

A Connecticut man was arraigned Monday in federal court in Vermont where authorities allege he possessed ammunition that was used in a shooting that killed a man and injured another.

Bayohan Mangual, 38 of New Britain pleaded not guilty during the proceeding to one count of possession of ammunition and remains in custody, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont.

If convicted of the charge, he could face a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, officials said.

Mangual was arrested Nov. 17 in Connecticut in connection with a warrant that was issued after a grand jury in Rutland, Vermont returned an indictment in October charging Mangual with being a felon in possession of ammunition, according to federal officials. He appeared the day of the arrest in federal court in Hartford, where a judge transferred the matter to Vermont.

The charge Mangual faces stems from a shooting Sept. 2, when officers with the Rutland City Police Department responded to an apartment on Cherry Street and found a dead man and man who was injured, federal officials said. Both men appeared to have been shot, according to officials.

Authorities believe Mangual possessed the ammunition that was used in the shooting based on shell casings found at the scene, officials said. He has been barred from having ammunition based on prior felony convictions, according to federal officials.

In November 2017, Mangual was sentenced to 57 months in prison during a hearing in federal court in Hartford. That sentence came after he pleaded guilty to distributing crack cocaine in the Willimantic area and admitted to violating the conditions of his supervised release from a prior federal conviction, according to officials.

Federal officials said in February 2014, Mangual was sentenced to four years in prison, followed by three years of supervised released, for distributing crack cocaine and heroin.

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