Philanthropy

0 This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own. Obituaries She taught mathematics at Torrington High School and Northwestern Connecticut Community College from 1977 through 1984. Nancy Sasso Janis , Patch Mayor Posted Reply Send Flowers, Plants & Gifts Obituary courtesy of Cook Funeral Home Send flowers In partnership with FTD® Annesa was born on July 16, 1940, in Torrington, CT, the daughter of the late George and Josephine (Farris) Jacob. Annesa loved people. To watch her connect with anyone she met was a marvel. In ten minutes she would know about their life, their family and their passions. Her curiosity was genuine, and people naturally opened up to her. At any given holiday she would open her home to her enormous family and countless friends. The more the merrier. And the food she put out was abundant and cooked with care … [Read more...] about Obituary: Annesa (Jacob) Borla, 82, of Torrington

Break out the Girl Scouts cookies and bonfire songs. The Art Production Fund held a camp-themed gala at the Pool and the Grill on March 15, complete with slushy machines, chicken fingers, lobster rolls and bags of Lay’s potato chips served on fine china. The art and fashion crowd embraced the dress code with gusto, showing up in camouflage jumpsuits, badge-covered sashes and arm floaties. And the School of American Ballet held a black-tie winter gala on March 13 at Lincoln Center. Dancers toyed with gender roles by pairing tuxedos with high heels. Cocktails and dinner, which featured a pièce d’occasion performed by students, were followed by dancing. ____________ Art Production Fund Gala More than 300 guests attended the Art Production Fund gala, raising $760,000 in support of public art projects. ____________ The School of … [Read more...] about What Nicky Hilton and Other Patrons Wore to Art Parties

As Texas contends with historically high home prices and rents, state legislators might try to ease the affordability crisis with proposals rooted in a simple idea: build more homes and costs will come down. Texas lawmakers have introduced several bills this legislative session intended to speed up the construction of new houses and apartments. Some would allow builders to use less land to build single-family homes, help them get local permits faster and make it more difficult for neighborhood groups to block new housing projects. For a Legislature that historically hasn’t treated housing affordability as a priority, these steps would represent a dramatic intervention — an indicator that high housing costs have become increasingly difficult to ignore and no part of the state has gone untouched. “In years gone by, people might have looked at affordable housing and said, ‘Oh well, this is an issue just in the urban centers,’” said Sherri Greenberg, a former state representative … [Read more...] about To tackle high housing costs, Texas lawmakers push to build more homes

JERUSALEM — When Avigdor Liberman, Israel’s Soviet-born finance minister, condemned the apparent atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine, this past week, he was careful not to blame Russia. “Russia is accusing Ukraine and Ukraine is accusing Russia,” and Israel should avoid adjudicating one way or the other, Mr. Liberman told a radio station last Monday. “We here need to maintain Israel’s moral stand on the one hand,” he added, “and Israel’s interests on the other.” It was a comment that underscored two aspects of today’s Israel: the Israeli government’s cautious approach to the war in Ukraine and the political and social role played by Russian-speaking Israelis from post-Soviet countries, particularly Kremlin-connected Russian-Israeli businessmen. Israel has expressed repeated support for Ukraine, whose president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish. It has sent humanitarian aid, set up a field hospital in western Ukraine and voted on Thursday to suspend Russia from the United Nations Human … [Read more...] about Israel’s Ukraine Policy Prompts Scrutiny of Russian-Israeli Oligarchs

Effective Altruism seeks to help people figure out the best ways to use their money and time to do measurable good and address the world’s biggest problems. Despite the recent high-profile arrest of one of its most famous proponents, the movement’s spirit showed no sign of flagging Saturday when dozens of its adherents got together in San Francisco to catch up on how all their do-good efforts are going. The burgeoning philanthropy movement drew several dozen 20- and 30-somethings to a casual picnic under sunny skies in Mission Dolores Park, and their enthusiasm was contagious. They ranged from people so inspired by the philosophy that they had upended their entire lives, to ones who had made incremental changes, to ones simply seeking to learn more. For most of them, the downfall of crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried — a big proponent of and donor to Effective Altruism who claimed that his billions would go toward “saving people” — barely registered. Charged with committing … [Read more...] about Sam Bankman-Fried brought notoriety to effective altruism. Bay Area adherents say that hasn’t deterred their enthusiasm

THE MARSHALL PLAN Dawn of the Cold War “From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land,” President Trump declared on Jan. 20, 2017. “From this moment on, it’s going to be America first.” As Benn Steil makes clear in his trenchant and timely new book, “The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War,” the architects of America’s global engagement after World War II would have been appalled that future generations — let alone a future president — might think they had been acting in anything but the national interest. At its core the Marshall Plan was a pragmatic approach to a tough problem. The winter of 1947 was the hardest to hit Europe in a generation. The continent was in ruins, its people were starving and its economies were out of balance. Italy’s and France’s inflation rates were 62.1 and 49.2 percent respectively. In the face of this bleak situation, American policymakers concluded that the key to restoring the prewar European standard of living was restarting the German … [Read more...] about Why American Pragmatists Saved Postwar Europe