Why I march

Posted inCT Viewpoints

Why I march

by Helen Adams, Pam Elkow, Beth Kerrigan, Cass Martineau, Polly Moran, Po Kim Murray, Sarah Raskin and Heather Whaley.

Since the Women’s March on Washington began, perhaps the biggest question has been: Why March? We are a large group of women throughout the state of Connecticut who woke up on November 9 with the realization that something unique had occurred. We each woke up the day after the election feeling like strangers in an alien land. A call to move from despondency to recovery and resistance, created a need to reach out and join forces that ultimately coalesced in the March on Washington on January 21. While, as individuals, we may have joined this effort for different reasons, we have organized around three principles: We march to support each other and remind ourselves that we are not alone. We march to send a clear message that the new administration has no mandate. We march to organize for a better future.

Posted inHealth

How can states tackle rising medication prices?

Avatar photo by Arielle Levin Becker

There’s a bully pulpit approach – think President-elect Donald J. Trump, who blasted pharmaceutical companies Wednesday – or the more industry-friendly concept of tying payments to whether the drugs deliver value, like fewer hospitalizations. There’s proposing legislation to increase transparency in drug pricing, or treating certain medications as critical goods that should be regulated like water and electricity.

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Two critical education issues for the Connecticut legislature

by Anne Manusky

From my perspective we have two critical points in the current Connecticut education crisis that must be dealt with first during the General Assembly’s 2017 session: One, the Common Core State Standards — developmentally inappropriate for many of our children, especially those in the elementary years. And Two: Measuring our children using the new state mastery test, which lacks psychometric test validation and reliability.

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‘Pension spiking’ bleeding Connecticut’s budget — bigtime

by Francis P. DeStefano

“Pension Spiking” is the term used to describe the common practice whereby state and government employees contrive to boost their pensions in the last years of their employment. Pension spiking has been going on for years throughout the country, but it has been raised to a new level in Connecticut during Gov. Dannel Malloy’s two terms. By appointing a number of loyal Democrat legislators to judgeships or other high ranking positions in his administration, he has “spiked” their retirement benefits.

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Book review: A big favor for criminal justice in Connecticut

Avatar photo by Tom Condon

History rarely bothers with prisons. Famous crimes get plenty of coverage, but not their aftermath. If a notorious defendant is sent off to the pokey, he, like his fellow inmates, is soon out of sight and mind. And yet, the treatment of crime and criminals is a vastly important and complex issue, at the core of societal values and beliefs, a test Winston Churchill said, of a country’s civilization. It also represents massive expense. Gordon S. Bates has done Connecticut a big favor by holding a mirror up to the state’s criminal justice history.

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Parent voices matter in our democracy today

by Marilyn Calderón, M.ED

So much information to process to make informed decisions in a short amount of time: budget cuts everywhere, systems continue to fail our children and families regarding livable paying jobs, institutional racism/ageism/sexism/etc., affordable housing, brown fields destroying our environment, fear of terrorists attacks in a place we all call home, access to affordable quality childcare in all spaces and places…the list goes on and on! Our fight for equity where? How important is it to the collective us? Why are we letting this system dictate our destiny when we never signed up for this?

Posted inHealth, Politics

Insurers: Repeal of ACA should go slowly, keep subsidies awhile

Avatar photo by Ana Radelat

WASHINGTON – As Republicans in Congress begin work on a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the nation’s health insurers are telling lawmakers to keep paying subsidies to the companies and to low-income Americans so they can afford coverage. Insurers are also asking that Congress create a long transition period before changes to the ACA take effect.

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