Recently, there have been editorials commenting on how Connecticut’s state colleges and universities are being run. Oversight for the 12 community colleges and four universities in the state is provided by the Board of Regents. This is a group of dedicated volunteers who were selected by the governor and leaders of the legislature. While we may not all agree on every detail of how our colleges and universities are managed, the accusations made against the board are both misguided and in my experience, simply not correct.  The existing Board of Regents, along with President Mark Ojakian and his staff, are fully engaged and open minded in terms of finding solutions to the challenges we are facing.

Recently, Washington State Sen. Maureen Walsh received nationwide backlash for saying nurses in smaller hospitals “probably play cards for a considerable amount of the day” during their shifts. This comment came during a debate on proposed legislation that would provide nurses uninterrupted meals and breaks at work and protect them from mandatory overtime. She apologized after receiving national outrage, during which she received 1,700 decks of playing cards.

In this country, and certainly in Connecticut, the ultra-wealthy and many corporations pay the lowest tax rates – sometimes nothing at all – whether it’s through regressive rates, or loopholes, evasions and corporate giveaways that end up making our budget problems worse.

I am a public health graduate student who studies very bad news. A rash of six-week abortion bans has broken out across the country, the future of Roe v. Wade is uncertain under a conservative majority Supreme Court, and Planned Parenthood is under constant attack from the federal government. There has not been much to celebrate lately in the field of reproductive health policy. But Connecticut is on the brink of passing legislation to protect reproductive health access in a way no other state has done before.

The article on Tweed-New Haven Airport published in the CT Mirror and New Haven Register earlier this week raises very important points regarding climate change and resiliency. The Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority (THNAA) shares these concerns and we have been putting time, energy and resources into this challenge.

Though it should occur more frequently throughout the year, Teacher Appreciation Day is a wonderful time to celebrate teachers. Every spring, we pause and reflect on the central role teachers have played in our lives, as well as in the lives of over 500,000 students attending public schools across Connecticut each day.

This month students across the state hunker down to take standardized tests measuring their own and their school’s achievement. It’s not news to anyone who lives in the nutmeg state that Connecticut has an achievement gap. As professionals who have dedicated our careers to promoting children’s health and well-being, we are mindful of the many factors that influence achievement. To narrow the achievement gap, we need to step back and look at all of the ways that we can support children’s health, development, and well-being and integrate and organize them so they work for families.