What can garner more attention than a Donald Trump tweet? An entire football team - in fact, many of them - ‘taking a knee’ or locking arms at a National Football League game. Both were making a peaceful statement. And,…
Posted: 25 September 2017 [07:14 PM] Posted: 25 September 2017 [07:12 PM] Columnist What’s the state of free speech in America? Sanford Ungar, who teaches about it at Harvard and Georgetown, has a simple, depressing answer. “It’s a mess,” he says. It’s not just the problems on college campuses where high-profile…
Posted: 25 September 2017 [07:10 PM] After all the GOP howling about deficits when President Barack Obama was trying to stave off a depression in 2009, Republicans now in power are getting ever closer to adding an enormous amount to the debt - not to save…
Posted: 25 September 2017 [07:09 PM] Columnist Some days are just exhausting aren’t they? Especially if you’re a parent, right? Sometimes us parents just wish we could catch a break and relax a little, huh? You see, parenting is the most important job in the world,…
Posted: 25 September 2017 [07:06 PM] Columnist Want good quality, lower-cost health care for your family. And - let’s think big here - for every man, woman, and child in our society? Here’s how we can finally get Congress to pass such a program. Step One:…
Posted: 24 September 2017 [09:14 PM] The good news is that there’s nothing in the water coming out of the spouts in Plainville that is dangerous to health. That’s according to tests by state health officials, responding to more than 100 complaints that the H2O coming…
Posted: 24 September 2017 [09:10 PM] Columnist Sooo … here we are, a week after our state legislature was able to vote on a budget that would keep the state runnin, and the school systems in the state operational. What people don’t realize is many of…
Posted: 24 September 2017 [07:33 PM] Columnist WASHINGTON - It is difficult to decide which is the worst aspect of the Republicans’ latest try at repealing Obamacare: the irresponsibility, the cruelty or the lies. There is only one reason the Senate is even considering a vote…
Posted: 24 September 2017 [07:31 PM] News this month has been dominated by the massive storms that have roared out of the Atlantic to threaten the United States. First came Hurricane Harvey, which brought devastation to Texas. Then Hurricane Irmarampaged through the Caribbean before slamming into…
Posted: 24 September 2017 [07:24 PM] To the Editor: Enough already! We, the older Americans, are drowning here! Why can’t all our elected minds come to an agreement that would be good for senior citizens? The health care laws as well as so many other laws…
Posted: 23 September 2017 [07:38 PM] David Stemerman, 48, of Greenwich, a successful investment fund manager, announced the other day that he is closing his fund and planning to become a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor. Those who hope for change in state government’s…
Posted: 23 September 2017 [07:37 PM] COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Twenty-five years ago on Sept. 24, 1992, Dail Boxley Dinwiddie vanished. Phffft. Just like that. She was 23, a darling girl, anyone would say. Because even though she was, by age, a young woman, she was just…
Posted: 23 September 2017 [07:36 PM] Donald Trump’s speech to the United Nations on Tuesday was not just great, it was totally refreshing. The president’s address to the U.N. General Assembly was so perfect it almost made me forget all the horrible speeches his predecessor gave…
Posted: 23 September 2017 [07:35 PM] This week, Connecticut officials were notified by the federal government that the state’s online voter registration system was one of more than 20 targeted during last year’s presidential campaign in hacking efforts by Russia. But, the secretary of the state’s…
Posted: 22 September 2017 [10:01 PM] Like many of you, we were shocked by the news, released Thursday, that the late Aaron Hernandez’s brain showed severe signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative disease associated with concussions. “We’re told it was the most severe…
Posted: 22 September 2017 [10:00 PM] The Cassidy-Graham health-care bill is bad legislation, and the only reason it has a shot at passing next week is Republicans’ breathtaking cynicism. Do not take our word for it. Ask Sen Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who candidly explained GOP…
Posted: 22 September 2017 [09:58 PM] Hurricanes such as Harvey, Irma and Maria are unstoppable. They rip at our coastlines and tear at our hearts. The yellow, orange, red, even purple colors on the Doppler radar and weather maps this summer have been horrific to see,…
Posted: 22 September 2017 [09:57 PM] Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke thinks that some of the places designated as national monuments in the past two decades are overprotected. Banning economic activity within these monuments, he says in a memo obtained by the Washington Post and Wall Street…
Posted: 21 September 2017 [07:02 PM] Columnist NEW YORK - The worst aspect of President Trump’s speech at the United Nations on Tuesday was not his immature taunting of a dangerous foreign leader when the stakes far outweigh those of a schoolyard fight. Calling North Korea’s…
Posted: 21 September 2017 [07:01 PM] Columnist Once upon a time (like Sunday after the Emmys) conservatives used to grouse that Hollywood was filled with liberals who disdained America and fancied themselves internationalists. Well, on Tuesday we learned that Hollywood is more patriotic, responsible and tough…
Posted: 21 September 2017 [06:19 PM] To the Editor: In 2001, as a parent of three students and an active member of the Toffolon PTO, I made a decision to become a candidate for the Plainville Board of Education. I was fortunate to be elected that…
Posted: 21 September 2017 [06:18 PM] To the Editor: My name is Frederick Morley. I’m 19 years old. I graduated from Berlin High School in 2016, and now I’m running for Board of Education in our great town. Over the years we have seen the great…
Posted: 21 September 2017 [06:17 PM] To the Editor: In a letter published on Sept. 17, Bobby Berriault, who is currently running for Common Council, attacked Mayor Stewart for raising taxes. Despite the fact that his figures are questionable at best (he doesn’t account for increases…
Posted: 20 September 2017 [07:41 PM] NEW YORK - This city’s annual gridlock festival, otherwise known as the United Nations General Assembly, is a proper metaphor for America’s current state of affairs. While Manhattan’s already snarled streets filled beyond capacity with limos toting dignitaries, a…
Posted: 20 September 2017 [07:40 PM] A new report says that New England has been losing forestland to development at a rate of 65 acres per day. Here in Connecticut, that number is 3,700 acres a year, leaving us with only 15 percent of viable forest.…
Posted: 20 September 2017 [07:39 PM] By To the Editor: Two recent letters to the editors of local newspapers, one from the Democratic party chair and the other, from a Democratic candidate for alderman commenting on the management of the city’s business…
Posted: 20 September 2017 [07:38 PM] By To the Editor: Mayor Stewart has again misinterpreted Public Act 16-61, which requires an independent environmental study on the potential impact of a change in use of protected watershed to allow for the lease of…
Posted: 19 September 2017 [08:04 PM] The Washington Post Could there be tapes after all? Two stories that popped overnight suggest that special counsel Robert Mueller is aggressively pursuing Paul Manafort, the former chairman of President Trump’s campaign. Manafort is a New Britain, Connecticut native. CNN…
Posted: 19 September 2017 [08:02 PM] There’s nothing new about turbulent weather but what’s happening this season has to catch the attention of even the most seasoned weather watcher. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose and now Maria, exploded upon the Caribbean and the southern United States, then…
Posted: 19 September 2017 [08:01 PM] By To the Editor: To my fellow Berlin residents, please consider what this upcoming town election will include. Since the passage of charter changes, our town will reinstitute a Board of Finance. The structure of…
Posted: 19 September 2017 [08:01 PM] By To our Downtown Friends: Thank you for your enthusiastic welcome last Wednesday! I was proud to lead a group of more than 40 Central Connecticut State University students, student athletes, faculty, staff, and administrators in…
Posted: 18 September 2017 [07:46 PM] When Newington named its teacher of the year, it caught our attention. In today’s STEM-crazy atmosphere, the school system chose Brian Kelly, who is the K-12 Music Department program leader and the director of bands at John Wallace Middle School.…
Posted: 18 September 2017 [07:44 PM] Columnist The teen’s brain is a bit uneven, and that sometimes makes life for us adults a little uneven, too. It’s all good, though… After all, those crazy-acting teens are ours, and we love them. You see, here’s the thing:…
Posted: 18 September 2017 [07:43 PM] Columnist WASHINGTON - Before supporters of universal health coverage get all wrapped up debating a single-payer system, they need to focus on a dire threat to the Affordable Care Act likely to come up for a vote in the Senate…
Posted: 18 September 2017 [07:42 PM] THE WASHINGTON POST In the four months since the violent attack on peaceful protesters by Turkish bodyguards during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Washington, nothing has made the Turkish government own up to this outrageous assault on…
Posted: 18 September 2017 [07:41 PM] To the Editor: Someone stopped at the road to help themselves to the apple tree in my front yard. Bad enough most of my trees are barren due to year-round deer damage. I find myself in solidarity at this harvest…
Posted: 17 September 2017 [09:54 PM] “A political party is an alliance of like-minded people who work together to win elections and control of the government. Political parties compete against one another for political power and for the ability to put their philosophies and policies into…
Posted: 17 September 2017 [09:52 PM] By To the Editor: After two terms of Mayor Erin Stewart, I say it’s time for a change in leadership. In her two terms of office, Republican Mayor Stewart raised our property taxes by 19 percent or…
Posted: 17 September 2017 [09:51 PM] By To the Editor, We write this letter in support of Daisy Sanchez who is running for re-election to the Board of Education. Daisy has served diligently for the past four years. She is currently part of…
Posted: 17 September 2017 [09:43 PM] “We The People” is the opening to the preamble to the United States Constitution. The Constitutional Convention in 1787 and the states’ ratification of it a year later made our form of government unique in the history of government. The…
Posted: 17 September 2017 [09:40 PM] The Washington Post WASHINGTON - Rarely, if ever, have so many presidential winners and losers been so incessantly chatty. Hillary Clinton - who lost the 2016 election, in case you weren’t sure - is on a book tour with her…
Posted: 16 September 2017 [08:10 PM] The City of New Britain received a $2.7 million Municipal Brownfield Grant from the state for a project, now underway, on Bosco Drive. And, as Herald reporter Skyler Frazer told us Saturday, this is just one site in New Britain…
Posted: 16 September 2017 [08:10 PM] Columnist WASHINGTON - It is neither paranoid nor alarmist to begin asking if the Trump administration plans to rationalize blocking a large number of voters who oppose the president from casting ballots in 2018 and 2020. And it is imperative…
Posted: 16 September 2017 [08:07 PM] Columnist “National Football League TV ratings down 13 percent in Week 1.” “NFL ratings in free fall.” Those headlines don’t surprise me one bit. But the NFL’s rapidly declining popularity has nothing to do with televising too many games a…
Posted: 16 September 2017 [08:06 PM] Columnist Because of their growth and increasing prosperity, Texas and Florida are often presented as states Connecticut should emulate in public policy, especially because neither state imposes an income tax and both claim to be more supportive of business. Perhaps…
Posted: 16 September 2017 [08:04 PM] Columnist It’s not 1981 anymore. That’s the message of an editorial in the conservative Weekly Standard, which warns Republicans not to design a tax reform patterned on the one that Ronald Reagan signed in his first year as president. Mimicking…
Posted: 16 September 2017 [08:03 PM] Columnist “Help!” said the fellow, surrounded by a pile of papers. “I don’t think I’m going to make it through this 1040 tax form.” “Why is that?” I said. “The 2016 tax extension I filed is due by Oct. 15.…
Posted: 15 September 2017 [08:15 PM] What does it take to make a city work? Good neighbors. That was evident to anyone who read Page One of the New Britain Herald Thursday, where we saw twin stories about Central Connecticut State University, which is based…
Posted: 15 September 2017 [08:12 PM] Columnist It is now just two weeks into September, and the month has already seen its share of mass shootings. At a Dallas Cowboys watch party in Plano, Texas, a woman’s estranged ex-husband murdered her and seven of her friends;…
Posted: 15 September 2017 [08:11 PM] The Washington Post This page doesn’t often agree with President Donald Trump, but we’re on board with his observation that most Americans oppose deportation for “dreamers” - young undocumented immigrants, mainly in their teens and 20s, in…
