SVHC celebrates 100th with Bennington gala
Southwestern Vermont Health Care,(left): Michael Brady, DDS, the 2018 Vision Award Honoree for Health Care Leadership. (right): SVHC Board of Trustees Chair Tommy Harmon (right) presents the 2018 Vision Award for Distinguished Community Service to Susan Hunter for the Hunter Family.Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) hosted a sold-out crowd of more than 420 people at Centennial Gala on June 9 at the Hubbell Homestead in Bennington. The date was chosen to correspond with the eve of the hospital’s 100th birthday.The 2018 Vision Awards, which honor recipients for their efforts to advance the health system’s vision of healthier communities, were presented by Tommy Harmon, chair of the SVHC Board of Trustees. Michael Brady, DDS, received the 2018 Health Care Leadership Award, and Susan Hunter accepted the 2018 Distinguished Community Service Award on behalf of the Hunter Family.“This is an unprecedented moment in our history,” said Tommy Harmon, chair of the SVHC Board of Trustees. “This event celebrates our talented, dedicated medical staff and nurses, our loyal community members, and all that we can accomplish together.”On June 10, 1918, Putnam Memorial Hospital, now known as Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC), opened to patients. A century later that 30-bed hospital has grown into one of New England’s leading rural healthcare systems.“A hundred years of caring for generation after generation in Bennington County and beyond is certainly a milestone worth celebrating,” said Thomas A. Dee, FACHE, SVHC’s president and CEO “Equally worthy of celebration is what SVHC is today—one of the best and most innovative community health care systems in the region—and how we are growing our services to meet the needs of the future.”In addition to the awards, dinner, and dancing, the event included special Centennial observances, including a birthday cake and “Happy Birthday.”“We have a long history of extraordinary partnerships, starting with our founding family and benefactors, The Putnams,” said Thomas A. Dee, president and CEO of SVHC. “We are grateful for that tremendous beginning and for our partners of today—our hardworking medical staff and nurses, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, our generous donors, and patients themselves. By working together, we fulfill our mission now and secure our legacy as a provider of exceptional care and comfort for the people we serve.”The event was made possible through generous support of many donors and sponsors, including Dartmouth-Hitchcock, MACK Molding, Jerome Construction, the Richard and Pamela Ader Foundation, Walker S. Kimball, Anesthesiology Associates of Bennington, The Bank of Bennington, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Dee, John and Deborah Larkin, Mazzone Hospitality, Mr. Anthony Veterinary Hospital, Rowley Agency, Salem Dentistry, SVMC Orthopedics, TD Bank, and many others. The event raised more than $150,000 in support of health care in our region.The SVHC Foundation’s next Centennial event is the Jingle Bell, which will be held on the evening of Saturday, December 1, 2018, at the Equinox Resort in Manchester Village, VT. For information about attending or sponsoring, call the SVHC Foundation at 802-447-5017. About: Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) is a comprehensive, preeminent, health care system providing exceptional, convenient, and affordable care to the communities of Bennington and Windham Counties of Vermont, eastern Rensselaer and Washington Counties of New York, and northern Berkshire County in Massachusetts. SVHC includes Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), Southwestern Vermont Regional Cancer Center, the Centers for Living and Rehabilitation, and the SVHC Foundation. SVMC includes 25 primary and specialty care practices.Source: BENNINGTON, VT—July 7, 2018— Southwestern Vermont Health Care. For more information, visit svhealthcare.org(link is external).
The proposed Sunflower Medical Group building would sit right along Roe Avenue.The Roeland Park City Council moved a rezoning and preliminary final development plan approval request to its next city council meeting on Oct. 21. The request is for the Sunflower Medical Group office building and parking lot, which is to be located at the northeast corner of Johnson Drive and Roe Avenue. City staff provided an overview of the request to rezone the lot from single-family to planned office to accommodate the proposed project. A preliminary plan was also included in the overview, with a presentation from architects working on the project. The plan went to the city’s planning commission in September and was approved, Assistant City Administrator Jennifer Jones Lacy said.The lot sits in both Roeland Park and Mission, and Jones Lacy said city staff hopes to accomplish reannexation of the land this month. Additionally, one percent of total project cost will go toward public art. Andy Gabbert, project landscape architect for Renaissance Infrastructure Consulting, said his team and SMG will seek guidance from the arts committee when choosing the art piece. Councilmember Tom Madigan asked about the city’s role in the final decision on the art chosen, and Jones Lacy said the city does not have authority to choose the art. Gabbert presented the layout for the project, which showed the building sitting right along Roe Avenue to provide privacy to residents on Granada Street. Entrances to the parking lot will be on Roe Avenue and Granada Street, with the entrance to the building facing the east. He said the art piece will likely be in the southwest corner of the lot. City council moved the request to the new business docket for the meeting on Oct. 21 .
The National Weather Service forecasts today’s high in Los Alamos near 36 with a 30 percent chnace of scattered snow showers, mainly between 9 a.m. and noon and tonight’s low around 13. Courtesy/NWS
By CHARLIE STRAUSSLos AlamosBefore I read David Reagor’s opinion piece in the July 2 Los Alamos Daily Post (link), I would have supposed it unlikely that candidates in Los Alamos would be morally unfit to hold office. But Reagor’s “inciteful” appeal to national politics in order to prove Democrats, as a whole, are debased, officious Liberals, convinced me otherwise.Indeed! I was immediately persuaded that, there is an irredeemably unqualified person running for the Los Alamos County Council this year: David Reagor.But please don’t take my own judgement as your guide. I simply urge you to read his very own(?) opinion piece and decide for yourself: click here. As you will see, his argument is that Democrats, as a whole, are morally unfit to hold office. He supports this with a tenuous anecdote about Minneapolis politics stretched into an atomically thin line of strawmen-fallacies to proclaim “Progressive Democrats abandon the moral code of Abraham Lincoln”! He implies that he is the true channeler of the acumen of Lincoln.I certainly don’t want anyone in office that blanket-labels half the country’s eligible voters as morally unfit. Do you?And would Lincoln himself, the man with the Team-of-Rivals cabinet spanning political parties, have thought that?So by all means, do read his own(?) words and forward them to your friends: click here.Oh. and by the way, it appears David Reagor’s inciteful insights are not of his own ratiocination but rather are just cliff notes lifted straight from group-think reactionary talking points; even his phrases regurgitate memos you can google on-line. For example, see the Conservopedia: https://www.conservapedia.com/Defund_the_Police and compare his cribbed reasoning.Since most challenges addressed by the Los Alamos County Council lack easy answers to be found in sanctimonious partisanship, perhaps we need someone else. Someone else with a naturally collaborative approach appropriate to a community council.
The time: Present day. Late spring in the Hamptons.Opening shot: Bryan Downey, a shortish but good-looking bulldog of a man, hums “Mississippi Queen” while pushing plywood through a table saw on the deck of an expensive-looking beach house. Next shot, he stands looking at an almost-finished kitchen, finely crafted and clearly his own handiwork. He looks around at the rest of the open kitchen-dining-living area, which we can assume is all his doing. Satisfied, still humming, he locks up, gets in his truck, and starts to drive.Fade: The soundtrack morphs from the song Downey was humming to a live version of Mountain’s Corky Laing belting out “Mississippi Queen” from behind his drums. A pan to the wings shows Downey shooting photographs of Laing with a high-end camera, which he then gently places on a shelf to grab a video camera. Crouching, Downey moves onstage and around Laing, who juts his chin toward Downey in acknowledgement. Downey raises a hand to Laing, and continues to film.It is dark. An alarm goes off. It’s 4:14 AM. Dawn is breaking. Downey walks from outside his modest home with his dog — an excited mutt who runs around Downey in circles, whining and barking — to an equally modest-looking garage which sports a logo with a bulldog and the words “Bull Dog Studios.” He unlatches the complicated lock system to expose a full-on recording and editing studio.Next shot shows Downey sipping a cup of coffee and scratching his dog’s ears while watching the footage of Laing, which he has interspersed with still photographs of the musician and audio of Laing talking about the “Summer of Love.” After the audience sees about a minute of the work Downey has done, the camera pans to show a massive collection of CDs, all with presumably Downey’s writing on it, which indicate that he has been chronicling music and musicians for years.Okay, so this is not how it really happened. But it was the best way in about 300 words to show even a miniscule part of Sag Harbor resident Bryan Downey’s day.Downey captures some of life’s most beautiful, natural, and intimate moments through photography and film. Whether it’s a member of the Shinnecock Nation bedecked in tribal finery or an East End farmer in a fertile field, a local singer-songwriter playing at the Stephen Talkhouse, Ginew Benton’s “Looking Glass” which was recently shown at the Watermill Center and which features Downey’s cinematography, or his latest opus, “Nashville Long Island,” which features the footage of Laing along with dozens of other people, famous and not, and the power of music in their lives, Downey never stops.“It’s embarrassing,” the former Liverpudlian joked over dinner. “The credits roll and it’s ‘directed by Bryan Downey, written by Bryan Downey, cinematography by Bryan Downey, and on and on.’”However, working in the trades keeps his ego right-sized. He came to the States a zillion years ago to be a photographer and cinematographer – this is after five years as a professional musician touring around Europe — and enrolled in arts school in San Francisco. “I was 38, by far the oldest student,” he said.Like so many creative people, Downey ended up on the East End, and knew that while he continued to pursue his true calling, he needed to make a living. Hence the carpentry. He also started a recording studio, and within months found himself inundated by some of the biggest names, like Jay-Z and Jennifer Lopez, and the biggest companies, like HBO and ESPN. “People wanted to be able to record while they were on vacation,” he said. “I lucked out.”“Bryan is a unique and creative photographer,” said singer-songwriter Fred Raimondo, who will be performing as part of “Songwriters Share” at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House in Bridgehampton on April 5. “His portraits of local musicians capture their individuality and reflect both his and their commitment to their crafts,” Raimondo added.Right now, Downey is concentrating on getting his 26-minute movie, “Nashville Long Island” into film festivals. He’s rightfully cagey about showing his work in toto to the occasional curious journalist; he wants to keep it fresh and exciting. The documentary includes local superstars like Joe Delia, Nancy Atlas, Rob Europe, Winston Irie, Inda Eaton, Gene Casey, and so on, but also Laing, George Benson, and a story from Brenda Siemer about her husband Roy Scheider’s last moments, which he spent listening to his favorite song. “I’m not going to tell you what it is,” Downey said with a smile.There is also the first time that a young person with Down Syndrome gets to hear a song that he helped to create, and the expression on his face as he hears his own work over the headphones. Joe Delia talks of performing as a Muppet on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” back in the mid-1960s.“Bryan’s generous spirit and enthusiasm is infectious,” Gene Casey said. “He brings quality to whatever venture he tackles: photography, songwriting, and filmmaking.”Downey’s relationship with the Shinnecock Nation began when he took a portrait of Andrina Wekontash Smith in full tribal regalia. Soon, other tribal members were turning to Downey for their portraits. “It was for posterity,” he said. “Just something to keep, to show to their grandchildren.” He expressed gratitude as being the person entrusted with this task.His images of indigenous people are highly regarded. Benton, the Ojibwe director of “Looking Glass,” called Downey “a genuine human being with a gift he gives freely with love to the people unconditionally. This is admirable in Native communities; a trustworthy artist to work with regarding subjects we consider sacred, with the humbleness of both mentor and student.”Downey has already had more than a few nibbles from film festivals, including some fairly big international ones. And he has another project in the works already.But while waiting for answers, he also makes a mean kitchen countertop. To see examples of his work, and for more information, visit Downey’s website, www.bryandowneyphotography.com.bridget@indyeastend.com Share
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The pan-Asian container shipping alliance CKYHE Alliance said that it will provide more and restructured services through five Asia-US East Coast services from early June of 2016.The alliance members, comprising COSCON, “K”Line, Yang Ming, Hanjin and Evergreen Line, said that the services, AWE1/AWE3/AWE4/AWE8/NUE, will be redesigned on the route.Namely, the AWE1/AWE3/NUE loops will be upsizeded, while the AWE4/AWE8 will be restructured, according to the alliance.The loops will now include up to ten vessels, ranging from 6500 TEUs to 8500 TEUs, with more ports of call.Furthermore, CKYHE Alliance members reconfirmed current cooperation scheme on the related East and West Trade (Asia-North Europe services/Asia-Mediterranean services/Asia-US East Coast services/ Asia-US West Coast services and Trans-Atlantic service) will remain unchanged until the end of March in 2017.The redesigned loops in the Asia-US East Coast service are now as follows:AWE1 (9*6500 TEU vessels): Ningbo- Shanghai- Pusan- New York- Wilmington- Savannah- Pusan- NingboAWE3 (10*8500 TEU vessels): Hong Kong- Yantian- Kaohsiung- Shanghai- Pusan- Colon- Savannah- Charleston- Norfolk- Singapore- Hong KongAWE4 (10*8500 TEU vessels): Qingdao- Ningbo- Shanghai- New York- Boston- Norfolk- QingdaoAWE8 (10*8500 TEU vessels): Xiamen- Kaohsiung- Hong Kong- Yantian- Singapore- New York- Norfolk- Savannah- Colon- XiamenNUE (10*8500 TEU vessels): Qingdao- Ningbo- Shanghai- Colon- Savannah- Charleston-Baltimore- New York- Colon- Qingdao
Scotrenewables Tidal Power (SRTP) has installed the SR2000 tidal turbine on its moorings at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) as part of site commissioning and testing.The turbine, developed and manufactured by SRTP, was towed to site by Green Marine’s vessel Green Isle yesterday, October 12, and was subsequently connected to its moorings at EMEC’s Fall of Warness tidal testing site.Andrew Scott, CEO of SRTP, said: “We see it as a real feather in our cap that we’ve managed to execute a construction and installation program for a 2MW turbine using only low cost vessels. This will be a short installation but we’ll be seeking to further emphasize clear benefits of our approach in the operational phase where much of the standard maintenance can be carried out with simple crew transfer vessels, and validate a game-changing reduction in cost of energy for the tidal sector.”According to SRTP, it completed all site construction and installation work for the 2MW unit, including installation of the 500 tonne turbine itself, using locally available workboat vessels.The SR2000 was launched from the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast back in May before being towed to Orkney.Since arriving in Orkney waters, the 63 meters long device, weighing around 500 tonnes, has undergone a series of tow trials where simulated flow conditions behind a tow vessel allowed the technical team to commission systems and complete functional tests in a controlled fashion ahead of starting its grid-connected test program, SRTP informed.The SR2000 project has been supported by Scottish Enterprise’s WATERS II scheme along with investments from SRTP’s shareholders which include ABB, DP Energy, Fred Olsen, Total and Scottish Government via the Renewable Energy Investment Fund (REIF).[mappress mapid=”964″]
The Legal Services Board has dropped plans to force law firms to publish their referral fee arrangements on their websites, in its final decision on the regulation of referral fees published today. The LSB said it would no longer seek to prescribe the precise measures that law firms and others must take to achieve greater transparency over referral arrangements. Instead, it has set out what frontline regulators such as the Solicitors Regulation Authority must achieve by 2013, but it will give the regulators freedom to decide themselves what measures they want to impose on firms to reach this position. It will still be open to the SRA to oblige firms to publish referral arrangements if it chooses to do so. The LSB said that by 2013, frontline regulators will need to have ensured ‘that consumers know when referral fees are in operation and to whom they are being paid’. They will also need to have ‘improved regulatory policing of lawyers’ obligations’. The LSB’s final decision follows a consultation published in December last year. After a lengthy investigation by the LSB’s Legal Services Consumer Panel, the board concluded that there was not enough evidence for an outright ban on referral fees, but there was a need for greater transparency over the arrangements in place. The December consultation proposed specific measures to be imposed on firms to make referral arrangements more open, such as obliging them to publish details of referral fees on their website. An LSB spokesman said the board had listened to feedback that, as an overarching regulator, it should not lay down these specific measures, but should give frontline regulators greater freedom in how to achieve the outcomes set out by the LSB. LSB chair David Edmonds said: ‘Before this exercise, the debate on referral fees was characterised by high passions but a lack of hard evidence. ‘Following this detailed investigation, we are persuaded that the interests of consumers are best served bycontinuing to permit referral fees, but managing their impact through shining the light of transparency on them. ‘We have set out a range of measures that can help achieve this – with the approved regulators free to choose what is best suited to their part of the market. ‘Whilst they will have the flexibility to tailor action, securing these outcomes is essential and we will track progress carefully over the coming months.’ Dianne Hayter, chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel, said: ‘I am pleased that the LSB is insisting on greater transparency, tighter enforcement and more joined-up regulation of referral fees – these were the panel’s key recommendations for cleaning up the market when we examined this issue last year. ‘Lawyers and their introducers should be clear that maintaining the status quo is not good enough. ‘Our research showed the public is prepared to tolerate referral fees, but only if they take place in the open. ‘Therefore, the panel’s support for referral fees remains conditional on achieving a more transparent market that works in the consumer interest.’ Law Society president Linda Lee said the LSB should have introduced a ban on referral fees. She said: ‘The LSB has picked the wrong target by taking steps that will increase the burden and cost of regulation. ‘We asked the LSB to look into the issue and emphasised that a prohibition was needed to reduce pressure on legal costs and to avoid cases being bought and sold, because we consider this practice not to be in the public interest, whatever economic studies may say. ‘Instead, the LSB has chosen a path which will involve yet more complex regulation of solicitors rather than tackling the middleman charging referral fees. ‘This is a mistaken decision by the LSB, which has failed to act in the public interest. Its decision will only help those who wish to make money out of consumers but who add no value.’ She added: ‘At a time when the government is seeking to reduce the costs of litigation and the legal process, it is surprising that this is being frustrated by the LSB. ‘The LSB cannot see that it is simply wrong for cases to be bought and sold in this way. This fact was recognised both by Lord Justice Jackson and by Lord Young in their reports. ‘The Law Society remains severely critical of the evidence that the LSB has relied upon, much of which was based upon the views of those who demand referral fees and so had a vested interest in the outcome. ‘We are also disappointed that, even if it thought that it was wrong to prohibit payment of referral fees altogether, the LSB did not take up the Law Society’s view that those who insist on payment of referral fees ought to be regulated. ‘It is impossible for solicitors to oversee the way in which people over whom they have no control carry out their responsibilities.’ The Law Society is writing to Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke urging him to address the issue.
The UK-based company will be responsible for moving six cranes, three of which reach a height in excess of 300 m. The cranes will be loaded in Spain and the US before movement to the site.Each crane will be moved in segments which weigh around 60 tonnes and require around seven 53′ low boys, step decks or platforms to handle.In total, the movement requires 15 segments, bringing the total weight of the consignment to around 900 tonnes.When complete, the bridge will be the tallest structure in Latin America and the highest cable stayed bridge in the world.Its final height of 390 m will make it the second highest road bridge on earth. It will also save about three and a half hours travel on the Durango-Mazatlan highway.