Monthly Archives: March 2020

From masks to sanitizer: VT businesses adapt, worry & work for change in face of pandemic

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How are Vermont businesses coping with the COVID-19 pandemic? For some, it means reinventing themselves. Caledonia Spirits and Silo Distillery have transformed from distilling spirits to making hand sanitizer for area hospitals and residents. Vermont Glove has transformed from sewing handmade leather gloves to making hand-sewn face masks for health care providers and public servants. Twincraft Skincare, a leading manufacturer of soap, is hiring to meet unprecedented demand. But other businesses are struggling with layoffs and uncertainty about what the future holds. We speak with Vermont businesspeople about how they are innovating, adapting and worrying about the uncertain future, and the chance to enact long-term change as a result of the crisis.(March 25, 2020 broadcast)

John & Jen Kimmich, The Alchemist, Stowe, VT

Ryan Christiansen, Caledonia Spirits, Montpelier, VT

Peter Jillson, Silo Distillery, Windsor, VT

Michele Asch, Twincraft Skincare, Winooski, VT

Bill Butcher, Mocha Joe’s Roasting Co., Brattleboro, VT

Sam Hooper, Vermont Glove, Randolph, VT

“Our house is burning down:” Stanford epidemiologist Dr. Steven Goodman on COVID-19

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In our second COVID-19 conversation (first episode here, article on Medium), Stanford epidemiologist Dr. Steve Goodman discusses the latest scientific information emerging from Europe and China about how COVID-19 is spread and stopped, the evolving response, how lockdowns work in containing the pandemic, the ongoing US testing debacle, how the outbreak could have been handled in the US, and what lessons must be learned.  (March 18, 2020 broadcast)

Read the article in Medium based on this Vt Conversation.

Dr. Steven Goodman, Associate Dean, Professor of Epidemiology & Population Health, and Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine

“It’s really really serious – we have to be all in:” Rep. Peter Welch on federal response to COVID-19

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Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.) discusses how the federal government is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it has evolved from “a slow response, to a little bit of denial, to a cavalier response…to a sense of urgency and action.” He explains emergency funding that Congress is approving to assist businesses and individuals, and guarding against bad legislation slipped through during the emergency. “There is going to be massive unemployment. This is a time when there absolutely has to be a governmental response. We are in such a state of urgency that all of our energy has to go into how best to respond. It’s really really serious.” We also discuss Bernie Sanders’ presidential run and how the pandemic will affect the 2020 election. (March 18, 2020 broadcast)

Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vermont)

“This is an impending catastrophe:” Stanford epidemiologist Steve Goodman on the coronavirus

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The coronavirus pandemic is sweeping across the globe and has arrived in Vermont. Stanford epidemiologist Steve Goodman discusses the uniquely dangerous dimensions of this new pandemic, the botched federal response, the impact of the Trump Administration’s misinformation, and why he calls COVID-19 “a tsunami.” (March 11, 2020 broadcast)

Read the article version of this show in Medium.

Dr. Steven Goodman, associate dean, Professor of Epidemiology & Population Health, and Medicine, Stanford Medical School

Should there be billionaires? Chuck Collins, Oscar Mayer heir, says no

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“The problem isn’t really individuals making money. The problem is having an entire system that grows the wealth of billionaires at the expense of everything else we care about — including our democracy,” writes Chuck Collins in an op-ed for CNN Business, “The US would be better off with fewer billionaires.”  Collins, who is the heir to the Oscar Mayer fortune, has long championed raising taxes on the rich and campaign finance reform, and writes extensively about inequality. Collins discusses Mike Bloomberg, the problem with philanthropy, and the many ways that billionaires undermine the middle class and democracy. (March 11, 2020 broadcast)

Chuck Collins, co-editor, Inequality.org at the Institute for Policy Studies, author, Born on Third Base

“I am incredibly proud of the title Madam Speaker:” Vt. House Speaker Mitzi Johnson

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Vermont House Speaker Mitzi Johnson is 1 of just 8 female Speakers of the House in US legislatures. Johnson was elected to the VT House of Reps in 2002. She rose to be chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee, and was elected Speaker in 2017. She discusses the recent historic veto override of Vermont Gov. Phil Scott on raising the minimum wage — the first such override in the state since 2009. She also discusses the presidential run of Bernie Sanders, a tax and regulate system for marijuana, climate change, sexism, and how women lead. (March 4, 2020 broadcast)

Mitzi Johnson, Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives