Things of import that occurred this week, that I had no place for anywhere else:

Anonymous sources - via Newsday and the LNGLawBlog - suggest that New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer may be predisposed to approving Broadwater. I hope not.

Talking Broadwater Blues: Colin McEnroe has me on his radio showon 1080AM earlier this week to discuss Fire Island, as he calls the floating gas barge.

You can't please all the people: Concerned citizen Beverly Francis of North Haven scribed a letter to the Advocate this week about my Broadwater coverage.

Michael Marciano over at the Winsted Journal has written another follow up on this never-ending arrest.

The editorial board down at the New London Day again called for the state to "Withdraw the Charges." (h/t Cool Justice)

Ken Dixon, the CT Post's go-to guy at the Capitol, suggests Gov. Rell could spend some of her political capital by making me Freedom of Information Commissioner. Thanks, but let me finish law school first.

Earlier in the week, the CT Post uncovered a huge story - that my lawyer and I have different opinions. Go figure.

And my attorney Norm Pattis' subsequent post "Dear Snotty Bitch, Back Off" has earned some comments.

Drinking Liberally in New Milford spotted a Republican Al-Qaeda operative in our midst.

And Stan Simpson seems unable to grasp the concept that to stop the prison boom, we need to change the drug laws.

Link...

State Sen. Eric Coleman (D-Hartford-2) has proposed or co-sponsored 33 bills so far this session. His mass mail piece, aka franking,sent out at our taxpayer expense this week, focuses on two main issues: Health Care and Energy.

Now, when isn't a photo of a stethoscope in a trusting hand with the headline "Increasing Access to Affordable, Quality Healthcare" a sure vote getter? He wants to "promote preventive care" and "Expand HUSKY coverage." Who doesn't? Tell me how we pay for it, Senator.

And it's a safe bet to talk to inform constituents about "Smart, Affordable Energy for Today and Tomorrow." Sadly, Sen. Coleman avoids any talk about reducing our reliance on fossil fuels or what he is doing as a representative to work towards a solution.

But, hey, it's a free campaign ad. I prefer instead to go straight to the source, and look at the 31 other measures he is involved in.

Link...

My neighbor's Sports Illustrated arrived yesterday with a picture of Super Bowl victor Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts on the cover.

I love the photography in SI. The high quality images always tell stories from interesting angles, especially the three-page spread in the front of the book.

But something struck me yesterday as I inspected this double truck Canon ad of all 11 SI shooters at the Super Bowl: they are all white. Yet most of the people they photographed in that game were black.

Yet for the first time in NFL history, both coaches in the big game were black. Thus, it is apparently easier for an African-American person to win the Vince Lombardi trophy as a coach than it is to be an African-American and have your photos of that coach be published in the nation's leading weekly sports magazine.

Link...

CONTACT:
Christine Tatum, President, (303) 881-8702
Beth King, Communications Manager, (317) 927-8000, ext. 211

link to SPJ's release

The Society of Professional Journalists, which works to improve and protect journalism, urges Connecticut law enforcement to drop its charges against Ken Krayeske, who was arrested while trying to take pictures of a public event while standing in a public place.

Krayeske, an independent journalist, was arrested Jan. 3 during the inaugural parade of Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell. He was standing on a street median when officers stopped him.

Krayeske, who is charged with breach of peace and interfering with an officer, is scheduled to appear in court March 2.

“It’s not too late for Connecticut police to stop this fiasco and embarrassment to law enforcement,” said SPJ’s National President Christine Tatum, an assistant business editor at The Denver Post. “Police officers should not be faulted for stopping Mr. Krayeske and inquiring about his actions if they believed he may have been a threat to the governor. But it shouldn’t have taken almost 12 hours and a trip to a police station for officers to determine that a man who identified himself as a journalist and who was carrying a knapsack containing little more than his camera meant no harm to Gov. Rell.”

Too much debate has focused on whether Krayeske, who has worked on political campaigns and urged political activism on his Web site, was acting as a journalist at the time of his detainment. Was he acting as a journalist? It doesn’t matter. Krayeske was acting as a citizen of the United States and exercising the First Amendment rights guaranteed to everyone in this country.

Link...

If the racial discrimination and harassment alleged by Connecticut Department of Transportation employee Daphne McKinney in a recently filed lawsuit really occurred, one understands why ConnDOT is among the worst DOTs in the country.

And if what McKinney, who is black, claimed in her Dec. 26, 2006 lawsuit against the DOT is true, from the office assaults to the constant haranguing, then Gov. M. Jodi Rell must change the culture of DOT before she brings in those 200 new employees she proposed hiring in her budget address last week.

Link...

W ay back, last fall, when Thornton for Governor ruled my existence, a crew of Green campaigners joined a team of Trinity College students for the Connecticut River Watershed Council's 10th annual Source to Sea cleanup at the Park River over by New Britain Avenue in West Hartford.

I wrote a column about it way back when, but never really followed up and described what we ended up doing.

In my mailbox today, I saw the CRWC's newsletter detailing the trash hauled from the mighty Connecticut by 1,685 volunteers at 68 locations from northern Vermont to southern Connecticut.

Yikes is all you can really say when you read the list.

Link...

J ust north of Hartford in Windsor, lives Doug Hardy, an old friend and colleague. An editor by trade, Doug weighed in on the journalist/not-real-journalist debate.

His articulation, run as a letter in the print CT Post, made it online via transcription at My Left Nutmeg and cross posted at Cool Justice. The CT Post won't put its letters to the editor online.

Then the always formidable CTBlogger ran with the above video. He borrowed from the later incarnation of Fleetwood Mac for the title, "Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies." As always, his blog contextualizes the video, framing it with the backstory.

T he New Haven Advocate actually posted the sidebar I wrote on Broadwater. It's a series of short personality profiles on of some of the major players in the story: John Hritcko, the veep of Shell US gas and oil; Richard Sheirer of Giuliani Partners; Gary Hale, attorney and lobbyist for Halloran & Sage and Leah Schmalz of Save the Sound and Adrienne Esposito from New York's Citizens' Campaign for the Environment.

I really like how it came out. In print, it includes the photos of all of the people.

C lick over to the New Haven Advocate or the Fairfield County Weekly and check out my first cover photo and story in the New Mass Media chain in about eight years.