“The United States of America is not the only country on Earth with violent or dangerous people. We are not inherently more prone to violence. But we are the only advanced country on Earth that sees this kind of mass violence erupt with this kind of frequency. It doesn’t happen in other advanced countries. It’s not even close.”
2016
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
Who sets Connecticut’s speed limits anyway?
Crawling along I-95 the other day in the usual bumper-to-bumper traffic, I snickered when I noticed the “Speed Limit 55” sign alongside the highway. I wish! Of course, when the highway is not jammed, speeds are more like 70 mph, with the legal limit, unfortunately, rarely being enforced. Which got me thinking: who sets speed limits on our highways and by what criteria?
Posted inHealth
How well will new rules on health care cost transparency work?
Lisa Freeman recently tried an experiment: Before having a medical diagnostic test, she tried to figure out what it would cost. “It took no less than five phone calls, and I still never got to the end of the thing,” she said. A major transparency law intended to change that is taking effect this year. How will it work in practice? Health care providers say it might be bumpy at first.
Posted inPolitics
White House rolls out new gun control measures
WASHINGTON — With support from Connecticut lawmakers, President Obama is taking executive actions that will broaden FBI background checks of gun buyers and anger Republican members of Congress who say the president has overstepped his authority.
Posted inNews
Decades later, compensation for Iranian hostages
Thirty-six years after Moorhead Kennedy spent 444 days as one of 53 U.S. Embassy personnel taken hostage in Iran on Nov. 4, 1979, he is close to getting compensation. He attributes the breakthrough to the work of a U.S. senator from Connecticut, several colleagues – and the Hollywood movie, “Argo.”
Posted inPolitics
CT’s governor, legislators part of Obama rollout on guns
Connecticut’s U.S. senators, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, and a congresswoman, Elizabeth Esty, were among the officials President Obama expected to brief late Monday afternoon on plans to bypass Congress and use his executive powers to curb what he described over the weekend as “our epidemic of gun violence.” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Esty are attending the announcement of those plans Tuesday.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Prevention is the key to fighting homelessness in Connecticut
We all know one person or another who is living paycheck to paycheck and literally a step from being forced onto the street. This happened to a woman I know and her 10-year-old daughter a few weeks ago. In my effort to assist her, I was shocked to learn how few resources are available to keep people in their homes when faced with difficult times.
Posted inMoney
New probate court fees come under heavy fire
State officials are weighing whether to pull back on an unprecedented spike in probate court fees that some critics say effectively amounts to a surcharge on Connecticut’s estate tax.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Massive rail plan leaves Connecticut hopeful but mystified
Proposals to reinvent the Northeast Corridor rail system could impact Connecticut more than any other state. But a lack of detail in the plans is causing exasperation even among those who have been pushing for rail improvements for decades, and it has environmentalists worrying whether losses will outweigh the benefits.