By Ellen Zappo-Sassu It’s not what you say in a crisis. It’s what you do. In the last two weeks we have…
Posted: 29 March 2020 [03:49 PM] Editorials
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Posted: 29 March 2020 [03:49 PM] Recent Headlines
Wednesday 03/11/2020
Posted: 11 March 2020 [08:11 PM] To The Editor: In light of dishonorable and disappointing political and personal choices and actions that have created our current political and social crisis, this is written for those currently holding elected office and for those seeking one, at any…
Posted: 11 March 2020 [08:10 PM] To The Editor: Working Together for Preservation Save Pigeon Hill Team would like to thank, Mayor Ellen Zoppo Sassu, mayor of Bristol and Scott Heth executive director of the Barnes Nature Center and Environmental Learning Centers of Connecticut, The city…
Posted: 11 March 2020 [08:09 PM] To The Editor: March is Irish-American Heritage Month! It is estimated that almost 20 percent of the residents of Connecticut trace their ancestry to Ireland. The Ancient Order of Hibernians is the oldest and largest, Irish, Catholic organization in…
Monday 03/09/2020
Posted: 09 March 2020 [08:40 PM] Now that highway tolls seem to have been dismissed for this year’s session of the General Assembly, the Yankee Institute for Public Policy has provided good suggestions for finding transportation infrastructure money elsewhere. Yankee’s suggestions show that Governor Lamont and…
Wednesday 03/04/2020
Posted: 04 March 2020 [07:48 PM] From California to Connecticut the political left is purporting to believe that the failure of former offenders to reintegrate fully into society is caused by the stigma of their criminal records. This is mistaken. Instead the problem is mainly the…
Sunday 03/01/2020
Posted: 01 March 2020 [08:26 PM] March marks the kick-off of the city encouraging all of its residents to answer the census to ensure we have a complete count. Obtaining a full, fair, and accurate count of everyone is essential for representation and federal funding. Invitations…
Friday 02/28/2020
Posted: 28 February 2020 [07:33 PM] So-called “red flag” laws have been suggested by some as at least a partial answer to keeping firearms away from those who might use them to harm themselves or others. But experiences in Florida, which has had such a statute…
Posted: 28 February 2020 [07:30 PM] By The (Moline) Dispatch & The Rock Island Argus Nobody should have been surprised when Rod Blagojevich called himself a victim and a “political prisoner” last week. Blagojevich never was very good at telling the truth. He is…
Thursday 02/27/2020
Posted: 27 February 2020 [07:42 PM] Florida punishes people who are unable to pay fines and fees by taking away their driver’s licenses, making it even harder for them to hold jobs that allow them to repay those debts. More than 2 million Floridians - or…
Posted: 27 February 2020 [07:39 PM] The New Hampshire House of Representatives this week passed legislation that would impose a waiting period between the purchase and delivery of a firearm. Last year, a similar bill was vetoed by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu. The difference with this…
Wednesday 02/26/2020
Posted: 26 February 2020 [08:02 PM] This country waged a civil war over slavery in the mid-19th century. It struggled with the advancement of civil rights for all people, regardless of race and religion, in the 20th century. The fight for equality has been going on…
Thursday 02/20/2020
Posted: 20 February 2020 [08:05 PM] The business climate of our region is transforming. Organizations like Valley Venture Mentors (VMM) and TechSpring have been instrumental in developing a culture of collaboration that will build a foundation of support in entrepreneurship that will last for years to…
Wednesday 02/19/2020
Posted: 19 February 2020 [08:04 PM] Another legislative session is already producing more prattle about the “achievement gap” between white and minority students in Connecticut’s public schools. Last week Sen. Douglas McCrory, D-Hartford, Senate chairman of the General Assembly’s Education Committee, called it “a sin” that…
Monday 02/17/2020
Posted: 17 February 2020 [07:42 PM] Patience, urged Republican Party officials in Iowa. Give the Democrats time to ensure results of political party caucuses on nominees for president are reported accurately. Give GOP officials credit for adopting a “there but for the grace of God go…
Friday 02/14/2020
Posted: 14 February 2020 [07:49 PM] By The Journal Times of Racine “There’s nothing good that happens after 1 a.m.” That’s what one Racine bartender had to say when he learned of a proposal to allow bars and restaurants throughout southeastern Wisconsin to stay…
Thursday 02/13/2020
Posted: 13 February 2020 [08:25 PM] When picturing an average school day, the core classes typically come to mind: math, science, English, history, and a foreign language. This idea isn’t bad, I agree that a foundation in math helps with problem-solving, and English class helps students…
Wednesday 02/12/2020
Posted: 12 February 2020 [07:18 PM] For eight months most television evening newscasts and newspaper front pages in Connecticut have highlighted the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos and the suspicion cast on her estranged husband, Fotis. Now Fotis has killed himself and Jennifer remains missing and presumed…
Tuesday 02/11/2020
Posted: 11 February 2020 [07:51 PM] After months of speculation and rumors, the bad news was finally announced by the Red Sox a few days ago: After on again off again negotiations with a few stumbles and false starts, their superstar outfielder, hitter, MVP and Gold…
Wednesday 02/05/2020
Posted: 05 February 2020 [08:17 PM] Simple relevance remains a big challenge in politics and activism in Connecticut. State government is as insolvent as ever, facing big projected annual deficits and unfunded pension obligations beyond $100 billion. But the state Senate Democratic majority’s agenda for the…
Tuesday 02/04/2020
Posted: 04 February 2020 [08:50 PM] To The Editor: Former New Britain city worker accused of stealing grant funds gets court-appointed program?? Are you kidding me? What ever happened to accountability? The only disabilities she has are greed and arrogance. A jail cell is where…
Sunday 02/02/2020
MAYOR'S COLUMN: Bristol is going to enjoy the 'Roaring 20's' Posted: 02 February 2020 [02:23 PM] While we don’t have a crystal ball at City Hall, we do have a sense of some of the good news that…
Posted: 02 February 2020 [01:22 PM] To The Editor: I am writing to thank Bristol residents for sharing the true meaning of Christmas with children in need this past holiday season. Because of the generosity of donors in Bristol and across the United States, Operation Christmas…
Friday 01/31/2020
Posted: 31 January 2020 [07:49 PM] Timing can be everything. For advocates for climate action, the stars seem aligned. Because of our dependence on the natural world, coupled with our quality of life, Vermonters have traditionally been mindful of our carbon footprint and our role in…
Tuesday 01/21/2020
Posted: 21 January 2020 [07:30 PM] Now that the majority in the General Assembly is more Democratic and liberal, the legislature is paying more attention to the plight of prisoners and former offenders. While the attention is welcome, it has been entirely of the bleeding-heart variety,…
Sunday 01/19/2020
Posted: 19 January 2020 [07:52 PM] Among the many inspiring displays at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington is a statue of U.S. Olympic athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos thrusting their clenched fists into the air as they received their…
Thursday 01/09/2020
Posted: 09 January 2020 [08:14 PM] Connecticut should welcome immigrants, Governor Lamont and the politically correct crowd at the state Capitol say, failing to distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants even as the state has ever-larger numbers of the latter. So it might have been fun…
Wednesday 01/08/2020
Posted: 08 January 2020 [08:32 PM] To The Editor: I attended an excellent concert on January 5 given by the New Britain Symphony Orchestra at the stately South Congregational - First Baptist Church in New Britain. The music was provided by a Brass Quintet consisting of…
Posted: 08 January 2020 [08:31 PM] To The Editor: Just a note of thanks to the hospital staff, EMTs, police officers, the store clerk and a customer who were extremely kind and professional to this traveler. We were on our way to Ohio for the…
Posted: 08 January 2020 [08:30 PM] To The Editor: Chris Powell, I very much enjoyed your column about Russian interference, etc. I think your opinions here are spot on, and a refreshing change from normal coverage. It’s sad, however, that you can’t distinguish between the national…
Tuesday 01/07/2020
Posted: 07 January 2020 [08:12 PM] The front page of the January 1, 2020 Herald was devoted to a poignant and thought provoking statement by the publisher of the goals and aspirations of our local newspaper. For those who didn’t see it, it should be…
Sunday 01/05/2020
Posted: 05 January 2020 [09:16 PM] Population growth may not be the perfect measure of a jurisdiction’s success - impoverished Bangladesh probably can do without any more people for a while - but some conclusions may be drawn from what the U.S. Census Bureau reported about…
Thursday 01/02/2020
Posted: 02 January 2020 [07:05 PM] Maybe the biggest irony arising from the impeachment of President Trump is the complaint made by Democrats that Russia “interfered” with the 2016 presidential election on behalf of Trump. There is little evidence of Russian interference and no evidence that…
Wednesday 01/01/2020
Posted: 01 January 2020 [06:36 PM] Georgia struck almost 100,000 voters from its rolls. In Wisconsin, a state with only 3.3 million registered voters, perhaps 200,000 are set to be purged. Some of them might have moved out of their respective states or died. But…
Tuesday 12/31/2019
OUR VIEW: A story of commitment Posted: 31 December 2019 [07:03 PM] By When we took over The Bristol Press more than a decade ago, we…
Posted: 31 December 2019 [06:11 PM] Libya, which has lived with civil war off and on since 2011, now is on the brink of joining Syria as the site of a major multinational conflict. On Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he would ask…
Posted: 31 December 2019 [06:10 PM] At first glance, The Washington Post’s scoop about Rudy Giuliani’s maneuvering in Venezuela sounds pretty familiar: He pushed a foreign government to take specific action, even as his efforts were making U.S. government officials nervous and contradicted official U.S. policy.…
Monday 12/30/2019
Posted: 30 December 2019 [08:29 PM] Ivanka Trump is right: “It is not acceptable that, in America today, 1 in 4 women go back to work two weeks after having a child,” she told CBS’s Margaret Brennan in an interview that aired on Sunday’s “Face the…
Posted: 30 December 2019 [08:29 PM] The impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill have been a crash course on the inner workings of constitutional democracy. As historian and journalist Yoni Appelbaum said recently, impeachment is a constitutional mechanism with the words “break glass in case of emergency”…
Sunday 12/29/2019
Posted: 29 December 2019 [08:48 PM] Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies have for years pursued a bloody but systematic strategy for regaining control over rebel-held areas. The regime launches brutal assaults aimed at driving out civilians, deliberately bombing hospitals, schools and…
Posted: 29 December 2019 [08:47 PM] There will be no Christmas at Paris’s Notre-Dame Cathedral, the headlines read, the first such lapse in two centuries. In ordinary terms, that was not really news. Yawning holes in the roof still open the Gothic nave to winter rain…
Posted: 29 December 2019 [08:45 PM] The Washington Post In 2010, banks foreclosed on a more than a million homes. The jobless rate for the year hovered just under 10%. But billionaire investor Stephen Schwarzman knew who the real injured party was: the wealthy. When…
Posted: 29 December 2019 [08:44 PM] Special To The Washington Post Evangelicals who minimize the importance of President Donald Trump’s judicial appointments betray a naivete about the perils to religious liberty in the United States, perils that have been growing over the past decade. Many people,…
Friday 12/27/2019
Posted: 27 December 2019 [01:45 PM] Editorial Momentous as it was, President Donald Trump’s impeachment on Dec. 18 might not go down in history as the most significant happening in the last month of the 21st century’s second decade. Rather, that honor might be shared among…
Thursday 12/26/2019
Posted: 26 December 2019 [06:05 PM] Special to The Washington Post We are a fractured nation. Television, politics, entertainment, business, sports and family tables all show that we are so deeply divided we’re giving up on each other. We no longer believe that the “others” who…
Posted: 26 December 2019 [06:04 PM] Cagle Cartoons If you’re celebrating a recent federal appellate court ruling that overturned language in the Affordable Care Act requiring you to have health insurance or pay a penalty, you may want to put away the party favors. That’s because,…
Posted: 26 December 2019 [06:04 PM] To The Editor: First Student, the local school bus company, rents from me. They asked for my help with a traffic related issue. Most of the cops I know have retired, so I called Mayor Zoppo. She took my call,…
Posted: 26 December 2019 [06:03 PM] To The Editor: With regard to proposals for the privatization of Veterans Healthcare, I say no. Privatization of the VHA may seem to most a positive policy recommendation, but I am not convinced. According to the article, Value for Taxpayers…
Wednesday 12/25/2019
Posted: 25 December 2019 [07:25 PM] We should not forget that this country was built by people from overseas seeking freedom from religious persecution. From the beginning, Americans’ culture, language, political and religious beliefs have differed, even as we always shared a common humanity. Three hundred…
Posted: 25 December 2019 [07:24 PM] For years, air quality in the U.S. steadily improved. And just like that, deaths related to air pollution fell off too. However, in 2017 and 2018, new data show, the amount of fine-particle air pollution got worse, with concentrations rising…