This New England

Connecticut Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal still wants to ban smoking at Connecticut's two mega-casinos -- Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun.

Given the way the addictions of smoking, drinking and gambling reinforce each other, this could be a financial disaster for the joints, already reeling from the recession -- and thus for the state, which gets vast amounts of money out of them. It also suffering from the hedge funders' and other Wall Street types' woes in Fairfield County.

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As a nifty story by Karen Jeffrey in The Cape Cod Times made clear Wedesnday, it's hard to keep a hungry animal away from a good meal.

The article detailed how a young female harbor seal traveled two miles from Cape Cod Bay to the Sandwich Hatchery, where she gorged on trout. To get there, she followed a creek that goes under a golf course and Route 6A (the Patti Page Highway!) and then some woods before reaching nirvana.

She probably wouldn't have made it alive to the hatchery during tourist season, but then perhaps she'd be in Nova Scotia at her summer place.

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They really want a big wind farm. The selectmen of the western Maine town of Carrabassett Valley seek to have it annex part of Redington Township to get land to set up a community wind farm. Harley Lee, of Endless Energy of Yarmouth, wants to put up 30 turbines on the mountains there.

The state and and local voters must approve the project, which Mr. Lee has been fighting for for some time. (I have met with him. He is quietly persistent, with an innocent's trust in the public's enlightened self-interest.)

But the extremity of Maine's power problems is sinking in, and the project might now have its best chance ever. Perhaps some of the skiiers might complain of having to look at the turbines, or perhaps they'd be happy that local energy costs can be reduced by the project. Indeed, area ski areas could save millions and be able to lower their charges and thus draw more customers. Ski areas are alarmingly heavy energy users. (They also suck up a lot of water for snow makers.)

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Dartmouth College, the University of New Hampshire and University of Wisconsin are collaborating on new polar research, reports the Associated Press. A major aim is to get new data about climate change in the Arctic.

Not many signs yet of global warming in Hanover, Durham or Madison. In the old days, by the way, Dartmouth generally had winning hockey teams because officials, before the days of ice-creating equipment, could just open the windows of their rink building and keep the ice there for months, unlike in tropical southern New England. Great competitive edge.

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Good news for newspapers: Journal Register Co., which tends to strip its assets down to corpses, will sell two of its daily newspapers in Connecticut, less than two weeks before its deadline to shut down the publications. The papers are the Herald of New Britain and The Bristol Press. Other papers, including The New York Times, have made much of their plight.

Hurray for Central Connecticut Communications, which has agreed to buy and keep going the two dailies, which local citizens very much support. And the deal would avoid the dubious move of the state granting newspapers special financial aid to stay in business, thus making them beholden to politicians in ways not anticipated by the authors of the First Amendment.

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Important event for New Englanders below

UPDATED NEWS RELEASE---URGENT

Open to Public
Senator Chris Dodd, State Senate President Don Williams, Former Congressman Rob Simmons, California High Speed Rail Godfather Rod Diridon, and Keynoter Rep. David McCluskey converge on New London for Major BiPartisan Transportation Initiative

The Public is invited. Contact: Molly McKay 860-536-5480 or register via email: mollymckay@nationalcorridors.org (or on line at www.nationalcorridors.org)

The National Corridors Initiative and
of Connecticut
And The Sierra Club of Connecticut Present...
"The Need for Speed"
Supporting Better Rail Service New London -NYC
Boston/Springfield/Providence and Beyond!
January 9

NEW LONDON, CT --- Many of the region's, and some of the nation's, leaders in politics and transportation, including Senator Chris Dodd, State Senate President Don Williams, Former Congressman Rob Simmons, California High Speed Rail Godfather Rod Diridon, and Keynoter Rep. David McCluskey are converging on New London for a Major BiPartisan Transportation Initiative. "The Need For Speed," Friday January 9 at the Radisson Hotel in New London.

The assembly will work together to develop a message to President-elect Obama, and to the region's Governors, on the urgent need for improved transportation systems in the region, especially regarding the long-neglected rail system which, despite years of disuse, is largely intact, but which bureaucratically driven "studies" are needlessly delaying.
State Senate President Don Williams will give the opening speech at 10:05 a.m. and U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, who will be returning from Washington, DC that afternoon, will arrive to give the closing talk about 3:30 p.m. Keynoter David McCluskey will speak following the opening remarks by Sen. Williams

The event is open to the public, with registration at 9 a.m. or in advance to mollymckay@nationalcorridors.org; (860-536-5480) a $25 registration fee is required to cover luncheon costs. It is sponsored by the Sierra Club of Connecticut and the National Corridors Initiative,

"This forum will focus on the rail and transit projects in the Northeast that are 'low-hanging-fruit,' and what we can do to help move them forward," stated conference chair Molly McKay of the Sierra Club "We will explore how highways and rail are funded and how the current system has crippled transportation in America. There is opportunity NOW with a stimulus package being put together in Washington to demand action from our delegation by using that funding to improve and expand rail and transit systems."

Keynoted by CT State Rep. David McCluskey of West Hartford and featuring California High Speed Rail Authority Chair Emeritus Rod Diridon from San Jose, California, former Congressman Rob Simmons (R-CT) and a dozen others, the event is designed to spark the debate over better commuter rail service along the Shoreline region between New Haven and Boston, and from the Shoreline up into New England cities and towns that are now accessible only by automobile, such as Norwich, Willimantic, Putnam and Worcester.

In particular, the Forum will examine both organizational, financial, and technological solutions to develop a better transportation system; for example, new European technology which permits one-seat-ride passenger service over electrified and non-electrified lines will be introduced to an American audience at New London, based on one speaker's recent trip to Europe.

Speakers will include:

Asst. Maj. Leader David McCluskey; United States Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT); Matt Nemerson Connecticut Technology Council; Everett Stuart, The Sierra Club of Rhode Island and the RI Assn of Railroad Passengers; CA High Speed Rail Chair Rod Diridon; CLF of New Hampshire's Tom Irwin; APT President Richard Arena; NCI President Jim RePass; North-South Rail Link Chair and former Rep. John Businger; CT State Senate Pres. Don Williams; former Congressman Rob Simmons; Connecticut Department of Transportation's Deputy Commissioner Al Martin, Shore Line East manager Peter Richter; CT Transit's Karen Burnaska; TrainRiders NE President Wayne Davis; and National Association of Rail Passengers directors Al Papp and David Peter Alan.

Co-sponsors include: the Connecticut League of Women Voters, League of Women Voters of Southeastern Connecticut, New London Landmarks, New London Main Street, Conservation Law Foundation, Tri-State Transportation Campaign, and the CT Citizens Transportation Lobby.

The National Corridors Initiative
And The Sierra Club of Connecticut Present...

The Need for Speed
Via Better Regional Commuter Rail Service New London -NYC, Worcester, and Boston/Springfield/Providence and Beyond!

AGENDA

The Radisson Hotel, Governor Winthrop Boulevard, New London, CT
Friday, January 9, 2009, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. $25.00 Registration Fee
9 a.m. Registration
10 a.m. Opening Remarks: Molly McKay, Sierra Club, Conference Chair
10:05 a.m. State Senate President Don Williams
10:20 a.m. Keynote Address: State Rep. David McCluskey (D-West Hartford)
10:40 a.m. Special Guest Speaker: California High Speed Rail Chair Rod Diridon
11:10 a.m. Former Congressman Rob Simmons (R-CT) The Washington View
11:30 The Dollar Tax: Matt Nemerson, Connecticut Technology Council

11:50 Break and lunch
Luncheon Speakers: Jim RePass, President, NCI;
Fmr. State Rep. John Businger, North-South Rail Link:
1 p.m. Panel A: Making Regional Commuter Rail Happen
New England: Tom Irwin, CLF of New Hampshire, Moderator
• Everett Stuart, NARP, RI Commuter Rail
• Peter Richter, ConnDOT: Shore Line East
• Karen Burnaska, CT Transit
• ConnDOT, Deputy Commissioner Al Martin
2:00 p.m. Panel B: Access to the Region's Core
Rick Arena, President, APT, moderator
• Al Papp, Lackawanna Coalition, NARP
• David Peter Alan, Lackawanna Coalition, NARP

3:15 How Maine Did It: Wayne Davis, President, TrainRiders Northeast
3:45 United States Senator Chris Dodd, National Infrastructure Bank

4:00 Conference Resolution: A Letter to the President-elect and NE's Governors
4:15 Adjourn

Conference Resolution: "The Need For Speed"

January 9, 2009
To Be Sent To President-elect Barack Obama
Via Obama Transportation Transition Team Leader Mortimer L. Downey
And to all New England/Northeastern Governors
Via Charles Tretter, Executive Director, The New England Governors Conference

WHEREAS...

...the nation's congested and broken transportation system must be restructured, rebuilt and rebalanced so that America is once again able to compete in world markets;

...the very oldest infrastructure in America is in New England and the Northeast;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED...

...that we, citizens of New England and the Northeast gathered in conference today January 9, 2009 in New London, Connecticut, do hereby respectfully ask President-elect Barack Obama to lead this country back to strength and prosperity by ordering the aggressive rebuilding of our region's and our nation's railroad lines, both freight and passenger, intercity as well as commuter; and,

...that, with the greatest possible speed, we work together to create innovative financial mechanisms, such as the National Infrastructure Bank proposed by Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), self-funding transportation Corridors that recapture a portion of the value created by transportation investments as proposed by the National Corridors Initiative, and other innovative ideas and methods such as "Interstate II", the steel rail "Interstate" proposed by former Federal Railroad Administrator Gilbert Carmichael, all of which will be needed to fix broken bridges and potholed highways, re-integrate rail, air service, and all of the transportation modes into a seamless, efficient system, and get this country moving again.

 Tags  Bristol Press Cape Cod Times Carrabassett Valley Dartmouth College Endless Energy Foxwoods harbor seal Harley Lee Journal Register Mohegan Sun National Corridors Initiative New Britain Richard Blumenthal

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