Stan Simpson tells me that Stefan Pryor joined him for his show this week:
Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor talks on “The Stan Simpson Show” about Connecticut’s new reform bill — and whether he has the autonomy to fix the state’s lowest performing schools. He is later joined in the program by educator/author Armand Fusco, a longtime critic of Connecticut’s past reform efforts, which he has deemed fraudulent. You can watch the interview at ctnow.com/stan
An editor told me I’d better check out the revival of the Surf Hotel. It’s a good story.
BLOCK ISLAND, R.I. —The green rocking chairs will be back on the front porch.
Then there’s the rhubarb sauce that must be a part of breakfast, like the board games and the Victorian furniture in the lobby. And yes, Room No. 13 — the one in the corner that looks out on the harbor — will be ready for the requests that are certain to come.
Unexpectedly, the creaky old Surf Hotel, with its folksy habits and sacred customs, has come back to life.
In the wake of a WWE executive threatening legal action against Journal Inquirer editor Chris Powell, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate Susan Bysiewicz jumped into the fray over what Linda McMahon’s family business sells, repeating a comment she made during a debate this week:
I’ll be darned if I let someone who sells sex and violence and pornography for a living be our next United States senator.
Among other things, it’s someone who’d take a deal with the Democrats that would provide for some tax increases along with significant budget cuts. That’s not going to win him many Republican friends on Capitol Hill.
Watch Laurie Perez’s Real Story here.
The artwork by Vicente Garcia is at the corner of Hopmeadow Street and Winslow Place.
In a letter to Journal Inquirer Managing Editor Chris Powell — one in a series – WWE vice president Brian Flinn makes it clear that Linda McMahon’s family business intends to go after anyone who suggests that the company’s product is anything short of family entertainment. Flinn was writing in response to a column Powell wrote on May 21.
Powell, via email, doesn’t appear to be backing down:
… when I got Flinn’s letter by e-mail last night I e-mailed him back, asking if he wanted the letter published in the JI and if we could do the depositions before the Republican primary …
Powell also said he was eager to meet “Trish,” star of an infamous WWE “bark like a dog” skit where Linda’s husband Vince forces a performer to take her clothes off.
The letter, copied to political journalists around the state, Brian Flinn writes:
…
And finally:
Justin Bernier, shut out at the Republican convention last week, declares he’s all in for the Aug. 14 GOP primary in the lively 5th District. The race spans the political spectrum for the Republicans, with moderate (and party endorsed) Andrew Roraback staking out frontrunner status, closely trailed by Lisa Wilson-Foley and the two conservatives, Mark Greenberg and and Bernier.
Best endorsement yet. There’s even a Lee Whitnum joke. Oakes could be Murph’s secret weapon.
I’m not sure about giving the post office more money to lose or paying down the national debt, but John Larson’s “Victory for Veterans” stamp does help one worthy cause. Larson is introducing a bill in Congress to create the stamp. Larson will hold a press conference to announce his initiative in Hartford tomorrow. Larson’s office has this to say about his idea:
Inspired by World War II-era victory stamps, the 2012 incarnation is a special supplementary stamp that has no postal value, but may be purchased by Americans interested in engaging in a patriotic initiative to benefit three important causes. Priced at $.21, proceeds from the stamp will be split between funding for veterans employment and training programs, paying down the national debt and supporting the operations of the United States Postal Service, which is one of the largest employers of our nation’s veterans.
UConn economists sound the alarm, again, about something almost everyone knows about: we don’t have enough young people to survive.
Whether it’s merely an aging state that never had so many young folks to start with or that the youthful residents we have are a beating a path to Brooklyn and Brookline, we’ve got a crisis that isn’t being addressed, The Center For Economic Analysis concludes:
And because Connecticut has failed to create net new jobs for more than two decades, leaving it unable to retain many of its own young adults or toattract significant new population, it now confronts a rapidly aging population, with the age 65 and over cohort doubling, its working age population shrinking, and its dependency ratio (the ratio of the working age population to the those under 18 and over 64) soaring. If the state does not change its demographic trajectory, it faces a bleak future.
The economists recommend using tax credits to target industries that would hire young, educated workers:
If the $2.5 billion in tax credits currently sitting unused and unusable on balance sheets could be redeemedex post against the cost of major capital projects—effectively converting what is now a liability against state tax revenue into an investment fund— this approach would create nearly 10 million square feet of new advanced manufacturing, pharmaceutical, biomedical and other facilities, creating upwards of 100,000 net new jobs (including multiplier effects). Even more exciting, if the credits were transferable (sold to qualifying enterprises), firms like Genentech might acquire them to build a major facility to colocate with JAXX or at Yale’s West Campus. This aggressive initiative also creates a unique strategic opportunity for Connecticut—given the anemic national labor market and historically low labor force participation rates, the job opportunities it opens up in Connecticut would surely draw in those new workers and younger population the state must attract to secure its economic future.
Come to Connecticut, young fella!
