In early October, a woman sent a desperate fax to the housing court handling her case. “I’ve been trying to reach someone since 9/29/20 calling daily. I had a remote hearing scheduled for 10/1/20 I signed up for teams [the Judicial Branch’s remote courtroom software] and was unable to figure out how to find my case. I tried emailing the 2 names at the bottom of my notice for instructions, but the email came back not delivered.” She was too late. At her hearing four days before, the judge had already entered judgment against her.

Last month in his executive budget, Gov. Ned Lamont proposed funding for an Open Choice Program that would bus 50 elementary school children out of Danbury to receive an education. At the same time, he excluded Danbury Prospect Charter School from his budget. This decision was a severe disappointment to all who have fought hard to bring the charter school to Danbury. What’s worse, it clearly signals the intentions of the Danbury Democratic delegation: to ignore the demands of Black and brown constituents who have spent years advocating for Danbury Prospect.

Our new president speaks passionately about how carbon-free electricity will fix climate change. But will it? For sure, this past year dropped a sledgehammer of awareness for an environmental fragility that heretofore escaped our attention. Repeated hurricanes, tornados, droughts, fires, and the alarming outcomes of virus(es) rivet our attention. Something’s not right. Of course, they’re […]

Here’s an important fact. Some two-thirds of Americans – including majorities of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans – say that the adult use of marijuana ought to be legal. That’s according to nationwide surveys by Gallup, Pew, and other respected pollsters. In Connecticut, 63 percent of residents “support the legalization of recreational marijuana,” according to polling data compiled by Sacred Heart University and the Hartford Courant.

Despite the state and federal moratoriums on eviction, nearly 3,000 Connecticut families have faced eviction in the past 10 months. Over half of these families were Black or Latinx, even though these groups combined comprise less than a quarter of the overall population. The stop-gap measures pursued by the state are not enough. Connecticut needs a statewide right to counsel for tenants facing eviction to address the burning housing and racial justice crisis across the state.

The administration of justice should not be political. Prosecutors must be guided by the evidence in a case and the applicable law, not by partisan, political considerations. Political pressure should never sway a prosecutor’s decision-making.

The Transportation Climate Initiative, or TCI, calls for a proposed emissions fee on gasoline to help battle climate change. On the surface, supporters say it is a small price to pay to help save the planet; and if you truly believe that this is the case, then you should consider voting for it. Despite the administration’s efforts to go out of their way to not call TCI a tax, the simple truth is that it will only create additional financial hardships on lower- and middle-income families struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic.

Telehealth may lead to positive, even transformational changes in psychiatric care, and Connecticut needs to keep it after the pandemic. Connecticut needs to pass the necessary laws to continue telehealth and telephonic care.