The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., has galvanized teenagers around the country to organize protests and marches to push lawmakers to address gun violence and pass stricter gun laws.
February 2018
Posted inJustice, Politics
In CT Senate, a partisan edge to fighting workplace harassment
Connecticut Senate Democrats aligned themselves Tuesday with the burgeoning Me Too and Time’s Up movements by proposing a sweeping election-year bill that they say would be “the largest overhaul in modern Connecticut history of sexual harassment laws.” Republicans objected to their exclusion.
Posted inHealth, Politics
White House moves to allow Obamacare rival
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday moved forward on allowing Americans to purchase short-term health plans that may be more affordable than what’s on the market right now but would not contain the Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections and would undermine the health care law.
Posted inPolitics
Stefanowski: Crowded field makes public financing too expensive
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski is challenging his many opponents to drop out of the voluntary public financing program that pays qualifying candidates $1.25 million for a primary and $6 million for the general election. That probably won’t impress many delegates at nominating conventions, where a candidate’s ability to qualify for public funds is a sign of credibility. But his call underscores how expensive this crowded election might be for taxpayers.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Overdose kit distribution: A how to guide
I’m not much of a host. But with the opioid epidemic getting worse, I knew we had to start doing overdose-kit distributions. The whys seem obvious. As a medical director for a large mental health and substance abuse non-profit agency —CMHA in New Britain— I see too much death. The toxicology reports from the state’s medical examiner increasingly come back positive for fentanyl, which is now present in over 50 percent of our fatal ODs. At 50 to several-thousand-times-more potent than morphine, fentanyls—yes, there are more than 20— from China have thrown gas onto the fire of America’s opioid epidemic.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Put students first: Close the CSCU system, disband the Board of Regents
The “Students First” plan proposed by the CSCU Board of Regents, intended to save $28 million by consolidating the state’s 12 community colleges, has engendered frustration among system faculty due to the lack of visible research or analysis proving that the plan will realize the projected savings. Faculty, therefore, were taken by surprise when a recent CT Mirror article reported that the accrediting agency, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, had given feedback on a draft plan for the Students First initiative submitted to it by the Board of Regents.
Posted inPolitics
Weighing unpopular governor against unpredictable president
One of the great ironies in politics is that the election of a Republican president has injected uncertainty into what had seemed to be an inexorable, 10-year march by Connecticut Republicans from irrelevance to dominance at the State Capitol. Anger at Donald J. Trump now competes with dissatisfaction over Democrats’ stewardship of the state’s finances and economy.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Trump considering support of Murphy-Cornyn gun bill
WASHINGTON — Grappling to respond to the massacre at a high school in Parkland, Fla., President Donald Trump is considering support of a bill introduced by Sen. Chris Murphy and Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn that would tighten FBI background checks of prospective gun purchasers. But Murphy tweeted, “No one should pretend this bill alone is an adequate response to this epidemic.”
Posted inJustice
New-crime recidivism rates continue to show modest improvement
Inmates released in 2014 were arrested, convicted and sentenced for new crimes at lower rates than past groups, continuing a positive trend in those post-prison outcomes, but returns to prison are not declining at the same rate.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
An opportunity to do right by Hartford students
As a Hartford teacher of 28 years, I’ve seen how inequitable state funding deprives our students of true educational opportunity. Shrinking budgets year after year mean students have few, if any, advanced courses to choose from, and elective courses like art and music, designed to catalyze students’ creativity and ingenuity, are often entirely eliminated.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Society for the Avoidance of the Ubiquitous ‘T-word’
My brother-in-law, Jay, has heard enough and doesn’t want to hear another word, one in particular. No more conversations dominated by the “T-word.” Ever!
Blather on about the weather, the Olympics, the price tea in China, my recent colonoscopy, Jay pleads with me —anything but the T-word.
Do I really have to spell it out for you?
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut judge not fit for promotion
If public figures with an animus against the Catholic Church were driven out of public life, Connecticut’s Andrew McDonald would not be sitting on the Connecticut Supreme Court today. That he has been nominated by Gov. Dannel Malloy to be Chief Justice makes this story all the more surreal.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Trump health plan gets mixed reviews in CT
WASHINGTON — Connecticut officials have joined a pushback against a Trump administration plan to allow unrelated employers to band together so they can provide their employees affordable — but perhaps limited — health care, while others in the state are celebrating the move.
Posted inMoney, News, Politics
Linda McMahon in Washington, re-imagining the SBA
WASHINGTON – Linda McMahon, the highest-ranking member of the Trump administration from Connecticut, has had a trial-by-fire first year as head of the Small Business Administration. In this Sunday Conversation, she spoke with The Connecticut Mirror about her year as part of the Trump cabinet.
Posted inNews
Florida bloodshed causes Connecticut grief, anger and disgust
The massacre of 17 people at a Florida high school cast another shadow of grief, disgust, frustration and anger over the nation last week. For Connecticut, it brought bitter remembrance of the equally horrifying killings at Sandy Hook elementary school more than five years ago.