Hartford Courant -- January 28, 2022

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by  Hartford Courant

U.S. economic growth Russia-Ukraine conflict Jobless claims drop Mostly cloudy
The U.S. economy grew last year at its Biden says a Russian invasion in February is Unemployment claims in the U.S. fell by Chance for a snow shower or
fastest pace since 1984. NEWS, PAGE 4 a “distinct possibility.” NEWS, PAGE 4 30,000 last week to 260,000. NEWS, PAGE 8 flurry; high of 28. SPORTS, PAGE 6
VOLUME CLXXXVI CCOOUURRAANNTT..CCOOMM FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2022
SHEFF V. O’NEILL CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
State group
says 18,000
restaurant
jobs at stake
Association study says
federal revitalization
funds need replenishing
By Susan Dunne
Hartford Courant
About 18,000 Connecticut restau-
rant jobs are at stake if the Restaurant
Revitalization Fund is not replenished,
according to results of a study released
Thursday by the Connecticut Restaurant
Association.
In this state, 51% of restaurant oper-
ators who applied for the federal relief
funds and were turned down say it is
unlikely they will stay in business with-
out aid. However, if the fund is replen-
ished and they receive relief funds, 96%
of restaurant owners would be able to
retain or hire back employees.
Elizabeth Horton Sheff, right, exits the State Office Building in Hartford with Keith Norton of the state’s Department of Education after a “The RRF was a critical lifeline to
news conference on an agreement that would create spaces at magnet and suburban schools for all Hartford students who want them. many, but far more remain on the side-
MARK MIRKO/HARTFORD COURANT lines, desperately looking for support
amidst continued economic uncertainty,”
Deal would expand said Connecticut Restaurant Association
President and CEO Scott Dolch. “The
decisions Congress could make in the
coming weeks will be critical toward the
future of the restaurants that are so proud
to serve our communities.”
access to schools “Restaurant recovery is paralyzed and
nowhere near complete,” Dolch said. “We
need Congress to finish the job and fund
the additional 2,066 pending state appli-
cations.”
The $28.6 billion fund, which offered
grants to restaurants struggling during
Settlement near in 30-year-old Hartford racial segregation case
the pandemic, was part of the Amer-
ican Rescue Plan. But after a flood of
278,304 applications stating need totaling
By Seamus McAvoy
Hartford Courant Turn to Jobs, Page 2
A Hartford Superior Court judge granted
preliminary approval Thursday to a sweep-
ing agreement that would create spaces at
GUN LAWS
magnet and suburban schools for all Hartford
students who want them and bring an end to
Sen. Murphy:
the Sheff v. O’Neill case.
The agreement, which still requires legis-
lative approval and a final sign-off by the
Partisan
court, is expected to end more than 30 years
of court involvement as Connecticut officials
worked to correct the racial segregation and
education inequality laid bare in the Sheff v. roadblock
O’Neill case.
“This settlement gives us a roadmap and
a commitment, to which the state is fully Elizabeth Sheff encourages her son Milo, 10, before the start of a news slows hope
committed going forward to make even conference announcing the filing of Sheff v. O’Neill in this 1989 file photo. Milo
more historic investments in the future of is one of the plaintiffs in the case. At right is University of Connecticut law
the children of Hartford, and the surround- professor John C. Brittain, one of 10 lawyers who argued the case in Superior
Federal version of Ethan’s
ing region,” Attorney General William Tong Court. COURANT FILE PHOTO
said at the hearing. Law on gun storage unlikely
Under the terms of the agreement, the state
“This settlement gives us a roadmap and a
would add as many as 783 Open Choice seats, By Don Stacom
which allow city students to attend magnet commitment, to which the state is fully committed Hartford Courant
schools and those in surrounding districts,
by the 2023-24 school year — depending on going forward to make even more historic There’s little sign that Congress is
demand from Hartford students. ready to adopt a national version of
investments in the future of the children of
Seats would continue to increase from Ethan’s Law regulating gun storage,
2020-21 levels in subsequent years: 1,863 Hartford, and the surrounding region.” but overall the prospect for stronger
gun safety laws is improving, Sen. Chris
Turn to Case, Page 3 — Attorney General William Tong Murphy said Wednesday.
“This issue is heading
in only one direction.
It takes sometimes far
longer than many of us
are comfortable with for
Biden: Historic pick ‘long overdue’
federal politics to catch
up with public opinion,
but it’s a matter of when
Search officially begins for — not if — the federal
Murphy government finally gets
court’s first Black woman to where 80 or 90% of
where the American public is,” Murphy
By Colleen Long, Zeke Miller told listeners on a Facebook Live session.
and Darlene Superville Still, he conceded that even a Demo-
Associated Press cratic House and Senate along with a
Democratic president haven’t managed
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden to drive through stronger laws since the
strongly affirmed Thursday that he will 2020 election.
nominate the first Black woman to the U.S. “We are working like crazy to try to
Supreme Court, declaring such historic get consensus in Washington. The real-
representation is “long overdue” and prom- ity is the Senate rules stop us from passing
ising to announce his choice by the end of commonsense gun legislation,” he said.
February. “What we don’t have is a supermajority in
In a White House ceremony, Biden the Senate, which explains why we can’t
praised retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, get something like universal background
who will have spent nearly 28 years on the checks passed.”
high court by the time he leaves at the end Murphy, an outspoken Senate voice for
of the term, as “a model public servant at a stricter gun regulation, gave his update
time of great division in this country.” during an online forum hosted by Demo-
And with that the search for Breyer’s cratic state Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw
replacement was underway in full. Biden of Avon and Rep. Tammy Exum of West
promised a nominee worthy of Breyer’s Hartford.
With President Biden watching, Justice Stephen Breyer remarks on his impending retirement
Turn to Biden, Page 6 Thursday. DREW ANGERER/GETTY Turn to Murphy, Page 3
Push for tougher penalties for selling fentanyl Opinion ....................News, 10 Puzzles ..Connecticut, 7, 9
Obits ........................News, 12 Comics ..Connecticut, 8-9
Prompted by the death of a 13-year-old boy in Hartford, Senate Republicans are calling for Lottery .......................News, 2
increased penalties for selling fentanyl. Connecticut, Page 1 Classified ................News, 11
2 Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Friday, January 28, 2022
FROM PAGE ONE
CORONAVIRUS IN CONNECTICUT
State saw more than 200 deaths over the past week
By Eliza Fawcett „ A new sub-variant of omicron, to increase in recent weeks even
Hartford Courant BA.2, was first reported in the state as cases and hospitalizations have
this week. Connecticut, Page 1 slowed. Unvaccinated people in
Connecticut’s weekly COVID- Connecticut have been about 14
19 test positivity rate and number times as likely to die from COVID-
of hospitalizations dropped once COVID-19 symptoms. 19 in recent weeks as those who
again on Thursday, reflecting According to the state, 54.1% of are vaccinated, according to state
rapid declines in omicron cases people hospitalized with COVID- numbers.
nationwide. 19 are not fully vaccinated. The United States has now
“The omicron wave does seem Hospital officials say the rate is recorded 877,491 COVID-19
to be subsiding,” Dr. Peter Hotez, significantly higher when consid- deaths, according to the Corona-
a vaccine scientist at the National ering only patients with severe virus Resource Center at Johns
School of Tropical Medicine at symptoms. Hopkins University.
Baylor College of Medicine, said Hotez noted that while omicron
during a press call organized by has proven particularly dangerous Vaccinations
Hartford HealthCare Thurs- for the unvaccinated, it has also
day. “A big unknown has been targeted those who are not fully As of Thursday, 92.3% of all
whether it’s going to go down as vaccinated or whom have not Connecticut residents and 95% of
quickly as it’s accelerated. That’s received a booster shot. those 12 and older had received at
the hope.” Nine-year-old Louisa gets her second Covid vaccine at a free clinic at the “This is a three-dose vaccine least one COVID-19 vaccine dose,
Even as COVID-19 hospitaliza- Discovery Science Center in Bridgeport, in conjunction with Griffin Hospital and I think that the omicron vari- while 76.4% of all residents and 84.8%
tions and cases have fallen signifi- in this December file photo. STAN GODLEWSKI/SPECIAL TO THE COURANT ant is clearly bearing that out,” he of those 12 and older were fully vacci-
cantly in Connecticut in recent said. nated, according to the CDC.
weeks, deaths — a lagging indica- 9.73%. The state’s seven-day posi- Hospitalizations Additionally, about 50.3% of
tor of the pandemic — have contin- tivity rate now stands at 11.72%, Deaths fully vaccinated Connecticut resi-
ued to rise. On Thursday, the state the lowest it has been since late Connecticut reported 1,270 dents 18 or older have received a
reported more than 200 COVID- December. patients hospitalized with COVID- On Thursday, Connecticut booster dose.
19 deaths over the past week, the Still, all eight Connecticut coun- 19 on Thursday, a decrease of 76 reported 225 COVID-19 deaths The CDC warns that booster
second-highest number of weekly ties — along with nearly the rest of patients since Wednesday. Hospi- over the past week, bringing its shots are sometimes misclassi-
deaths since January 2021. the country — are recording “high” talizations have not been so low total during the pandemic to 9,908. fied as first doses, likely inflating
levels of COVID-19 transmission since early January. Last week, the state reported 241 the reported number of first-dose
Cases, positivity rate as defined by the federal Centers Hospital officials say some weekly COVID-19 deaths, the coverage and understating the
for Disease Control and Preven- patients hospitalized with highest number of deaths per true number of people who have
Connecticut on Thursday tion. With this level of transmis- COVID-19 were admitted for week since Jan. 2021. received boosters.
reported 3,036 new COVID-19 sion, the CDC advises people non-coronavirus reasons before COVID-19 deaths — which typi-
cases out of 31,201 tests adminis- to wear a mask in public indoor testing positive upon arrival but cally tend to lag other metrics by Eliza Fawcett can be reached
tered, for a daily positivity rate of settings. that a majority have significant several weeks — have continued at [email protected].
Jobs on the wane, is the latest in almost specialist with NRA, stressed that since March 2020. behind on expenses since March
two years of a catastrophic down- the dining industry is the nation’s Seventy four percent said the 2020.
from Page 1 turn in the national and state second-largest private-sector grant was not sufficient to cover „ 80% say their restaurant is less
restaurant industries, a downturn employer, after health care. all of their lost sales since March profitable now than it was before
$72,233,280,031, just 101,004 of the that began when the pandemic “There are too many restaurants 2020. March 2020.
applicants were awarded grants — lockdown began in March 2020. that are jeopardized right now. … Connecticut restaurant owners „ 74% say their sales volume in
mostly on a first come, first served That national report also zeroed Too many jobs on the line. Fail- also indicated the omicron surge 2021 was lower than it was in 2019.
basis, according to the Small Busi- in on inadequate funding of the ure is truly not an option,” Riehle was a significant blow to business. Only 15% reported a same-store
ness Administration. RRF and how restaurants that said. “Every light for our industry „ 96% saw a decline in customer sales increase between 2019 and
In Connecticut, 3,369 Connecti- were passed over for relief are is blinking red.” demand for on-premises dining. 2021.
cut restaurants applied for grants suffering more from the omicron The Connecticut-specific results „ 52% reduced hours; 34% „ 79% say their restaurant’s total
totaling $790 million. Of that, wave than those that received the of the survey found that 12,000 jobs reduced days; 27% reduced seat- costs (as a percent of sales) were
1,303 received funding, totaling funds. statewide were saved at restau- ing capacity; 9% changed to take- higher in December 2021 than they
$301,164,069. Restaurant industry trade groups rants that received RRF funding. out and delivery only for a time. were in December 2020. Only 10%
The statistics, gleaned from a and Congressional representatives In other findings about the funded „ 87% say business is worse now of operators reported lower costs.
nationwide survey of 4,200 restau- have pushed for the replenish- restaurants: than three months ago. Only 2% „ 81% say their customer traffic in
rateurs conducted between Jan. ment of the fund. At the Monday „ 97% said the grant made it more say business improved. 2021 was lower than it was in 2019.
16 to 18, were released as part of news conference, National Restau- likely that they would be able to Other statistics, which reflect Only 12% reported an increase in
the National Restaurant Associa- rant Association spokesman Sean stay in business. the downturn from its beginning customer traffic between 2019 and
tion’s report Monday on the effect Kennedy said, “The timing of this „ 84% said the grant helped them in March 2020: 2021.
nationwide of the surging omicron is critical. Congress is facing a Feb. retain or hire back employees that „ 75% say their restaurant accu-
variant on all restaurants. 18 deadline to pass a government would otherwise have been let go. mulated additional debt since Susan Dunne can be reached at
The omicron surge, which began spending bill.” „ 94% said the grant helped them March 2020. sdunne
in November and is reported to be Hudson Riehle, a research pay expenses or debt accumulated „ 73% say their restaurant fell @courant.com.
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Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Friday, January 28, 2022 3
FROM PAGE ONE
Per student spending by Connecticut school districts
Case
from Page 1 The 1989 case of Sheff v. O’Neill alleged the violation of the rights of Connecticut students due to educational inequality created by
economic and racial segregation. Educational funding continues to vary by district today. The most recent state numbers, from 2019-20,
more by 2025-26, and 2,737 more by 2028-29. show per pupil spending and funding source by district.
The state expects to meet the demand for
Choice seats among Hartford students by State State
2028-29, according to the agreement. State Local, Local,
officials would continue to assess demand District Federal Other Total District Federal Other Total
every three years, beginning in 2031-32, and
would add seats as necessary. Achievement First Bridgeport $587 $11,868 $12,455 New Britain $892 $13,275 $14,168
Nearly 900 Hartford students wanted Achievement First Hartford $801 $13,020 $13,821 New Canaan $241 $21,744 $21,985
to attend suburban schools last year but Amistad Academy $661 $11,465 $12,126 New Fairfield $415 $18,294 $18,709
couldn’t because there weren’t enough seats, Andover $479 $22,273 $22,752 New Hartford $448 $18,164 $18,612
according to plaintiffs’ attorney Martha Ansonia $757 $14,953 $15,710 New Haven $1,484 $15,444 $16,929
Stone of the Center for Children’s Advocacy. ACES $219 $36,675 $36,894 New London $1,210 $15,289 $16,498
Though the agreement would end ongo- Ashford $564 $19,839 $20,404 New Milford $357 $15,732 $16,089
ing court involvement, the state will enter Avon $267 $17,895 $18,162 Newington $292 $17,825 $18,117
a 10-year injunction requiring compliance Barkhamsted $563 $18,323 $18,887 Newtown $332 $18,885 $19,217
with the outlined terms. Berlin $308 $17,864 $18,172 Norfolk $624 $31,630 $32,254
Stone said this provision keeps open the Bethany $424 $18,707 $19,132 North Branford $540 $18,490 $19,031
possibility of returning to court, should the Bethel $335 $15,633 $15,968 North Canaan $720 $21,430 $22,150
state fall short on its agreement to meet Bloomfield $475 $19,417 $19,891 North Haven $260 $17,287 $17,547
100% of demand or other provisions. Bolton $276 $18,408 $18,684 North Stonington $310 $17,675 $17,985
If the state is in compliance with the Booker T. Washington $624 $12,467 $13,091 Norwalk $504 $18,273 $18,777
injunction after 10 years, the injunction will Bozrah $435 $21,604 $22,039 Norwich $985 $16,969 $17,954
expire. Outside parties would have to bring Branford $256 $20,211 $20,467 Odyssey Community $144 $12,595 $12,740
an entirely new lawsuit should the state fail Brass City Charter $394 $12,510 $12,904 Old Saybrook $374 $21,041 $21,416
to meet demand after the injunction expires. Bridgeport $1,020 $13,699 $14,718 Orange $317 $17,237 $17,553
The state plans to meet the traditionally Bristol $619 $15,317 $15,936 Oxford $161 $17,840 $18,001
high demand for Choice seats by increas- Brookfield $295 $16,700 $16,995 Park City Prep $617 $10,778 $11,395
ing funding to Choice magnet schools, Brooklyn $438 $15,130 $15,567 Plainfield $484 $15,559 $16,043
with annual commitments set to reach $32 Canaan $558 $33,924 $34,482 Plainville $370 $16,540 $16,910
million by the 2032 fiscal year. Canterbury $430 $17,034 $17,464 Plymouth $358 $16,676 $17,034
Under the agreement, the state will Canton $229 $17,491 $17,720 Pomfret $415 $18,044 $18,459
further increase the financial incentives for Capital Prep Harbor $365 $10,201 $10,566 Portland $291 $16,723 $17,014
suburban schools to accept more Hartford CREC $612 $22,961 $23,573 Preston $449 $18,669 $19,118
students through the Open Choice program. Chaplin $631 $23,979 $24,610 Putnam $641 $16,717 $17,358
The state also plans to create new magnet Cheshire $269 $17,085 $17,354 Redding $304 $25,726 $26,030
programs, or expand existing ones. Chester $453 $24,039 $24,492 Regional 01 $636 $29,264 $29,900
In addition to expanding Pre-K programs Clinton $421 $19,026 $19,446 Regional 04 $299 $20,657 $20,956
and adding a magnet at the Dwight-Bellizzi Colchester $381 $17,386 $17,767 Regional 05 $238 $19,348 $19,586
Dual Language Academy, the state plans to Colebrook $775 $23,905 $24,680 Regional 06 $277 $19,983 $20,260
partner heavily with Goodwin University to Columbia $319 $18,812 $19,132 Regional 07 $249 $19,940 $20,189
create new quality opportunities for Hart- Common Ground High $834 $15,546 $16,379 Regional 08 $263 $18,314 $18,577
ford students. CES $104 $32,395 $32,499 Regional 09 $243 $23,021 $23,264
Goodwin will create a new magnet high Cornwall $826 $31,981 $32,807 Regional 10 $241 $16,693 $16,934
school focused on advanced manufactur- Coventry $314 $16,230 $16,544 Regional 11 $669 $23,995 $24,664
ing at its East Hartford campus, and will Cromwell $290 $15,300 $15,590 Regional 12 $522 $27,340 $27,862
host a new early literacy Choice program Danbury $511 $12,622 $13,132 Regional 13 $293 $22,361 $22,654
for preschoolers in a recently renovated Darien $242 $21,563 $21,805 Regional 14 $306 $20,955 $21,262
building in Rocky Hill. Deep River $449 $20,861 $21,310 Regional 15 $302 $19,220 $19,521
Renovations of new magnet schools are Derby $832 $17,712 $18,544 Regional 16 $266 $17,176 $17,443
expected to cost $48.7 million. The agree- East Granby $188 $20,005 $20,193 Regional 17 $271 $20,074 $20,345
ment also provides more than $14 million East Haddam $233 $20,761 $20,994 Regional 18 $265 $22,632 $22,897
to improve extracurricular and athletic East Hampton $233 $16,986 $17,219 Regional 19 $344 $19,337 $19,681
programs, which magnet schools some- East Hartford $897 $13,795 $14,692 Ridgefield $223 $20,796 $21,019
times lack, in an effort to attract a more East Haven $531 $15,816 $16,348 Rocky Hill $342 $16,016 $16,358
diverse student body to Choice schools. East Lyme $299 $17,754 $18,053 Salem $330 $16,779 $17,109
Gov. Ned Lamont said he wants these East Windsor $8 $21,227 $21,235 Salisbury $570 $24,526 $25,096
magnet schools to “be the best schools in EASTCONN $304 $38,993 $39,298 Scotland $480 $21,682 $22,162
the world these kids have an opportunity Eastford $367 $20,160 $20,527 Seymour $403 $15,553 $15,956
to take advantage of.” Easton $273 $18,819 $19,091 Sharon $1,292 $45,443 $46,735
“This is an opportunity for Connecti- EdAdvance $9,959 $33,512 $43,471 Shelton $307 $15,466 $15,773
cut to get it right, for Hartford to get it Ellington $208 $14,848 $15,056 Sherman $385 $22,623 $23,008
right, and to set an example around the Elm City College Prep $587 $14,199 $14,786 Side By Side Charter $276 $12,270 $12,546
rest of the state and the rest of the coun- Elm City Montessori $210 $15,394 $15,603 Simsbury $322 $17,670 $17,992
try,” Lamont said at a news conference Enfield $615 $15,445 $16,061 Somers $282 $17,513 $17,794
Thursday. Essex $292 $21,356 $21649 South Windsor $206 $16,395 $16,601
Attorney General William Tong Explorations $788 $18,217 $19,005 Southington $333 $15,373 $15,706
presented the settlement in Hartford Fairfield $271 $19,325 $19,596 Sprague $388 $15,990 $16,378
Superior Court Thursday afternoon, Farmington $267 $17,283 $17,551 Stafford $561 $19,009 $19,570
joined by Stone, plaintiffs’ attorney, and Franklin $384 $19,080 $19,464 Stamford $506 $18,283 $18,789
Elizabeth Horton Sheff, whose son, Milo, Glastonbury $304 $18,162 $18,466 Stamford Academy $1,867 $19,665 $21,533
was among the original plaintiffs. Granby $281 $16,746 $17,027 Stamford Excellence $471 $9,914 $10,385
In 1989, the Sheff v. O’Neill case, brought Great Oaks Charter $2,201 $13,239 $15,439 Sterling $432 $15,757 $16,189
by a group of Hartford parents on behalf of Greenwich $394 $22,251 $22,645 Stonington $484 $19,154 $19,638
their school-aged children, alleged Hart- Griswold $555 $15,390 $15,945 Stratford $458 $16,512 $16,970
ford students were being denied an equal Groton $471 $16,597 $17,068 Suffield $394 $16,974 $17,369
education due to racial and economic Guilford $287 $18,837 $19,123 The Bridge Academy $547 $12,512 $13,058
segregation. Hamden $496 $19,676 $20,172 Thomaston $371 $16,351 $16,721
Milo Sheff, who was 10 when the case Hampton $731 $25,076 $25,807 Thompson $586 $19,225 $19,811
began, celebrated his 43rd birthday on Hartford $949 $16,548 $17,496 Tolland $257 $16,769 $17,026
Thursday. At the court hearing, Elizabeth Hartland $403 $22,218 $22,620 Torrington $551 $18,049 $18,600
shared that Milo is now a father and grand- Hebron $237 $17,394 $17,631 Trumbull $359 $16,594 $16,953
father to two more Milos. Highville Charter $373 $10,011 $10,385 Union $591 $24,607 $25,198
Superior Court Judge Marshall Berger Integrated Day Charter $419 $11,791 $12,210 Vernon $509 $16,497 $17,007
granted preliminary approval, adding Inter School for Arts and Comm $489 $14,104 $14,593 Voluntown $404 $19,130 $19,534
that the agreement “exemplifies what our Jumoke Academy $508 $12,795 $13,303 Wallingford $280 $18,644 $18,924
system can produce.” Kent $641 $26,739 $27,381 Waterbury $1,041 $14,233 $15,274
Berger quoted from the court opinion Killingly $466 $17,012 $17,478 Waterford $363 $19,096 $19,458
in the 1996 Sheff vs. O’Neill case, settled in Learn $707 $12,906 $13,613 Watertown $359 $16,619 $16,978
the Connecticut Supreme Court. Lebanon $316 $19,790 $20,106 West Hartford $372 $17,493 $17,865
The agreement and “the willingness Ledyard $318 $15,124 $15,442 West Haven $700 $14,696 $15,396
of our citizenry to cooperate ... is exactly Lisbon $321 $16,261 $16,582 Westbrook $374 $26,691 $27,065
what Chief Justice [Ellen Ash] Peters Litchfield $538 $20,898 $21,435 Weston $254 $23,338 $23,592
hoped for when she said ... ‘We are confi- Madison $291 $21,520 $21,811 Westport $253 $22,537 $22,790
dent that with energy and goodwill, Manchester $668 $16,504 $17,172 Wethersfield $284 $16,471 $16,755
appropriate remedies can be found and Mansfield $467 $21,037 $21,503 Willington $548 $19,411 $19,959
implemented in time to make a difference, Marlborough $420 $16,653 $17,072 Wilton $388 $21,846 $22,234
before another generation of children Meriden $673 $13,368 $14,041 Winchester $495 $20,738 $212,33
suffers the consequences of a segregated Middletown $635 $19,012 $19,648 Windham $1,356 $16,569 $17,925
public school education,’ ” Berger said. Milford $391 $20,567 $20,957 Windsor $436 $18,121 $18,557
In court and at a subsequent press Monroe $268 $18,066 $18,334 Windsor Locks $405 $20,153 $20,558
conference, Elizabeth Horton Sheff Montville $435 $16,942 $17,377 Wolcott $421 $15,228 $15,649
likened the agreement to bringing her Naugatuck $835 $14,760 $15,595 Woodbridge $281 $17,629 $17,911
son to school on the first day of classes, New Beginnings Inc $535 $12,970 $13,505 Woodstock $550 $15,125 $15,676
“trusting a child to a school system that is
going to nurture and teach and encourage Data from the Connecticut State Department of Education
my child.
“I’m giving you my baby. Please take care students. An initial 1995 ruling found the executive branch to implement remedial and improved the school choice lottery. The
of my baby,” Sheff told the court. state hadn’t created educational inequity, measures. Since then, the parties in the agreement only resulted in about 200 new
“Unlike in other parts of the nation, the and thus was not responsible for correct- case have entered into a series of agree- seats, according to Tong’s office.
end of court oversight is not going to mean ing it. ments, which have established dozens of That agreement gave plaintiffs and the
a rollback of all the gains we have made in An appeal to the state Supreme Court in Hartford-area magnet schools and the state until June 2022 to develop a long-
these 30 years,” Sheff said later. 1996 overturned the ruling and found the Open Choice program, which allows Hart- term plan to guarantee access to equal and
The Sheff case has been through several state has an obligation to ensure students’ ford students to attend suburban schools. quality education for all Hartford students.
rulings, but no previous agreement has constitutional right to an equal education The most recent settlement came in
resulted in a state plan to meet 100% of and that districting by town impaired that. 2020, a two-year agreement that pledged Seamus McAvoy may be reached at smca-
demand for Choice seats for Hartford The court directed the legislature and to add more than 1,000 magnet school seats [email protected]
Murphy 2019, according to the Educational Fund to families that have been victimized by are some weapons that are so dangerous
to Stop Gun Violence. shootings. they should remain in the hands of the
from Page 1 And Connecticut’s cities — like those “It’s getting worse not better — 2020 and military, and that I think that everybody
across the country — have been plagued 2021 have been amongst the most deadly should have to prove that you’re respon-
The session on gun violence came with more shootings than ever during the years in our lifetime when it comes to gun sible enough to own a weapon.”
amidst a rising number of shootings — and pandemic. violence,” Murphy said. “There’s just a Connecticut in 2019 passed Ethan’s Law,
fatal shootings — across the country. The “We need to be talking about the root straight line between the number of guns which requires that loaded or unloaded
nonprofit Gun Violence Archive reported causes of gun violence. We’ve seen a that flood our communities and the expo- guns be safely locked if they’d be available
that a record 44,881 Americans died in dramatic increase in gun violence — 11 sure to gun violence.” to someone under 18.
shootings last year, including homicides, percent this year, 17 percent last year,” Some commenters on DeGraw’s Face- The state’s Congressional delegation
suicides, accidents, self-defense cases and said Jeremy Stein, executive director of book page said the forum should have promised last winter to push for a federal
police-involved gunfire. CT Against Gun Violence. included Second Amendment advocacy version, but Murphy said the prospects are
DeGraw and Exum hosted speakers “New Haven has seen a 41 percent groups, and complained that law-abiding poor right now.
from several Connecticut organizations increase this year, a 70% increase last gun owners are being scapegoated. “It is still very difficult to get Republi-
trying to reducing the number of shoot- year, so we’re looking at over a 100 percent DeGraw said the session wasn’t about can support — we don’t right now have any
ings, including Moms Demand Action, increase from pre-pandemic time,” Stein outlawing guns, and Murphy maintained Republicans that are willing to support it,”
Mothers United Against Violence and CT said. “We need to concentrate on the that it’s inaccurate to equate stronger gun he said. “It appears to be the kind of thing
Against Gun Violence. demand side for guns, we need to start regulation with an attack on run rights. that could get bipartisan support in Wash-
They said that even though Connecticut investing in communities.” “I’m a believer in the Second Amend- ington because it’s not about regulating
has one of the lowest gun violence rates Stein said the state needs to spend ment, I have no problem with people the purchase of firearms. But for whatever
in the country, it’s still bad. Nearly 200 more on violence prevention, identifica- buying weapons to protect themselves, to reason, Republicans have not been willing
Connecticut people were shot to death in tion of high-risk youth and adults, and aid hunt, to collect,” he said. “I just think there to entertain support.”
4 Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Friday, January 28, 2022
Insanity defense sought in shooting
New lawsuit alleges Oakland County Prosecutor
Karen McDonald.
negligence by Mich.
The day of the shooting,
school, boy’s parents a teacher found a note on
Ethan Crumbley’s desk and
By Mike Householder took a photo. It was a draw-
and Corey Williams ing of a gun pointing at the
Associated Press words, “The thoughts won’t
stop. Help me,” McDonald
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. said in December.
— A teenager charged with The drawing also featured
killing four students at a a person who appeared to
Michigan high school will have been shot twice and is
pursue an insanity defense, bleeding. “My life is useless”
his lawyers said in a notice and “The world is dead,”
filed Thursday as he, his were written.
parents and school officials The gun used in the shoot-
faced a new lawsuit over ing was bought days before
the attack at Oxford High by James Crumbley and
School. their son had full access to
The notice, listed in a it, according to authorities.
summary of case filings McDonald has said that
available online, should James and Jennifer Crum-
lead to mental health exams bley committed “egregious”
of 15-year-old Ethan Crum- acts, from buying a gun on
bley, who is charged as an Black Friday and making it
adult with murder and available to Ethan Crumb-
other crimes for the shoot- ley to resisting his removal
ing, which also wounded six from school when they were
other students and a teacher. summoned a few hours
Experts will consider before the shooting.
whether the teen under- James and Jennifer Crum-
stood the wrongfulness of bley later were charged with
his conduct on the day of the “Our family will never be the same,” say William and Sheri Myre, whose son was killed at Oxford High School. PAUL SANCYA/AP involuntary manslaughter.
shooting. Detroit-area attorney Ven
The lawsuit, meanwhile, it together.” earlier. exams by the state Center by reason of insanity, they Johnson, who is represent-
was announced on behalf The lawsuit, which seeks The lawsuit was filed for Forensic Psychiatry don’t walk free. They must ing parents in the lawsuit
of the parents of Tate Myre, at least $25,000, names Thursday in Oakland and experts retained by the be referred to a state psychi- filed Thursday, said Ethan
who was killed Nov. 30, Oxford High School’s dean County Circuit Court defense and the prosecutor’s atric center for custody and Crumbley knew what he
and other students who of students, two counsel- on behalf of Tate Myre’s office. Judge Kwame Rowe further evaluation. was doing and “clearly he
witnessed the shootings. It ors and three teachers as parents, William and Sheri. could also order an exam by Someone who is found was disturbed,” but his
alleges negligence by school defendants. Crumbley and Also named as plaintiffs are another expert. guilty but mentally ill still parents did nothing.
officials and Crumbley’s his parents also are named Chad and Meghan Gregory, “This is absolutely appro- would be sentenced to In December, Jeffrey and
parents over the attack. as defendants. whose son, Keegan, was priate to do. I doubt anyone prison but with recommen- Brandi Franz filed a pair of
“We’re sad and heart- The Associated Press sent hiding in a school bathroom is surprised by it,” said dations that they get treat- lawsuits in federal court and
broken — our lives forever an email Thursday seeking with Justin Shilling when Margaret Raben, a Detroit- ment. county circuit court seeking
changed,” William Myre comment from the school Shilling was fatally shot. area defense attorney not School officials became $100 million each against
said at a news conference. district. The lawsuit also was filed involved in the case. “All of concerned about Ethan the district. Their 17-year-
“Our family will never be The suspect’s parents are on behalf of Lauren Aliano, this is going to take time. Crumbley a day before old daughter, Riley, was shot
the same. We’re not doing accused of intentional, reck- whose daughters, Sophia The forensic center is the shooting, when a in the neck. Her 14-year-old
good. All we do is walk less and negligent conduct Kempen and Grace Kempen, jammed, jammed, jammed teacher saw him search- sister, Bella, a ninth grader,
around the house and think that led to the mass shoot- were hiding in classrooms with work.” ing for ammunition on his was next to her at the time
about Tate. We think about ing. The Oxford High during the shooting. After the reports are in, phone. Jennifer Crumbley she was shot.
him every day. We sit in his School staff and teachers are Ethan Crumbley is being it will be up to the judge to was contacted and subse- Their lawsuit says school
room. We listen to his play- accused of gross negligence held in the Oakland County decide if an insanity defense quently told her son in a text officials and high school staff
list off Spotify. We’re not that led to the shooting by Jail. can go forward, Raben said. message: “Lol. I’m not mad didn’t do enough to prevent
doing good, but we’re going not removing the shooter The notice filed Thursday Under Michigan law, if at you. You have to learn not the shooting and protect
to find a way to get through from the school building by his attorneys will lead to someone is found not guilty to get caught,” according to students.
US economy snaps back
from COVID-19 recession
GDP jumped 5.7% expected to slow this year. For the final three months
Many economists have of 2021, consumer spending
last year, its biggest
been downgrading their rose at a more muted 3.3%
growth since 1984 forecasts for the current annual pace. But private
January-March quarter, investment rocketed 32%
By Paul Wiseman reflecting the impact of the higher, boosted by a surge
Associated Press omicron variant. And for all in business inventories
of 2022, the International as companies stocked up
WASHINGTON — The Monetary Fund has fore- to meet higher customer
U.S. economy grew last year cast that the nation’s GDP demand. Rising inventories,
at the fastest pace since growth will slow to 4%. in fact, accounted for 71% of
Ronald Reagan’s presi- Many U.S. businesses, the fourth-quarter growth.
dency, bouncing back with especially restaurants, bars, “The upside surprise
resilience from 2020’s brief hotels and entertainment came largely from a surge in
but devastating coronavirus venues, remain under pres- inventories, and the details
recession. sure from the omicron vari- aren’t as strong as the
The nation’s gross domes- ant, which has kept millions headline would suggest,”
tic product — its total output of people hunkered down at Kathy Bostjancic, COxford
of goods and services — home to avoid crowds. Economics’ chief U.S. finan-
expanded 5.7% in 2021. It Consumer spending, the cial economist, said in a
was the strongest calen- primary driver of the econ- research note.
dar-year growth since a 7.2% omy, may be further held In a statement, President A worker delivers goods at a grocery store in Fairfax, Va. The economy, squeezed by inflation
surge in 1984 after a previ- back this year by the loss of Joe Biden said, “We are and still gripped by virus cases, is expected to slow this year. OLIVIER DOULIERY/GETTY-AFP
ous recession. The economy government aid to house- finally building an Amer-
ended the year by growing at holds, which nurtured activ- ican economy for the 21st abruptly shut down or caught businesses off guard. became ensnarled. Inflation
an unexpectedly brisk 6.9% ity in 2020 and 2021 but has century, with the fastest reduce hours. Employ- Many struggled to acquire began to accelerate. Over the
annual pace from October mainly expired. economic growth in nearly ers slashed a staggering 22 enough supplies and work- past 12 months, consumer
through December as busi- What’s more, the Federal four decades, along with the million jobs. The economy ers to meet a swift increase prices soared 7% — the fast-
nesses replenished their Reserve made clear greatest year of job growth sank into a deep recession. in customer orders. est year-over-year inflation
inventories, the Commerce Wednesday that it plans to in American history.” But super-low inter- With many people now since 1982. Food, energy
Department reported raise interest rates multiple Arising from the 2020 est rates, huge infusions of working remotely, shortages and autos were among the
Thursday. times this year to battle the pandemic recession, a government aid — includ- became especially acute for items whose prices soared
“It just goes to show hottest inflation in nearly healthy rebound had been ing $1,400 checks to most goods ordered for homes, the most.
that the U.S. economy has four decades. Those rate expected for 2021. GDP had households — and, eventu- from appliances to sporting Late last year, the econ-
learned to adapt to the new increases will make borrow- shrunk 3.4% in 2020, the ally, the widespread rollout goods to electronic equip- omy began to show signs
variants and continues to ing more expensive and steepest full-year drop since of vaccines revived the econ- ment. And with computer of fatigue. Retail sales, for
produce,” said Beth Ann perhaps slow the economy an 11.6% plunge in 1946, omy. chips in especially short instance, fell 1.9% in Decem-
Bovino, chief economist at this year. when the nation was demo- Many consumers supply, auto dealers were ber. And manufacturing
Standard & Poor’s Global Growth last year was bilizing after World War II. regained the confidence and left desperately short of slowed in December to its
Ratings. driven by a 7.9% surge in The eruption of COVID- financial wherewithal to go vehicles. lowest level in 11 months,
Squeezed by inflation and consumer spending and 19 in March 2020 had led out and spend again. Factories, ports and according to the Institute
still gripped by COVID-19 a 9.5% increase in private authorities to order lock- The resurgence in freight yards were over- for Supply Management’s
caseloads, the economy is investment. downs and businesses to demand was so robust that it whelmed, and supply chains manufacturing index.
Biden calls Russian invasion of Ukraine ‘distinct possibility’
By Vladimir Isachenkov again rejected Russia’s main Security Council spokesper- says will improve security ing a path to de-escalation.
and Nomaan Merchant demands. son Emily Horne said. “He in Europe. But, as it has done repeat-
Associated Press Russian officials said has said this publicly and But as expected, the U.S. edly for the past several
dialogue was still possible we have been warning about and the Western alliance weeks, Washington also
MOSCOW — The White to end the crisis, but Biden this for months. ” rejected any concessions warned Moscow of devas-
House said President Joe again offered a stark warn- Tensions have soared on Moscow’s main points tating sanctions if it invades
Biden warned Ukraine’s ing amid growing concerns in recent weeks, as the Wednesday, refusing to Ukraine.
president Thursday that that Russian President United States and its NATO permanently ban Ukraine In addition to penalties
there is a “distinct possibil- Vladimir Putin will give the allies expressed concern from joining NATO and targeting Russian people
ity” Russia could take mili- go-ahead for a further inva- that a buildup of about saying allied deployments and key economic sectors,
tary action against Ukraine sion of Ukrainian territory 100,000 Russian troops of troops and military equip- several senior U.S. offi-
in February. in the not-so-distant future. near Ukraine signaled that ment in Eastern Europe are cials said Thursday with
The Kremlin likewise “President Biden said that Moscow planned to invade nonnegotiable. certainty that Germany
A Ukrainian serviceman sounded a grim note, saying there is a distinct possibil- its former Soviet neighbor. The U.S. did outline would not allow a newly
keeps an eye on the front it saw “little ground for ity that the Russians could Russia denies having any areas in which some of constructed gas pipeline
line Thursday in the Luhansk optimism” in resolving the invade Ukraine in Febru- such designs — and has laid Russia’s concerns might be to begin operations in the
area. VADIM GHIRDA/AP crisis after the U.S. this week ary,” White House National out a series of demands it addressed, possibly offer- event of an incursion.
Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Friday, January 28, 2022 5
WORLD & NATION
NEWS BRIEFING
Tenn. school district
bans graphic novel
about the Holocaust
From news services The U.S. Holocaust
Museum tweeted that
ATHENS, Tenn. — A “Maus has played a vital
Tennessee school district role in educating about the
has voted to ban a Pulitzer Holocaust through sharing
Prize-winning graphic novel detailed and personal expe-
about the Holocaust due to riences of victims and survi-
“inappropriate language” vors.”
and an illustration of a nude The Tennessee school
woman, according to minutes board emphasized in the
from a board meeting. minutes that they did not
The McMinn County object to teaching about the
School Board decided Jan. Holocaust but some were
10 to remove “Maus” from concerned the work was not
its curriculum, news outlets age-appropriate.
reported.
Art Spiegelman won the Pentagon on civilian deaths:
Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for the Defense Secretary Lloyd
work that tells the story of his Austin on Thursday ordered
Jewish parents living in 1940s his staff to quickly develop
Poland and depicts him inter- an “action plan” for improv-
viewing his father about his ing how the Pentagon limits
experiences as a Holocaust and responds to civilian casu- Fresh start in Honduras: Xiomara Castro is inaugurated as the first female president in Honduras’ history on Thursday at a
survivor. alties caused by American stadium in the capital of Tegucigalpa. Castro, 62, ripped the outgoing administration of Juan Orlando Hernández for leaving her a
Spiegelman told CNBC he airstrikes. heavily indebted country that’s forced hundreds of thousands of Hondurans in recent years to migrate. MOISES CASTILLO/AP
was “baffled” by the school Austin said in a memo to
board’s decision and called senior civilian and military
the action “Orwellian.” officials that he wants the after the Syrian Democratic detractor, George Conway. the study found. The cases fic fatalities through the third
The decision comes as plan to reach his office within Forces announced they had Conway’s deal for her were mild, and the side effect quarter of 2021.
conservative officials across 90 days. He said it should regained full control of the memoir was worth seven remains uncommon. Those numbers are
the country have increasingly outline steps the Pentagon facility. figures, according to a Still, the Israeli figure is expected to point to a sizable
tried to limit the type of books will take, and the resources Fighting between the publishing official with higher than the Centers for jump in deaths compared
that children are exposed to, it will require, to implement armed extremists and SDF knowledge of negotiations Disease Control and Preven- with the same period in 2020,
including books that address recommendations from troops left at least two Islamic and who spoke on the condi- tion estimate of 1 case per adding to a half-year traf-
structural racism and LGBTQ previous studies of the prob- extremists dead Thursday, tion of anonymity. 16,129 vaccinated adolescents fic death total of 20,160 that
issues. lem. the SDF said in a statement. Threshold is a conservative ages 12 to 17. already was the highest half-
The minutes from the Austin acted following a It said 60 to 90 militants were imprint of Simon & Schus- Although the new results year figure since 2006.
school board meeting indicate wave of criticism of the Penta- hiding out in a section of the ter that published Donald are based only on the Pfizer Buttigieg said his depart-
objections over some of the gon for an airstrike Aug. 29 in prison in Hassakeh. Trump’s campaign book vaccine, other studies have ment is embracing a new
language used in “Maus.” At Kabul, Afghanistan, that it The SDF claimed Wednes- “Crippled America” (later found that the incidence of “safe system” approach
first, Director of Schools Lee initially termed a valid attack, day that it had regained full titled “Great Again”) in 2015. myocarditis may be higher urged by auto safety advo-
Parkison suggested redacting despite 10 civilian deaths, but control of the prison — a Conway, 55, is a long- with the vaccine made by cates to bolster initiatives in
it “to get rid of the eight curse later acknowledged was a week after militants overran time Republican pollster Moderna. several cities that seek to elim-
words and the picture of the mistake in which the targeted the facility. and consultant. She left the Myocarditis can mani- inate fatalities by taking into
woman that was objected to.” individual turned out to not to It was the biggest military Trump administration in fest as chest pain, shortness account more than just the
The nude woman is drawn be a militant, as first claimed operation by IS since the fall August 2020 citing a need to of breath and the feeling of behavior of drivers.
as a mouse. In the graphic by U.S. Central Command and of the group’s “caliphate” in spend time with family. having a fast-beating, flut- Over the next two years,
novel, Jews are drawn as mice Pentagon officials. 2019. tering or pounding heart, Buttigieg said the department
and the Nazis are drawn as Austin also ordered the Israeli vaccine study: Boys according to the CDC. will provide guidance and $5
cats. establishment of a “civilian Conway memoir: A memoir between 12 and 15 have a billion in grants to states to
“It shows people hang- protection center of excel- by former White House coun- small but increased risk of Road safety pledge: Trans- spur lower speed limits and
ing, it shows them killing lence” to institutionalize selor Kellyanne Conway is heart problems after receiv- portation Secretary Pete employ safer road design,
kids, why does the educa- improvements in this area. scheduled to be released May ing a second dose of the Buttigieg is pledging to tackle better lighting and cross-
tional system promote this 24. Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, rising traffic fatalities through walks.
kind of stuff? It is not wise Syrian prison siege: Dozens of “Here’s the Deal” is billed Israeli researchers reported a national strategy aimed at Money for the grants is
or healthy,” School Board armed Islamic State militants by publisher Threshold Wednesday. reducing speed, redesign- included in President Joe
Member Tony Allman said remained holed up in the last Editions as a look beyond Myocarditis, or inflam- ing roads and enhancing car Biden’s infrastructure law,
about the book, which was occupied section of a Syrian the headlines of the Trump mation of the heart muscle, safety features. which has an additional $4
part of the district’s eighth- prison, U.S.-backed Kurd- administration and her family occurred in 1 of 12,361 boys of Buttigieg said federal data billion in funding through
grade English language arts ish-led forces said Thursday. life, including her husband that age group within a week being released next week the Highway Safety Improve-
curriculum. The two sides clashed a day and prominent Trump of receiving a second dose, will show an increase in traf- ment Program.
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6 Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Friday, January 28, 2022
WORLD & NATION
Is Cawthorn an ‘insurrectionist’?
NC lawmaker’s bid each House, remove such
disability.” Congress did
for 2nd term may
just that, he said, with the
hinge on question Amnesty Act of 1872 that
declared that “all political
By Jonathan Weisman disabilities imposed by the
The New York Times third section” of the 14th
Amendment were “hereby
WASHINGTON — A removed from all persons
group of lawyers is working whomsoever.”
to disqualify from the ballot Gerard Magliocca, an
a right-wing House Republi- expert witness for the
can who cheered on the U.S. complainants and a law
Capitol rioters unless he can professor at Indiana Univer-
prove he is not an “insurrec- sity who has written on the
tionist,” disqualified by the constitutional section in
Constitution from holding question, said Bopp was
office, in a case with implica- wrong.
tions potentially for former Congress did not discuss
President Donald Trump. what would happen in the
The novel challenge to future when it debated
the reelection bid of Rep. granting amnesty to confed-
Madison Cawthorn of North erates in 1872, nor did it have
Carolina, one of the House’s the power to grant prospec-
brashest supporters of tive pardons, he said. Berger,
Trump and the lie that the the sole officeholder denied
2020 election was stolen, reelection after Reconstruc-
could set a precedent to tion because of the amend-
challenge other Republicans ment, tried to make the same
who swore to uphold the argument, but Congress
Constitution, then encour- rejected it.
aged the attack. Besides, Magliocca said,
While the House commit- Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina is facing a novel legal challenge. COOPER NEILL/THE NEW YORK TIMES 2021 the section at issue remains
tee investigating the Jan. 6, in the Constitution.
2021, assault on the Capitol section of the 14th Amend- Carolina law by “compe- War I. the White House on Jan. 6, Bopp also said the Consti-
has been unsuccessful in its ment, adopted during tent” lawyers could pose a If nothing else, the writing on Twitter, “the tution clearly granted each
effort to force key members Reconstruction to punish real threat to Cawthorn — lawyers, including two future of this Republic chamber of Congress — not
of Congress to cooperate members of the Confed- and by extension, to others former justices of the North hinges on the actions of a a board of elections — the
with the inquiry, the North eracy who were stream- labeled “insurrectionists” by Carolina Supreme Court, solitary few,” then adding, power to determine eligi-
Carolina case has already ing back to Washington to liberal lawyers. want to depose Cawthorn as “It’s time to fight.” At the bility for office, an assertion
prompted a legal discussion reclaim their elective offices. If Cawthorn is labeled an part of discovery to question rally, he riled the crowd that Ron Fein, legal director
— one that is likely to land in That section declares “insurrectionist,” that could his actions before, during from the stage with talk of of Free Speech for People, a
court — about what consti- that “no person shall” hold have broader ramifications. and after the attack on the election “fraud.” nonpartisan interest group
tutes an insurrection and “any office, civil or military, Other Republican House Capitol. He later called those that is participating in the
who is an insurrectionist. under the United States, or members, such as Marjo- “There is, of course, much jailed for storming the Capi- challenge, dismissed.
And for the first time, a under any state, who, having rie Taylor Greene of Geor- that we don’t know, and the tol “political hostages” and “If he’s right, then a
lawmaker who embraced previously taken an oath” to gia, Mo Brooks of Alabama, statute allows discovery by “political prisoners” that he 9-year-old could show up
the rioters may have to “support the Constitution,” Paul Gosar of Arizona, and deposition and the produc- would like to “bust” out of with enough signatures
answer in court. had then “engaged in insur- Lauren Boebert of Colorado tion of records,” Wallace prison. and qualify for the ballot,
“I don’t think we can have rection or rebellion against face similar accusations, but said. “The Second Amendment because only Congress could
those persons who have the same, or given aid or their state’s election laws There is much that is was written so that we can disqualify him after the elec-
engaged in acts of insurrec- comfort to the enemies present higher hurdles for known. Whether it makes fight against tyranny,” he tion,” Fein said.
tion elected to office and thereof.” challenges to their candidate Cawthorn an “insurrection- would later say in Frank- For Cawthorn, that would
serving in office in viola- Cawthorn, 26, who is in qualifications. If one of their ist” would have to be deter- lin, North Carolina. “If our be a problem beyond the
tion of their constitutional his first term in Congress, colleagues is disqualified for mined by North Carolina’s election systems continue spectacle of him having to
duties and oath,” said John has denounced the case as his role in encouraging the Board of Elections or, more to be rigged and continue answer whether he is an
Wallace, the lead lawyer in an egregious misreading of rioters, those hurdles might likely, by the state’s courts, to be stolen, then it’s going insurrectionist. North Caro-
the case and a campaign the 14th Amendment, but become easier to clear. where the board might punt to lead to one place, and it’s lina’s new House district
finance and election law he has retained James Bopp, The lawyers challenging the matter. bloodshed.” map, heavily gerrymandered
expert in Raleigh, North one of the most prominent Cawthorn’s eligibility are Weeks after the 2020 Bopp said all of that was by the Republican Legisla-
Carolina. “It should not be conservative campaign using an amendment last election, Cawthorn told a beside the point. Section ture, is stuck in court, and
difficult to prove you are lawyers in the country. invoked in 1920, when Rep. conservative gathering to 3 of the 14th Amendment the state’s Board of Elections
not an insurrectionist. It Bopp declared the matter Victor Berger, an Austrian “call your congressman” to concludes with a key phrase has frozen the candidacy
only seems to be difficult for “the most frivolous case I’ve American socialist, was protest the results, adding, that refers to the insurrec- qualifications case against
Madison Cawthorn.” ever seen” but allowed that denied his seat representing “You can lightly threaten tionist disqualification, or Cawthorn until he can
This case revolves around what he called an “unethi- Wisconsin after criticizing them.” He promoted the disability: “Congress may determine which district he
the little-known third cal” exploitation of North U.S. involvement in World “Save America” rally behind by a vote of two-thirds of intends to be a candidate in.
Biden The president has ions on reproductive rights,
already met with at least health care and voting
from Page 1 one top candidate for the rights, calling him “sensi-
nomination, Ketanji Brown tive and nuanced.”
legacy and said he’d already Jackson, 51. She is a former Breyer, in brief remarks,
been studying the back- Breyer clerk who worked praised the “miracle” of
grounds and writings of at the U.S. Sentencing America’s constitutional
potential candidates. Commission and has been democracy and issued a
“I’ve made no decision a federal trial court judge reminder to a nation riven
except one: The person I since 2013 in the District by partisan discord and
will nominate will be some- of Columbia. The two met last year’s insurrection at
body of extraordinary qual- when Biden interviewed the U.S. Capitol that the
ifications, character and her for her current post as government “experiment”
integrity,” he said. “And an appeals court judge in is not yet over.
that person will be the first the D.C. circuit, where she “This is a complicated
Black woman ever nomi- has served since last June. country,” he said, lean-
nated to the United States Early discussions about ing onto the lectern. He
Supreme Court. It is long a successor are focusing added: “People have come
overdue.” on Jackson, U.S. District to accept this Constitution,
Biden’s choice will be Judge J. Michelle Childs and they’ve come to accept
historic on its face: No and California Supreme the importance of a rule of
Black woman has ever Court Justice Leondra law.”
served on the high court. Kruger, according to people Recounting a subject
People on Thursday pay respects to those killed in the Holocaust at the Memorial and The decision is also nota- familiar with the matter of frequent talks with
Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland. BARTOSZ SIEDLIK/GETTY-AFP ble coming at a time of who spoke on condition of students, the outgoing
national reckoning over anonymity to discuss White justice noted that in the
World remembers Holocaust race and gender inequal- House deliberations. Jack- nation’s earliest days, Euro-
ity. However, the court’s son and Kruger have long pean powers doubted it
6-3 conservative majority been seen as possible nomi- could survive and during
amid a surge in antisemitism is destined to remain intact. nees. the horrors of the Civil
Biden is using his choice Childs, a federal judge War it appeared the United
to fulfill an early campaign in South Carolina, has States might not make it.
promise. It also gives him been nominated but not “They’re looking over
By Vanessa Gera poet who lives in Israel, tary-General Antonio the chance to show Black yet confirmed to serve on here and they’re saying it’s a
and Samuel Petrequin recalled her suffering Guterres told a virtual U.N. voters, who are increasingly the same circuit court. great idea in principle, that
Associated Press remotely. She was 10 when Holocaust remembrance frustrated with a president She is a favorite among it’ll never work,” Breyer
the Germans invaded ceremony that he has made they helped to elect, that some high-profile lawmak- said. “But we’ll show them
WARSAW, Poland — and occupied Poland in tackling the roots of intoler- he is serious about their ers, including Rep. James it does. That’s what Wash-
Survivors recalled their September 1939, and was ance a priority. concerns, particularly with Clyburn, D-S.C. Her ington thought, and that’s
agony to a world they fear 13 when she was taken to “Antisemitism, virulent his voting rights legislation confirmation to the federal what Lincoln thought, and
is forgetting, Israel’s parlia- Auschwitz-Birkenau after anti-Muslim bigotry, perse- stalled in the Senate. It also appeals bench is expected that’s what people still
mentary speaker wept in being led out of the gas cution of Christians, racism, could help drive Demo- next week. think today.”
the German parliament chamber of the Majdanek and anti-refugee hatred are cratic enthusiasm amid Kruger, a graduate of “It’s an experiment that’s
and politicians warned of a camp thanks to a malfunc- becoming normalized in a concerns about a midterm Harvard and of Yale’s law still going on,” he added,
resurgence of antisemitism tion. coarsening public discourse routing in congressional school, was previously saying future generations
during International Holo- “I saw masses of the — often amplified in online races. a Supreme Court clerk will see if the government
caust Remembrance Day on powerful but arrogant echo chambers of hate,” he Biden spent his first year and has argued a dozen can live up to its prom-
Thursday. army of Nazi Germany said. in office working to nomi- cases before the justices ise. “They’ll determine
The day falls on the as they marched cruelly, About 6 million Euro- nate a diverse group of as a lawyer for the federal whether the experiment
anniversary of the liber- victoriously, into the devas- pean Jews and millions of judges to the federal bench government. still works. And of course,
ation by Soviet troops tated and burning streets of other people were killed by and he has been reviewing Biden also person- I’m an optimist, and I’m
of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Warsaw,” she recalled. the Nazis and their collab- possible high court candi- ally interviewed a few pretty sure it will.”
the most notorious of the Commemorations every- orators. Some 1.5 million dates along the way. He has other possible candidates, Senate Minority Leader
death camps where Nazi where took place amid a were children. installed five Black women including Eunice Lee and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,
Germany carried out its rise of antisemitism that “Our country bears a on federal appeals courts Candace Jackson-Aki- said he hoped Biden would
plot seeking to murder the gained traction during lock- special responsibility — the — where many high court wumi. Both women have not “outsource this import-
Jewish people of Europe. downs as the coronavirus genocide against the Euro- justices come from — with experience as criminal ant decision to the radical
At the memorial site pandemic has exacerbated pean Jews is a German three more nominations defense attorneys and could left.”
in Poland, which was hatred online. crime,” Bas said in the pending before the Senate. diversify the range of legal Iowa Sen. Chuck Grass-
subjected to German occu- German parliament German parliament, the As a senator, he spent expertise on the high court, ley, the top Republican
pation during World War II, speaker Baerbel Bas said the Bundestag. years leading the Senate where many of the judges on the Senate Judiciary
a small number of survivors pandemic has acted “like Israel’s parliamentary Judiciary Committee came from prosecutorial Committee, said after
gathered in an auditorium. an accelerant” to already speaker, Mickey Levy, and so he’s quite famil- jobs or academia. Biden Breyer’s announcement
Attendance at the yearly burgeoning antisemitism. broke down in tears in the iar with the nomination spoke to those two for their that his successor “should
event was sharply curtailed “Antisemitism is here — Bundestag while recit- process, having overseen recent appointments to the be an individual within
amid Europe’s coronavirus it isn’t just on the extreme ing the Jewish mourner’s six Supreme Court confir- federal bench. the legal mainstream who
surge. fringe, not just among the prayer from a prayer book mation hearings. One In the Roosevelt Room can receive similar broad,
Nazi German forces eternally incorrigible and a that belonged to a German person who will be central on Thursday, Biden spoke bipartisan support.”
killed 1.1 million people at few antisemitic trolls on the Jewish boy who celebrated to Biden’s selection process wistfully about presiding Grassley voted against
Auschwitz, most of them net,” she said. “It is a prob- his bar mitzvah on the eve is chief of staff Ron Klain, a over Breyer’s ascent to the Jackson’s confirmation to
Jews. lem of our society — all of of Kristallnacht, an outburst former Supreme Court law court in 1994. He praised the D.C. appeals circuit, as
Halina Birenbaum, a society.” of anti-Jewish violence in clerk and chief counsel to the justice’s legacy and well as most other Biden
92-year-old Polish-born United Nations Secre- 1938. the Judiciary Committee. highlighted Breyer’s opin- appellate court nominees.
Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Friday, January 28, 2022 7
WORLD & NATION
When human rights efforts go awry
Report: EU should
continue training
Libyans amid woes
By Renata Brito,
Frank Jordans
and Lorne Cook
Associated Press
BRUSSELS — A confi-
dential European Union
military report calls for
continuing a controversial
EU program to train and
equip Libya’s coast guard
and navy despite growing
concerns about their treat-
ment of migrants, a mount-
ing death toll at sea, and the
continued lack of any central
authority in the North Afri-
can nation.
The report, circulated
to EU officials this month,
offers a rare look at Europe’s
determination to support
Libya in the interception
and return of tens of thou-
sands of men, women and
children to Libya, where
they face insufferable abuse.
Compiled by Italian
navy Rear Adm. Stefano
Turchetto, head of the EU
arms embargo surveillance
mission, or Operation Irini, Migrants are brought to shore after being intercepted by the Libyan coast guard on the Mediterranean Sea. YOUSEF MURAD/AP 2021
the report acknowledges the
“excessive use of force” by when dealing with irregu- be investigated for crimes trafficked and forced into Irregular Migration, which respond to AP requests for
Libyan authorities, adding lar migrants.” against humanity. A U.N. prostitution after being oversees the detention comment about that inci-
that EU training is “no The European Commis- inquiry published in Octo- separated from her daugh- centers. dent or the EU report. In
longer fully followed.” sion and the EU’s External ber also found evidence ter. The AP does not identify “The same people in the past, Libyan Interior
Hundreds of thousands Action Service — the equiv- that abuses committed in victims of sexual violence. charge of dismantling the Ministry and coast guard
of migrants hoping to alent of the 27-nation bloc’s Libya may amount to crimes In 2018 she got on a smug- trafficking business are the officials have said they are
reach Europe have made foreign office — declined against humanity. gler’s boat bound for Europe traffickers themselves,” doing their best with limited
their way through Libya, to comment on the report. Last week, U.N. Secre- but her group was caught said Violeta Moreno-Lax, resources in a country
where a lucrative traffick- But spokesman Peter Stano tary-General Antonio by Libyan authorities and founder of the immigration plagued by years of civil war.
ing and smuggling business confirmed the EU is deter- Guterres called for countries taken to the Tajoura deten- law program at Queen Mary Ozlem Demirel, a German
has flourished in a coun- mined to train coast guard to “reexamine policies that tion center where detainees University of London. Left party member of the
try without a functioning personnel and bolster support interception at sea were beaten and abused. The EU report noted the European Parliament, said
government, fragmented for Libya’s capacity to manage and return of refugees and She was only released after “excessive use of physical the report offered “further
years between rival admin- a massive search-and-rescue migrants to Libya.” a friend paid a $700 ransom force” by a Libyan patrol evidence that there should
istrations in the east and area of the Mediterranean. Stano dismissed those to the guards. during the Sept. 15 intercep- be no cooperation with this
west, each backed by armed The EU training program criticisms. “When it comes Questioned about the tion of a wooden boat with force.”
groups and foreign govern- “remains firm on the table to to migration, our objective is detention centers in Libya, about 20 migrants off the “The fact that Irini is even
ments. increase the capacity of the to save peoples’ lives, protect Stano said the EU’s position coast of Libya. seeking further training is,
The EU report acknowl- Libyan authorities to save those in need and fight traf- is clear: “They are unaccept- The Libyan forces used in my view, outrageous,” she
edges “the political stale- lives at sea,” Stano said. ficking in human beings and able. The current arbitrary tactics “never observed said.
mate” in Libya has hindered Criticism of Europe’s migrant smuggling,” he said. detention system must end.” before and not in compli- Violent tactics employed
Europe’s training program, migration policies has been Human rights defenders But nothing has changed ance with (EU) training by Libyan authorities at
noting that the country’s growing. At least three and asylum seekers disagree. on the ground. The ... as well as international sea have been widely docu-
internal divisions make it requests have been filed to “The Europeans pretend Libyan government last regulation,” said the report. mented for years. Last
difficult to obtain politi- the International Crimi- to show the good face,” said month named Moham- It provided no further week, activists on a volun-
cal support for enforcing nal Court demanding that a Cameroonian woman who med Al-Khoja, a militia details about what exactly teer rescue ship reported
“proper behavioral stan- Libyan and European offi- arrived in Libya in 2016 with leader implicated in abuses happened. seeing a Libyan patrol vessel
dards ... compliant with cials, as well as traffick- her child thinking she would against migrants, to head the A spokesman for the “shooting at a person who
human rights, especially ers, militiamen and others find work. Instead, she was Department for Combating Libyan coast guard did not had jumped into the water.”
Painful wait for CIA-trained Afghan fighters
Many longing to live And after The New York
Times began asking ques-
in US stuck in UAE
tions about the group, U.S.
after chaos in Kabul officials have tried to reas-
sure them that they will get
By Julian E. Barnes, visas to enter the United
Thomas Gibbons-Neff States in the next three to six
and Charlie Savage months, according to people
The New York Times briefed on the conversa-
tions.
WASHINGTON — That two-tiered system in
During the frantic evac- which some Afghans must
uation from Afghanistan complete their visa process
in August, the U.S. troops before entering, another
securing the Kabul airport official said, reflects the
against suicide bombers scale of the challenge: U.S.
and other dangers were not programs that resettle
alone. refugees are already over-
At the direction of the whelmed, having been cut
CIA, agency-trained Afghan back in the Trump years
counterterrorism squads and then being faced with
helped patrol the perimeter, the huge influx of Afghans.
secure the gates and get U.S. There are still about 12,000
citizens through them. Afghans at domestic military
Those Afghan comman- bases awaiting matching
dos stayed to the end and with resettlement agencies
were among the last allies that will move them to a city
to be evacuated. But even as and help them get started,
some 80,000 other Afghan officials said.
refugees quickly reached Afghans wait last August outside the airport in Kabul as they try to flee the country. JIM HUYLEBROEK/THE NEW YORK TIMES 2021 There are also smaller
the United States, hundreds groups of Afghan refugees
of the CIA-backed fighters 20-year Afghanistan War of those roughly 80,000 Because those Afghans that about a quarter of the still hoping to come to the
and their families are among and are now in Abu Dhabi, Afghans have now already in places like Humanitar- population of refugees in U.S. scattered about else-
thousands who remained United Arab Emirates, are been able to reach the ian City are safe, the United Humanitarian City is now where, including about 250
stuck at a sprawling refugee fortunate: They got out United States. Most of them States is processing them at that stage. at a transit zone in Qatar.
compound in the Emirati with their families and are have been resettled and are through regular bureau- But that official also said And there are about 200
desert. safe. Since August, there starting new lives — even cratic order, officials said. even for that group, it was at a NATO base in Kosovo,
As weeks have turned into have been a slew of nonju- though their applications As a result, they are being likely to be several more comprising several dozen
months, some members of dicial killings carried out for permanent status with a required to wait there until months at best before those men who were weeded
the CIA-backed squads — against former government Special Immigrant Visa, or their SIV applications are applicants would complete out in the initial vetting of
which at times over the past security force members who SIV, are still being processed. completed — which can other steps in the visa those otherwise eligible for
two decades were accused remained in Afghanistan. By contrast, those Afghans take many months. Require- process. humanitarian parole and so
of killing civilians and other But interviews with a who boarded non-U.S. evac- ments for vaccinations and The fighters are unlike are undergoing additional
wartime abuses — say they half-dozen officials involved uation flights, such as char- medical tests can further most other refugees in a screening, along with rela-
feel abandoned, victims in the effort and people ters operated by the United slow the process. number of respects, not tives staying with them.
of a chaotic withdrawal in familiar with the accounts Arab Emirates, were taken Biden administration offi- least the key role they But even as U.S. officials
which the speed with which provided by some of the to facilities in host coun- cials were reluctant to talk played in working with the counsel patience, those
departing Afghans reached commandos help illustrate tries where they can stay about or acknowledge the CIA on the counterinsur- who find themselves still
the United States was often the major differences in indefinitely, including the CIA-backed squads specif- gency and counterterrorism waiting in the desert outside
determined by nothing more how Afghans who got out UAE-run compound known ically. But they insisted that campaigns, in which they Abu Dhabi are growing frus-
than what kind of plane they are being treated based on as Emirates Humanitarian all the evacuees in Human- were often sent to kill or trated.
left on. which planes they boarded City. A significant portion itarian City and other coun- capture high-profile targets Those feelings appear
Biden administration offi- at the Kabul airport. of its roughly 9,000 refugee tries would be treated fairly. such as those in the Taliban’s particularly sharp among
cials say they are on track Afghans who got onto U.S. residents are CIA-trained “We’re working to violent Haqqani network the counterterrorism units,
to eventually come to the military planes are the more fighters and their families, develop a standardized and al-Qaida. who say they served the
United States. fortunate: They were taken according to people famil- process that ensures we Multiple senior U.S. offi- United States at significant
But the plight of the to bases where deals with iar with the matter. make good on our commit- cials said the counterterror- personal risk to the end —
commandos underscores host countries allowed them A vast majority of thou- ments to our Afghan allies,” ism fighters were not being even as other units surren-
the issues continuing to to stay for only a few weeks. sands of CIA-trained fight- Emily Horne, a National evaluated with greater dered to the Taliban or
plague the extensive evac- After they were vetted at ers and their families have Security Council spokes- caution because of the type melted into the countryside.
uation, vetting and reset- such temporary transit loca- already been relocated to woman, said in a statement. of role they played in the war “These guys should get
tlement efforts five months tions, the Homeland Secu- the United States, Ameri- One official said that and that they were on track credit for doing what they
after the abrupt Taliban rity Department invoked a can officials said. But that about 500 SIV applicants to receive SIV status. The did for 20 years — fight our
takeover of Afghanistan in rarely used “humanitarian has made the waiting for a week reach a stage in the officials spoke on the condi- common enemy, al-Qaida
August. parole” power to swiftly the hundreds in United Arab process where the State tion of anonymity because of and the Taliban,” said Mick
At the most basic level, all move them to the United Emirates all the more pain- Department places them in the nature of the work done Mulroy, a retired CIA para-
of the Afghans who helped States. ful, according to the former a queue for eventual trans- by the Afghans in conjunc- military officer and Afghan-
the NATO forces during the As a result, nearly all Afghan commandos. fer to the United States and tion with the CIA. istan veteran.
8 Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Friday, January 28, 2022
Record 14.5M Americans US jobless
claims fall
sign up for ACA coverage
for 1st time
Congressional action still needed to extend ‘Obamacare’ subsidies next year in a month
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar included in the social agenda legislation. more to lower costs and expand access
Associated Press Separately, the Department of Health to health care than any action since the By Matt Ott
and Human Services said the latest infor- passage of the Affordable Care Act.” Associated Press
WASHINGTON — At least 14.5 million mation from a major ongoing federal survey Besides improved subsidies, the Biden
Americans are getting private health insur- suggests that the nation’s uninsured rate administration also focused more atten- WASHINGTON — Fewer Americans
ance for this year under the Obama-era dipped last year, as the Biden administra- tion on outreach, increasing the number applied for unemployment benefits last
health law, thanks to help from the Biden tion provided a special sign-up period due of enrollment counselors and stepping up week following three consecutive increases
administration. to the pandemic. The uninsured rate was advertising. amid a surge in cases of the omicron variant
“Health care should be a right, not a 8.9% in the three-month period from July The administration is touting the 14.5 of COVID-19.
privilege, for all Americans,” President to September 2021, compared with 10.3% million sign-ups as a record, but that Jobless claims fell by 30,000 to 260,000
Joe Biden said Thursday in a statement for the final three months of 2020. number is not strictly comparable to recent last week, the Labor Department reported
announcing the numbers. “We are making “Those are all arrows ... in the right direc- years because the federal open enrollment Thursday, fewer than the 265,000 analysts
that right a reality for a record number of tion,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said. season was extended under Biden. The were expecting.
people, bringing down costs and increas- The ACA, better known as “Obamacare,” final number is likely to be even higher The four-week average of claims, which
ing access for families across the country.” offers health insurance to people who lack as several states are allowing residents to compensates for weekly volatility, rose by
But progress could prove fleeting if job-based coverage through a mix of subsi- sign up until Monday. It’s working out to 15,000 to 247,000, the highest in two months.
congressional Democrats remain dead- dized private plans and expanded Medic- an increase of roughly 20% over last open Altogether, nearly 1.7 million people were
locked over Biden’s social agenda package. aid, which is provided in most states. enrollment season. collecting jobless aid the week that ended
Biden’s earlier coronavirus relief bill has Thursday’s numbers reflect the private Some Democratic senators are express- Jan. 15, a nominal increase of 51,000 from
been providing generous subsidy increases insurance side of the program, available in ing confidence that Congress will pass the the previous week.
that benefit new and returning customers all states through HealthCare.gov or state- extension of health care subsidies. Jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, had
by lowering premiums and out-of-pocket run health insurance markets. All told, Biden wants to move the U.S. closer to fallen mostly steadily for about a year and
costs. The enhanced financial assistance is the number of people covered though the coverage for all by building on existing late last year dipped below the pre-pan-
temporary. It will go away at the end of 2022 Obama law is estimated around 30 million. programs like the Obama law and Medic- demic average of around 220,000 a week.
without congressional action to extend it “This did not happen by accident,” Biden aid, so a robust sign-up season was a prior- Economists expect claims to return to those
additional years or make it permanent, said. His COVID-19 relief bill, he noted, “did ity for his administration. lower levels as the virus fades, which is
already taking place in regions that were hit
first with omicron infections.
The job market has bounced back from
last year’s brief but intense coronavirus
recession, and companies are desperate to
retain and hire workers, despite the recent
uptick in jobless claims.
The unemployment rate settled at 3.9%
last month, a steady decline from nearly 15%
in the spring of 2020 when the pandemic
devastated the global economy.
Massive government spending and the
vaccine rollout jump-started the economy
as employers added a record 6.4 million jobs
last year.
But hiring slowed in November and
December last year as employers struggled
to fill job openings.
Still, the unemployment rate fell last
month to a pandemic low.
BUSINESS BRIEFING
Tata Sons group
regains Air India
NEW DELHI — Tata Sons, India’s oldest
and largest conglomerate, has regained
ownership of Air India, the country’s debt-
laden national carrier.
Tata pioneered commercial aviation in
India when it launched the airline in 1932.
Deborah Turner, of Columbus, Ohio, found that her local dollar stores didn’t stock LED bulbs. MADDIE MCGARVEY/THE NEW YORK TIMES It was taken over by the government in 1953.
Tata Sons Chairman Natarajan Chan-
Inefficient bulbs still in stock drasekaran met with Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi Thursday ahead of a meeting with
Air India officials. In October, Tata’s $2.4
billion bid for the carrier prevailed over a
bid by India SpiceJet.
Research shows they’re being ogy, often at the expense of lower-income United States in 2020 — excluding Califor- Tata will absorb $2 billion of the airline’s
households, which end up having to replace nia, which phased out most halogen and more than $8.2 billion debt burden, a govern-
sold in stores serving poorer
the short-lived bulbs more frequently, while incandescent light bulbs in 2020 — were ment statement said. It takes control of 121
areas amid slow US phaseout also paying more to power them. still incandescent or halogen bulbs, accord- Air India aircraft and 25 planes of its Air
For the world’s biggest manufacturers ing to the most recent data available. In the India Express subsidiary.
By Hiroko Tabuchi — like Signify, the Dutch multinational European Union, that percentage has been
The New York Times that makes Phillips light bulbs — that is a close to zero since 2018.
lucrative strategy. Signify’s financial reports The National Electrical Manufactur-
Research has shown that lower-end show that profit margins for conventional ers Association, the industry group that EV alliance plans
retailers like dollar stores or convenience lighting are significantly higher than for represents more than 300 corporations
shops still extensively stock their shelves its LED business. In its corporate reports, including Signify and GE Lighting, said
$26B investment
with traditional or halogen incandescent Signify has called extracting value from its that the industry had already contrib-
bulbs — the pear-shaped orbs with glowing conventional lighting a “cash engine” for uted greatly to trimming electricity use by
wire centers — even as stores serving more the company. investing in energy-saving LED technology
affluent communities have shifted to selling That is partly because investment in in the first place. Signify said LEDs repre- TOKYO — The French-Japanese auto alli-
far more efficient LEDs. manufacturing equipment has long been sent more than 80% of its sales. It also said ance of Renault and Nissan plans to invest
One Michigan study, for instance, found paid off (incandescent bulbs have been that prices for energy-efficient light bulbs $26 billion in electric vehicle technology
that not only were LED bulbs less available around for more than a century) and there had continued to fall, making them avail- over the next five years, the companies said
in poorer areas, they also tended to cost on is relatively little competition. The LED able to a broadening audience. Thursday.
average $2.50 more per bulb than in wealth- market, on the other hand, has attracted A typical 60-watt incandescent bulb The alliance, which also includes smaller
ier communities. new manufacturers and has become far uses as much as 12 times the electricity as a Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors
The continued prevalence of incan- more competitive. 5-watt LED that provides nearly the same Corp., will share research, auto parts and
descent bulbs in the United States is one Incandescent bulbs were supposed to be amount of light. And LED bulbs typically technology to bring down costs and produce
result of a successful effort during the phased out in the United States beginning a last far longer. According to the manufac- 35 new electric vehicle models by 2030,
Trump presidency, by an industry group decade ago. While the older types of incan- turers’ own ratings, at three hours of use per aiming at markets around the world. The
representing the world’s biggest light-bulb descent bulbs have mostly disappeared, the day, an incandescent bulb would be good vehicles will use one of five common plat-
makers, to stall energy efficiency standards halogen-filled types, which are not much for one to three years, while a typical LED forms, the main parts on which vehicles are
in the country. By contrast, in the European better though they are often marketed as would last at least 10 years. built.
Union, those same companies have adhered environmentally friendly, are still easy The Natural Resources Defense Council, Nissan Motor Co. will lead in developing a
to a phaseout of incandescent bulbs. to find everywhere from dollar stores to the environmental group, calculates that next-generation battery for the electric vehi-
The delay has enabled manufacturers to big-box hardware chains. over the longer life of an LED, savings can cles, while Renault will lead in developing
prolong profits from an inefficient technol- About 30% of standard bulbs sold in the range from $50 to more than $150 per bulb. electronics and software.
Spotify pulling Young’s songs at his request GDP
Percentchangefrompreviousquarter,
seasonallyadjusted,advanceestimate:
Associated Press ing service, where he had more than 6 pandemic.”
million monthly listeners, according to his The company says it has a team of experts
NEW YORK — Spotify has started to Spotify homepage. that reviews content, and it’s removed if the
40
remove rock star Neil Young’s songs at his Spotify airs the popular podcast, “The information presented can cause harm or Q42021:
request, following the musician’s protest Joe Rogan Experience,” where last month pose a direct threat to public health. False +6.9%
over the streaming service airing a popular the comedian interviewed Dr. Robert suggestions that injecting bleach could
20
podcast that featured a figure criticized for Malone, an infectious disease specialist fight the virus, that COVID-19 wasn’t real or
spreading COVID-19 misinformation. who has become a hero in the anti-vaccine that vaccines could be deadly were among
Spotify said Wednesday that it regretted community. Malone has been banned from those removed from the platform.
0
Young’s decision, “but hope to welcome Twitter for spreading COVID-19 misin- Young said that many of Spotify’s listen-
him back soon.” formation and has falsely suggested that ers are hearing misleading information
“I realized I could not continue to millions of people have been hypnotized about COVID-19. “These young people
-20
support Spotify’s life-threatening misinfor- into believing that the vaccines work to believe Spotify would never present grossly
mation to the music loving people,” Young prevent serious disease. unfactual information,” he said. “They
said. Spotify said Thursday that “we have unfortunately are wrong. I knew I had to
Young had asked his management and detailed content policies in place and we’ve try to point that out.” -40
2018 2019 2020 2021
record company publicly Monday to removed over 20,000 podcast episodes
remove his music from the popular stream- related to COVID-19 since the start of the The New York Times contributed. SOURCE:U.S.BureauofEconomicAnalysis TNS
Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Friday, January 28, 2022 9
BUSINESS
It’s not ‘a playground for rich folks’
Opponents of closing Hartford’s The proposal called for
nearly 7 million square feet
Brainard Airport ramp up pressure
of commercial and manufac-
turing space, stores, apart-
By Kenneth R. Gosselin porated as a nonprofit, ments, a marina, a rebuilt
Hartford Courant represents more than 100 trash-to-energy plant, an
pilots, business owners and expansion of its nearby
HARTFORD — A fledg- others who want to see the wastewater treatment plant
ling organization fighting century-old airport stay and a river park.
to keep Hartford-Brain- open. The MDC plan was
ard Airport open ramped Barbara Rowley, co-owner headed up by William
up the pressure Thursday, of VIP Avionics and related DiBella, a former Demo-
arguing the push for clos- aircraft maintenance and cratic state Senate major-
ing the century-old airfield instrument repair businesses ity leader who remains the
is coming without any solid at Brainard, said the 40-year- MDC’s chairman.
plan for what would replace old business is one of the No other conceptual plans
it. few offering such services in for the area exist besides the
“We feel very strongly that New England. 2006 vision advanced by the
the citizens of greater Hart- “We sell and service to MDC.
ford have the right to know, customers in all 50 states,” A 2016 legislative report
in detail, just what is happen- Rowley said. “We bring in concluded the airport should
ing to this important facil- aircraft from all over New remain open. The report
ity,” Michael Teiger, a board England and the mid-Atlan- The air traffic control tower at Hartford-Brainard Airport. A newly formed organization is recommended further
member of the Hartford tic states.” fighting renewed efforts to shut down the century-old airfield. FILE investment in Brainard,
Brainard Airport Associa- Rowley said her company rather than redevelopment.
tion, said, in a news confer- services state police aircraft, single- and twin-engine including Hartford Mayor State-owned Brainard is Redevelopment, the
ence at the airport. “It is our Life Star helicopters and the planes. Luke Bronin and state Sen. controlled by the Connecti- report said, would be too
position that the benefits of civil air patrol — not only in “To the contrary, it is an John W. Fonfara, D-Hart- cut Airport Authority, which costly, require large public
the airport unquestionable Connecticut but New York, unknown and poorly under- ford, say the 200-acre says it has no plans to close subsidies and take at least
out weigh any other alter- Massachusetts and Rhode stood jewel, existing right in airfield is at the enviable the airfield. But Brainard two decades. Others have
native, whatever they might Island. the center of our region that intersection of two interstate could still be closed with a said contamination in the
be.” “Brainard Airport supports all the general avia- highways and with frontage vote of the state legislature. area, which includes the
The association was provides a convenient and tion has to offer,” Teiger said. on the riverfront. It also is expected that the soon-to-be closed trash
formed earlier this month appropriate location and Brainard, Teiger said, Brainard would be better report of council-formed burning plant would be too
as the Hartford City Coun- size to accomplish hundreds supports hundreds of jobs — targeted for a mixed-use task force will be submitted costly.
cil pressed ahead with form- — literally hundreds — of directly and indirectly — and development, including to the legislature to bolster The report has been
ing a task force that would FAA-mandated inspections generates $3.36 million in housing, entertainment the argument for closing dismissed by Fonfara and
outline the best path forward every year to general aircraft state taxes annually. Teiger venues, shops and a marina, Brainard. others who favor redevelop-
to shuttering Brainard and owners, to private aircraft said the airport should be that would draw visitors and The Metropolitan District ment.
options for its future rede- owners,” Rowley said. used as an amenity, includ- new residents into the city Commission, the regional
velopment. Teiger rejected the notion ing to attract new employers and provide a much-needed water and sewer authority, Kenneth R. Gosselin can
Teiger said Thursday that the airport is “a play- to the Hartford area. boost to city tax coffers, they spearheaded an airport rede- be reached at kgosselin@
the association, now incor- ground for rich folks” with Critics of the airport, say. velopment proposal in 2006. courant.com
Judge blocks BNSF unions from striking over new rule
By Josh Funk aren’t allowed to strike over ing the public at large, not surveying their members Union officials didn’t points are exhausted.
Associated Press minor disputes. Instead, just BNSF,” Pittman wrote. about whether they would immediately respond to BNSF said it came up with
those must be settled The Fort Worth, Texas- support a strike because questions about the ruling. the new system to modern-
BNSF railroad’s two through arbitration or nego- based railroad went to court the stringent new rules Under the new policy, ize its policy and give its
biggest unions that repre- tiation. this month after the Broth- would sanction workers for engineers and conductors employees an easier way to
sent 17,000 workers won’t Judge Mark Pittman said erhood of Locomotive Engi- taking sick time or time off begin with 30 points, and see where they stand under
be able to go on strike over a Tuesday that a strike would neers and Trainmen, and the to attend a family member’s then points are deducted the rules, and make sure it
new attendance policy they hurt BNSF and could cause Transportation Division of funeral. They said the rules from that for absences, with has enough employees avail-
say would penalize employ- significant damage to the the International Associa- would provide an incen- the deductions ranging from able to staff its trains.
ees for missing work for any economy because of the role tion of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, tive for workers to come in two points to 25 points. A The railroad said it
reason. the railroad plays in deliver- and Transportation unions when they are sick even if worker can earn four points believes its new atten-
A federal judge ruled ing all kinds of goods. said they were considering they have COVID-19 symp- back by being available to dance rules will still allow
this week that a strike “The record further estab- going on strike to protest the toms and punish local union work for 14 days in a row, employees to take time
would likely violate federal lishes that a strike would new policy that is set to go officials who take time off to including weekends. off for vacations and deal
law because under their exacerbate our current into effect Tuesday. represent workers at disci- An employee would be with obligations outside of
contracts railroad unions supply-chain crisis — harm- The unions said they were plinary hearings. disciplined when their work.
MARKET RUNDOWN
q Fqriday,January28,2022 q
DOW 10-YRT-BOND GOLD
34,160.78-7.31 1.81%-.03 $1,793.30-36.60
36,520 DowJonesindustrials Commodities
34,820 Close:34,160.78 FUELS CLOSE PREV. YTD
Change:-7.31(flat)
CrudeOil(bbl) 86.61 87.35 +15.16%
33,120 10DAYS NaturalGas(mmbtu) 4.28 4.28 +14.66%
37,600 UnleadedGas(gal) 2.52 2.52 +13.14%
METALS CLOSE PREV. YTD
36,800
Gold(oz) 1,793.30 1,829.90 -1.87%
36,000 Silver(oz) 22.67 23.81 -2.81%
(Previousandchangefiguresreflectcurrentcontract.)
35,200
ForeignExchange MoneyRates
34,400 ForExin U.S.$ PREV.
U.S.$ inForEx CLOSE WK.
33,600
A S O N D J Britain 1.3377 .7475 Primerate 3.25 3.25
Canada .7848 1.2741 3-mo.T-Bill 0.20 0.17
DomesticIndexes China .1570 6.3683 6-mo.T-Bill 0.43 0.36
Euro 1.1142 .8975 5-yrT-Note 1.65 1.62 Prepare for
CLOSE CHG. YTD Japan .008672 115.31 10-yrT-Note 1.81 1.82
DOWIndus. 34,160.78 -7.31 -5.99% Mexico .048107 20.7870 30-yrT-Bond 2.10 2.14
DOWTrans. 14,809.93 -218.68 -10.12%
power outages
DOWUtil. 930.25 +7.38 -5.15% GlobalMarkets
NYSEComp. 16,152.12 -84.39 -5.90%
NasdaqComp. 13,352.78 -189.34 -14.65% CLOSE CHG. %CHG. %YTD
S&P500 4,326.51 -23.42 -9.22% Frankfurt 15,524.27 +64.88 +.42% -2.27% with a Generac
S&P400 2,529.82 -39.71 -10.98% London 7,554.31 +84.53 +1.13% +2.30%
Wilshire5000 43,340.61 -355.36 -10.57% HongKong 23,807.00 -482.90 -1.99% +1.75%
Russell2000 1,931.29 -45.17 -13.99% Nikkei 26,170.30 -841.03 -3.11% -9.10% home standby
StocksofLocalInterest
generator
YTD YTD
STOCK(TICKER) CLOSE CHG. %CHG STOCK(TICKER) CLOSE CHG. %CHG
AMCEntertainmentA(AMC) 14.52 -1.42 -46.6 MGMResortsIntl(MGM) 40.62 -1.06 -9.5
AT&TInc(T) 24.12 -.13 -2.0 MetLifeInc(MET) 65.31 -.75 +4.5
AdvMicroDev(AMD) 102.60 -8.11 -28.7 MicrosoftCorp(MSFT) 299.84 +3.13 -10.8
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AmphenolCorp(APH) 75.03 -1.31 -14.2 NvidiaCorporation(NVDA) 219.44 -8.28 -25.4
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AridisPharmaceut(ARDS) 2.01 +.27 -13.7
PalantirTechnol(PLTR) 12.28 -.47 -32.6 884444--991177--11999900
AvangridInc(AGR) 45.32 +.47 -9.1
PeoplesUtdFncl(PBCT) 19.27 +.11 +8.1
BankofAmerica(BAC) 45.47 -.43 +2.2
PfizerInc(PFE) 53.37 +.76 -9.6
BarnesGroup(B) 44.91 -.55 -3.6
BookingHoldings(BKNG) 2359.65 -10.98 -1.6 PitneyBowes(PBI) 5.80 ... -12.5
BristMyrSqb(BMY) 63.86 +1.62 +2.4 PlugPowerInc(PLUG) 18.26 -1.21 -35.3
CVSHealthCorp(CVS) 106.79 +1.93 +3.5 PrudentialFncl(PRU) 110.61 -1.17 +2.2
CarnivalCorp(CCL) 19.11 -1.18 -5.0 PubSvcEntGp(PEG) 65.40 +.71 -2.0
CarrierGlobalCorp(CARR) 46.09 -.58 -15.0 RaytheonTechnolog(RTX) 89.28 +.30 +3.7
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10 Hartford Courant | Section 1 | Friday, January 28, 2022
OPINION
Helen Bennett
Executive Editor
[email protected]
COURANT.COM/OPINION
Enduring a year of American disappointment
an ambitious liberal agenda that basically scenario has taken a beating. people moving within the United States,
built on the Trump-era economic expan- First came the rise in inflation, which itself a symptom of our general stagnation,
sion — rejecting austerity and using loose reduced the free-lunch opportunities that only deepened under COVID-19 condi-
money and deficit spending to sustain solid seemed to be available last spring. With tions. Fewer people left cities and fewer
growth and low unemployment deep into that disappointment has come politi- people left suburbs relative to the pre-pan-
the 2020s. cal disappointment for Democrats, who demic period, suggesting that rather than
RRoossss DDoouutthhaatt All those economic hopes depended on briefly imagined themselves building a introducing a new geographic dynamism, a
vaccines whose effectiveness at the time new majority while presiding over a 2020s remote-work version of the frontier spirit,
A year ago last week, Joe Biden was looked somewhere between impressive boom, and instead seemed poised for a big mostly the crisis just froze the social order.
inaugurated as president of a country and amazing. But the vaccines were also reversion, a swift return to the gridlock Of course all of this is just a snapshot,
poised between two possible post-pan- treated as a proof-of-concept for an age of that has characterized American politics and a particularly grim midwinter’s one at
demic futures — one more dynamic and renewed innovation, which it was hoped throughout our long era of stagnation. that. What was uncertain a year ago about
one more stagnant, one in which the shock the COVID-19 experience would accel- Then there is the disappointment of the life after the pandemic remains highly
of COVID-19 shoved American society erate — with mRNA vaccines just one of vaccines. They are a lifesaving weapon, but provisional today. Most of the prophe-
out of our ruts and repetitions and one in a longer list of wonders, from new energy medically they have also fallen well short sied technological innovations still look
which the pandemic only deepened our tech to new forms of transportation, from of initial hopes: Their strongest protection like possibilities. We don’t know where
stagnation. life extension to space exploration. fades fast, they require boosters at a pace endemic COVID-19 will settle, and the
Today the president is enduring dismal And along with those hopes there was that makes near-universal uptake unimag- relative mildness of omicron offers hope
approval ratings in large part because the also hope for dramatic social shifts. Last inable, and they haven’t reduced transmis- that its permanent presence will be more
stagnant future is winning. The dynamic June tech baron Marc Andreessen, whose sion enough to actually crush COVID-19. an irritation than an open wound. The
scenarios have been postponed or blocked widely circulated essay “It’s Time to Build” And there isn’t even clear evidence yet great dispersal might already be happen-
or disappointed, while the grimmer possi- lamented American sclerosis early in the for the possible social upside of remote ing among elites, in numbers too small to
bilities have increasingly dominated our pandemic, wrote a much more bullish work, the hope that the professional class meaningfully affect the aggregate, but with
reality. If 2020 was a year of crisis that piece celebrating the success of technology will be scattered geographically and our beneficial consequences over years and
seemed to open into a more hopeful Amer- — from vaccines to Zoom meetings — in political self-segregation will diminish. decades for society as a whole. The Repub-
ican future, 2021 was a year of closed doors, the battle against COVID-19. He placed a I want to believe in this great-dispersal licans might be handed a sweeping major-
downward tugs and disappointment. particular stress on the success of remote theory, and clearly some people have fled ity in 2022 and 2024 and find their own
The hopes for dynamism a year ago work, hailing it as “permanent civiliza- our overpriced megalopolises to raise their way to governing success. (Don’t laugh.)
started with the fact that we had come tional shift” with the potential to shatter kids in small cities and rural splendor, or Overall, the best hope at the moment is
through the worst of the pandemic with- geographical concentrations of power. just moved to Florida or Texas from Cali- that 2021 will be remembered as a year of
out a severe recession, and the American But the optimistic Andreessen essay fornia or the Northeast. But the prelim- unhappy and partial stabilization.
economy kept absorbing new infusions was published just as the delta variant inary migration data, up to March 2021,
of cash without worrisome inflation. began spreading around the United States mostly suggests a worsening of American Douthat is a columnist for The New York
This suggested that there was room for in earnest, and since then, the dynamism immobility. The decadeslong decline in Times.
Latest bias to worry about: Recency bias
By Tyler Cowen
Bloomberg Opinion
For all the talk about how political and
media bias distort people’s perceptions of
current events, another kind of bias may
have an even greater impact: recency bias.
Put simply, recency bias is the practice
of giving disproportionate weight to the
events of the recent past when formulating
expectations and plans.
For instance, starting in 2008 the U.S.
Federal Reserve increased the money
supply sharply, and the rate of price infla-
tion did not rise correspondingly. One
result of this recent episode of expan-
sionary monetary policy is that America
became less vigilant about inflation — and
it is now living with the consequences.
Another example: For decades, antisem-
itism seemed to be declining in Ameri-
can life. Many people assumed that this
trend would continue. Yet violent attacks
on synagogues and rabbis, one measure of
antisemitic sentiment, have lately been on
the rise.
If you were surprised by that devel-
opment, you might have been a captive
of your own recency bias: Antisemitism,
including in its most violent forms, has
been a longstanding feature of West-
ern history, and it would be a mistake to
assume it will go away. Of course it would
be doubling down on recency bias to now
assume that the rise in antisemitic attacks Thousands of people examine individual panels of the AIDS quilt on the National Mall in Washington. STEPHEN R. BROWN/AP 1992
is going to continue.
The view that America was unprepared a major concern, having been supplanted Brexit in British pubs, but not so much tration seemed highly unusual compared
for a pandemic is another example of by fears of climate change. But a broader discussion of the Seven Years’ War of the to Obama’s or George W. Bush’s. At the
recency bias. The AIDS epidemic, which lesson of human history is that, if a weapon mid-18th century. same time, it featured many elements from
has killed possibly 35 million people world- is available, someone will use it. There are historical periods where 19th-century American politics, such as
wide in the last four decades, should have The plan for overcoming recency bias recency bias makes sense. During Barack extreme mudslinging, populism, a highly
instilled the need for better planning, but is pretty straightforward. Spend less time Obama’s presidency, for example, you partisan press and a general lack of dignity.
many Americans saw that disease as some- scrolling through news sites and more time might have expected annual conflicts Of course it is itself a kind of recency
thing unlikely to happen to them. Major reading books and non-news sites about about health care policy between Demo- bias to note that many recent errors are
generalized pandemics, meanwhile, were how your issues of concern have played crats and tea party Republicans. And you the result of recency bias. As we get used
perceived as something of the distant past. out in the distant past. If you are young, would have been right, as the parameters to the world being weirder than expected,
Yet the more accurate, longer-term spend more time talking to older people just didn’t change that much. Of course, recency bias might mean overpredict-
reality is this: Pandemics have recurred, about what things were like when they this success for recency bias is … recent, ing rather than underpredicting radical
albeit with varying lags, throughout human were growing up. If you had applied those and thus to many people recency bias change.
history. techniques, Russia’s interest in taking over seems accurate. Much of American history In the meantime, history is rhyming, if
I fear we are committing a form more parts of Ukraine would not be very since World War II has been a story of rela- not quite repeating itself. And understand-
of recency bias by not focusing more surprising. tive continuity, which makes recency bias ing current events requires more than just
on nuclear weapons and the policies Nonetheless, rooting out recency bias is all the more appealing. a constant clicking of the refresh button on
surrounding nuclear proliferation and difficult. Memory tends to deteriorate, and In the last five years the U.S. seems to Twitter.
use of nuclear weapons. Atomic bombs most people talk about current events far have had more inflection points — but
have not been used against humans since more than they talk about the broader span even these have been rooted in the more Distributed by Tribune Content Agency,
1945 and so for many people they are not of history. There is a lot of debate about distant past. Donald Trump’s adminis- LLC.
Parents need choices in education to protect their values
By Jonathan Butcher But state officials had blocked parents has become a wildfire in his opinion from should be able to choose the education
The Heritage Foundation from choosing religious schools. The May 2021 where he stated, “The type of environment that best suits their children
court ruled that such schools could not be environment that is tolerated or encour- and their values.” His inclusion of “values”
Montana is one of the least populated excluded. aged by or at a school can therefore send a is noteworthy because these closely held
states in the lower 48, but what flows out One year after the ruling, commentators particularly strong signal to, and serve as beliefs have become the beating heart of
of it reaches to the far corners of the U.S. would dub 2021 the “year of school choice” an influential lesson for, its students.” National School Choice Week.
Montana is the only state hosting rivers as lawmakers in 19 states either created or Some school officials are either tolerat- Parents have dealt with prolonged
that empty into Hudson Bay to the east, expanded public and private school learn- ing or even encouraging dismissive atti- school closures due to COVID-19, contro-
Gulf of Mexico to the south, and the Pacific ing options for students. tudes toward parents. versial lesson plans, and intimidating
Ocean to the west. Amid COVID-19, many parents wrestled In Pennsylvania, a school board member tactics from interest groups. Teacher
During National School Choice Week with mask mandates and new vaccination recently penned commentary telling unions have lobbied to keep schools closed
2022, parents should be watching what requirements, along with sharply politi- parents that he “doesn’t work for them.” to in-person learning as student grades
else comes out of the Big Sky State. cal classroom content, all while watching Parents are free to “vent their spleens” have suffered, with surges in D’s and F’s
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2020 student achievement fall precipitously. to school boards but “to listen to your around the country. The National School
in favor of parents who choose private All that had Families appropriately start repeated distortions of the facts is nauseat- Board Association colluded with the White
schools for their children and a state attor- asking: Does our child’s school reflect what ing.” He repeatedly opened his paragraphs House last fall to try to intimidate parents
ney general’s opinion in 2021 protecting we believe is best — and if not, what can we with the phrase “with all due respect,” but by criticizing individuals who have been
the American ideals of freedom and oppor- do about it? it’s hard to conclude that he actually does speaking up at board meetings.
tunity in the classroom are giving a boost to Montana Attorney General Austin respect parents. Parents looking for quality learning
parents trying to meet their child’s unique Knudsen recently said in an e-mail Writing in CNN last fall, the 2021 New options for their children today stand
learning needs. response to questions about parent choices York state teacher of the year said that between their desire for students to
In 2020, the Court ruled in Espinoza in education, “The school closures that school board meetings have become the succeed and their belief that their ideas
v. Montana Department of Revenue that occurred over the last two years have been place where “scared and angry people and values—religious or otherwise—
state officials could not prevent parents one of the biggest catalysts for parental descend” to make demands of board should still matter. And that they should
from choosing a school based on their most involvement and the school choice move- members “without filter or grace.” The not have to set their beliefs aside when
deeply held beliefs. Montana offers a K-12 ment across the country. teacher appears to be pleading for civil they choose how and where their child will
private school scholarship program that “Legislators in Montana and across the conduct, but she does not help her cause by learn or bring concerns to a school board.
provides tax credits for charitable contri- country are going to have be responsive to insulting the parents who want to advocate
butions to nonprofit scholarship organiza- the new energy and attention that’s been for their children. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency,
tions. ignited,” Knudsen said. He addressed what Montana’s Knudsen insists that “parents LLC.