Race and ethnicity are, not surprisingly, a subtle undercurrent in the Democratic contest for mayor in Hartford, which pits a white challenger with roots in Greenwich against a Puerto Rican incumbent in a city with the largest percentage of Latinos in the northeastern United States: 43.4 percent of its 125,000 residents.
Hartford
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Let down by Hartford City Hall
A few weeks ago, a burglar stole my beloved special edition Vespa from my condominium in the Farmington Avenue area of Hartford — the second one that gets stolen from me. The policeman who took the report told me “just file an insurance claim. We will never find it.” The Vespa I may be able to replace if I were to move into the suburbs. But sadly, what I cannot replace is my trust in City Hall, because this crime is not an outlier. We have had more than 22 burglaries in the neighborhood.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
In Connecticut, there is no ‘achievement gap’
Before students of all colors can succeed equally in Connecticut’s public schools, we must be bluntly honest about why disparities exist. An achievement gap would exist if we gave every student equal opportunities and some children still failed to achieve. In a myriad ways, we do not give all our children the same opportunities. Nowhere is this more apparent than in school discipline policies that exclude children from the classroom.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Building a little bit of heaven in Hartford and elsewhere
Groups of Hartford area people focused on improving the lives of the less fortunate have been advocating for collaboration. As they have in a Hartford housing project, they want to show what can happen when advocacy leads to actual action.
Posted inNews
Op-Ed: To reduce gun deaths, focus on Connecticut’s drug trade, gang life
The killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School were horrible, but Connecticut is overlooking the dozens of individual gun deaths that take place with little notice in the state’s largest cities.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
To reduce gun deaths, focus on Connecticut’s drug trade, gang life
The killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School were horrible, but Connecticut is overlooking the dozens of individual gun deaths that take place with little notice in the state’s largest cities.
Posted inPolitics
State, local governments hire lobbyists for influence in D.C.
WASHINGTON – Despite tight budgets and Congressional gridlock, Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, other Connecticut municipalities and the state continue to hire Washington lobbyists to seek federal dollars, keep them informed about national issues and help the state’s congressional delegation address their needs.
Posted inNews
Op-Ed: Hartford families need some Sheff course corrections
Connecticut and Hartford could be smarter about how we tackle our state’s biggest constitutional obligation – ending the effect of long-term segregation in its schools.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Hartford families need some Sheff course corrections
Connecticut and Hartford could be smarter about how we tackle our state’s biggest constitutional obligation – ending the effect of long-term segregation in its schools.
Posted inPolitics
Once a talk-show punchline, busway almost ready to roll
It was a topic to avoid on the campaign trail, a $567 million punch line for much of his first term — “the busway to nowhere.” But now that he is re-elected and it’s nearing completion, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is embracing the rebranded “CT fastrak.”
Posted inPolitics
Judge orders two Hartford polls to stay open an extra half hour
Updated 5:53 p.m.
Two Hartford polling places will stay open an extra half hour tonight, until 8:30, a Hartford Superior Court judge has ruled. Judge Carl Schuman’s order came after a number of Hartford polling places reported delayed openings this morning, preventing some voters in the overwhelmingly Democratic capital city from casting ballots.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy offers plan to tackle CT’s urban unemployment
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced a series of initiatives Monday to expand job training and small business assistance, particularly in the state’s cities, a key part of the governor’s political base.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Honoring Samuel Colt a misplaced effort and a waste of money
Is there anyone less deserving of the lavish honors underway this weekend in Hartford for Samuel Colt?
Posted inNews
Op-ed: Honoring Samuel Colt a misplaced effort and a waste of money
Is there anyone less deserving of the lavish honors underway this weekend in Hartford for Samuel Colt?
Posted inEducation, Health, Politics
CT’s contentious custody cases: Symptoms of flawed family courts, or outliers?
Some parents say the striking stories of custody cases gone bad are symptoms of a family court system in need of reform. But others involved in the system say wholesale change could undermine the system’s ability to protect the children caught in the middle.