Bridgeport — For a city that’s staked its future on revitalizing the waterfront — and been hammered by Tropical Storm Irene, Superstorm Sandy and the recent blizzard — Bridgeport has a lot of work to do. And a lot of ideas. “We’ve got to find a way to fortify our city against these floods, and […]
In Bridgeport, big plans for storm resilience, but no money
Posted inNews
Jon Stewart on our 70,000 Structurally Deficient Bridges
He is clearly freaked out about it. Remember, Jon — “structurally deficient” doesn’t mean “unsafe”! If bridges were “unsafe,” they’d be closed…at least that’s what we’re told… http://transportationnation.org/2013/02/15/watch-outraged-infrastructure-humor-daily-show-style/
Posted inNews
Malloy, Duncan to join Biden in Danbury
Unless you have an invitation, you can’t get in, but here is the lineup of speakers who will appear with Vice President Joe Biden at the symposium on gun violence Thursday at Western Connecticut State University. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are on the list. The proceedings can be followed via […]
Posted inMoney
Yankee Institute: 1,223 state employees made more than $150K in ’12
Not much new here, but these lists always generate conversation: The Yankee Institute says 1,223 state employees made more than the $150,000 paid to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in 2012. “We aren’t saying the governor is overpaid or underpaid, nor do we begrudge a small number of uniquely skilled state employees who are highly paid, […]
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Politics after Newtown: Another day, another meeting
Most are publicized. Others are not. But nearly every day now, somewhere in Connecticut, there is a meeting about guns. “Tonight, I am going to Newtown to meet with the Newtown Action Alliance,” House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, said Tuesday, shortly after a private meeting with a gun-control advocate. “I met with […]
Posted inNews
Energy strategy focus on gas still needs a way to get it here
Less than five months after it was unveiled in draft form, Connecticut’s first Comprehensive Energy Strategy is final. An ambitious and broad-ranging blueprint of 500 pages including hundreds of public comments, it covers natural gas, energy efficiency, electricity supply and renewable energy, industrial needs and transportation — establishing goals for all far into the future. […]
Posted inNews
CNN Reports that Gas Prices Have Risen For 32 Days Straight
By: Georgia Lobb I was scrolling through twitter the other day when I saw that @CNNMoney tweeted this article by Emily Jane Fox, entitled “32 Days Of Rising Gas Prices Comes At Tough Time.” Photo courtesy of CNNMoney Apparently the average gas price current is $3.73. I drove home from Long Island yesterday, where gas […]
Posted inHealth, Money
Rocky Hill residents to rally against inmate facility
Upset about the state’s plans to open a privately run nursing home for prisoners and mentally ill patients, Rocky Hill residents plan to stage a protest rally at the State Capitol Wednesday morning. Residents living near the nursing home on West Street say they are worried about their safety and who might be visiting the […]
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Tuition increases on tap at state colleges
Connecticut university officials plan to vote on a proposal Tuesday that will raise the cost of college for in-state residents by 5.1 percent next fall and decrease the price for college-bound students from other states by 2.6 percent. The plan that members of the Board of Regents’ Finance Committee will consider Tuesday also creates eight […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment
State’s farmers feel left out of big clean energy programs
Woodstock — Paul Miller has two words for the watery cow manure being pumped from catch basins under his barns into a large tanker truck — and those words, surprisingly, are not “that stinks!” The words are: “liquid gold.” For the record, the manure does stink, and by all accounts would be even worse if […]
Posted inNews
What is “infrastructure”?
I’ve written a lot in the past few months about aging infrastructure in Connecticut — from sewer treatment plants to bridges to train tracks. This is a thoughtful take from Reuters’ Jack Shafer on calls from our politicians to overhaul our “aging infrastructure.” Check it out here: http://blogs.reuters.com/jackshafer/2013/02/15/infrastructure-rhetoric-is-a-bridge-to-nowhere/
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
New name, new leader for fuel oil group
It might seem less than coincidence that as the Malloy administration put forward its comprehensive energy strategy — with its key component a large-scale conversion from heating oil to natural gas — that the oil guys are undergoing a makeover. Actually it IS pretty much coincidence. The Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association early this year announced […]
Posted inEducation
Group organizing campus walkout if tuition increases approved
Sick of the routine tuition hikes at the state’s colleges, a former student is organizing students to walk out of class and head to the state Capitol the day the Board of Regents for Higher Education approves increasing tuition. “It has become abundantly clear that students are being used as an ATM,” said Danny Ravizza, […]
Posted inNews
Murphy takes another jab at the NRA
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy issued the third in a series of reports today questioning the political clout of the National Rifle Association, a message ostensibly directed at bucking up fellow members of Congress on gun control. “The intent here is simple,” Murphy said in a conference call with reporters. His report was drawn from previous […]
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Architects warn Sandy Hook panel of security limits
School architects gave the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission a blunt lesson Friday in the limits of physical security measures, warning that the best architecture can do against an attacker like Adam Lanza would be to slow him until law enforcement can arrive. “We can mitigate risk, we can delay risk, we can control risk, but […]