Michael Regan

After surging into the top 10 last year, Connecticut dropped to 20th in Gallup’s mid-year survey of residents’ sense of well-being, the polling organization reports. Hawaii maintains it’s hold on the No. 1 spot–no surprise there–followed by North Dakota, which ranked third last year. West Virginia and Kentucky continue to hold down the bottom of […]

Some 7.5 million households in the nation’s 100 largest metro areas don’t have access to private vehicles, a new report from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, but more than 90 percent live in neighborhoods where mass transit is available. However, only about 40 percent of jobs are accessible from those households with a transit journey […]

If an electric vehicle isnt enough to establish your environmentalist creds, Michael J. Coren suggests at Fast Company, how about the ultimate recharging system: the Sanya Skypump, a miniature vertical wind turbine you can connect to your EV charging station. The turbine, designed by Urban Green Energy, is meant to be paired with GE’s rapid […]

Seniority shouldn’t be the only factor, or even the most important factor, in deciding which teachers get laid off, according to a Hechinger Report summary of a new poll sponsored by the educators’ association Phi Delta Kappa and conducted by Gallup. Seventy-one percent say experience is “very important” or “somewhat important” in layoff decisions, but […]

The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors has refused to extend the accreditation of the state’s forensic laboratory following two critical federal audits, a top Malloy Administration official said Wednesday. Michael Lawlor, Undersecretary for Criminal Justice Policy and Planning at the Office of Policy and Management, said the lack of accreditation will not affect current […]

Online retailers have fought efforts to collect sales taxes from them in legislatures and courtrooms, Josh Goodman reports at Stateline.org. Now the giant among them, Amazon, it trying to get California voters to overturn that state’s new online levy. Under a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision, state’s can’t charge sales tax unless a retailer has […]

What do you do when your cell phone slips from your hand? Grab and flail, then mentally figure the cost of a new one as you survey the shattered components on the sidewalk, right? Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has another idea, says Todd Bishop at GeekWire: A built-in airbag. If not an airbag, how about […]

Either the notion of “emergency” has lost much of its gravity in recent years, or many of our fellow citizens are leading far more perilous lives than the rest of us suspected. In any case, 40 percent of Americans say that in the last 30 days they have “been in an emergency situation where having […]

Democrats gained two seats in the Wisconsin State Senate in historic recall elections Tuesday, but Republicans held on to four others and–by a one-vote margin–control of the chamber, Dan Hirschhorn reports at Politico. The results maintain the GOP’s total control over the state government, where they also hold the governor’s office and a majority in […]

People use the Internet pretty much the same way they did a decade ago–with the exception of social networking sites, which have grown vastly in popularity in recent years, a new report from the Pew Internet Project says. Search and email remain the most popular activities, with 92 percent of adult Internet users saying they […]

President Barack Obama got a 60 percent approval rating from Connecticut residents in the first half of 2011, Gallup reports, higher than the ratings from any other state. Only the District of Columbia had a more favorable view, with 83 percent job approval. Obama’s support is greatest in the East, with 8 of his 10 […]