Chris Perone-D Norwalk co-sponsored a bill that would allows state treasurer Denise Nappier to buy pension obligation bonds instead of higher interest rate options. The current Connecticut Teachers Retirement Fund stands at a $6.9 billion unfunded liability, or as we prefer to say, deficit. All the talk about the budget surplus is in fact false, since you can’t really ignore unfunded liabilities in real life. At least according to GAAP. From the Perone press release:

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I have happily worked with the IFAI for many years. Despite some severe budget cuts, the IFAI once again has created another two week cultural festival worth checking out. There are many free events in addition to the fantastic assortment of theater and music performances. New Haven has much to offer in the way of cultural attractions. Below is a sampling:

Giselle

Featuring Bolshoi star and
Artistic Director Nina Ananiashvili

Direct from Tbilisi
The State Ballet of Georgia

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When I read this article, the first thing that came to my mind was that this is the famous “cement silted in railroad culvert” location. So I scanned the article for mention. Instead:

“The DOT tells us that they plan to … start construction in 2010. They’re going to make that underpass from two lanes to four lanes,” said Harold F. Alvord, director of public works for the city. “We want to improve the intersection at Fort Point Street and widen the road. We need to start looking at that now, so if there are some property acquisition issues, we’ve got time to (resolve) them.”

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According to Matt “Mad Max” Breslow, the latest revision of the ethics code will include an independent ethics panel.

Coffey said he’ll recommend strengthening the educational component in the current draft code by asking the new ethics commission to host yearly discussions with officials about its role, the ethics code and any new developments that arise.

He’ll also propose a provision barring retaliation against whistleblowers who file ethics complaints and a restriction on former elected officials taking jobs with the city within one year of leaving office.

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The bank robber, Willie Sutton, famously said when asked why he robbed banks, “that’s where the money was.” And thus the headlines in the local papers recently have been reporting dutifully that the banks are indeed where the robbers are going. Five this year. Notably five in the last 40 days. Really notably 2 yesterday.

There’ll be the usual platititudes, and in John Nickerson’s article there is, “It reflects a trend statewide and nationwide” Sgt. David O’Conner said to Nickerson.

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