The annual report examines national water quality and beach closings data for 2010, breaking down the information state-by-state and beach-by-beach. There were 143 beach closings and advisories in Connecticut in 2010, a 32 percent increase from 2009.

“The number of beach closures and advisory days in Connecticut rose significantly last year and we tumbled to 24th in the nation for the number of bacteria tests exceeding national beach standards,” said Leah Schmalz, director of legal and legislative affairs for Save the Sound.

  The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 213 counties directly impacted by drought as disasters and those, along with the remaining 41 contiguous counties, can now qualify for federal financial aid. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples says as bad as things are, they can get worse. Read more here: Disaster Strikes Texas | National
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The first commercial bullet train set off from Beijing South Railway Station on the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, in Beijing, capital of China, June 30, 2011. The 1,318-kilometer railway, starting from Beijing and ending at Shanghai, opened to traffic on Thursday, cutting the single-way time between the two cities to under five hours.

Lots of good green stuff happened in June. The Connecticut Green Building Council announced its 2011 Green Design Award winners. The state got a few more EV charging stations and adopted a new paint law. Buildingctgreen.com also welcomed our newest partner earlier this month, Victory Energy Solutions.

A new hydrogen-powered bus was dedicated at the Miller Library in Hamden Tuesday. Many took rides around downtown in the “Plug-in Electric Fuel Cell Bus,” the first “HyRide” vehicle in Connecticut to serve the senior population.

It was big news in Canada when, in 2008, the country slipped from the top-ten list of the world’s most peaceful countries (all the way to eleventh). By this year, it was back in eighth, 74 places above the U.S. and, when liberals in the U.S. feel despairing, what dominates their fantasy life but “moving to Canada?”

On Monday, the board of selectmen voted unanimously to pass an ordinance banning outdoor wood-burning furnaces, effective June 27, 2011.

In an attempt to balance the upcoming state budget, one area that will see severe cuts is the state’s Municipal Grant Program. The $4 million program, which provides funds to municipalities and transit districts for senior and disabled transportation, was reduced by 25%, according to 9 Town Transit Executive Director Joseph Comerford.

After nearly two decades on the drawing board, supporters of a planned 37.3-mile bicycle and pedestrian path on the historically designated Merritt Parkway hope a pending $1.4 million study to consider the envisioned route will help move the project forward.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney toured four agriculture-based businesses in Waterford, Preston, Pomfret and North Grosvenordale on Monday to gather information for the soon-to-start congressional hearings on the farm bill re-authorization.

The prospect of a balanced budget in Connecticut is unclear now that an agreement with state employee unions appears at risk of collapse. But one positive highlight from the state’s budget was the shielding of more transportation revenue from being diverted to the State’s General Fund.

The Milford Board of Aldermen and about 25 residents made it clear Monday night in City Hall they are not happy a state Superior Court judge and the Department of Environmental Protection have intervened in what they consider a local issue ­– whether there should be a recycling facility here.

Householders (I believe they mean homeowners, and it makes me wonder whether this story was outsources to China) in Westport will be able to chuck more into their blue recycling boxes from Friday, July 1, when the town starts the single stream recycling system. Residents can deposit a wider range of materials for recycling –
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A dispatch from the Rivers Alliance: The Department of Environmental Protection held a public hearing this past Thursday (June 23rd) on the renewal with modifications of the Stormwater General Permit involving construction activities. Roger Reynolds of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment (CFE) and Bill Ethier of the Home Builders Association of CT are interveners.
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Despite years of criticism that the administration of former President George W. Bush altered or suppressed scientific reports that contradict its policies, President Barack Obama has chosen the same path in his opposition to the permanent storage of nuclear waste deep within Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.

Some people call attention to an issue by marching in protest; this group will make its point with a flotilla of small watercraft. East Shore resident Larry Smith is inviting boaters to show their feelings over the proposed dumping of dredged material from Bridgeport into a “borrow pit” in New Haven Harbor by blowing their air horns in unison July 3, Dredging Today reports.

State Sen. Eileen M. Daily writes in The Hartford Courant: A land conveyance in Haddam approved by the General Assembly June 8, in which 87 acres of privately owned property would be exchanged for a 17-acre parcel of state-owned land, is worthy of the considerable press coverage received. Thorough scrutiny of government and its transactions has always been part of the Connecticut landscape.

“I cannot dodge this much longer,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s new appointee as environmental commissioner, Daniel C. Esty, wrote in an uneasy-sounding e-mail to a subordinate on April 1, The Hartford Courant reports. Esty was referring to a news article that the subordinate had sent him about environmental groups’ growing opposition to a controversial legislative bill calling for a land swap in Haddam, which would allow private developers to acquire 17 acres of state-owned conservation land overlooking the Connecticut River.

New Haven’s intrepid cyclists politely crashed an I-95 groundbreaking with a show of pedal power and a written plea to the governor: While you prepare to spend another $357 million on cars, consider spending some more money on bike paths too.

The first time I remember hearing the question “is it real?” was when I went as a young boy to see a traveling show put on by “professional wrestlers” one summer evening in the gym of the Forks River Elementary School in Elmwood, Tennessee. That is pretty much the role now being played by most
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