New clues may help solve a string of decades-old CT murders
Erik Ofgang, Connecticut Magazine
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A playing card featues the 1982 unsolved murder of Sylvia Baker in Hartford, Conn. on Wednesday, September 16, 2020. The cards are available to Connecticut prisoners, and have helped solve cold cases.Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut MediaShow MoreShow Less
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From left; Detective Andrew Jacobson holds original crime scene photographs from the scene of the 1982 unsolved murder of Sylvia Baker in Keney Park in Hartford, Conn. on Wednesday, September 16, 2020. Baker, who was strangled, was found on the shore of Keney Park Pond.Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut MediaShow MoreShow Less
Opinion: Merger plan not the best course for community colleges By Seth Freeman
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for Housatonic Community College’s Lafayette Hall expansion in Bridgeport in 2018.
This letter was signed by 201 community college faculty and staff, and five retired community college administrators and on behalf of the Connecticut Community College Round Table.
Following in the footsteps of her predecessor, Mark Ojakian, Connecticut State Colleges & Universities Interim President Jane Gates uses empty promises, misstatements, misdirection and magical thinking to yet again mislead the public about the rationale and promise of consolidating Connecticut’s 12 community colleges.
President Jane Gates’ op-ed, “Merger plan best course for community colleges,” argues that consolidating the community colleges is the best way to solve the dual crisis of persistent equity gaps and fiscal instability facing the system.
Liberal Professor Gets Her Racist Bluff Called Out
Minati Roychoudhuri, 32, was cited for failure to drive in the established lane in May.
In early June, she sent a scathing letter to the Commissioner of Public safety, where she claimed she had been the victim of racism:
“…An unmarked police car with flashing light stopped me on the ramp after I had taken the exit. The policeman asked me if I could speak English and if I knew why he had stopped me. I said, ‘yes’ to speaking English and ‘no’ to why he had stopped me. He then asked me for my driver’s license and registration. He returned with an envelope and said that I could simply mail in the infraction.”
The plan to consolidate the 12 community colleges in Connecticut into one college with 12 campuses is called “Students First,” which is ironic because it does not fund students first. It funds a new administration in a new, statewide bureaucracy.
The Board of Regents (BOR) and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system office presented the “Students First” plan in April 2017 with an aim to reduce administration and save $46 million annually.
Three and a half years later, the plan has added dozens of new administrators, cost tens of millions of dollars, and there is more spending to come.
The BOR may still contend they are saving money, but to make that claim they have to keep moving the goal posts. Table 1 compares the BOR’s forecasts of expenditures with the consolidation plan versus “doing nothing” for fiscal year (FY) 2021.