Water quality begins at the point of discharge, not in relocation of bottom materials from one location to another. It is a very important distinction to make when talking about one of Connecticut’s most precious assets, Long Island Sound. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently released a draft Dredged Material Management Plan. Digging up the material at the bottom of our waterways is critical to ensure public access and commerce.
CT Viewpoints
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Posted inCT Viewpoints
Should the CSCU Board of Regents exist?
State Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton, is asking some very good questions about the role and responsibilities of the Board of Regents for the CSCU System. In a report on WSHU and an article in the Hartford Courant of Aug. 18, she asks if the board is “adding value, providing leadership, accountability, and fiscal responsibility” and even […]
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Connecticut should give ex-cons a better break
Many ex-convicts who get out of prison end up in Hartford on our streets. According to a Pew Center on the States study, almost half of ex-cons soon end up back in jail for committing crime because it is sometimes their only way to pay their bills. I work as a chaplain at a prison in Connecticut and many convicts, including military veterans, approach and complain to me that they have no future outside of those walls since a lot of them went to prison while they were young, didn’t have education, and worst of all, have a criminal record that will follow them around. I believe that a person who committed a non-violent crime and served a punishment for it should be given a second chance.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
There should be no debate here: GMOs are bad
I just want to register my disappointment that the Mirror [and CTViewpoints] would actually give a platform to Paul Pescatello concerning GMO foods. My disappointment stems from the fact that this issue is not an actual debate with two opposing sides as Mr. Pescatello would like to have us think.
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Is Gov. Malloy fit to govern?
So Gov. Dannel “Giveaway” Malloy is offering “incentives” to keep General Electric’s 800 corporate employees here. How nice. This is an affront to all the other businesses in the state that have to keep paying high taxes and get no relief at all from the state. And to top it off, the taxes that all the other companies do pay will be used to provide the incentives to keep GE in the state! I’m sure they will be really happy about that.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Interim CSCU president’s appointment is not about education
Many assumed the next president of the Connecticut State College and University System would have an extensive background in education. Some are disappointed with the recent news, but, the appointment of the Gov. Dannel Malloy’s chief of staff as interim president for the Connecticut State College and University System has nothing to do with education. My read of the tea leaves is that the appointment is based upon the primary strength of the appointee which is collective bargaining experience and budget and finance expertise.
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Preparing Connecticut’s students for the real world
The Smarter Balanced Assessment is a rigorous, relevant, and refreshing change from the uninspiring and basic Connecticut Mastery Test. The math portion of the Smarter Balanced assessment provides students with the opportunity to apply skills they have acquired in the classroom to real-life scenarios, better preparing them for future problem-solving situations, such as planning a vacation.
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Connecticut’s students must be challenged in school
This year’s new Smarter Balanced Assessment, designed to assess student learning and measure college and career readiness, is generally accepted as “raising the bar” for our children. Because the test is harder, education experts have repeatedly stated that they anticipate scores on the new test will go down. Nonetheless, the new test—while imperfect—represents a huge step forward in the science of education and provides an opportunity for our nation to dramatically increase our achievement levels for all children.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT opponents of GMO foods have misinformed, misled the public
For the past several years, opponents of genetically engineered products have misinformed and misled the general public with scare tactics and, sadly, an anti-science message. Connecticut has been a hot spot for this rhetoric, and unfortunately in 2013 our lawmakers chose to listen to fear rather than facts and passed unnecessary legislation regarding GMO labeling.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Whither the elusive Connecticut SBAC results?
Those oh-so-elusive SBAC results: after millions of dollars squandered on broadband improvements, tedious test prep, and time diverted from actual learning, our students, parents, and teachers have been prevented from getting the test results because no one in educational leadership today has figured out how to “spin” the results without facing the consequences of this poorly designed, invalid, questionably-standardized assessment that was perpetrated on our public school students.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT schools must set a higher standard of achievement
When scores from Connecticut’s new statewide test, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), are released to the public later this month, Connecticut districts, school leaders, community members and families will have a more accurate representation of where our children are with regards to their college and career readiness. As a former educator and Connecticut public school student, I know all too well the importance of standards that effectively prepare for life beyond high school.
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
The fairest (and least popular) way to pay for CT’s roads
Back in April I wrote about the challenge we face to pay for Gov. Malloy’s $100 billion transportation plan. And I expressed sympathy for his bipartisan, blue-ribbon panel tasked with coming up with funding alternatives, the Transportation Finance Panel. To be honest, I think that panel may be on a fool’s errand. They’re trying to pay for a wish list of projects not of their making and many of which may not be necessary, let alone affordable. Maybe we only need $50 billion. But it’s not their mandate to question our “transportation Governor.”
Posted inCT Viewpoints
It’s time for a new Lyme Disease vaccine
In recent years, there has been a renewed general acceptance that vaccinations are safe and the benefits greatly outweigh the potential risks involved. However, the failure of the Lyme disease vaccine is an excellent example of how influential public opinion can be and why a loud, informed, and unified voice from the health community is crucial to protect the public from preventable and costly illness. It is time for the public to also work towards the prevention of this epidemic disease. It is time for a new Lyme vaccine.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Does Connecticut need another gas pipeline?
Answers to two questions are key to approving a new gas pipeline in Connecticut:
1) Is there a problem?
2) Do proposed solutions to the problem create collateral damage?
In the case of the Connecticut expansion of the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline, the answers are NO — supplies of natural gas this winter will NOT run out and YES — contamination of our water supply is feared.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Most Americans want GMO foods labeled; big agribusiness doesn’t
The passage of the Safe and Affordable Food Act by the U.S. House of Representatives is yet another example of how the vast amounts of money spent by special interest groups undermines our democracy. This Act, also known as HB 1599, or the DARK Act (Denying Americans the Right to Know) would not only overturn Connecticut’s pioneering law that requires labeling of foods containing genetically modified ingredients (and similar laws in Maine and Vermont), it would permanently prevent people from knowing if foods contain genetically modified organisms and allow foods containing GMOs to be labeled as “natural.”