Author Archives: cxpowell

By CHRIS POWELL Few people in Connecticut have the impression that there recently has been less crime in the state. Most people seem to feel that crime here is exploding. But last week the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection — the state police — reported that crime in Connecticut is down onContinue reading “Why it’s so hard to believe crime is down in Connecticut”

By Chris Powell By most accounts Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, who is retiring at the end of the year, is leaving the city a better place after two four-year terms in office. Bronin has been competent and decent, has encouraged downtown housing development to try to draw the middle class back to the city, andContinue reading “Bronin did well for Hartford but city’s big problems remain”

By CHRIS POWELL Maybe a couple of the state’s problems can solve each other.  Many suburban shopping malls are fading and failing as people increasingly shop from home via the internet and have their purchases delivered. With its virus hysteria government keeps scaring them against going out, and as the economy weakens, many people can’tContinue reading “Could suburbs get city life without the usual nastiness?”

By Chris Powell Governor Lamont and the General Assembly may deserve more appreciation than they’re going to get for steadily reducing the insolvency of the state government employee pension fund and the pension fund the state maintains for teachers. In the last five years state government has put an extra $7.6 billion into the funds,Continue reading “Political courage with pensions won’t last; and enough holidays already”

By Chris Powell Truth long has been said to be the first casualty in war, but news coverage of Gaza’s war against Israel suggests that the first casualty is actually critical thinking. There has been some reporting about how most Israelis think Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should resign because his government was so surprised byContinue reading “Critical thinking dies first in war; and a verdict in Bridgeport”

By Chris Powell Residents of densely populated Gaza, governed by the terrorist organization Hamas, are asking where they can go to escape the Israeli bombardment that was launched in response to this week’s devastating and barbaric missile and ground attack by Hamas on Israel. The question is pathetic, for its answer is obvious, even ifContinue reading “How can Gazans escape? Only by removing Hamas”

By Chris Powell Announcing last week the retirement of his state police commissioner, James C. Rovella, and deputy commissioner, Col. Stavros Mellekas, Governor Lamont prompted speculation that the festering scandal over fake traffic tickets may turn out to be far more extensive than has been indicated. The governor explained the departures as a matter ofContinue reading “Trooper scandal deepens; and the ‘banned’ books scam”

By Chris Powell Either most elected officials in Connecticut don’t read the newspapers, which remain the primary sources of state news, or they’re indifferent to the increasing negligence in state government. Two shocking developments in recent days seem to have passed without prompting alarm from anyone in authority. First Connecticut’s Hearst newspapers reported that the state PsychiatricContinue reading “Who’s protecting Connecticut from cannibal and molester?”

By Chris Powell Patriotism may be the last refuge of a scoundrel, but these days racism may be the first. Responding the other day to the latest absentee ballot scandal in Bridgeport, supporters of Mayor Joe Ganim held a rally to charge that the scandal’s central figure, Wanda Geter-Pataky, a City Hall employee and vice chairwoman ofContinue reading “Is Bridgeport too demoralized to be bothered by corruption?”

By Chris Powell Why did a 2-year-old boy fall to his death through a window of his third-floor apartment in Hartford in July? A long report by the Connecticut Mirror the other day attempted to answer that question. It attributed the boy’s death to “generational poverty” and, more so, to government’s failure to make sure theContinue reading “Our child neglect culture is underwritten by government”