Page 5 - Ct Viewpoints News Today

Picking cherry tomatoes in the school greenhouse Now is the time for our state to invest in collaborative efforts that bring the education and agriculture sectors together for the benefit of our communities. Support is growing in the state legislature for the CT Grown for CT Kids Program. This bill would fund projects and programs that promote farm to school activities, potentially increasing the economic vitality of local farmers while improving the health and wellness of our children. But wha...

The time is now to create the CT Office of Community Gun Violence Prevention Sen. Marilyn Moore, D-Bridgeport, organized a news conference in mid-April following the shooting death of a three-year old in Hartford. On Friday, she convened a joint informational committee hearing to hear about gun violence intervention and prevention. On a recent Saturday in Hartford, 3-year-old Randell Jones was shot and killed while sitting in a car with his siblings. Later that afternoon, just a mile away, 16-y...

For The People Act: More than just a remedy against restrictive voter laws People register to vote at Hartford City Hall. It can be hard to vote, even in “blue state” Connecticut. Connecticut does not have early voting or no-excuse absentee voting. Most voters are forced to vote in person on election day. The only option for voting on a day other than election day is to vote absentee with a qualifying excuse. To vote absentee a Connecticut resident must fill out a form, mail the form to t...

Adding to a misguided policy mix: Zoning proposals in Connecticut Recent home sale listings from Darien. There has been much debate about whether the zoning practices of towns in Connecticut are discriminatory.  Discriminatory has become a politically weaponized pejorative word used to presume the motivations of any town and their residents with a different demographic than what is considered ideologically “righteous.”  Any town with under-representation of an economic, racial, or ethnic...

Why I am a Progressive legislator On Earth Day, some legislative colleagues and I joined about 40 young environmental activists at Hartford’s Riverfront Plaza for a “Meet Your Legislator” event hosted by the youth-led Sunrise Movement. I got there a bit early, and, standing on the stage beneath the awning, watched the young activists walk up the wooded path along the Connecticut River with garbage bags slung over their shoulders. After a morning spent picking up all manner of human detrit...

The proposed cannabis law critically needs three health-based adjustments We are united behind facts, not opinions On July 15, 2015, my world was changed forever. My beloved son Evan went to heaven. He died of a drug overdose at the age of 24. To honor my son, I started a parent support group in September of 2016. Our group has met every week, with a goal of bringing hope to parents with children affected by addiction. Most of the parents describe cannabis as the primary drug that has caused th...

The number of retail, or non-professional, investors has grown exponentially in the U.S. throughout the pandemic. Large retail trading sites such as E*TRADE, TD Ameritrade, and Charles Schwab saw their number of new users increase by 103% compared to last year. At the same time, Robinhood had 3 million new accounts opened in the first quarter of 2020, almost double the first quarter of 2019. Half of Robinhood’s 3 million new accounts reported themselves as first-time investors. Teenage an...

Cloe Poisson :: CT Mirror.org “Heroes Work Here” is spelled out in large letters at the entrance to UConn Health in Farmington in recognition of the health care workers who are on the front line during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Healthcare heroes,” “We love our healthcare workers,” and large red hearts line the lawns throughout Connecticut. Now one year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, news coverage is filled with language like “back to normal” and “when this ends.” In...

Connecticut must lead the way in protecting the right to vote Currently the state has among the most restrictive voting laws outside of the south. New Haven Independent As states across the country attempt to roll back voting rights and protections, Connecticut must lead the way in protecting the right to vote. But Connecticut has a lot of work to do – as the Center for Public Integrity recently observed, Connecticut has among the most restrictive voting laws outside of the south. Communities...

Time to pull the plug on auto-renewed third party electric contracts! AARP Connecticut has worked for over a 17 years to address and rectify the fraud, misleading advertising and unscrupulous practices that have plagued and undermined Connecticut’s deregulated third-party electric market place. This has frequently resembled a game of whack-a-mole with a new scheme or trick popping up every time AARP and other consumer advocates knock down a deceptive supplier tactic through legislation or a P...