WASHINGTON — The death of Heather Heyer and the wounding of 19 others by a neo-Nazi at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., has become a recruiting call for a little-known group with an anarchist bent called the antifa. A historian sympathetic to the movement defends its use of violence, and explains how a European-based antifascist movement has taken hold in the United States. His views are rejected by liberal groups fighting the radical right.
August 18, 2017 @ 5:37 pm
Posted inPolitics
Merrill is first constitutional officer to declare for re-election
Secretary of the State Denise Merrill ended retirement speculation Friday by declaring her candidacy for re-election to a third term in an office that makes her Connecticut’s chief elections official.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Dominion still reluctant to open Millstone’s books
Dominion Energy signaled an intention Friday to play hardball with state energy officials by questioning the need to share financial data sought by Connecticut state agencies that are jointly assessing the economic viability of its Millstone nuclear power station, the biggest source of electricity in New England.
Posted inEducation, Money
State school aid: How would your town fare under Malloy’s plan?
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Friday released a plan to eliminate Education Cost Sharing funding for 85 school districts and reduce funding for another 54 if no state budget is adopted before the first week of October. Grants to the 30 lowest-performing school systems would remain unchanged.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Malloy would reduce, dramatically redistribute school aid in October
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy would reduce grants to school districts by 28 percent in October — if no state budget has been adopted — and would dramatically shift funding away from wealthy and middle-income communities and into poorer ones.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Just say no to Connecticut tolls
Some of my otherwise sane fiscally-conservative friends like the idea of tolls, arguing that they have to pay them in other states while citizens from these states get a free ride in Connecticut. This makes no sense. Just because other states are ripping you off, why do you want to be ripped off in your home state too? These same friends also believe the money coming in from the tolls will repair our roads and bridges because the politicians will put the receipts in a “lock box” and only use the money for infrastructure repair. If you believe this, I will gladly sell you the Statue of Liberty for a mere $1,000.
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
High speed rail runs over Connecticut
In China you can travel by high-speed rail between Beijing and Shanghai (819 miles) in about four hours, averaging over 200 mph. Take Amtrak from New York to Boston and the 230 mile journey will take at least 3.5 hours (about 65 mph). Why the difference? Because the U.S. is a third-world nation when it comes to railroading. Our railroads’ tracks (rights-of-way) are old and full of curves compared to China’s modern, straight rail roadbeds.
Posted inHealth
While waiting for a state health-records exchange, medical society launches one
Frustrated that after 10 years of effort the state of Connecticut has yet to launch a functioning health information exchange allowing physicians, hospitals and other health care providers to share patient medical records, the Connecticut State Medical Society is offering one of its own. Health care providers will have to decide if it Is worthwhile to sign on or wait for the state system to pan out.