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Showing posts from May, 2019

New Council Takes Office, with Education as Top Priority

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Council members congratulate Enfield’s new mayor, Gina Cekala, at the Town Council’s Nov. 10, 2025 meeting. From left are Republicans Lori Unghire and Marie Pyznar, and joining by video, State Rep. Carol Hall. Democrats, from left, are Cynthia Mangini, Bob Cressotti, Mayor Gina Cekala, Deputy Mayor and State Rep. John Santanella, Linda Allegro, Maya Nicole Matthews, Aaron Thomas, and Zach Zannoni. The new Enfield Town Council took office Monday night, six days after a landslide Democratic victory that unseated the Republican majority, opening its term with a commitment to education funding and a promise of unity. Gina Cekala, an attorney and seven-term councilmember, was unanimously elected mayor after being nominated by Councilmember newcomer Maya Nicole Matthews, who called the moment “a turning point” for Enfield and praised women’s leadership in local government. “People are tired of drama and division,” Matthews said. “Women in Enfield turned out to vote in record numbers, and b...

The three phases of climate change conversion

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Bushnell Park, Hartford, May, 2019 Unless you live on the shore, climate change in Connecticut isn't all that noticeable. Spring still seems like a spring. A little wetter, perhaps, but people don't associate an increase in precipitation with a changing climate. The most noticeable impact may winter's polar vortex. Polar air that is otherwise blocked off by the jet stream breaks free and plunges south. But our single digit cold is nothing like what the people in the Midwest experience. Most people don't consider these low temperatures far outside the usual. But awareness that something is changing is arriving, slowly still. The average person who truly understands what's happening goes through a life-altering climate change conversion that comes in three phases. First, they may be aware of the issue, recognize it's something of problem, and generally agree on the need to end use of fossil fuels. They may even know what the Keeling Curve is. But ...

Pix: Hats in Hartford

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Hartford CT, May, 2019. Random street photo. 

Hartford, Connecticut, scene, May 4, 2019

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