Having just been appointed president of Huxley College in the Marx Brothers' 1932 movie "Horse Feathers," Groucho's Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff quickly…
Posted: 17 September 2021 [08:56 PM] Columns
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Posted: 17 September 2021 [08:56 PM] Recent Headlines
Wednesday 09/15/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Lamont's appeal on abortion won't lure Texas businesses Posted: 15 September 2021 [08:33 PM] While he tries to be a moderate Democratic governor and indeed is more moderate than his predecessor, Ned Lamont still feels obliged…
Monday 09/13/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Since epidemic is permanent, emergency powers should end Posted: 13 September 2021 [09:09 PM] Governor Lamont seems inclined to ask the General Assembly to extend his emergency powers again to deal with the virus epidemic when…
Friday 09/10/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Not all constitutional rights are secure in Connecticut Posted: 10 September 2021 [09:17 PM] By CHRIS POWELL Responding to the new law in Texas sharply restricting abortion, Connecticut Democratic State Chair Nancy DiNardo last week tried…
Thursday 09/09/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Managing UConn in secret; and race-baiting young kids Posted: 09 September 2021 [09:20 PM] Technically the University of Connecticut is a public institution, but as the Connecticut Mirror noted last week, you wouldn’t know it from…
Wednesday 09/08/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Minister's rebuke to blacks applies to all of Connecticut Posted: 08 September 2021 [09:25 PM] Who will be the first to call the Rev. Boise Kimber a racist? Kimber, head of the Greater New Haven Clergy Association,…
Tuesday 09/07/2021
ERIN STEWART: POCD plan provides blueprint for city's future development Posted: 07 September 2021 [11:59 AM] Mayor of New Britain I have lived in New Britain my entire life, and it is both my professional and personal goal…
Sunday 09/05/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Connecticut needs no bears; and who's paying the rent? Posted: 05 September 2021 [09:52 PM] When state legislators next put a survey in their "constituent service" mailings, it should include the question: How many bears will you…
Friday 09/03/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Hiring cops is getting harder but it's partly their own fault Posted: 03 September 2021 [09:02 PM] Police departments in Connecticut and throughout the country – especially in cities, like Bridgeport, but also in some suburbs, like Enfield –…
Wednesday 09/01/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Connecticut needs to learn from murdered teen's life Posted: 01 September 2021 [08:57 PM] By CHRIS POWELL When 14-year-old Tyshaun Hargrove was shot to death last week in New Haven, Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez called…
Monday 08/30/2021
Posted: 30 August 2021 [08:52 PM] As was demonstrated by the crude and disgraceful disruption of last week's back-to-school forum in Cheshire, many people in Connecticut are sick and tired of the virus epidemic and government's steps against it, however necessary they may have seemed. Consumed…
Friday 08/27/2021
CHRIS POWELL: 'Trust the science'? But whose? And Afghans fail to mobilize Posted: 27 August 2021 [10:08 PM] Science is wonderful. But it is not always settled. Sometimes the prevailing view in science is wrong, especially in medicine. For 2,000…
Wednesday 08/25/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Eversource repays hysteria; and the spirit of liberty fades Posted: 25 August 2021 [11:51 PM] Congratulations to Eversource Energy for scaring the daylights out of Connecticut residents upon the approach of Tropical Storm Henri, warning that two-thirds…
Monday 08/23/2021
CHRIS POWELL: A small win for Republicans; and no accountability for war Posted: 23 August 2021 [08:44 PM] Connecticut's Republicans have been down so long that they're entitled to construe almost anything as up. But they're making too much of…
Friday 08/20/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Who covered for Cuomo? And is choice no good now? Posted: 20 August 2021 [09:13 PM] Good for New York that it's getting a new governor as Andrew Cuomo resigns amid a sexual harassment scandal and is succeeded…
Wednesday 08/18/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Census shows racism fades; and few Afghans ever cared Posted: 18 August 2021 [09:04 PM] How strange that Connecticut and the country are being condemned as "structurally" and "systemically" racist even as the latest U.S. census finds…
Monday 08/16/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Inflation shows new goodies for Connecticut aren't free Posted: 16 August 2021 [08:58 PM] Nearly every day a member of Connecticut's congressional delegation announces some major federal grant for a local capital project or civic organization,…
Monday 08/09/2021
ERIN STEWART: Mayor's golf tournament helps Christmas come early for community organizations Posted: 09 August 2021 [11:57 AM] There are countless reasons why those who are born and raised here love the City of New Britain, but one…
Friday 08/06/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Connecticut keeps ignoring fraud, failure in Bridgeport Posted: 06 August 2021 [09:04 PM] Connecticut's top elected officials quickly accommodated themselves to the disgrace of Joe Ganim's return to the mayoralty in Bridgeport in 2015 despite…
Wednesday 08/04/2021
CHRIS POWELL: State police integrity fails; state ignores voter fraud Posted: 04 August 2021 [08:15 PM] Accountability and integrity are slipping badly with the Connecticut state police. The agency has failed to complete an investigation of trooper misconduct…
Friday 07/30/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Lincoln and progress refute fans of 'critical race theory' Posted: 30 July 2021 [09:24 PM] Whatever "critical race theory" is, fears about it are easy to understand. It is seen as a mechanism for impugning the country…
Wednesday 07/28/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Juvenile crime forum avoids relevance, accountability Posted: 28 July 2021 [08:59 PM] Last week's well-attended forum on juvenile crime and justice, called by Glastonbury's Town Council, was illuminating, just not so much about juvenile…
Monday 07/26/2021
HEALTHY LIVING: How carotid artery disease can lead to stroke Posted: 26 July 2021 [08:48 PM] Nestled on both sides of your neck are two carotid arteries, which deliver oxygen-rich blood to the front of the brain. This…
CHRIS POWELL: Vaccine skeptics don't need Trump and Republican nuts Posted: 26 July 2021 [08:33 PM] Hesitancy about COVID-19 vaccination is becoming resistance and even hostility in Connecticut and throughout the country, news reports say. Blame is cast…
Friday 07/23/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Our own aspiring terrorists; and burying Henryk Gudelski Posted: 23 July 2021 [09:02 PM] Connecticut has its own aspiring terrorist and subversive group, and it's not the Ku Klux Klan, the Proud Boys, or even al-Qaida.…
Wednesday 07/21/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Little management remains; and Ned sounds Republican Posted: 21 July 2021 [09:01 PM] Good for Governor Lamont and the state legislators who approved the new state budget, which is providing 7.5% raises to about 1,700…
Monday 07/19/2021
CHRIS POWELL: State Employee unions help Lamont as they criticize him Posted: 19 July 2021 [09:05 PM] Connecticut's state employee unions may be rendering great service to Governor Lamont's probable campaign for re-election by complaining about him. This service…
Friday 07/16/2021
CHRIS POWELL: To end corporate welfare, cut taxes for all businesses Posted: 16 July 2021 [09:08 PM] At Governor Lamont's order, state government is reducing its direct subsidies to businesses coming into the state or expanding here – cash…
Wednesday 07/14/2021
MAYOR'S CORNER: Juvenile justice system needs adequate funding, overhaul Posted: 14 July 2021 [08:13 PM] Last month New Britain tragically lost one of its own at the hand of a juvenile criminal who was roaming…
CHRIS POWELL: Connecticut must examine causes of its social collapse Posted: 14 July 2021 [08:09 PM] "Life imitates art far more than art imitates life," Oscar Wilde wrote. But sometimes it's awful both ways. Many years ago an…
Monday 07/12/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Democrats strive to conceal failures of juvenile justice Posted: 12 July 2021 [07:04 PM] Fall out of bed and kill yourself in Connecticut and your state legislators well may introduce legislation memorializing you by purporting to…
Friday 07/09/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Colleges serve themselves; and expose juvenile courts Posted: 09 July 2021 [08:11 PM] Enrollment at Connecticut's community colleges has been collapsing, probably because the state's economy is weak and most students being admitted are unprepared…
Thursday 07/08/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Suffield skips the 'flag wars;' what's the pride of sex? Posted: 08 July 2021 [01:36 PM] Suffield has opted out of what First Selectwoman Melissa Mack calls the "flag wars," which are being fought over attempts to use…
Friday 07/02/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Might Connecticut care more about crime than P.C. trivia? Posted: 02 July 2021 [08:39 PM] By CHRIS POWELL Lately the Lamont administration has boasted about closing prisons in Connecticut even as crime has exploded. Of course the crime…
Wednesday 06/30/2021
CHRIS POWELL: How long will Gov. Lamont hold the line on state taxes? Posted: 30 June 2021 [08:52 PM] For months the far-left faction of the Democratic caucuses in the General Assembly, which controlled the legislature this year, sought to raise…
Monday 06/28/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Discipline for police amid secrecy, union clout Posted: 28 June 2021 [08:44 PM] Connecticut's most important journalism last week was the study produced by Bill Cummings of the Hearst newspapers about the weakness and secrecy…
Friday 06/25/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Exterminating their own rat; and state pays for exclusion Posted: 25 June 2021 [08:47 PM] Did someone try to get the General Assembly to pass a gasoline tax increase last week without the knowledge of the public…
Wednesday 06/23/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Zoning, Tweed controversies suggest new motto for state Posted: 23 June 2021 [08:59 PM] Municipal zoning that controversially excludes inexpensive housing in the suburbs isn't the only area where Connecticut long has allowed the local interest…
Monday 06/21/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Lamont celebrates celebrates pot bill with racial demagoguery Posted: 21 June 2021 [08:54 PM] Celebrating last week the General Assembly's passage of legislation to legalize marijuana and put state government into the drug business, Governor Lamont…
Saturday 06/19/2021
CHRIS POWELL: 'Rats' ride the 'implementer'; and 'presto-change-o:' equity! Posted: 19 June 2021 [12:25 AM] What a mockery of democracy has been made by the Democratic majority in the General Assembly with its legislation "implementing" the new…
Wednesday 06/16/2021
CHRIS POWELL: At state Capitol, old statue is offensive but not mayhem Posted: 16 June 2021 [08:21 PM] While bullets flew and people fell all around Hartford, some within sight of the state Capitol dome, the General Assembly deliberated its…
Monday 06/14/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Legalizing marijuana is easy; what's hard is the patronage Posted: 14 June 2021 [08:36 PM] Legalizing recreational marijuana in Connecticut is off until a special session of the General Assembly this week, with House Speaker Matt Ritter,…
Friday 06/11/2021
CHRIS POWELL: That 'transformational' budget really won't change much at all Posted: 11 June 2021 [09:47 PM] Some small good things were done by the session of the General Assembly just concluded, but the best things about the session…
Wednesday 06/09/2021
CHRIS POWELL: If Afghans want freedom, they'll have to fight for it Posted: 09 June 2021 [09:13 PM] Misconceived when it began 20 years ago, the American expedition to Afghanistan is being misunderstood as it comes to its predictable end…
Monday 06/07/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Stat's vaccination history disproves race mongering Posted: 07 June 2021 [09:04 PM] Now that the General Assembly, without any research, just a lot of pious posturing, has passed legislation declaring that racism is the…
Friday 06/04/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Connecticut has too much 'cultural humility' already Posted: 04 June 2021 [08:17 PM] While the General Assembly has never been known for political courage, the racial obsession that lately has been taking over there should…
Wednesday 06/02/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Don't hide voter database; and lock up chronic crooks Posted: 02 June 2021 [08:52 PM] By CHRIS POWELL Maybe last year's presidential election wasn't stolen, but it raised fair questions about the integrity of voting procedures, and…
Monday 05/31/2021
MAYOR'S COLUMN: Time to celebrate. It's summertime! Posted: 31 May 2021 [07:18 PM] New Britain It is finally summer time here in New Britain, and if you have lived in this city for any extended…
Friday 05/28/2021
Posted: 28 May 2021 [08:52 PM] Congratulations may be in order for the University of Connecticut's Board of Trustees for discovering, upon the abrupt resignation of Thomas C. Katsouleas after less than two years on the job, that the university doesn't really need its own president.…
Wednesday 05/26/2021
CHRIS POWELL: Where's Connecticut's racism? Not where anyone is looking Posted: 26 May 2021 [08:57 PM] Like the rest of the country, Connecticut is full of racial disparities. With legislation declaring racism a "public health crisis," the General…