Jepsen Stresses CyberSecurity at Home and Business, with Settlements and Warnings

National Cyber Security Awareness Month isn’t until October, but Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen and just over a dozen of his colleagues across the country are getting a head start in warning the public about the dangers of so-called pirate websites. In televised public service announcements now airing in Connecticut, along with social media and radio psa’s, Jepsen shares hackers can infect visitors’ computers with malware and viruses that can leave consumers’ personal and financial information vulnerable.

Cyber security is a topic Jepsen has been involved with for some time.  This past March, the Attorney General announced the creation of a new department within the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General – the Privacy and Data Security Department – that works exclusively on investigations and litigation related to privacy and data security.

The new department has been responsible for all investigations involving consumer privacy and data security. It also helps to educate the public and business community about their responsibilities, which include protecting personally identifiable and sensitive data and promptly notifying affected individuals and the Office of the Attorney General when breaches do occur.

Jepsen is immediate past president of the National Association of Attorneys General (his one-year term ended in June) and has been a member of the organization’s Internet Safety/Cyber Privacy and Security Committee.

National Cyber Security Awareness Month, a month-long collaborative effort between the United States Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance, began in 2004 and is held every October. During the campaign, individuals are encouraged to take advantage of resources that can help them be safer and more secure while online.

This week, Jepsen’s office announced that Connecticut has joined with 31 other states and the District of Columbia in a $5.5 million settlement with Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and its subsidiary, Allied Property & Casualty Insurance Company, which resolves the states' investigation into a 2012 data breach that exposed sensitive personal information of 1.2 million consumers across the country. Approximately 774 Connecticut residents were impacted by the breach, the Office said. Connecticut's share of the settlement funds totals $256,559.28, which will be deposited in the state's general fund. The Connecticut Attorney General's office was a co-leader of the investigation and negotiations, along with the Offices of the Attorney General of the District of Columbia, Florida and Maryland.

In May, Jepsen announced that Connecticut joined with 46 other states and the District of Columbia in an $18.5 million settlement with the Target Corporation to resolve the states' investigation into the retail company's 2013 data breach. The settlement represented the largest multistate data breach settlement achieved to date.  That breach affected more than 41 million customer payment card accounts and contact information for more than 60 million customers. Connecticut will receive $1,012,936 from the settlement, which will be deposited in the state's General Fund.

In the new public service announcement, Jepsen stresses that “Nowadays, all of you have to worry about cybersecurity,” Jepsen tells viewers in his ad. “Hackers are always looking for new ways to break into our computers. Something as simple as visiting pirate websites can put your computer at risk.”

"State AGs often serve as the consumer protection agency for their citizens, so we appreciate the leadership they are taking in alerting consumers to the new danger that consumers face from malware and content theft websites," said Tom Galvin, Executive Director of the Digital Citizens Alliance, a consumer-focused group that looks at how to make the Internet safer. "Criminals are exploiting stolen content by baiting consumers to view videos and songs and then stealing their IDs and financial information. It should be a wake-up call for consumers."

Among the states whose Attorneys General are participating in the initiative are Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r1wMnXP9Bk&feature=youtu.be

The Connecticut Attorney General's office has previously issued a series of tips for consumers:

TIP #1: When it doubt, throw it out:

Be very cautious about clicking on a link or opening an email, social media post or tweet (or its attachment) from someone you do not know and trust, and always keep virus protection software up to date. Consumers that use Facebook or Twitter should regulate their privacy settings to ensure personal information is protected and not accessible. Also, only allow those that you know into your social network rather than those that you may not recognize.

TIP #2: Watch out for phishing emails or scams:

You may do business online with financial institutions that you know and trust, however, always keep in mind that legitimate businesses will never ask you to reply in an email with any personal information such as your Social Security number, PIN number. If you question the validity of an email you received, call the number on your credit card, bank statement, or on the financial institution's actual website (which you should find online without clicking on any links in a suspicious email).  If available, always use a safe payment option when making online purchases, such as a credit card.

TIP #3: Keep your machine clean and up to date:

Online users can reduce the risk of their computers being infected with malware by keeping antivirus software up to date and having the latest versions of apps, Web browsers and operating systems. Many but not all software programs will automatically update in order to avoid risks.  Consumers should consider turning on automatic updates when available to be sure that critical updates are not missed while waiting for manual download.

TIP #4: Help to educate your children about online safety and security:

Remind your family to limit how and with whom they share any information on line.  When made available, set privacy and security settings on accounts and web browsers used by children to your comfort level for surfing the Web and information sharing.  If your browser does not support such settings, consider using one that does.  From social media to simple internet searches, it is important to talk to children about online security before they potentially confront risks on line.   

TIP #5: Regularly change and update passwords and web keys:

If you use the Internet for banking, bill-paying or other monetary transactions, be sure to select secure, difficult-to-guess passwords and PINs, and get in the habit of changing them on a regular basis whenever possible. Consumers can also protect their personal and communications data by encrypting their own wireless Internet networks and regularly changing their wifi passwords. Try not to login into any social media accounts on a public computer and if you must, be sure to never save passwords or login information.

Bringing Science to the Masses, Total Eclipse and So Much More

You may have heard, that the first total solar eclipse visible from the United States in 26 years will be seen in much of the country on August 21. While Connecticut is not in the prime viewing path, interest and anticipation is rising even in the Land of Steady Habits due to the unusual nature of the occurrence.

For the uninitiated, an article appearing in the latest on-line edition of the website Massive explains that “During a total solar eclipse, the moon covers the bright disk of the sun. If the sun were a perfect sphere, it would disappear entirely, plunging the viewer temporarily into full darkness. But beyond the surface of the sun extends the corona. Full of beautiful loops and streamers, the corona is normally invisible against the blinding light of the full sun.”

The article was written by Jesse Feddersen, a 4th year PhD Candidate in the Department of Astronomy at Yale University. In addition to his academic research and teaching work, for the past two years he has been presenting live planetarium shows to the public at Yale University's Leitner Family Observatory.

Feddersen notes that “because of its path over populated areas, the August eclipse will likely be the most viewed in history. Two teams plan to exploit this fact to coordinate observations across the United States,” in order to “combine images from 60 telescopes along the track of the eclipse.” It can best be seen along a path from Oregon to South Carolina.

“The continuous view of the darkened Sun,” he adds, “will create a data set for researchers to study.”

It is precisely that connection – between regular citizens and scientific experts – that is behind the launch of the Massive website late last year.  As the founders describe their mission, “we work directly with researchers to transform papers in their field from complex, technical documents into stories that anyone – including other scientists – can understand and enjoy. We focus on eliminating jargon, adding storytelling and perspective, and teasing out the big questions the research is asking without sacrificing depth.”

Put most succinctly, the website headlines, “Everyone should have access to science.” Towards that end, they’re in the midst of enlisting “a group of scientists dedicated to making science accessible to everyone,” by forming the “Massive Science Consortium.”

Recent articles include contributions from a molecular pharmacologist, a genetics expert, a biochemist, and a botanist.  The site offers free subscriptions to its newsletter, which highlights contributions from scientists in a range of fields worldwide.

The three founders – Nadja Oertelt, Gabe Stein and Allan Lasser – have added a veteran journalist who got her start in Connecticut to work directly with scientists in editing their work for a mainstream audience.  Kira Goldenberg, who had stints with the Hartford Courant and New London Day earlier in her career, has more recently been a leading staffer at The Guardian and Columbia Journalism Review.  She joins Massive as Editorial Director, energized by the potential of the fledgling venture.

“I’ve helped academics and reporters edit and hone their writing for the public as an editor at The Guardian and at the Columbia Journalism Review. I love working with people to make their writing the best it can possibly be,” she says on the Massive website.

Massive is a for-profit company funded by Bloomberg Beta, General Electric, and individual investors.  The founders explain the motivation that inspired the venture:  “We believe the world would be a better place if more people understood and trusted science, and used scientific reasoning to make sense of their world. With notable exceptions, we think that most of today’s science journalism and science communication efforts fall short of advancing this goal.”

The Massive team aims to combine “the storytelling and audience development techniques of a media company with the accuracy and authority of professional scientists and science communicators.”

That the first total solar eclipse visible in the U.S. in a quarter-century happens to occur during their first year of operations was, although not unexpected, largely coincidental.

No Chocolate Milk? Kids Get Used to Plain Milk, UConn Study Finds

There’s good news and bad news for chocolate milk advocates, depending upon which University of Connecticut research study you come across.  The studies don’t necessarily conflict, but provide differing points of view in the plain milk vs. chocolate milk debate. A new study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut has found that most students adjust to drinking plain milk after flavored milk is removed from school lunch menus.

Flavored milk served in the National School Lunch Program contains up to 10 grams of added sugar per serving, which is 40 percent of a child’s daily allowance of added sugar. Given the nation’s key public health target of limiting added sugars in children’s diets, flavored milk has come under scrutiny in the context of school nutrition, UConn Today recently reported.

The study, published in July in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, measured plain milk selection and consumption in the years after flavored milk was removed in two schools. Key findings include:

• The first school year after flavored milk was removed, 51.5 percent of students selected milk and drank 4 ounces per carton, indicating school-wide per-student consumption of 2.1 ounces.
• Two years later, 72 percent of students selected milk and drank 3.4 ounces per carton, significantly increasing the school-wide per-student consumption to 2.5 ounces.
• Older students and boys consumed significantly more milk.
• The availability of 100 percent fruit juice at lunch was associated with a significant decrease in students selecting milk and lower milk consumption per carton throughout the years of the study. Both years, student selection and consumption of plain milk dropped significantly on days when 100 percent fruit juice was also available.

The study could have implications for school nutrition policy and efforts to reduce added sugars in children’s diets. The study was conducted in two elementary (K-8) schools in an urban New England school district during the 2010-2011 and 2012-2013 school years. Researchers assessed the selection and consumption of milk immediately after flavored milk was removed in the 2010-2011 school year, and two years later in the 2012-2013 school year.

“The decision to remove flavored milk has both nutritional benefits and potential costs. It is clearly an effective way to lower student intake of added sugars at lunch, and over time, the majority of students will switch to plain milk,” said Marlene Schwartz, professor of human development and family studies, director of the UConn Rudd Center, and lead author of the study. “However, there will always be some students who don’t like plain milk. The challenge is finding a way to meet their dietary needs by providing other nutrient-rich options at lunch.”

The study was funded by the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs and the Rudd Foundation.  In the conclusion to the study, the researchers note that “A school policy to remove flavored milk has potential public health benefits and costs—it is likely to decrease consumption of added sugars at lunch for all children, but it is also likely to decrease consumption of milk for some children and increase their risk of missing key nutrients.”

Seven years ago, another UConn researcher was touting the virtues of chocolate milk.  That study, centered in Professor Nancy R. Rodriguez’s lab, found that drinking a 16-ounce glass of fat-free chocolate milk after exercise gives the body essential proteins and carbohydrates that help refuel weary muscles better than a beverage containing carbohydrates alone.

Rodriguez, with joint appointments in the departments of kinesiology and allied health – and who serves, then and now, as UConn’s director of sports nutrition – advocated for the benefits of milk in relation to athletic performance since the late 1990’s. But the 2010 study believed to be the first study of its kind showing a direct correlation between consuming chocolate milk and improved muscle recovery after prolonged exercise.

Results showed that chocolate milk was as effective as the carbohydrate drink in replenishing the body’s stores of glycogen, a form of carbohydrate the body uses as fuel during intense or prolonged exercise. Rodriguez said at the time that the sugar from the chocolate syrup in the milk helps athletes replace depleted glycogen in their muscles to prepare them for their next workout.

Rodriguez subsequently served on the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition (PCFSN), 2014-2017. She has been a Sports Nutritionist for the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts and has provided services to the NBA’s Chicago Bulls and Charlotte Bobcats, and the AHL’s Hartford Wolfpack.

The 2010 study was funded by the National Dairy Council and the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board.

Danger in CT: Not Buckling Up in Rear Seat is Hazardous to Your (and Others) Health

Twenty-nine states require passengers riding in a vehicle’s rear seat to buckle up with a seat belt.  Connecticut is not among them. A new survey from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety highlights the common misperception that buckling up is optional – as well as the potential life-threatening hazards to rear and front seat passengers if those in the back seat opt not to buckle up.

"People who don't use safety belts might think their neglect won't hurt anyone else. That's not the case," indicates Jessica Jermakian, an IIHS senior research engineer and a co-author of the study. "In the rear seat a lap/shoulder belt is the primary means of protection in a frontal crash. Without it, bodies can hit hard surfaces or other people at full speed, leading to serious injuries.”

Among adults who admit to not always using safety belts in the back seat, 4 out of 5 surveyed say short trips or traveling by taxi or ride-hailing service are times they don't bother to use the belt.  Nearly 40 percent of people surveyed said they sometimes don't buckle up in the rear seat because there is no law requiring it. If there were such a law, 60 percent of respondents said it would convince them to use belts in the back seat. A greater percentage said they would be more likely to buckle up if the driver could get pulled over because someone in the back wasn't buckled.

Connecticut considered such a requirement in this year’s legislative session.  Urging legislators to approve the requirement, Julie Peters, Executive Director of the Brain Injury Alliance of Connecticut, said “In the event of a crash, unbelted back seat passengers become bullets, putting not only themselves, but everyone in the vehicle at risk. That's because unbelted back seat passengers continue to move at the same rate of speed as the vehicle they are riding in until they hit something -- the seat back, the dashboard, the windshield, the driver or another passenger. It's also not uncommon for unbelted passengers to be thrown from a vehicle and either crushed by that vehicle or another on the road.”

The new survey reveals that many rear-seat passengers don't think belts are necessary because they perceive the back seat to be safer than the front. This shows a clear misunderstanding about why belts are important, no matter where a person sits in a vehicle.

"For most adults, it's still as safe to ride in the back seat as the front seat, but not if you aren't buckled up," Jermakian said. "That applies to riding in an Uber, Lyft or other hired vehicle, too."

Except for New Hampshire, all states and the District of Columbia require adults in the front seat to use belts. All rear-seat passengers are covered by laws in 29 states and D.C. Of these laws, 20 carry primary enforcement, meaning a police officer can stop a driver solely for a belt-law violation. The rest are secondary, so an officer must have another reason to stop a vehicle before issuing a safety belt citation, the IIHS reported.

Rep. Mitch Bolinsky of Newtown, who advocated for passage of a Connecticut law this year, said in February that “Front seats have become much safer but that’s not the case in the back seat. Without the use of seat belts, we needlessly lose lives every year. Those souls should still be with their families.” He cited National Highway Transportation Safety Association (NHTSA) data that unbelted rear seat passengers are three times more likely to die than those who are buckled at the time of a serious impact.

AAA reported last year that three decades ago, Connecticut “moved ahead of the curve nationally with the passage of one of the nation’s first mandatory seat belt laws.”  AAA pointed that that estimates are that each year in Connecticut more than 120 adults are injured and approximately five adults die who were unbelted rear seat occupants. Dating back to 1995, AAA noted, that equates to close to 100 deaths and 2,500 injuries.  A survey of AAA members (AAA Allied Group and AAA Northeast) found that 7 in 10 members believe seat belts should be mandatory for back seat passengers, regardless of age.

The Governors Highway Safety Association issued a report in 2015, "Unbuckled In Back," analyzing the difference in highway fatalities between states that require rear seat passengers to buckle up and those that do not, the Hartford Courant reported.  At a Connecticut legislative hearing that year, the paper noted, state Transportation Commissioner James Redeker said that everyone in a passenger vehicle should buckle up, saying statistics show "people become projectiles because they're not strapped in a safety device."

Legislation has been introduced annually in recent years in Connecticut to require use of seat belts in the back seat.  Earlier this year, state Public Health Commissioner testified in support (HB6054 and HB6269), stressing that “adult seat belt use is the single most effective way to save lives and reduce injuries in crashes.”

Safety belts are credited with having saved 13,941 lives during 2015, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates. If everyone buckled up, an additional 2,800 deaths could have been prevented, the data indicated. More than half of the people who die in passenger vehicle crashes in the U.S. each year are unbelted.

IIHS surveyed adults 18 and older by cellphone and landline nationwide between June and August 2016. Of the 1,172 respondents who said they had ridden in the back seat of a vehicle during the preceding six months, 72 percent said they always use their belt in the back seat, while 91 percent said they always use their belt when seated in front. This is in line with the 2015 nationwide observed belt use of 75 percent for adult rear-seat occupants and 89 percent for drivers and front-seat passengers.

https://youtu.be/bdW_3oQFO0c

Ana Grace Project Establishes Partnership, New Home at CCSU

The Ana Grace Project (AGP), established to promote love, community, and connection in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, has a new home at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) in New Britain. A pilot partnership between the AGP and CCSU establishes a new base of operations for the Ana Grace Project, in addition to the blending of resources, services, and expertise, officials of both organizations have announced.

Nelba Márquez-Greene was a CCSU adjunct faculty member in 2012 when her daughter Ana Grace was killed at Sandy Hook, along with 19 other first-graders and six educators. She established The Ana Grace Project to honor her daughter’s memory and, as its executive director, she will oversee the CCSU-AGP partnership.

In announcing the partnership, CCSU President Zulma Toro said, “This arrangement will enrich our longstanding commitment to serving our communities as well as deepen our commitment to being a University of compassion. We are happy to welcome Nelba Márquez-Greene back to the CCSU family.”

“I’m looking forward to the amazing things we can do together,” says Márquez-Greene. “CCSU already has an extraordinary depth and breadth of talented, skilled people. We'll add another layer of support and love available to all.”  She is a clinical fellow of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy and has experience in private practice, as well as academic and community mental health settings. For a time she served as coordinator for Klingberg Family Therapy Center’s outpatient child and adolescent psychiatric clinic.

“By partnering with CCSU, we’ll be able to expand our vision of ensuring every student in Connecticut has access to healthy relationships and tools of self-regulation – setting them up for life long success,” Márquez-Greene explains.

Also expected is the continuation and expansion of AGP’s “Love Wins: Finish the Race” initiative hosted at CCSU for the past two years. Several hundred New Britain school children spend a day on campus with CCSU student volunteers for a taste of the college experience with the hope, says Márquez-Greene, of “instilling the belief that there is a world of possibilities awaiting them.”

Márquez-Greene will also work with the School of Education & Professional Studies to establish a Center for Social & Emotional Learning to provide education, training, and research to the campus, community, and state. Other expected collaborations include the training of CCSU undergraduate and graduate students in the Marriage & Family Therapy, Psychology, and Counseling programs in the use of social-emotional curriculum in the classroom.

Her husband, Jimmy Greene, is Coordinator of Jazz Studies and Assistant Professor of Music at Western Connecticut State University, another of the four state universities in the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system.

Greene teaches applied jazz saxophone, jazz history, jazz pedagogy, jazz improvisation, jazz theory, jazz arranging, conducts the jazz orchestra and was awarded a 2013 Outstanding Faculty Award for his efforts. A native of Hartford, Greene is considered one of the most respected saxophonists of his generation since his graduation from the Hartt School of Music in 1997. His most recent recording, Beautiful Life (Mack Avenue) is a celebration of the life of his daughter. The album features touching performances by giants like Pat Metheny, Christian McBride, Kenny Barron and Kurt Elling amongst many others.

Three Metro Regions in CT Are Among Top 30 Most Educated in the US

Three Connecticut metropolitan areas are among the top 30 “most educated cities in America,” according to a new analysis.  The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk area ranked #12 in the nation, narrowly missing the top 10.  Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford placed 22^nd, and New Haven-Milford ranked 29^th in the ranking developed by the financial website WalletHub. The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk region ranked fourth in the nation for the highest percentage of individuals who have earned Bachelor’s degrees and fifth in the percentage of “graduate or professional degree holders,” according to the analysis.  The New Haven area ranked second in the nation in the quality of universities.

Overall, the top 10 most educated cities were Ann Arbor, Washington DC, San Jose, Durham, Madison, Boston, Provo, San Francisco, Austin and Tallahassee, according to the analysis.

To identify the most and least educated cities in America, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 150 most populated U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, or MSAs, across two key dimensions, including “Educational Attainment” and “Quality of Education & Attainment Gap.”  Data used to create the overall ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, GreatSchools.org and U.S. News & World Report.

The Ann Arbor, MI, metro area has the highest share of bachelor’s degree holders aged 25 and older, 52.7 percent, which is 3.8 times higher than in Visalia-Porterville, CA, the metro area with the lowest at 13.8 percent.

Economic Policy Institute analysts point out that one way to strengthen an economy is to attract well-paying employers “by investing in education and increasing the number of well-educated workers.” In states where workers have the least schooling, for instance, the median wage is $15 an hour compared with $19 to $20 an hour in states where 40 percent or more of the working population hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.

A similar study by WalletHub earlier this year, comparing states, ranked Connecticut as having the fourth highest educated state population, just behind Maryland, Massachusetts and Colorado.

Knowledge Corridor to Gain Boost as More Frequent Rail Runs Through It

For years, the tag line has been “innovation runs through it.”  In the coming year, there will also be more frequent rail service running through it, and that may make all the difference in the world. When proponents of economic development in what’s known as “New England’s Knowledge Corridor” get together for a conference this fall, it will be with the backdrop of the three anchor cities that span two states – New Haven, Hartford, and Springfield – being more connected than ever, with the start of the new regular rail service between the cities just months away.

The half-day conference, “Leveraging the Knowledge Corridor’s Transportation Assets and Investments to Drive Economic Progress,” will be held at Union Station in Springfield on October 18.  It will serve as the coalition’s 2017 “State of the Region” conference.

The keynote speaker will be Robert Puentes, President/CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation.  Panelists will include five members of Congress from the region:  Richard Neal and James McGovern from Massachusetts and John Larson, Rosa DeLauro, and Elizabeth Esty from Connecticut.

Plans also include talks by Connecticut Commissioner of Transportation James Redeker and his counterpart in the Bay State, Stephanie Pollack, Secretary/CEO of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.  Officials also anticipate releasing the results of the 2017 New England Knowledge Corridor Business Survey.

"In the Knowledge Corridor, we’re convinced that the transportation assets we have; new ones that will be coming online in the  next year or two, plus; those we are planning to see realized over a longer range time line constitute the bedrock of a competitive 21^st century economy that enables ready and affordable access to skilled workers, attractive markets and motivated consumers on a global scale," Tim Brennan, Chairman of New England Knowledge Corridor Partnership and Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, told CT by the Numbers.

On Monday, Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced that a joint venture of TransitAmerica Services and Alternate Concepts has been selected as the service provider that will operate and manage service on the Hartford Line – which is expected to launch in May 2018.

Work is continuing throughout the summer, including grade crossing upgrades in Wallingford this month, as part of the overall upgrade of the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield rail line – now branded as the CTrail Hartford Line, with expanded service scheduled to being in 2018, according to transportation officials.  Last month, construction in Meriden and Windsor included track construction upgrades.

New England’s Knowledge Corridor is an interstate partnership of regional economic development, planning, business, tourism and educational institutions that work together to advance the region’s economic progress. The region “transcends political boundaries,” officials point out, and it comprises the Hartford, Springfield and New Haven metro areas and is centered on seven counties in the two states, underscoring the area’s “rich tradition of inventions, research and higher education.”

The New Haven-Hartford-Springfield (NHHS) Rail Program is a partnership between the State of Connecticut, Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration.  The goal is to provide those living, working or traveling between New Haven, Hartford and Springfield with high speed rail service equal to the nation’s best rail passenger service, officials emphasize.

The Hartford Line will act as a regional link with connections to existing rail services, including Metro-North, Shoreline East, and Amtrak Acela high-speed rail services on both the New Haven Line to New York and on the Northeast Corridor to New London and Boston. There will also be direct bus connections to the Bradley Airport Flyer and to CTfastrak.  With a heightened level of direct and connecting service linking the region, the hope is that towns along the future Hartford Line will become magnets for growth – ideal places to live and to relocate businesses that depend on regional markets and travel.

All of which dovetails perfectly with the “selling points” routinely used to promote the Corridor:

• Academic Powerhouse – One of the country’s highest academic concentrations and largest capacities for research, with 41 colleges and universities and 215,000 students
• Exceptional Achievement – Consistently among the nation’s top 10 in percentage of the population with advanced degrees, science-engineering doctorates and new patents registered
• Big, Concentrated Market – The nation’s 20th largest metro region, with over 2.77 million people, is comparable to Denver and St. Louis, but with twice their population density, which means ready access to labor and consumers
• Large Workforce – A labor force of 1.34 million, 50% larger than the Charlotte metro area
• Business Hub – 64,000 businesses – 60 percent more than the Austin metro

"Providing frequent, reliable, commuter rail service connecting New Haven-Hartford-Springfield, the three major cities that anchor the Knowledge Corridor and its over 2.7 million people, will be nothing short of a game changer enabling the cross border region’s to reach its potential as an economic powerhouse within New England while simultaneously linking it to the white hot economies found in the Boston and New York City mega regions," Brennan added.

The CTrail Hartford Line rail service will operate at speeds up to 110 mph, cutting travel time between Springfield and New Haven to as little as 81 minutes. Travelers at New Haven, Wallingford, Meriden, Berlin, Hartford, Windsor, Windsor Locks and Springfield will be able to board trains approximately every 30 minutes during the peak morning and evening rush hour and hourly during the rest of day, with direct or connecting service to New York City and multiple frequencies to Boston or Vermont (via Springfield).  New train stations also are in various stages of development in North Haven, Newington, West Hartford and Enfield.

Also, very much a part of the strengthening transportation options with the potential to spur economic development is Bradley International Airport, which recently has added international flights on Aer Lingus (last year) and Norwegian Air (last month) and a direct-to-San Francisco route via United Airlines.

Connecticut Airport Authority Executive Director Kevin A. Dillon said the aim is to “build on Bradley’s strengths and continue our focus to deliver more convenience and connectivity for our region.  Flying to Europe from Bradley has never been easier and more affordable.”

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) conducted a bidding process and cost-benefit analysis for the Hartford Line program and selected TransitAmerica Services and Alternate Concepts, which are forming a joint venture solely for the purpose of serving the Hartford Line. This marks the first time that CTDOT has been able to select and contract with an experienced service provider for a major transportation program, a more cost-efficient alternative to the agency creating a separate internal unit and hiring employees to manage the Hartford Line, according to state officials.

Play with Purpose at Two Connecticut Pre-Schools

Local school systems in Enfield and Manchester implemented a purposeful play initiative, with support from LEGO Community Fund US and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.  The results of the initiative are highlighted in a new video, which emphasizes that there’s more to play than may be apparent at first glance. Program organizers point out that “young children are naturally curious and full of life. Provided a supportive environment, they will joyfully splash, build and smash, pretend, sing, and dance.” While they are having a ton of fun, they are also making sense of the world and learning through exploration, experimentation and social interaction.

The LEGO Community Fund US has long asserted that learning through play enables children to become creative and engaged lifelong learners. In 2014, they put forward a proposal and funding to develop and test new materials to advance facilitated play in children’s homes, preschool and kindergarten. The idea is that a young child’s parents and teachers should really be facilitators of intentional play experiences.

The Hartford Foundation matched LEGO’s grant, and the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood participated with in-kind funds to create a training video, making the initiative a cross-sector effort. Laura Post, Vice President of Consumer Insights, LEGO Group, said of the collaboration, “We shared, as organizations, a passion for early childhood.”  The pilot was run in Manchester and Enfield, home of LEGO’s U.S. headquarters.

The collaborative, 17-month initiative ran from January 2015 through May 2016. During that time, participating parents and educators learned how facilitated play can support children’s cognitive, social and emotional development. Emphasis was placed on how to teach young children, not what to teach them.  The goal was to incorporate life and academic skills in a way that is fun for young children.

The Supporting Educational Success through Playful Learning workshops, that Enfield held in English and Spanish, were a catalyst for the development of a community campaign on the importance of play.

Schools Superintendent Dr. Jeff Shumann said the program sets students up for success in the future.  “It gives them those interpersonal skills, creative thinking skills, the problem solving skills, and certainly the communication skills that will help them enhance their learning as they get into deeper and more rigorous academics in the coming years.”

Kindergarten and pre-K teachers are receiving coaching to integrate purposeful play into all curriculum areas. Early educators participated in a series of play based workshops, and families attended play events, gaining an understanding of the value of play.

Manchester’s Supervisor of Student Development, Karen Gray, says it became “obvious how developmentally appropriate it is for children to play, and to have fun, and to smile and to laugh.”  As they did, teachers would “see them develop cognitively," although "they are not necessarily aware of the skills that they are actually developing.”

Adds Latasha Easterling-Turnquest, District Director of Manchester Public Schools’ Family Resource Centers, “Given the opportunity, a child, through play, can show you what he or she can really do.”

PHOTOS:  Jeff Shumann,  Karen Gray.

https://youtu.be/y20-G6AnIV0

Consumer Protection, Or Not - Malloy Veto Draws Industry Praise

The Northeastern Retail Lumber Association (NRLA) and Lumber Dealers Association of Connecticut (LDAC) are applauding Governor Dannel Malloy’s decision to veto Senate Bill 821, which would have affected consumer warranties for windows, roofing, and siding. The legislation was strongly opposed by LDAC since its introduction in February. Despite that opposition, the bill was passed unanimously on the consent calendar by the Senate, after a revising amendment was approved, on May 17.  The House passed it 80-70, as amended, on the last day of the regular session, June 7.  An earlier version was passed unanimously by both the General Law committee and the Appropriations Committee.

In a veto message on the bill, Malloy explained “This bill, while intended to add additional layers of consumer protections to the warranty process, would instead harm consumers due to its detrimental impact to the marketplace.”  The Governor described the bill as “simply unworkable,” adding that “the detrimental impact of this bill would be very real to Connecticut consumers: businesses could decide to not offer their products in our state, or to tailor their warranties in Connecticut by adding in extra fees…”

The association recruited other organizations to help fight aggressively against the bill – unsuccessfully - in the final days of the legislative session.  The full court press at the Governor’s door then began.  LDAC and industry partners “quickly mobilized to urge Gov. Malloy to veto this legislation,” the organization pointed out in a press release. “After a meeting with the Governor’s staff and more than 40 industry letters, the Governor decided to veto S.B. 821.”

Described as “a huge victory for the industry,” the legislation, according to opposing organizations,  would have been “overly burdensome for manufacturers of windows, roofing, and siding – leading to potentially devastating outcomes for independent building material dealers across Connecticut.”

The Window & Door Manufacturers Association (WDMA) is among the organizations praising the veto.

"WDMA commends Gov. Malloy for vetoing this unprecedented and problematically-vague legislation," said Michael O'Brien, WDMA President and CEO.  "The bill would have changed existing law without any justification or public hearing, harmed manufacturers, dealers and consumers and created legal uncertainty and needless litigation."

A sweeping mandate for these manufacturers to cover all labor and replacement costs associated with warranty claims would have led to higher prices, they explain, along with weakened consumer protections, and fewer products available to consumers. The legislation would have also required manufacturers to address warranty claims within 30 days’ receipt of a claim – which industry officials say would have been “an unreasonable timeframe” to comply with.

The Northeastern Retail Lumber Association (NRLA) was established in New York in 1894 and today is an 1,150 member association representing independent lumber and building material suppliers and associated businesses in New York, New Jersey, and the six New England states. The Window & Door Manufacturers Association is the premier trade association representing the leading manufacturers of residential and commercial window, door and skylight products for the domestic and export markets.

A year ago, the state legislature voted to override three vetos by Malloy, the only three since he was elected Governor. Three more bills passed by the legislature have been vetoed thus far this year.

UConn Study: When State Pays for ACT Exam, More Poor Youth Reach College

New research finds a simple strategy can modestly boost the share of students with limited financial resources who go on to college: requiring, and paying for, all students to take the ACT or SAT.  A University of Connecticut researcher examined the effects of requiring and paying for all public high school students to take a college entrance exam – which 11 states have done since 2001- and found that while the impact isn’t enormous, the policy is relatively inexpensive, and does move the needle on college enrollment. At just $34 per student, increases in four-year college attendance reach about 1 percentage point for low-income students, the higher education website Chalkbeat reports.  Ohio was the latest state to require all members of the junior class to take the exam, as of this past spring.

“Although these increases in the four-year college enrollment rate might not appear to be dramatically large, relative to other educational interventions this policy is inexpensive and currently being implemented on a large scale,” writes Joshua Hyman, an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut.

Hyman cautions, however, that paying for every student, regardless of income, to take the exam only goes so far.

“The results suggest that requiring all students to take a college entrance exam increases the supply of poor students scoring at a college-ready level by nearly 50 percent. Yet the policy increases the number of poor students enrolling at a four-year institution by only 6 percent. In spite of the policy, there remains a large supply of disadvantaged students who are high achieving and not on the path to enrolling at a four-year college.”

The research and 30-page journal entry “validates recent efforts … to expand access to these tests,” Chalkbeat points out, “which are required to enroll at most colleges and universities.”   In order of adoption, according to the paper, the states are Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Delaware, North Carolina, Louisiana, Wyoming, and Alabama.

In Connecticut, April 5, 2017, was the Connecticut SAT School Day administration.  SAT scores are used by the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) for school and district accountability purposes, state Education Commissioner Diana Wentzell explained in a letter to parents earlier this year.

The research, published this summer in the peer-reviewed journal Education Finance and Policy, examined Michigan’s policy to require — and, importantly, pay for — high school juniors to take the ACT. Unsurprisingly, the number of students taking the exam jumped from 56 percent statewide to 91 percent after the policy was implemented in 2007. College attendance in the state then increased by nearly 2 percentage points (though the study can’t show how much of the increase was because of the mandatory ACT).

“The mandatory college entrance exam policy is more cost-effective than traditional [college financial] aid at boosting postsecondary attainment,” the study states.

Hyman found that, prior to the policy, a substantial number of Michigan’s low-income students didn’t take the ACT even though they would have scored at or above the standard for college readiness. That might been due to financial or logistical barriers, like the cost of the test (between $30 and $50) or difficulties traveling to an exam center on a Saturday. (Both the SAT and ACT offer fee waivers to low-income students, but the study notes that the waivers are underused.)

“I show that for every ten poor students taking a college entrance exam and scoring college-ready, there are an additional five poor students who do not take the test but who would score college-ready if they did,” Hyman explains.  “In spite of the policy, there remains a large supply of disadvantaged students who are high-achieving and not on the path to enrolling at a four-year college.”

Hyman, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut, has a joint appointment in the Department of Economics and Neag School of Education. His research focuses broadly on labor economics, public finance, and the economics of education. As for the interest in Michigan, Hyman earned a Ph.D. in Economics and Public Policy from the University of Michigan in 2013.