New Video Seeks to Improve Teen Driving Safety, Recalls Tragic Death of West Hartford Teen

Kohl's Tween Safe Program is currently focusing on the dangers inherent in teen driving.  The  program's website features a new video with the father and sister of  Reid Hollister, a 17-year-old West Hartford resident who was killed in a one-car accident in 2006.  The video, prepared in association with the Connecticut Children's Medical Center,  aims to alert teens and parents to the realities and risks of teen driving.

Reid’s father, Tim Hollister, became a leading advocate for better-informed parental decision-making about teen driving in the months after Reid’s tragic death.  He was a leading member of the Governor’s Safe Teen Driving Task Force in 2007-8, which led to legislative passage of a series of stringent laws in Connecticut, including graduated teen  licenses, to lessen the risks of car crashes involving teens.

The short video, with Reid’s dad and sister on camera recounting discussing Reid’s life, and the circumstances surrounding his death, are the featured subject on Kohl’s Tween Safe website, and excerpts of their comments, along with noteworthy statistics, are also be telecast on local television stations as a public service announcement.

Tim Hollister’s blog, "From Reid's Dad," was launched in September 2009 and has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Transportation/National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Public Service Award, April 2010, for "extraordinary efforts to assist parents in making informed decisions about safe teen driving." The site includes a model teen driving agreement for teens and parents, available for download. and helpful information and suggestions regarding teen driving and parental decision-making.

The Injury Prevention Center at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, in partnership with Kohl’s Cares®, has launched Kohl’s Tween Safe, a website and public information initiative to provide information aimed at preventing all types of injuries. The goal is to share the latest news and research to enable tweens, parents and coaches to make informed decisions.

On December 2, 2006, 17-year-old Reid Hollister, died after a one car accident.  He was driving on a three-lane Interstate highway (I-84 in Plainville) that he likely had not driven before, on a dark night just after rain had stopped, and apparently traveling above the speed limit, “he went too far into a curve before turning, then overcorrected, and went into a spin.” As the blog describes it, “While the physics of the moment could have resulted in any number of trajectories, his car hit the point of a guardrail precisely at the middle of the driver's-side door, which crushed the left-side of his chest.”

Among the statistics highlighted on the site:

• Safer teen driving starts with informed, conservative decisions about whether teens get behind the wheel of a car in the first place. Teaching teens to operate a vehicle safely is Step 2.
• Driving is the leading cause of death for people under age 20 in the United States.
• Safer teen driving is everyone's concern. In 2010, nearly 2,000 teen drivers died, but their crashes killed more than 3,000 passengers, other drivers, and pedestrians.

The video featured on the Kohl’s website was recorded recently when Connecticut Children’s Medical Center approached the Hollister family about making a video about Reid’s story, for teen drivers and their parents.

Earlier this year, the blog reported the following:  “The Governors’ Highway Safety Administration has issued a new report, New Study: Teen Driver Deaths Increase in 2012 (Feb. 26, 2013), based on preliminary fatality statistics for 2012, and the key finding should send a big shiver up our collective national spine:  after years of decline, deaths of 16 and 17 year old drivers increased in the first six months of last year. From 2011 to 2012, the national number of 16 year old driver deaths increased from 86 to 107 and the number of 17 year old deaths from 116 to 133.”

Hartford to Host Another Gun Buyback; Initiatives Expand in State

Five months after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown and a month after the state legislature approved a package of stricter gun control regulations, the Hartford region is conducting another gun buyback program on May 18.

The Capital Region Gun Buyback Coalition includes three of the area's major hospitals, law enforcement officials and community organizations to heighten awareness about gun violence prevention.  The expanding coalition, which began in 2009, now includes faith-based groups, the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association, Stop & Shop, and other Hartford-area community organizations.

The program will provide Stop & Shop gift cards to individuals who turn in operable firearms:   $150.00 for an assault rifle; $75.00 gift card for a handgun/revolver; and a $25.00 gift card for a shotgun or rifle. The buyback is to be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Community Renewal Team headquarters, 555 Windsor Street.  Guns may be turned in anonymously.  The gun buyback is open to all Connecticut residents.

Firearm violence is described by Hartford city officials as a major public health problem.  Removing unwanted guns from the community, they add, prevents children and criminals from accessing these weapons. Non-working guns, black-powder weapons, BB guns, flare guns and ammunition may be turned in, but will not be eligible for a gift card, according to Hartford police officials. Ammunition and inoperable firearms can also be anonymously turned in but aren't eligible for a reward. Every gun received Saturday will be destroyed unless forensic testing indicates that it was used in a crime.

Last December, the Capitol Region Gun Buyback coalition traded more than $10,000 in gift cards for guns in an effort to get firearms off the streets. The unofficial count for the gun buyback in Hartford on December 1, 2012 – just two weeks before the Newtown tragedy - was 179 working firearms collected, including 145 handguns and 34 rifles/shotguns.  New Haven held a gun buyback program later than month, collecting a reported 128 weapons, just days after the shootings in Newtown.

In February this year, Bridgeport’s gun buyback program took in about 650 guns, including about three dozen assault weapons, the Connecticut Post reported.   In New London in March, over 40 handguns, 38 long guns and one assault rifle, an AK 47, were turned in, according to The Day of New London.

Gun Buyback programs have a history in Connecticut that began almost two decades ago with an overwhelming response in 1994, when then-Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, with the support of the Connecticut Retail Merchants Association and the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association, launched the nation’s first statewide program.

The response to that new initiative was far beyond all predictions – more than 4,200 guns, including 210 assault weapons, were turned in within less than a week.  That brought the statewide initiative to an end and required some state support by then-Gov. Lowell P. Weicker to fill in the gaps left by retailers and corporations that stepped up to support the initiative.

The approach has continued across the state.  Gun buyback programs in Connecticut municipalities – including Hartford, Waterbury, Bridgeport (55 weapons including rifles and handguns in 2010) and New Haven ( a total of 81 weapons in 2011 and 2012) -  have been more limited but continue to be successful, taking into account the lessons of the state’s initial effort in 1994 and the need to take varying approaches to limit gun violence.

The first of three Hartford gun buyback programs planned for 2013 is led by a collaboration that includes Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Hartford Hospital, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center (WNPR audio interview), the City of Hartford, Hartford Police Department, Hartford State’s Attorney’s Office, CT Trial Lawyers Association,  Community Renewal Team of Greater Hartford, Emergency Nurses Association and Hope Street Ministries.

Riding to Work, Protecting Vulnerable on the Way

 The goal is 2,500 people.  With the start of CTrides week set to begin on May 13, there are about 250 people registered on the organization’s website of free services and information, thus far.  Officials are hoping for a boost of support in the coming days, and remain optimistic, perhaps encouraged by the arrival (finally) of springtime weather and the increase in cyclists it inevitably brings.  And they acknowledge that many may choose to observe the spirit of the day, without formally registering their participation.

Commuters are asked to carpool, vanpool, take buses or trains, walk, bike or telecommute instead of driving alone to work.  CTrides is not alone in advocating alternate transportation – and the benefits of leaving the car in the driveway, or sharing the ride into work.

BikeWalk Connecticut is urging people to step outside their vehicles - May 8 is National Bike to School Day and May 17 is National Bike to Work Day.   There are community-based events taking place on May 17 in at least two dozen locations around the state, from Bloomfield and Bethel to Waterbury and West Hartford.  Most are open to the public, and some are held on-site for corporate employees, such as  CIGNA, GE, Aetna and United Technologies.

CTrides notes that Americans spend an average of 47 hours per year sitting in rush-hour traffic, and public transit is viewed as 170 times safer than automobile travel.  An averge family’s second largest expense, after housing, goes to buying, maintaining and operating a car.  For those acutely aware of environmental impacts, it has been estimated that a single person switching to public transportation reduces carbon emissions by 4,800 pounds per year.  On May 9, CTrides goes to college – Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, specifically.  The midday Community Outreach event will focus on the benefits of sharing a ride.

Protecting Vulnerable Users

Beyond the personal riding advocacy, BikeWalk Connecticut also works for legal changes to make cycling safer.  This year, among their legislative priorities is the so-called “vulnerable user” bill (SB191).  It would establish a penalty for a motorist who, failing to exercise reasonable care on a public way, seriously injures or causes the death of a “vulnerable user,” provided the vulnerable user exercised reasonable care in using the public way. A driver who causes such injury or death would face a fine of up to $ 1,000. Reasonable care is the degree of care that a prudent and competent person engaged in the same endeavor would exercise under similar circumstances.

The bill applies to any public way, including a public highway, road, street, avenue, alley, driveway, parkway, or place, under the control of the state or any of its political subdivisions, dedicated, appropriated, or opened to public travel or other use.  Under the bill, vulnerable users include: 1. pedestrians; 2. highway workers; 3. bicyclists; 4. anyone riding or driving an animal (e. g. , driving a horse-drawn vehicle); 5. skaters, skateboarders, and roller bladers; 6. people driving or riding on a farm tractor; 7. people in wheelchairs or motorized chairs; and 8. blind people and their service animals.  The states of Washington, Delaware and Oregon have similar laws.  Efforts are underway to have Connecticut follow suit.

Danbury Is Safest CT City; Stamford, Waterbury Next

Danbury has been ranked as the safest city in Connecticut according to the annual publication, City Crime Rankings 2012-2013: Crime in Metropolitan America, released by CQ Press.  The city narrowly missed the top 100 safest cities in the U.S, ranking at #106 nationally, sandwiched between Aurora, IL and Peoria, AZ. The other ranked Connecticut cities were Stamford at #152 (just ahead of Santa Rosa, CA) and Waterbury at #218 (just ahead of Raleigh, NC), followed lower down the list by a close grouping of Bridgeport at #404 (just ahead of Buffalo, NY), Hartford at #411 (just ahead of Dayton, OH) and New Haven at #418 (just ahead of Little Rock, AK).

“Our city employs some of the finest Police Officers in our region.  The deep dedication that our Officers have for our community’s well-being is evident by this ranking,” said Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton.  We are proud of their work and we will continue focusing our efforts on maintaining exceptional public safety.”

The rankings of the safest and most dangerous cities and metropolitan areas are calculated using six basic crime categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft.  These categories have been used for determining city ratings since 1999.  The rankings include all cities of at least 75,000 residents that reported crime data to the FBI in the categories noted.

Among cities with 500,000 residents or more, the lowest crime rate rankings were in El Paso, TX;  San Diego, CA and New York City.  Cities with between 100,000 and 499,000 population were led by Naperville, IL; Amherst, NY and Irvine, CA.  Among cities with between 75,000 and 100,000 population, the lowest crime rates were in Fishers, IN; Johns Creek, GA and O'Fallon, MO (Newton, MA was fifth).

The nation's highest crime rates, according to the rankings, were in Detroit and Flint, MI and Camden, NJ.

The purpose of City Crime Rankings, according to the publisher, is to serve as a resource for researchers, city and law enforcement officials, and the community.

Pilot Proposed to Track High School Sports Injuries; Prospects in Doubt

Even with increased attention of late on the prevalence of concussions in youth sports, the Connecticut Athletic Trainers Association (CATA) says there is no reliable sports-related injury data compiled by secondary schools across Connecticut – for concussions or other injuries. They’d like to change that, and are urging legislators to  The goal is to “make recommendations to decrease the number” of injuries, and to quantify the need for appropriate medical coverage for secondary school student-athletes.

The proposal is opposed by the state Department of Public Health (DPH), citing a lack of funding for such a pilot.  In testimony earlier this month for the legislature’s Public Health Committee, Commissioner Jewel Mullen said “DPH does not have resources to conduct a pilot program solely for the purpose of studying injury rates in school athletic programs.”

She went on to offer that “the DPH can assist in providing support to statewide injury prevention initiatives that would address systems and environmental change to prevent injuries and disabilities to Connecticut residents.”

The department’s Office of Injury Prevention (OIP) “ceased to exist” in August 2010, after 17 years, when it was unsuccessful in obtaining federal funds from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  A five-year grant from CDC, which had supported operations of the OIP, expired in 2010.

The new pilot program being proposed by CATA and a coalition of statewide organizations would:

• Collect injury data from 20 schools over a 2-year period
• Identify injury rates, patterns and trends among high school sports participants in CT
• Assist with the development of evidence-based interventions to improve the health and safety of participants by lowering the number and/or severity of injuries and illnesses
• Provide evidence that may drive rule or policy change to ensure athlete safety
• Quantify the need for appropriate medical coverage for secondary school student –athletes

Thomas H. Trojian, Sports Medicine Fellowship Director at the UConn Health Center and a member of the Connecticut Concussion Task Force, described the plan as “vital to the health and safety of the children of the state of Connecticut.”  He told the committee that “due to the lack of a data collecting process, both physicians and those involved in these sports at a regulatory level cannot make fully educated decisions regarding interventions or rule changes to protect the health and safety of our student athletes in Connecticut.”

A multi-disciplinary group has begun collaborating, and supports the initiative.  Included are the Connecticut Athletic Trainer’s Association, Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, Connecticut State Medical Society, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

Nationally, there are 30 million high school students participating in organized sports, with more than 2 million sports-related injuries each year.  The Connecticut State Medical Society said the pilot program proposed in Connecticut is “the appropriate first step by putting in place the appropriate entities to study and report on incidence of injuries and concussions at the high school level.”  The organization added that “it has been estimated that up to 50% of injuries may be preventable or at least have the long-term consequences lessened if tracking and reporting occurred.”

In her testimony, Mullen noted that “unintentional injuries cause 25% of all deaths among Connecticut children 1 to 14 years of age and approximately half of all deaths among young persons between the ages of 15 to 24 year.”

Connecticut athletic trainers are licensed health care professionals who collaborate with physicians to optimize activity and participation of patients and clients.  Athletic training encompasses the prevention, assessment and intervention of emergency, acute and chronic medical conditions involving impairment, functional limitation and disabilities.

The National Athletic Trainers’ Association has formed a Youth Sports Safety Alliance, with more than 100 health care and sports organizations and parent activities involved.  Their goal:  to make America’s sports programs safer for young athletes.

The organization has developed a “Secondary School Student Athletes’ Bill of Rights,” and urges schools to adopt safety measures to protect students from injury or illness, particularly cardiac events, neurological injuries, environmentally-induced conditions and dietary/substance-induced conditions.

More Social Capital = Fewer Traffic Accidents, Research Study Finds

If you’ve never made a connection between traffic accidents and social capital, you’re probably not alone.  However, the Harvard Business Review (HBR) is reporting on research by Matthew G. Nagler of the City College of New York which found, perhaps surprisingly, that a 5% increase in the average level of agreement with the statement "most people are honest" within a U.S. state results in a decline in traffic fatalities in that state by about 11%. The “most people are honest” statement is a measure of trust in others that is an indicator of the state's level of social capital, sometimes defined as a willingness to engage in community activities. Less-conscientious people who reject civic engagement presumably drive more recklessly, HBR reported.

Nagler’s abstract for the research, to be published next month in the journal Economic Inquiry, explains that “evidence that social capital reduces traffic accidents and related death and injury, using data from a 10‐year panel of 48 U.S. states show that social capital has a statistically significant and sizable negative effect on crashes, traffic fatalities, serious traffic injuries, and pedestrian fatalities that holds up across a range of specifications.”

In case you were wondering, Nagler – an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics - did not want the research unduly impacted by snow-related accidents, so he used only data from summer months.  The research data used was from 1997 to 2006. His research paper is entitled “Does Social Capital Promote Safety on the Roads?”

The death toll in the U.S. from traffic accidents has been approximately 43,000 deaths annually, according to the report. Traffic fatalities remain a major cause of death at all ages and the leading cause for persons under the age of 44.

In the paper’s conclusion, Nagler notes that the results of his study “parallel prior findings with respect to social capital’s beneficial effects on economic growth and various health outcomes.”  In 2004, a study by three University of Connecticut researchers found that social capital is associated with decreased risk of hunger.“Households may have similarly limited financial or food resources, but households with higher levels of social capital are less likely to experience hunger,” they concluded.

Turning Guns Into Jewelry, CT Entrepreneur Helps Gun Buyback Program

Jessica Mindich is a Connecticut jewelry designer who has begun transforming recycled pistols, rifles and shotguns from Newark, N.J. – recovered in the city’s gun buyback program - into a line of fashionable bangle bracelets. The “Caliber Collection” began last fall with the melted down metal from 250 guns and bullet casings seized by the Newark Police Department. The result was a series of bracelets that embody the gun’s transformation from a destructive weapon to a powerful symbol of renewal. Jewelry for a Cause, Mindich’s business, donates 20 percent of the proceeds from each sale to the Gun Buyback Amnesty program in Newark, and recently presented a check for $20,000 to the city.

Each of the guns was processed and then released to Jewelry for a Cause by the Police Department of Newark.  Their serial numbers were tracked and are an important part of the design in each of the pieces of jewelry.  The metal from the guns and bullet casings are shredded by Sims Metal Management in Jersey City, according to The New York Times.

The name Caliber was chosen for its two meanings; the caliber of a gun and how the caliber of a city is raised when illegal guns are taken off its streets, the company's website explained.  As a reminder of their source, the Caliber cuffs and bangles are marked on the inside with the serial number from a recovered weapon and "Newark." Prices range from $150 from a basic steel cuff to $375 for brass bangle with a diamond, the Greenwich Time has reported.

A former lawyer who lives in Greenwich with her husband and two young sons, Mindich started the company in 2008. It donates 20 percent of all sales - on items including necklaces and jewelry kits for charitable fundraisers - to nonprofit organizations, local and national.

The newest initiative began, the Times reported, when Mindich ran into Newark Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, who attended Yale Law School with her husband, at a conference. They spoke about Newark’s no-questions-asked gun buyback program, which was founded in 2009 and gave up to $200 dollars for each weapon that was turned in.  The program needed an infusion of money – and the jewelry line was born, with the support of Booker and the city’s police chief.

Mindich is reportedly considering expanding the jewelry line to include other U.S. cities - no word of cities in her home state are among them.  Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford are among the Connecticut communities that regularly conduct gun buyback programs.

New Haven’s gun buyback program brought in 65 weapons and 63 weapons, including a Bushmaster .223 semiautomatic rifle similar to the one used in the Newtown shooting, on successive Saturdays last December, the New Haven Register and WTNH-TV reported. A gun buyback program that began in December in Bridgeport, Connecticut's largest city, has brought in more than 500 weapons to date, according to an Associated Press report.

Concussion Dangers Continue to Resonate in High School Sports

Nearly 450 Idaho prep athletes who competed last fall in football, soccer and volleyball were held out of games or missed practice because of confirmed or potential concussions, according to a new survey reported by the Associated Press. The survey was conducted by the Boise-based Idaho High School Activities Association, the governing body for all prep sports and high schools statewide. The survey was sent to all schools, but data compiled in the findings are based on responses from just 45 percent, or 68, schools from all competitive class levels.

Football was by far the leading sport for missed games or practices, with 307 football players missing action during the season last fall, according to a story published Friday in the Idaho Statesman. Girls soccer ranked second, followed by boys soccer and volleyball.

A recent study in Massachusetts found that 28 percent of high school athletes in the state have shown regression in their cognitive abilities after moderate exertion once returning to the playing field too soon following a concussion. The study highlighted that high school student-athletes who have suffered concussions are returning to the playing field before their brain has fully recovered.

The study, conducted by neuropsychologist Neal McGrath of Brookline, Mass., looked at 54 athletes in football, soccer and hockey who suffered head injuries. McGrath told the Boston Globe that the findings suggest more oversight is needed in regard to when athletes can return to the field following a concussion. The study is schedule to be published in the upcoming issue of Brain Injury.

The findings come on the heels of the Boston Globe’s findings last October that almost 3,000 students in Massachusetts schools suffered concussions while playing sports during the 2011-12 school year.

Connecticut was one of the first states in the nation to adopt a concussion law,

following Oregon and Washington, which implemented similar statutes in 2009. Connecticut's concussion law was signed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell on May 19, 2010 and became effective July 1, 2010. The law is in place to prevent student-athletes from participating in games after suffering head injuries.  Main provisions include:

• All coaches holding a coaching permit issued by the State Board of Education are required to take a three-hour concussion training course

• Annually, coaches are expected to review new information provided by the State Board of Education

• Every five years after the initial training, coaches must complete a refresher course

• Any athlete who exhibits signs or symptoms of a concussion must be removed from play

• Athletes will not be permitted to return to play until they have received written medical clearance from a qualified medical provider

• Coaching permits may be revoked if coaches are in violation of these provisions

Connecticut state law requires all coaches to take a concussion management course prior to the start of their season.

The web site Masters in Health Care has prepared an extensive infographic with nationwide data highlighting the prevalence of concussions and symptoms to keep a watchful eye for.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a web page with information about concussions and injury prevention.  Heads Up: Concussion in Youth Sports is a free, online course available to coaches, parents, and others helping to keep athletes safe from concussion.

It features interviews with leading experts, dynamic graphics and interactive exercises, and compelling storytelling to help recognize a concussion and know how to respond.

Hartford’s Institute of Living Plans Research into Schizophrenia and Autism Spectrum Disorders

Last month’s tragic killing of 20 children and 6 educators at a Newtown elementary school quickly generated speculation about possible links between mental illness and autism spectrum disorder, as questions about the gunman's medical history drew attention.  Although connections between the conditions were generally dismissed as media coverage proceeded, with distinctions being made by medical professionals and others,  a scientific research study into whether a relationship exists is apparently set to get underway in Connecticut. Writing in the Autumn 2012 edition of Rounds, the quarterly magazine of Hartford Hospital, Michal Assaf, M.D., director of the Autism and Functional Mapping Laboratory at the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center at the Institute of Living, says that “traditionally considered separate diagnoses, both schizophrenia and an autism spectrum disorder involve core social and communication deficits.  Not much is known, however, about exactly how each neurodevelopmental disorder disrupts the brain or how much they may overlap.”

“Schizophrenia and ASD are thought of as separate entities based on clinical symptoms, age of onset and the course of the illness,” says Dr. Assaf, who also is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Yale University School of Medicine.   “Recent evidence suggests a potential overlap.”

“Looking beyond clinical symptoms to the biological and genetic basis of these apparently different illnesses may someday lead to new treatments,” Assaf suggested in the article published prior to the Newtown killings.

She recently received a $2.9 million research grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to study social cognition and brain function in schizophrenia and ASD.  The study will directly compare a matched group of schizophrenia and ASD patients using a battery of social assessment tools and several neuro-imaging tasks that assess different aspects of social cognition.

Noting the commonly recognized distinctions, Dr. Assaf said that “Schizophrenia is a psychotic illness that typically appears in early adulthood.  In contrast, children with ASD show core deficits in social and communication skills – typically without psychotic symptoms – before age three.”

The Institute of Living has been seeking individuals to participate in the research study.  The Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center at the Institute of Living, part of Hartford Healthcare, was founded in 2001. The mission of the Center is to be at the forefront of research in psychiatric and psychological disorders, in particular schizophrenia.

Newtown Was Rated #4 Town Among Peers, with Lowest Crime Rate

When Connecticut magazine last ranked Connecticut’s towns and cities on their quality of life, Newtown placed fourth overall among 26 communities with between 25,000 and 50,000 residents. Breaking down the individual categories in the rating, Newtown placed first with the lowest crime rate, third in the vibrancy of its economy, and sixth in the quality of education, in data compiled for the 2011 rating.

The top eight communities were Westport, Farmington, Glastonbury, Newtown, Cheshire, Wallingford, Mansfield and New Milford. The categories included were education, crime, economy, cost, and leisure.

The crime category is based on major crimes (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor-vehicle theft) committed in 2007, 2008 and 2009 per 1,000 population, using figures available from the state Department of Public Safety.  The education category combines five elements: the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Mastery Test results for 4th, 6th and 7th grades; results of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT); local SAT scores for 2008, 2009 and 2010, and the percentage of 2010 public high school graduates who went on to two- or four-year colleges. Test scores were weighted more heavily.

The strength of the local economy was determined by the 2011 Public Investment Community score, compiled by the Office of Policy and Management, which rates all Connecticut towns under a formula based on population, per capita income, the adjusted equalized grand list per capita, the unemployment rate, the equalized mill rate and per capita aid to children.

Newtown was in the middle of the pack in leisure/culture, placing 13^th, and among the lowest in cost of living, placing 25^th out of 26 communities evaluated. The cost of living category weighs most heavily the median price of a single-family house purchased in the first six months of 2011.   Leisure includes local library expenditures per capita in 2010, the number of theaters, museums, festivals, concert venues, historic sites, colleges and universities, golf courses, local newspapers, radio stations, state parks and forests, voter turnout in the 2008 election and good local restaurants.