By CHRIS POWELL With the Trump administration beating up on higher education and especially colleges and universities with the biggest endowments, which are now to be brutally taxed by the federal government, Yale University seems to have decided to guard against being seen as pretentious. School finance study committee is rigged in favor of educatorsContinue reading “Yale’s new mission statement may be a little too pedestrian”
Author Archives: cxpowell
School finance study committee is rigged in favor of educators
By CHRIS POWELL A 23-member committee appointed by Governor Lamont and legislative leaders will convene next week to start devising what the governor wants to be “a top-to-bottom overhaul of how the state funds its public schools.” Democrats howl at enforcement of 20-year-old deportation order ‘Investing’ euphemizes spending; and two more empty gestures Falling studentContinue reading “School finance study committee is rigged in favor of educators”
Democrats howl at enforcement of 20-year-old deportation order
By CHRIS POWELL Some Democratic elected officials in Connecticut say there was an immigration law enforcement atrocity in Bridgeport this month. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a man as he waited in his car with his son at a bus stop for the boy’s ride to high school in New Haven. The man wasContinue reading “Democrats howl at enforcement of 20-year-old deportation order”
‘Investing’ euphemizes spending; and two more empty gestures
By CHRIS POWELL Politics and government long have been full of euphemisms — words that camouflage or sanitize what is being done — and the euphemism that was in greatest use as the recent session of the General Assembly ended was “invest.” The governor and legislators declared proudly that they had “invested” more in this,Continue reading “‘Investing’ euphemizes spending; and two more empty gestures”
Falling student population means higher teacher pay
By CHRIS POWELL What does it mean that, as the Connecticut Mirror reported last week, Connecticut’s birth rate is the ninth lowest in the country and that the state’s public school student population has fallen steadily since 2006, from 578,000 to 498,000, down nearly 14% in 20 years? Counterintuitively, it means bigger paydays for teachersContinue reading “Falling student population means higher teacher pay”
Can Fazio expunge Stewart and Elliott widen his range?
By CHRIS POWELL Connecticut Republicans caught a huge break last week as former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, the leader for the party’s nomination for governor, withdrew just hours ahead of their state nominating convention, having realized that negotiating a plea bargain for the financial fraud in which she had just been exposed would interfereContinue reading “Can Fazio expunge Stewart and Elliott widen his range?”
Audit shows college system is even worse than its chancellors
By CHRIS POWELL As it turns out, the recent mysterious but seemingly forced resignation of the chancellor of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system, O. John Maduko, on top of the forced relocation of his predecessor, Terrence Cheng, to a year’s vacation at full pay (nearly $500,000), aren’t the only things wrong with theContinue reading “Audit shows college system is even worse than its chancellors”
1st CD primary: Young vs. old or Mayberry vs. Greenwich?
By CHRIS POWELL How did former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin manage to deprive 14-term U.S. Rep. John B. Larson of the 1st Congressional District Democratic convention’s endorsement for re-election? A great candidate in theory but a disaster in practice ‘Affordability’ in Connecticut this year will be just for government employees Child’s suicide should prompt aContinue reading “1st CD primary: Young vs. old or Mayberry vs. Greenwich?”
A great candidate in theory but a disaster in practice
By CHRIS POWELL In theory Erin Stewart was a great idea for the Republican nomination for governor: not just a woman but a Republican who was elected six times consecutively as mayor of a heavily Democratic city, New Britain. She must have had something going for her. Connecticut’s age of majority is muddled by politicallyContinue reading “A great candidate in theory but a disaster in practice”
Connecticut’s age of majority is muddled by politically correct Democrats
By CHRIS POWELL On any Monday Democratic state legislators in Connecticut will tell you that people who committed serious crimes before they turned 26 and were sentenced to prison should qualify for early parole because human brains are not fully developed before that age and lack good judgment. So Democratic legislators have been advocating aContinue reading “Connecticut’s age of majority is muddled by politically correct Democrats”
Chris Powell column 