The annual Gift of Life blood drive Marathon in Rutland will aim to beat a national record next week. Just what exactly is all that blood used for, and where does it go?

We’ll find out all about blood and blood drives with Mary Brant of the American Red Cross New England and Dr. Mark Fung, director of the Blood Bank at Fletcher Allen Health Care and an Associate Professor of Pathology at the University of Vermont.

The 113th Congress has been called dysfunctional and the least productive in modern history. As Congress concludes its session for the holidays, Vermont Edition talks with Congressman Peter Welch. We look at what was accomplished, what is left undone and whether congressional leadership can turn around the dynamics of Capitol Hill in 2014. 

The state's 16 regional developmental service agencies must submit plans to the Shumlin administration by Friday, outlining how they intend to shave a total of $2.23 million from their budgets to help cover a higher caseload expected next year.

Projections indicate that new caseloads within the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living will exceed what has been budgeted.
 

Vermont’s Public Service Board is looking into whether the standards it sets for noise created by energy generation, including wind turbines, are stringent enough.  

The Board is not planning to re-set the bar for any wind projects already operating in Vermont, but it does want to re-examine the noise level criteria it has been using for approval.  

Geoff Commons is the public advocate for the Department of Public Service, and represents rate payers before the board.

The Shumlin Administration says it’s making solid progress in its effort to enroll as many as 65,000 Vermonters on the state’s new health care exchange by the end of this month.

State officials say the exchange is now working well for individuals seeking coverage but small businesses have to use other options to purchase their policies.

State officials are recommending a variety of steps to improve mobile home parks and protect them from future floods.

The recommendations are included in a report that details many of the difficulties faced by mobile home park residents in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene.  Park residents comprise one-third of mobile home occupants in Vermont.

Clean-up and disposal of destroyed homes, compensation for lost property, and affordable financing to purchase new mobile homes were all urgent needs post-Irene.

The Vermont health care exchange came out of the starting blocks this fall limping badly and it’s not clear yet how long it will take Gov. Peter Shumlin’s bureaucrats to get it back on track. It’s not too early, however, to try to assess the effect the troubled launch will have on state politics in 2014 and on the fate of the Shumlin reform initiative out into the future.

The Vermont Republican Party’s Winter Gala – which featured remarks from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie – was upbeat and well-polished with an emphasis on party unity, attendees say.

Democrat Ed Adrian, a former Burlington City Councilor who ran for Vermont Senate in 2012, paid to attend the event. He said he was impressed.

“The scene was wedding-like, or wedding reception-like,” he said. “It was in a big hall, it was lit kind of a bluish purple, so the lights were sort of turned down.”

The new health exchange website Vermont Health Connect has faced problems since it was launched two months ago. VPR’s Taylor Dobbs updates Vermont Edition on what the Shumlin administration knew about the problems with the state’s health care exchange web site and when.