Criminal justice reform is no longer a controversial issue in the United States with recent polling suggesting that over 90 percent of Americans believe that the current criminal justice system is broken. The poll also concluded that almost three quarters of the population would like to see a decrease in the prison population size. This past December, Congress passed the First Step Act, which as the name suggests, did very little to challenge the status quo.

OK, so Ned Lamont isn’t FDR. He hasn’t yet passed 15 bills. His toll and regionalization proposals became toxic issues. Stevie Wonder could see that coming. But he put it out there anyway, largely because our states to the south (New York) and north (Massachusetts) have been able to pull themselves out of fiscal doldrums by adopting the very same strategies.

I recently met a father, Donte Palmer, who is crusading for diaper changing stations in men’s restrooms. How extraordinary that he should need to do this.  If men and women are equally responsible for childcare, then it becomes inconceivable that a father would not have access to changing facilities while out in public. Our architecture betrays our thinking. A dirty diaper is mom’s problem.