Waste reclamation facility proposed for North Haven site

“NORTH HAVEN — Two local businessmen hope to bring a large waste reclamation facility to North Haven.

Real estate attorney Bill Gambardella and Andy Anastasio, owner of Anastasio Trucking, want to build AB Eco Park on 90 acres located off Universal Drive near Target. It would include areas to sort and clean glass, plastic and metal to then sell and recycle; sort out organic waste and capture greenhouse gasses; and put wet trash in air-tight vaults to dry and decontaminate.

Gambardella said the facility would also take waste and make resource-derived fuel for electricity, an alternative to fossil fuels. Gambardella is a partner with Gambardella, Cipriano, Gottlieb & Hathaway PC and a former member of the state House of Representatives.” . . . .

Source: Waste reclamation facility proposed for North Haven site

What is a Connecticut Registered Agent?

A Connecticut registered agent serves as an intermediary between a Connecticut corporation, Limited Liability Company (LLC), or Limited Partnership (LP) and the state, to receive service of process and other official notices and documents. If your business ever gets sued, your Connecticut registered agent is supposed to notify your business in a timely manner.

We will go over what the registered agent is, their job duties, the requirements to be one, and more.

Source: What is a Connecticut Registered Agent?

Anti-abortion leader says Bob Stefanowski ‘has heartened pro-life voters’

“Republican Bob Stefanowski’s carefully worded position on abortion won plaudits Thursday from an anti-abortion leader who sees common ground with a Connecticut gubernatorial nominee for the first time in decades.

Peter Wolfgang, the president of the Family Institute of Connecticut, was responding to a statement from Stefanowski indicating support for adding a parental notification provision to a Connecticut abortion rights law that he otherwise would not attempt to change.

“It has heartened pro-life voters. We know that Bob is not 100% with us. We’ve always suspected it. And now we know it for sure,” Wolfgang said. “But what we also know is where he does have common ground with us.”

Stefanowski, who was nominated by Republicans over the weekend for a rematch with Gov. Ned Lamont, has positioned himself to the right of the Democratic governor on abortion while not opposing Connecticut’s 32-year-old law codifying the tenets of Roe v. Wade.

His approach will test whether a candidate can appeal to social conservatives, who Wolfgang has long complained have been marginalized by the Connecticut Republican establishment, without losing more voters who support abortion rights.”

Source: Anti-abortion leader says Bob Stefanowski ‘has heartened pro-life voters’

Despite Supreme Court news, Bob Stefanowski is focused on inflation | Connecticut Public

” “I’ll continue to do everything I can to ensure Connecticut continues to lead the way, and I’ll keep working collaboratively with governors across the nation to ensure we’re doing everything we can as states to reduce carbon pollution,” Lamont said. “The climate crisis requires a national strategy, and federal inaction is unacceptable. I urge Congress to enact meaningful legislation to avert this crisis.”

Stefanowski has spoken carefully about climate change, suggesting opposition to any policy that could increase the cost of fuel or electricity.”

Source: Despite Supreme Court news, Bob Stefanowski is focused on inflation | Connecticut Public

Hugh Bailey: Stefanowski’s terrible answer on abortion rights

“It’s no secret that Republicans have to walk a tightrope in a place like Connecticut. It’s been 16 years since the state has put any of them in statewide or federal office, and they’re deeply outnumbered in voter registration.

And to be fair, nearly every state politician’s public reaction to the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade focused on Connecticut law, where the right to an abortion is protected. But there was something uniquely tone deaf in gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski’s statement, which managed to hit every wrong note possible.

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling has absolutely no impact on Connecticut residents,” Stefanowski said June 24. That’s probably why rallies and marches were held around the state protesting the decision — people often take to the streets over nothing.”

Source: Hugh Bailey: Stefanowski’s terrible answer on abortion rights

What happened when I tried to become a substitute teacher in Hamden CT | by Makaela Kingsley | Jan, 2022 | Medium

What happened when I tried to become a substitute teacher

In December 2021, it became clear that the latest COVID-19 variant — omicron — would impact schools after the holiday break. Thanks to the widespread accessibility of vaccines, the mild nature of omicron infections, and nearly two years of protocols that limit COVID transmissions inside schools remarkably well, I was not worried about sending my kids — a 7th grader and 10th grader — to their large public schools in our 60,000-person Connecticut town. Even more importantly, they were not worried. They wanted to go back to school.

We all knew, though, that opening schools would require having enough grown-ups — in all buildings, most classrooms, many periods, every day. And clearly omicron wasn’t going to let that happen. Teachers, paraprofessionals, aides, administrators, custodians, security officers, and all the other essential adults in the school community would have to take days off for a variety of reasons — symptomatic COVID cases, asymptomatic COVID cases, symptoms that were caused by something other than COVID, quarantined kids or other family members, not to mention PTO for dentist appointments, out-of-town weddings, personal days, and all the other relics of pre-pandemic life.

Source: What happened when I tried to become a substitute teacher | by Makaela Kingsley | Jan, 2022 | Medium

‘Self-confident yet selfless’: Yale’s David Swensen dies at 67 | YaleNews

“. . . . No fewer than 15 former members of Swensen’s team have gone on to lead investment offices at other institutions, including, at various times, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, the University of Pennsylvania, the Rockefeller Foundation, Wesleyan University, and Bowdoin College. Some two-thirds of them are women. Smith College recently announced that it had hired Swensen protégé Lisa Howie ’00 B.S., ’08 M.B.A. as its first chief investment officer.

“Astonishingly, of the 15 top-ranked endowments based on performance over the past 10 years, six are managed by Yale Investments Office alumni,” said Takahashi, who served as senior director in the Yale Investments Office for 33 years. (He is now the founder and executive director of the Carbon Containment Lab at Yale School of the Environment.)

Teaching was important to Swensen, both in the classroom and in the Investments Office. On Monday, he and Takahashi taught the last spring semester session of their celebrated seminar course, “Investment Analysis.” Swensen, an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, led discussion of a new case study.

After co-teaching the course for more than two decades, Takahashi said, the pair could “finish each other’s sentences.”

In 2014, when the university presented Swensen with an honorary degree, Polak added two extra words to the formal tribute: “and teacher.”

“He was so happy about that,” Polak said. “For years to come he’d remind me that we added those two words.”

Former Vassar College President Catharine B. “Cappy” Hill ’85 Ph.D., the senior trustee of the Yale Board of Trustees, called Swensen “a consummate teacher and university citizen.”

His obvious love for and commitment to Yale contributed to the university in many ways, and will be remembered and valued by all [who knew] him.

catharine b. hill ’85 ph.d.

“All those who have passed through the investment office, engaged with him through the investment committee of the university, or taken one of his courses have benefited from his enthusiasm for educating and mentoring others. His obvious love for and commitment to Yale contributed to the university in many ways, and will be remembered and valued by all those who had the good fortune to know him.”

Through two books Swensen wrote — “Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment” and “Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment” — he also helped the broader investment community learn his way of thinking.

Source: ‘Self-confident yet selfless’: Yale’s David Swensen dies at 67 | YaleNews

Opinion: What has happened to Hamden? – By Ann M. Altman – New Haven Register

“In 1974, heavily pregnant, I moved to Whitneyville from New Haven. Hamden seemed a natural place for Yale faculty to raise a family, with excellent schools and public services and, in the 1980s and 1990s, it didn’t disappoint.

The elementary school, middle school and high school provided a wonderful education to both my children. My son, having completed the high school curriculum, was able to take courses at Yale University during his senior year, with the bill picked up by the Board of Education. My daughter benefited from the extraordinary theater program, helping to teach classes for special education students and winning ensemble prizes at the state drama competition. As she said on one such occasion, “When I saw that all the judges were crying, I knew we’d won.”

Now, decades later, what has happened to Hamden? It is still outstanding, first in its class in Connecticut but, unfortunately, not because of its schools and public services but because it has the highest per capita debt of all the 169 towns in the state.

According to the municipal finance indicators published recently by the state’s Office of Policy and Management, every man, woman and child in Hamden is in debt to the tune of $18,368.

To give you an idea what that means, consider that the per capita debt in Bridgeport is $13,776 and in Hartford it is $11,700. Even New Haven, the second on the list, only has a per capita debt of $15,595.

How do the financial markets view Hamden’s remarkable record of first- (or worst-) in-state? Moody’s has lowered Hamden’s bond rating to Baa3, one grade above “junk,” adjudging the town among the bottom three in Connecticut.

To meet the town’s financial obligations, taxes on homeowners have been raised exorbitantly, with the mil rate now approaching 50. In addition, homeowners have to pay separately for treatment of their wastewater, a service that was included in taxes paid in the 1980s and 90s.

Source: Opinion: What has happened to Hamden? – New Haven Register

Editorial: CT right to reconsider future power needs – New Haven Register

“It hasn’t emerged as a major issue in the pending state legislative session, but a speech this month from Katie Dykes, the state’s commissioner of energy and environmental protection, could be a precursor to a major change on how the state procures its power supply.

As in many states, Connecticut talks a good game when it comes to climate change, and has enacted policies that aim to limit emissions while preparing resilience plans for coastal communities that are likely to be the hardest hit by rising global temperatures. But the state also continues to follow old policies that exacerbate the problem, whether by encouraging suburban sprawl by focusing transit plans on highways or by continuing to build power plants that rely on fossil fuels.

This is a pressing issue. A recently opened power plant in Oxford can generate up to 800 megawatts of electricity, but it relies on burning natural gas. Another gas plant underway in Bridgeport will be smaller but also work against the state’s long-term goals of limiting greenhouse gas emissions. And an approved but as-yet-unbuilt natural gas plant in Killingly has drawn protests from around the state, with opponents saying the project is outdated and unnecessary.

Dykes appears to agree, which is striking given that DEEP, under previous leadership, approved the plant.

Natural gas has been held up by many officials as a necessary improvement from dirtier coal and oil, but while the emissions from newer plants are not as severe as the older facilities they are replacing, the overall impact of natural gas is far from benign. From the hydraulic fracturing that frees it from under the ground to inevitable leakage along the way, natural gas may on balance be just as harmful in the long term as coal and oil. Any real move forward on limiting emissions must reckon with the harms of natural gas power plants.

Dykes said a big part of the problem lies with ISO New England, which oversees the regional power grid and holds auctions for new power generation. The facilities still need to be approved by local and state governments.

Source: Editorial: CT right to reconsider future power needs – New Haven Register

Hamden’s Credit Rating Downgraded By Moody’s | Hamden, CT Patch

HAMDEN, CT — Moody’s Investors Service once again downgraded Hamden’s bond rating. It’s new rating is Baa3 from Baa2 and Moody’s outlook remains negative for the city’s foreseeable financial future.

“The downgrade to Baa3 reflects the town’s very narrow financial position, which will remain challenged in coming years due to a high equalized tax rate and high, and rising, fixed costs,” Moody’s said in its analysis. “The town’s long-term liabilities are high, largely due to years of under-funding pension liabilities, including in fiscal 2019.”

The ratings function much like a consumer’s credit rating. Generally higher ratings come with lower borrowing interest rates as the risk of defaulting on loans is lower.

Baa3 is Moody’s lowest investment grade bond rating. Anything below that Moody’s considers more of a speculative investment that carries more default risk.

Source: Hamden’s Credit Rating Downgraded By Moody’s | Hamden, CT Patch