The World 081220

With Bold Steps, Vermont Could Lead Nation in Remote Work
By Betsy Bishop, President of the Vermont Chamber of
Commerce, and Aly Richards, CEO of Let’s Grow Kids
When we look years ahead, how do we picture Vermont?
Where are our workplaces centered, where are our homes in
relation to our workplaces, and how do we see working parents
in our state thriving?
Vermont is in a pivotal moment. Amid the economic and
emotional pain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the
world is asking these questions and learning lessons about
what community means, the necessity of innovation, and how
to best live and work together.
It is starkly clear that our personal lives impact our work
capacities. Vermont’s working parents are struggling to cobble
together child care while fulfilling their professional
responsibilities. And in many homes across Vermont, lack of
adequate broadband connectivity is adding stress.
In this moment, with our attention on these issues, we have
the unique opportunity to build our state into a work-fromhome
capital. But we are not in this moment alone.
For Vermont to lead on this issue, our government and
business leaders must take swift, bold steps forward – steps
that move us far ahead and quickly, as other states contemplate
this same opportunity.
There are clear and urgent needs Vermont must meet to
make leading remote work a reality:
• Affordable access to high-quality child care for families
who need it: A recently issued report by the U.S. Chamber
showed that, of states examined, losses averaged $1 billion
annually in economic activity due to breakdowns in child
care. Even before the pandemic, three out of five of Vermont’s
youngest children didn’t have access to child care they
needed. Vermont emerged as a national leader with savvy
investments in a stabilization program and restart grants to
help child care programs safely operate during COVID-19.
But there is more to do. Building a stronger, more equitable,
and sustainable child care system is a vital component of
Touch of Evil (1958)
Two Vermont Counties Win 2020
Census PUSH Week
Census PUSH Week concluded August 2 after pushing
2020 Census self-response rates higher throughout the
Northeast.
Among Vermont counties, Bennington and Windsor counties
tied for the top spot by boosting their rates 0.6 percentage
points from July 27 to Aug. 2. The counties got help during
PUSH Week from several Mobile Questionnaire Assistance
(MQA) events, during which residents were able to get their
Census questions answered and complete their questionnaires
on the spot. Several other Vermont counties were close
behind. The state’s overall response rate increased 0.5 percentage
points during the week.
PUSH Week winners have demonstrated highly organized
efforts to encourage and inspire self-response to the 2020
Census. As a result, those involved can take personal pride in
knowing they are shaping the future of their respective communities.
In the coming weeks, we will provide all champions
with a creative digital reward to commemorate their incredible
accomplishments.
About the Census: Census results help determine how billions
in federal funding flow into states and communities each
year. Census results also determine how many seats in
Congress each state gets. That is why local governments, nonprofits
and businesses have partnered with the U.S. Census
Bureau to boost self-response rates. These Census partners are
making special efforts to connect with residents who are least
likely to respond to the 2020 Census on their own. For more
on the 2020 Census, including local response rates, operational
adjustments associated with COVID-19, and opportunities
to interview a Census representative, please contact the
media specialist below.
• • •
• • •
restarting our economy and is essential to the future of
Vermont. Doing so is also essential to maximizing our state’s
workforce potential and attracting new families to live in our
state.
• Consistent broadband connectivity across the state: There
is a connectivity shortfall impacting 70,000 Vermont households
that do not have access to federally defined broadband.
COVID-19 related restrictions and closures have demonstrated
that broadband access is now essential for economic
development. And with so many Vermonters working from
home and students of all ages engaging in online learning,
reliable broadband access is an immediate emergency need.
Public investments in broadband should include public and
private partnerships that maximize knowledge and capitalize
on existing infrastructure, while planning for future technology
landscapes.
• Increased housing for low- and middle-income
Vermonters: Vermont produced several thousand homes
every year from the 1960s through the 1990s. By 2019, new
residential building permits had dropped to 2,080. Aging
housing stock, tight supply, and rising prices near employment
centers have forced people to make difficult choices
about where to live. We need to increase new or retrofitted
housing units in Vermont while also focusing on creating
more housing options for low- and middle-income Vermonters.
Vermonters want to be able to work remotely after the
pandemic. That was a key takeaway from a University of
Vermont survey conducted in June. To help our state reach its
best potential, we must listen to Vermonters’ needs and connect
the dots to make working from home a reality, while also
taking steps to welcome future Vermonters and to support our
working families already here.
Let’s seize this moment. We can make Vermont the workfrom-home
capital of the country by investing in three essential
areas necessary to make remote work possible: child care,
broadband connectivity, and housing.
★★★1/2
Our national assessment of police has been absurdly
polarized.
Some people want to defund the police. Some people
think we’d be better off if we disbanded the police altogether.
They view local police forces as little more than the
governmental wing of the Ku Klux Klan.
Other people view cops as the thin blue line that separates
peaceful people from violence. We believe that the role of
police officers is to maintain order in a world that can easily
devolve into anarchy and mayhem. And we think they are
doing a darn good job.
As you can tell, I am part of the second group. However, I
am not so blinded by partisanship that I can’t see that both
sides are too extreme. The truth is somewhere in the middle
and it’s hard to find.
There is good and bad in every police force. Indeed, there
is good and bad in every cop. The remarkably relevant Orson
Welles classic “Touch of Evil” gives us a thought-provoking
analysis of law enforcement.
The movie begins with a bang. A rich gringo’s car blows up
while he is driving across the Mexican border.
Two very different cops are assigned to the investigation.
Charlton Heston plays Miguel Vargas: a high-ranking official
in the Mexican war on drugs. Vargas is brave, honest, and
noble.
The American investigator in charge of the case is a very
different animal. Orson Welles wears a huge fake nose and a
sweaty fat suit to play Detective Hank Quinlan.
Quinlan is the living embodiment of the pig stereotype.
He’s arrogant, racist, violent, and he doesn’t give a darn about
the rights of his suspects.
Right at the scene of the explosion, Quinlan says he has a
hunch that the assassin used dynamite. It isn’t long before the
detective is interrogating the Mexican son-in-law of the victim.
And – wouldn’t you know it? – the police find two sticks
of dynamite at the poor man’s apartment.
Quinlan has found his murderer and he will stop at nothing
to convict. Miguel Vargas sees that the American cops are
railroading his fellow countryman and goes to war with
Quinlan to prove he’s crooked.
It sounds like “A Touch of Evil” is a tale of good vs. evil.
And it sort-of is.
But Orson Welles is too smart and interesting to make a
movie that simple. His surprising conclusion is that being
good at keeping order involves doing things that are wrong. In
other words: bad cops are truly bad but they might be necessary.
Mark Fuhrman was certainly racist and it is likely that he
planted or altered evidence. However, that didn’t make OJ
Simpson any less guilty of murder.
The only flaw in the film is the dated-feeling subplot where
the bad guys try to frame Vargas’s wife. Amusingly, the most
dastardly crimes they can think of are – gasp! – lesbian sex
and smoking marijuana.
Overall, though, “Touch of Evil” is gritty, uncompromising,
and sophisticated. If you think that all cops are racist or if you
defend bad police no matter what they do, you should see this
film. The truth is murkier and a lot harder to find.
DON’T PUT OFF ‘TIL TOMORROW
WHAT YOU CAN SELL TODAY!
479-2582
Or Toll Free 1-800-639-9753 ~ Central Vermont’s Newspaper
403 U.S. Route 302 - Berlin • Barre, VT 05641
Learn more:
GiffordHealthCare.org
Andrea Gallitano, P.C.
Attorney At Law
www.GallitanoLaw.com
Email: Andrea@GallitanoLaw.com
301 North Main Street, Suite 2
Barre, VT 05641
(802)622-8230 Fax: (802)622-8232
Practice areas include: • commercial and residential real estate transactions
• business formation • buy/sell arrangements
• stock purchase agreements • asset sales and leasing • wills • trusts
• power of attorney • probate administration and litigation • guardianships
PUBLIC NOTICE
BULLETIN BOARD
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
I-89 Bridges
37N, 37S; 38N, 38S Berlin
PROJECT TYPE: Bridge Deck Replacements
LOCATION: The town of Berlin on Interstate 89. Bridges 37 North
and 37 South span Crosstown Road. Bridges 38 North and 38 South
span Vermont Route 62.
As part of Governor Scott’s “Work Smart, Stay Safe” order, all
construction crews are currently subject to safety restrictions and
precautions.
WORK ZONE NOTICE:
Lane restrictions are in place for this project.
There is a 12 foot lane restriction for I-89 Southbound traffi c and a 14
foot lane restriction for Northbound traffi c.
Motorists are advised to be aware of the width of their load(s) and
to take an alternate route as necessary for widths exceeding these
restrictions. Please observe speed restrictions and use caution when
driving through the project area.
CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES:
Project work will be concentrated on Bridge 38N next week.
Form work and installation of the epoxy coated reinforcing steel
(rebar) for the concrete decking on Bridge 38N (spanning Route 62)
will continue next week. The deck pour for Bridge 38N is tentatively
scheduled for August 18th. On that day, the travel lanes on Route 62
will be narrowed and intermittent short stoppages of traffi c will be
required throughout the day to get equipment and concrete trucks in
and out of the project area.
Traffi c on Route 62 will not be affected during the week of 8/10.
TRAFFIC IMPACTS:
Traffi c has been reduced to one lane of travel in both Northbound
and Southbound lanes of travel. These lane reductions will remain in
place for the remainder of the construction season.
There are no anticipated traffi c impacts on Crosstown Rd., Route 62
or the Exit 7 on and off ramps for the week of 8/10.
A work zone speed reduction is in place, and increased fines for
speeding within the work zone will be in effect.
CONTACT INFORMATION: Natalie Boyle
Phone - 802-855-3893 Email - nboyle@eivtech.
Healthier Together
Our team continues to grow with providers who share
our commitment to your health and wellbeing. Join us in
welcoming J. Andrew Dreslin, MD, to our Urology team.
“I like to get to know my patients, about their home life, and who
they are. I also use a lot of educational items to explain anatomy
and thoroughly answer any questions a patient may have. I find
providing education helps with patient outcomes.”
Call today to schedule a visit.
In Randolph: 802-728-2430 | In Berlin: 802-229-2325
Gifford Health Care
Caring for you... for life.
August 12, 2020 The WORLD page 11