By CHRIS POWELL Criminally convicted people are generally not very healthy. Many have smoked, abused drugs and alcohol, and become mentally ill or close to it. So it’s to be expected that some will die in prison. But since prisons are government institutions largely concealed from the public, government should account fully for every deathContinue reading “Governor should make prisons account for deaths of inmates”
Tag Archives: Yankee Institute
Plenty of money for political patronage despite danger to state budget
By Chris Powell Is state government in Connecticut in a financial emergency because of its likely loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal assistance under the Trump administration? Most Democratic state legislators think so. Led by House Speaker Matt Ritter, they want to remove the “fiscal guardrails” that have restrained state government spendingContinue reading “Plenty of money for political patronage despite danger to state budget”
Connecticut tells students they needn’t go to school
By CHRIS POWELL According to the recent results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a test given to students in fourth and eighth grades throughout the country and styled “The Nation’s Report Card,” Connecticut’s students are performing worse in reading and math than in 2019, before the national virus epidemic, which disastrously interrupted schooling nearly everywhere.Continue reading “Connecticut tells students they needn’t go to school”
State employees win again, electricity customers lose
By Chris Powell Since it would widen state government’s “fiscal guardrails” enough to increase spending by 3.8% in its first year and 4.6% in its second, Governor Lamont’s budget proposal for 2025-26 has plenty of room for winners. Who are they? A ‘moral budget’ needs more than pious poses Ending poverty isn’t the aim ofContinue reading “State employees win again, electricity customers lose”
Connecticut’s social promotion makes public education a costly fraud
By Chris Powell Social promotion in Connecticut’s schools isn’t just informal policy and practice, implemented by winks and nods. This week Marc E. Fitch of the Yankee Institute’s Connecticut Inside Investigator reported that many school systems, including those in Hartford, New Haven, Waterbury, and Middletown, follow written policies virtually prohibiting giving students failing grades. Hartford schools obstructContinue reading “Connecticut’s social promotion makes public education a costly fraud”
Can state legislators resist clamor to bust ‘guardrails’?
By Chris Powell Last week’s projections of more than a billion dollars in unexpected state government tax revenue over the next two years have strengthened demands for more spending in the last days of the General Assembly’s current session. Legislators already had been grabbing furiously at the remnants of federal pandemic emergency aid, and theContinue reading “Can state legislators resist clamor to bust ‘guardrails’?”
Cops in paralysis case start to get their jobs back
By Chris Powell Among the principles of liberalism in Connecticut is that minorities are always right. Another one is that government employee unions are always right too. So maybe that’s why there has been no complaint from liberals about the Jan. 19 decision of the state Board of Mediation and Arbitration to overturn the NewContinue reading “Cops in paralysis case start to get their jobs back”
Can government in Connecticut ever become relevant again?
By Chris Powell Even more than its ever-increasing expense, the biggest failure of government in Connecticut may be its lack of relevance. News and commentary last week raised several examples. It was reported that the upcoming session of the General Assembly is expected to see a renewed attempt to prohibit “legacy” admissions in public andContinue reading “Can government in Connecticut ever become relevant again?”
Poor need much more housing, not protection from eviction
By Chris Powell Many elected officials make a living by causing problems and then purporting to solve them. So it is with the Eviction Protection Act recently re-introduced in Congress by Connecticut U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District. The legislation would have the federal government offer financial grants to state governments that provide lawyers toContinue reading “Poor need much more housing, not protection from eviction”
Only one Connecticut news organization gets special government aid
By Chris Powell Government in Connecticut now may have more publicists than there are independent journalists keeping watch over it. Indeed, it’s starting to seem as if government in Connecticut has a more or less official news media organization on top of all those publicists. For the Hartford Business Journal reported last week that ConnecticutContinue reading “Only one Connecticut news organization gets special government aid”
Chris Powell column 