New Partnership to Encourage Focus on Workforce Skills Gap

A new partnership has been formed to enhance communication between members of the public and community leaders on important issues in the Capitol region, and public events to facilitate the conversation are already on the calendar for this month.

Working in collaboration, CT News Project (parent of CT Mirror), WNPR, and the Hartford Public Library, with the support of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, have launched the Community Information Hub for the Capital Region to increase opportunities for people to have their voices heard on issues affecting them and their communities.

The Community Information Hub will offer web-based and community-based forums and dialogues where concerned citizens can report and discuss issues they care about and work together towards solutions. The online resource will provide residents with a broader platform to share their perspectives and ideas for community action.

The Community Hub also will present and connect to data and other information on issues and sponsor public events.  In its first public event, the Community Information Hub will host a forum on the workforce skills gap in Connecticut on Tuesday, May 7, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Hartford Public Library.

The Hub will also offer people the opportunity to participate in a community conversation on the workforce skills gap and training programs on Saturday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Hartford Public Library.

The Community Information Hub builds on the ongoing partnership between The CT News Project’s online news site, CT Mirror, and WNPR to collaborate on web and radio stories, cross marketing, and to share reporters and other resources. Both operations are located in the same facility at 1049 Asylum Avenue in Hartford.  The project also integrates and expands on the Hartford Public Library’s experience in providing facilitated community dialogues through its Hartford Listens series.

Offered in collaboration with East Hartford-based  Everyday Democracy, these events will inform residents of the issues, and the dialogues will help residents develop action agendas. Recent community dialogues focused on adult learning and the special needs of children of incarcerated parents.

The hub project is supported by two civic engagement staff:

• Heather Brandon serves as the director of civic media at CT News Project and WNPR, a new position responsible for efforts to promote civic engagement throughout Connecticut. Brandon will lead the partnership’s efforts to create a new civic media website, and will also develop and coordinate public issues forums and events. Brandon is a former freelance producer for Morning Edition, Where We Live, and The Colin McEnroe Show at WNPR.
• Tricia Barrett serves as the project’s community dialogue coordinator at Hartford Public Library and is responsible for the planning and implementation of all aspects of community conversations as well as related activities in the Community Information Hub project. Barrett is the former educational services manager at the Hartford Courant.

“The formation of the Community Information Hub in partnership with the Connecticut News Project, WNPR and Hartford Foundation for Public Giving leverages our assets in new ways and puts the library at the center of an important community movement. We are already at the heart of the community, and civic engagement is at the heart of where the public library is going in the 21s century.”said Matthew K. Poland, chief executive officer of Hartford Public Library.

The Community Information Hub is supported by a three- year, $374,362 grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

 “The Hartford Foundation supports the Community Information Hub partners’ goal of broadly engaging the community, reaching residents and organizations from throughout the region, including local schools, faith-based organizations and diverse nonprofit and community leaders,” said Linda J. Kelly, president of the Hartford Foundation.

To register for the workforce skills gap forum log onto: https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?llr=eco8pgdab&oeidk=a07e7adwjkh9a034b6f&oseq= 

To register for the community dialogue on the workforce skill gap log onto http://workforcedialogue.eventbrite.com/#

Women-Owned Businesses in Region Growing Across Many Fields

They are some of Connecticut’s most successful companies that you've never heard of.  And perhaps a few that you have. What they have in common is ownership. They're owned by women -  in some cases 100 percent owned.

Who are they?

Among the leaders are Farmington-based Companions & Homemakers, which topped a newly published list with 1,600 local employees and 4 local offices, West Hartford’s Companions for Living, with 114 employees, iTech Solutions, also in Farmington, Caring Solutions, Phoenix Manufacturing Inc. and Andrew Associates, all headquartered in Enfield.  The Walker Group (Farmington), Infoshred (East Windsor) The Human Resource Consulting Group (Seymour)Merry Employment Group (West Hartford) and Sandair Systems Inc (Windsor) are also 100 percent owned by women.

The Hartford Business Journal listed the firms as part of their ranking of the largest women-owned businesses (ownership exceeding 50 percent) in the Hartford region.   The 25 firms were led by a top 10 in fields including home health care, aerospace, advertising, information technology staffing, janitorial services, and family maintenance services.  Of the 25 businesses, only 3 were launched since 2000.  The remainder date back to the last century, including two, Post Road Stages (1912) and Beacon Light and Supply Company (1932), to the first half of the century.

The number of women-owned businesses in Connecticut increased 35 percent since 1997 and sales at those firms increased 67 percent, according to a census analysis by American Express Open, released earlier this month.

Women starting their own business have opportunities to learn from others who’ve blazed the trail.  The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Women’s Business Center Program is a national network providing business training, counseling and other resources to help women start and grow successful businesses. In Connecticut, network participants are The Entrepreneurial Center at the University of Hartford, the Stamford/Southwest Women’s Business Center of the Women's Business Development Council in Stamford, and the Naugatuck Valley Women’s Business Center at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury.

Last week, Connecticut Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman visited some women-owned small businesses that have received financial assistance from the state’s Small Business Express. The stops included Dottie’s Diner in Waterbury, The Dutch Bulb Lady in Waterbury, Richards Machine Tool Co. Inc. in Berlin, LSC Distribution in Hartford and American Masons & Building Supply Co. in Hartford.

Earlier this year, a national survey of women business owners (WBOs) conducted by Web.com Group, Inc. and the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) found a pervasive sense of economic optimism, including a prediction by most WBOs (85 percent) that more women will become entrepreneurs in 2013 than in past years.  WBOs also plan to invest more (38 percent) or the same (54 percent) in hiring this year than they did in 2012 – a positive sign for the economy.

With regard to public policy matters, the top four issues on the minds of WBOs are: the state of the economy (57 percent), health insurance cost and affordability (40 percent), business tax issues (36 percent), and access to a quality workforce (36 percent). Though two in five WBOs said that health insurance costs and affordability are important issues to them, many (71 percent) feel that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) will have no impact upon the way they do business.

Maritime Industry Brings $7 Billion Impact, 40,000 Jobs to Connecticut

The value of Connecticut’s maritime economy is nearly $7 billion, according to a new report researched and developed by the University of Connecticut at Avery Point.  The industry contributes nearly 40,000 jobs to the state, according to “Valuing the Coast: Economic Impacts of Connecticut’s Maritime Industry issued in conjunction with Sea Grant, a national network comprised of 32 Sea Grant programs based at flagship universities in coastal and Great Lake states and Puerto Rico.

Seven sectors classified by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) as directly related to the state’s maritime industry were studied for the report: commercial fishing; seafood product preparation and packaging; ship building and repairing; boat building; transport by water; scenic and sightseeing transportation and support activities for transportation; and amusement and recreational activities.

Lead author was Robert S. Pomeroy, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics in UConn's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and a Sea Grant college fisheries extension specialist.  Pomeroy says the goal of the study was to document the significance of the maritime industry to Connecticut’s economy.

Pomeroy noted that the total impact of the state’s maritime economy is thought to be even higher because this study only looked at seven sectors of the economy. One important area not included is Connecticut’s growing aquaculture industry, which involves farming fish, mollusks, crustaceans, and aquatic plants. The DOC classifies aquaculture as being part of the state’s agricultural industry, so those numbers are not reflected in the findings.

Notably, the research showed that New London County alone accounts for a little less than 50 percent of the total state output impacts. The region consists of 36 towns, including several of the largest cities of the state.  Recreational activities are the most important sector for Middlesex County, one of four coastal counties most involved in the maritime industry.

The total economic output impact, measuring the value of the goods or services produced in each of the sectors studied, resulted in a finding of $6.83 billion at the state level, and $5.88 billion for the four coastal counties most involved in the maritime industry. These include the counties of Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex, and New London.

Pomeroy and his colleagues used an economic model developed by Nobel Prize-winning economist Wassily Leontif that makes it possible to quantify the interdependencies between different branches of the economy. Leontif’s model shows how the output of one industry serves as an input to each of the other industries in the study. The data used was from 2010.

For Connecticut, ship building for commercial and military purposes is the sector contributing the most to the economy among the seven sectors measured. However, for counties other than New London, the most important sector is transport by water for Fairfield; scenic and sightseeing transport and support activities for transportation in New Haven; and other amusement and recreation industries for Middlesex.

The study also showed that Connecticut’s maritime industry is an important contributor to employment, with nearly 40,000 people being employed in the industry, of which 32,000 come from the four southernmost counties in the state. Among the seven sectors studied, ship building, which employs approximately 17,600 people, contributes the most jobs to the state’s economy.

The Sea Grant program is focused on making the United States the world leader in marine research and the sustainable development of marine resources.  Joining Pomeroy in authoring the report were Umi Muawanah, a Sea Grant Knauss Fellow, and Nataliya Plesha, a Ph.D. candidate in UConn’s Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

For purposes of comparison, a previous study commissioned by the Connecticut Maritime Coalition using 2007 data, reported that Connecticut’s maritime dependent industries were estimated to account for over $5 billion in business output, generating approximately 30,000 jobs. While the two studies used different methodologies, the results are comparable and show the critical economic importance of an evolving maritime industry to the state’s coffers and to providing a stabilizing economic force for Connecticut citizens in otherwise uncertain times.

Rizzotti, Like Auriemma, Signs Through 2017-18 Season

Let the “Jen will succeed Geno” rumor mill begin.  Again.

A month ago, UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma signed a new $10.86 million contract, a deal designed to keep him at the university through the 2017-18 season.

"This is just a unique place and a unique situation," Auriemma reportedly said at the time. "I'm fortunate that I'm here and that I've been here at the perfect time and the perfect place."

Speaking of timing, the University of Hartford has now announced that women's basketball coach Jennifer Rizzotti has agreed to a contract extension, which will run - you guessed it - through the 2017-18 women's basketball season.

Rizzotti, 38, first signed with Hartford in September of 1999 and has since led the Hawks to six NCAA Tournament appearances and the program's first win in the NCAA Tournament. Her previous contract was to last through the 2013-14 season and will now be folded into the new contract, the university said. The terms of the new extension were not disclosed.

Auriemma, the 59-year-old Hall of Famer, has coached at UConn since 1985.  He will make $1.95 million in salary, speaking fees and media fees in the next year, according to the Associated Press. That will gradually increase to $2.4 million in the final year of the five-year contract. The Huskies have played in 14 Finals Fours under Auriemma, including the last five, winning the National Championship for a record-tying eighth time earlier this month.

Rizzotti was one of the most highly recognized UConn stand-outs at the start of the Husky dynasty, and went on to a successful pro career before settling in at Hartford.  In recent years, the Hawks and Huskies have squared off in early season match-ups, first at the XL Center and last year at the Hartford campus.  With each match-up, the questions about Rizzotti’s future and Auriemma’s successor are rekindled.

UConn announced that Auriemma will receive a base salary of $400,000 for each year on the contract, which runs from April 15 to April 14 of each year. In 2013-14, he will receive $1,550,000 for institutional speaking engagements and media related appearances for a total of $1,950,000. The payment for institutional speaking engagements will increase by $110,000 each year, except in the final year when it will increase by $120,000.  Auriemma's total compensation for each year of the contract will be: 2013-14-$1,950,000; 2014-15-$2,060,000; 2015-16-$2,170,000; 2016-17-$2,280,000; 2017-18-$2,400,000.

A three-time America East Coach of the Year, Rizzotti has amassed a school-record 276 wins, which is the most among all current and former America East coaches. Her five America East Conference Championships and 23 league tournament victories are the most in the history of the conference. This June, Rizzotti will be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, one of six members of the Class of 2013.   Rizzotti has also amassed a 13-1 record as a USA Basketball Head Coach, leading the United States to Gold Medals at the 2011 U-19 FIBA Championships and the 2010 U-18 FIBA Americas.

Photo Credit: Geoff Bolte / Southcreek Global

Startups with Female Directors, Local Connections Have Better Chance of Survival

Newly incorporated companies with one female director have a 27% lower risk of becoming insolvent than comparable firms with all-male boards, according to a team of researchers led by Nick Wilson of Leeds University Business School in the UK and reported in the Harvard Business Review. The effect decreases as the number of female directors rises, suggesting that what matters is diversity rather than the specific number of women on the board. Earlier this year, data developed by a team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee indicated that companies whose directors include one or more women are 38% less likely to have to restate their financial-performance figures to correct errors than firms with all-male boards. In addition, previous research shows that groups with greater gender diversity generate more-innovative thinking in problem solving.

The new study found that new firms are less likely to face the hazard of insolvency when they have boards with more experienced directors, directors with greater networking relationships, more local directors, more female directors, directors with low levels of recent insolvency experiences and low levels of recent director turnover. Results suggest that the background, experience, networking, gender diversity and composition of new boards are important in determining the trajectory of success or failure of new firms.

The recent research tends to support efforts made during the tenure of Connecticut State Treasurer Denise L. Nappier, who as fiduciary of the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, the state’s pension funds, has advocated for independent directors and gender diversity on boards as part of a comprehensive shareholder activism program aimed at increasing the value of the state’s shares in a range of investments.

The data is also of special relevance to Startup Connecticut, the Connecticut franchise of The Startup America Partnership, which is based on the premise that young companies that grow create jobs. As a core American value, entrepreneurship is “critical to the country’s long term success and it’s time to step up our game,” the website points out. Startup Connecticut’s mission is to “evangelize and celebrate entrepreneurship and innovation” in Connecticut. The most recent Start Up Weekend was held in Storrs in March.

In analyzing the impact of local directors, as compared with those from outside the start-up’s immediate geographic area, the study found that local knowledge local networks and/or relationships reduce insolvency risk. Directors in local networks that have “built trust and loyalty may be receiving more time and support in the surrounding economy. As insolvencies result from unpaid debts, such a local connection may mean that new firm directors face less pressure from creditors and potential insolvency proceedings: they can buy more time from local network members to resolve issues.”

Hartford County Population Losses Go Near and Far, Gains Are Fewer and Closer

Each day in the United States, about 130,000 people move from one county to another.  That’s the bottom line of the new migration patterns released by the U.S. Census Bureau, which include a web mapping application intended to provide users with a simple interface to view, save and print county-to-county migration flows maps of the United States. The data are from the 2006-2010 American Community Survey (ACS).

In Hartford County, for example, there were 17,442 who moved here from a different state, but 20,524 who moved to another state.  In addition, there were 14,982 people who moved to Hartford County from another of the state’s eight counties.  There were also 5,212 people who moved to Hartford County from abroad, according to the Census data.

The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing survey that provides data every year -- giving communities the current information they need to plan investments and services. Information from the survey generates data that help determine how more than $400 billion in federal and state funds are distributed each year.  The detailed data is combined into statistics that are used to help decide everything from school lunch programs to new hospitals, according to the Census Bureau.

Hartford County’s strongest outward bound numbers are reflected elsewhere in Connecticut, and to North Carolina.  The top losses of population were:  827 people to Tolland County, 743 to Windham County, 305 to Wake County in North Carolina, 299 to Providence County in Rhode Island, and 286 to New London County, 261 to Worcester County, MA and 226 to Mecklenburg County in North Carolina.

The population gains in Hartford County were led by other parts of the state, and New York City.  The top six:  1,005 people from New Haven County, 599 from Fairfield County, 555 from Brooklyn, 548 from the Bronx, and 368 from Middlesex County and 300 from Westchester.

The web mapping application provides data for Hartford, Windham, New Haven, Middlesex, Tolland, Fairfield, Litchfield and New London counties.  In addition to the maps, the data can also be imported into spreadsheets.

Online Voter Registration Grows Nationally, Connecticut’s Launch Prep Underway

In 2008 only two states allowed voters to register online. By the 2012 election 13 states had online registration systems up and running. Currently, at least 14 additional states are considering legislation that would allow online registration, according to the organization Nonprofit Vote.

Four additional states -- Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii and now Virginia-- have passed legislation facilitating online voter registration, but they have not yet begun registering voters electronically.  Connecticut’s law takes effect on January 1, 2014.

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell made his state the 16th to pass a law providing for paperless, online voter registration when he signed newly approved legislation earlier this month. And in New Mexico, Governor Susana Martinez signed a new law permitting voters to update existing registration records electronically.

Online registration has been seen to help boost registration rates among young voters. Since Arizona pioneered online registration in 2002, the registration rate for 18-24 year olds has risen from 28% to 53%. Today, over 70% of Arizona's registrations are submitted online.

 In 2012, five states rolled out online voter registration statewide for the first time:

In California, during the five weeks leading up to the registration deadline, more than one million voters submitted online registration applications or updates. More than 60% of users were under the age of 35.

In Ohio, previously registered voters were allowed to update their registration information online and more than 100,000 individuals did so in the two months before the registration deadline--one-third in the week prior to the deadline and 13,000 alone on the day before registration closed.

In Oregon, which has allowed online registration since 2010, nearly 20,000 voters registered online on the state's deadline.

Connecticut’s online registration law, passed by the state legislature in 2012 at the urging of Secretary of the State Denise Merrill and Governor Malloy, will create an interface between the state’s existing Centralized Voter Registration System and the database housed at the state Department of Motor Vehicles that would verify the identity of a voter wishing to register online prior to approval by the local Registrar of Voters. Online registration takes effect next January.

Another reform - Election Day registration – that was part of the same legislation approved last year, will go into effect on July 1, 2013, in time for the 2013 municipal elections. Online registration will be available for the 2014 election cycle, which includes the election of Governor and the state’s legislative seats.

In Arizona, the costs associated with an online registration are just 3 cents compared to 83  cents for a paper registration. Online registration also reduces data entry errors and can lead to more accurate voter rolls, streamlining the Election Day experience for both voters and election officials, Nonprofit Vote points out.

Flags Fly Across Connecticut During Donate Life Month; Events Held Statewide

Nearly 100 Connecticut municipalities, hospitals and organizations are promoting organ and tissue donation awareness by flying flags that read “Donation Saves Lives” during April, the 10th annual National Donate Life Month.

Connecticut’s flag flying campaign is part of a national initiative, Flags Across America, to honor and celebrate the hundreds of thousands of donors and recipients whose lives have been affected by organ and tissue donation.  With more than 116,000 people in America waiting for a transplant, and 1,300 in Connecticut alone, the need for donation has never been greater.  Across the nation, every 12 minutes a new person is added to the wait list, and every day 18 people die waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

The goal this month is to increase the Donor Registry, which will inevitably impact the number of transplants that give new life and hope to people suffering from fatal illness or life threatening injury.  The celebration commemorates those who have received the gift of organ and tissue donation, raises awareness for those that still wait and honors those that have given the gift of life as donors.

Connecticut’s participating communities are partnering with Donate Life Connecticut and LifeChoice Donor Services to increase the donor registry and help save lives in the state’s communities.  Donate Life Connecticut is a volunteer driven statewide non-profit dedicated to raising awareness.  To register as an organ and tissue donor visit www.DonateLifeNewEngland.org or register when renewing your state driver's license at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

“I’ll Save You, Will You Save Me?” is the theme that underlines a new campaign being conducted by the state Department of Motor Vehicles. The effort aims to increase awareness registering as a donor with a simple change on a driver's license, state ID card, or by going online.  It is as easy as either making that choice at the time of renewing or obtaining a license, or going to www.donatelifenewengland.org to sign up to join  the registry of donors. There are currently over 1.1 million registered donors in the state.

Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman marked the recently formed collaboration of the Department of Motor Vehicles, Donate Life Connecticut, Hartford Hospital, LifeChoice Donor Services, New England Organ Bank, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center and Yale New-Haven Hospital. The hospitals, DMV, Organ Procurement Organizations and local Donate Life affiliate have teamed up for a special outreach program of activities and television public service commercials.

“Becoming an organ or tissue donor is literally a decision to save the lives of others.  Those ‘others’ may be family members, friends, neighbors or co-workers.  One organ donor can touch more than 50 lives,” said Wyman.  The initiative will run through late October with the goal of reaching 20,000 new donors through the http://www.donatelifenewengland.org website and DMV.

The television campaign is funded through contributions from the three hospitals and an allocation in the current budget from the state legislature to promote organ and tissue donor awareness. Public service announcements will also support the campaign.  The ads aim to encourage people to become donors and to consider donation as a community responsibility. They also aim to reduce common fears about donating by showing how donations help save people.

In New London on Friday, April 26, Lawrence & Memorial Hospital is bring people together at Connecticut College’s F.W. Olin Science Center at 6 p.m. to celebrate Donate Life Month by lighting 200+ luminaries at a donor family gathering prior to a free movie screening of Power of Two- A story of twin sisters, two cultures, and two new chances at life. This inspiring, award-winning movie documents the double lung transplants received by half-Japanese twins Ana and Isa Stenzel, born with Cystic Fibrosis, a fatal genetic disease that impacts the lungs and pancreas. They have emerged as authors, athletes and global advocates for organ donation.   For details and reservations, contact proma@lmhosp.org or 860-444-3722.

Donate Life New England is a joint project of three federally designated organ procurement organizations that serve New England – New England Organ Bank, LifeChoice Donor Services, The Center for Donation and Transplant and the Connecticut Eye Bank. LifeChoice Donor Services is the federally designated, non-profit organ procurement organization for six counties in Connecticut and three counties in Western Massachusetts with a combined population of 2.1 million people.

LifeChoice serves twenty-three acute care hospitals for organ and tissue donation and two organ transplant hospitals, Hartford Hospital in Hartford, CT and Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA. LifeChoice Donor Services is a member in good standing of the United Network of Organ Sharing and the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations.

Donate Life Connecticut is a volunteer driven Connecticut non-profit dedicated to increasing the number of registered organ and tissue donors through education and public outreach.  The organization’s coalition of donor families, transplant recipients, living donors, supporters and healthcare professionals believe that working together with a common voice is the best way to reach the goal of increasing the Donor Registry, which will inevitably impact the number of transplants that give new life and hope to people suffering from fatal illness or life threatening injury.

Connecticut Sales Tax is 10th Highest in Nation; Louisiana Promotes Tax-Free Guns & Ammunition Days

When Connecticut’s sales tax inched upwards from 6 percent to 6.35 percent in 2011, the state made its way into the top ten sales tax states, leaving behind a gaggle of 16 states perched at 6 percent or slightly higher, but below the new Nutmeg rate of 6.35 percent.

Today, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators, Connecticut sits at number ten in the nation for its sales tax rate.  Close on our heels are Massachusetts, Texas and Illinois at 6.25 percent, and Kansas at 6.3 percent. Leading the pack is California at 7.5 percent, with five states - Indiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Tennessee - at 7.0 percent.

Five states - Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon - have no sales tax.  However, Alaska and Montana permit local sales taxes and Delaware imposes a rental and service tax.  The five states with the highest average combined rates of state and local taxes are Tennessee (9.44 percent), Arizona (9.16 percent), Louisiana (8.87 percent), Washington (8.86 percent), and Oklahoma (8.67 percent), according to the Tax Foundation.

Many states have sales tax holidays on select products for specific time periods during the year, with the majority focusing on back-to-school items or energy saving products.  Alabama, Louisiana and Virginia offer two or three tax-free days for the purchase of hurricane preparedness related equipment.  In Connecticut, clothing and footwear are exempt for a week in late August, just as families are doing their last-minute shopping for the start of the school year.

Tax-Free Days for Gun Sales

In Louisiana, firearms including shotguns, rifles, pistols, and revolvers, ammunition and hunting supplies are tax-free for three days in September.  In 2012, the days were promoted on the state’s website with a promotional video announcing the “Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday.” Among the additional items that can be sold tax-free are knives, bows & arrows, off-road vehicles and safety gear.   The annual three-day tax holiday was approved by the Louisiana legislature in 2009.

The previous year, South Carolina waived the state’s sales and use tax on purchases of handguns, rifles and shotguns during a Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday, held just after Thanksgiving on Nov. 28 – 29, 2008.  The bill become law after the veto by then-Governor Mark Sanford was overridden in the legislature.  The 48-hour tax break on firearm purchases also applied to any local sales and use tax.  The tax break did not apply to accessories such as ammunition, black powder, holsters, archery supplies and similar items.  The tax holiday, which must be approved annually by the legislature, has not been held the past two years, as the state’s fiscal situation tightened.

 A similar proposal in West Virginia was vetoed by then-Governor Joe Manchin (D) in April 2010.  Manchin was elected to the U.S. Senate later that year.

Earlier this year, a Texas lawmaker proposed that the Lone Star state's independence be celebrated by making Texas Independence Day, March 2nd, a tax-free holiday for gun purchases in that state.  The proposal would include no sales tax on shotguns, rifles, pistols, revolvers and other handguns, gun safes, gun cases, cleaning supplies and optics, ammunition, archery equipment, hunting stands, blinds, and decoys, the NBC affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth has reported.

 Top ten sales tax rates (percentage):

1.  California            7.5
2.  Indiana                 7.0
3. Mississippi          7.0
4.    New Jersey        7.0
5. Rhode Island      7.0
6. Tennessee          7.0
7. Minnesota          6.875
8. Arizona                 6.6
9. Washington        6.5
10. Connecticut   6.35

The Sales Tax Institute notes that many states allow non-standard rates on many items including meals, lodging, telecommunications and specific items and services. State laws regarding county or local taxes, in addition to the state sales tax, also vary.

New London Features “One of America’s Most Beautiful Town Squares”

Town squares across the U.S. were built to inspire goodwill and be the hearts of their communities, often with stately landmarks and surrounding colorful shops and cafés. Travel + Leisure magazine went in search of the squares keeping that spirit alive, emphasizing smaller towns, with populations of 50,000 or less.  Among the top ten nationwide was Parade Plaza in New London.

Travel + Leisure reported that “Parade Plaza reopened in 2011 with a 100-seat amphitheater and the Whale Tail Fountain, where kids like to splash around. The improvements complement longtime attractions at the square like the schoolhouse where Nathan Hale once taught. “

Other top selections included the Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza in Prescott, AZ, which has been honored by the American Planning Association and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  At the nation’s top squares, the article pointed out, farmers’ markets, free concerts, and holiday celebrations keep locals and visitors entertained year-round.

The Travel + Leisure website recommended that people “Set your sights on a road trip or weekend getaway to one of these small towns, and make the square your first stop.” 

The description of Parade Plaza was enthusiastic: “Reopened in 2011, this triangular plaza is new and improved, with an open amphitheater that seats 100 and the 10-foot-tall Whale Tail Fountain, popular with kids who play in the water falling from the tail. The schoolhouse where Nathan Hale once taught and the 50-foot-high granite-obelisk Soldiers and Sailors Monument are two traditional attractions. In winter, the upper section is turned into an ice-skating rink.”

More information about Parade Plaza, and New London’s downtown revitalization efforts, is available at newlondonmainstreet.org.  The other New England squares included on the list are in Portsmouth, NH and Bar Harbor, ME.  

Joining New London on the list of top town squares selected by Travel + Leisure (in no particular order):

• The Dover Green, Dover, DE
• Court Square, Bardstown, KY
• Market Square, Portsmouth, NH
• Healdsburg Plaza, Healdsburg, CA
• Historic Canton Square, Canton, MS
• Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza, Prescott, AZ
• Centerway Square, Corning, NY
• Jackson Town Square, Jackson, WY
• City Square Park, Oskaloosa, IA
• Decatur Square, Decatur, GA
• Village Green, Bar Harbor, ME
• The Square, San Marcos, TX