Some African elephants are just a step away from extinction. That’s what a new report from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature revealed in March. Connecticut can help ensure the future of elephants, giraffes, rhinos, leopards and lions by passing SB925, legislation that bans the importation, possession, sale or transportation of the trophies of African’s Big 5.
Connecticut should step up and protect Africa’s Big 5 before it’s too late
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Clean slate promotes public safety, racial justice and economic growth
On Monday, April 5, the Connecticut General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 1019, also known as “Clean Slate,” which automates the erasure of criminal records for eligible individuals who remain crime-free for lengthy periods of time. The bill is now on its way to Senate for debate. We urge lawmakers to pass Clean Slate for the following three reasons.
Posted inMoney
Connecticut businesses could owe up to $1 billion in unemployment taxes. They want the state to cover it with federal relief funds.
Business leaders said the state’s economy simply can’t recover if companies remain on the hook to cover the debt.
Posted inSteady Habits
PODCAST: The plan to transform Hartford’s highways, riverfront and fortunes
Listen to John Dankosky’s two-part conversation with an architect and urban designer whose organization played a major role in the “Hartford 400” plan.
Posted inPartner Content
How people with disabilities are accessing the coronavirus vaccine
Many in the disability community are left to navigate the process on their own.
Posted inPolitics
Three measures seek to promote regional sharing, cost savings
People believe the property tax burden can be significantly reduced by sharing services on a regional basis.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
My interrupted education — and confidence that students will catch up
Conversations with educators, parents, and students about the past year of missed school reminded me of my own education, interrupted by war in my home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in a refugee camp in Uganda. Seeing students graduating on Zoom last summer, unable to hug their friends and teachers, take photos, or have their families cheering their hard work was disappointing.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
White like me
The second time I ever worked with a Black man was in the fall of 1972 in Galveston, Texas. I’d spent most of my then 22 years in Connecticut.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Reopening schools requires doing less, better
The appointment of Miguel A. Cardona as the 12th Secretary of Education and the passing of the American Rescue Plan of 2021 does make it feel like spring, in fact, has sprung. The possibility of equitable school environments for our nation’s children appears tangible, however, recovery must attend to more than filling holes with intent to return to a “new normal.”
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Lawmakers should protect health care choice in Connecticut
The Connecticut legislature is poised to vote on a proposed bill that would strip more than 5,000 Connecticut residents of their ability to belong to a Health Care Sharing Ministry to manage their health care expenses.
Posted inHealth
At walk-up pop-up clinics, no-appointment needed for COVID shot
The clinic materialized after lunch and would disappear by dinner. It’s part of Hartford’s vaccine outreach.
Posted inPolitics
Gov. Lamont’s cannabis bill passes out of Judiciary Committee, but not without changes
Revisions allow medical card-holders to grow their own plants and proposes that 55% of revenue go toward social-equity efforts.
Posted inNews
In an effort to shield nursing homes from new COVID cases, state focuses on short-term residents
Every nursing home will soon be paired with a provider that can regularly address the facility’s vaccination needs.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Federal funding pushes Connecticut legislators to move the needle on drug policy and save lives
Recently we took care of a patient who had experienced over 10 opioid overdoses in the last two years. He had multiple infections related to injection drug use. He was in and out of jail where he did not have access to life-saving medication therapy for opioid use disorder. His story is not uncommon; in fact, a leading cause of death following incarceration is drug overdose.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The political roadhouse brawl about the State Pier
The press outside of Southeastern Connecticut seems largely unaware of the political roadhouse brawl going on at State Pier in New London over plans to fill 7 ½ acres of the deepest commercially available water in the state. The recent op-ed by Eversource’s Joe Nolan and Orsted’s David Hardy paints a deceptively rosy picture.