Author Archives: cxpowell

By Chris Powell News organizations and state government proclaimed last week that marijuana is now legal in Connecticut. But it’s not really. Pressed about the issue, the U.S. attorney’s office for Connecticut quickly confirmed that while Connecticut and other states have repealed their criminal laws on marijuana, possession and sale of the drug remain violationsContinue reading “Marijuana is not really legal; and shelve the highway fantasy”

By Chris Powell What is likely to be done about Connecticut’s high energy costs and particularly its exploding electricity rates? Judging from an informational meeting held by Connecticut and Massachusetts officials the other day, nothing that is politically possible would make any difference. Should Connecticut’s two major electricity distributors, Eversource and United Illuminating, which purchaseContinue reading “Forum on rising electric rates shows why nothing is done”

By Chris Powell When three young men from Bridgeport were shot, one fatally, another mortally wounded, in a car on the Wilbur Cross Highway in Hamden early New Year’s Day, state police called it “an isolated incident.” This meant that the crime was not believed related to any other crime or prospective crimes, did not indicateContinue reading “‘Isolated incidents’ emerge from overlooked underclass”

By Chris Powell Because of the First Amendment, anyone in the United States can be a journalist at any time — no training or licensing required. Because of Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act, everyone has access to state and municipal government proceedings and records, with narrowly defined exceptions, though government officials and employees are alwaysContinue reading “Video taken at town halls fails as citizen journalism”

By Chris Powell Connecticut’s terrible shortage of housing isn’t just impoverishing and putting great stress on thousands of people. It’s killing people too. The shortage is enabling unscrupulous landlords to rent substandard, overcrowded, and illegal rooms and apartments and causing desperate people to take them. According to the Connecticut Examiner, last year a man livingContinue reading “Housing shortage is deadly and requires urgent initiative”

By Chris Powell Congress occasionally does investigations that take testimony in public and produce important information, expose scandal, and lead to policy changes. But the General Assembly never does. It eliminated its Program Review and Investigations Committee years ago. While the legislature holds public hearings to gather comment on proposed legislation, these aren’t investigations. NoContinue reading “Might the General Assembly ever attempt investigation?”

By Chris Powell New Haven’s school system is a catastrophe and getting worse, according to presentations made at a Dec. 20 meeting in the city that was called by state legislators and featured analysis from the state Education Department. The meeting’s nominal purpose was to let the city’s Board of Education know that the stateContinue reading “New Haven provides a hint that money isn’t education”

By Chris Powell While the worst of the recent virus epidemic is long past, chronic absenteeism has been soaring in Connecticut’s schools, in cities and suburbs alike, signifying the worsening impoverishment of the population even as the state just went through an election campaign in which the winners insisted that the state is enjoying prosperity.Continue reading “Accommodating child neglect is no substitute for parents”

By Chris Powell With an extension of one of his epidemic-related emergency orders, Governor Lamont has saved for another six months the Pacific House homeless shelter in Danbury, just days before it would have had to close because of the expiration of his previous order and the city zoning board’s disgraceful refusal to approve theContinue reading “Lamont’s new order prevents shame of ‘no room at the inn’”

By Chris Powell Why is there such support in the General Assembly for exempting retirement income from the state income tax? Social Security and pension income is already exempt from the state income tax for single filers with incomes less than $75,000 and couples with incomes less than $100,000, and state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague,Continue reading “State income tax exemption for retirees isn’t deserved”