PPM.

"Everything You Think You Know About Immigrants and the U.S. Immigration Laws is Completely Wrong. Mr. Berns will, in addition to sharing some surprising information and statistics about immigrants in the United States and about America’s nonsensical, inhumane, and self-destructive immigration system, also talk about current legislation in Hartford to permit taxpaying undocumented immigrant students to pursue their studies at state colleges and legislation pending in Washington that would permit parents of U.S. citizen children (who are currently being deported without review or consideration as to the effect on their US citizen children) to at least present their case to a judge with the discretion to stop their deportation."

The Common Council has finished the budget process a month early after voting 16-3 on Tuesday to approve a $191 million city budget for 2007-08.

Common Council Democrats Lynn Taborsak, Wayne Perkins and Paul Rotello voted against the plan, which includes a 7 percent spending increase over last year’s $178 million budget.

The budget also adds about $60 to property taxes on a typical $400,000 city house.

The city’s education budget rose from $100,161,196 this year to $106,270,463 next year, a 6 percent increase.

The mayor presented his budget a month earlier than in past years to include finance director Dena Diorio, who left at the end of March to start a similar job in North Carolina.

1. The mayor call for a discussion on the budget AND NO ONE SAID A WORD UNTIL COUNCILWOMAN LYNN TABORSAK RAISED HER HAND.

2. From ALL INDICATIONS, the mayor seemed to ignore Taborsak's hand in an attempt to quickly call the budget to a vote (note in the video how people look towards Taborsak's direction as she waves her hand (off-camera) and tries to get the mayor's attention, which you can hear in the video as he calls the vote (note: I recorded this with a condensed mic from the back of the room and I could hear Taborsak attempt to get the mayor's attention and clearly see her waving her hand). To even think that no one wouldn't have something to say about the budget after all the criticism it's received over the last month stretching it a bit.

3. In an attempt to shut everyone up, Common Council Republican majority leader arrogantly "moves the question," which basically brings a forced end to the discussion of the budget.

4. Not one person on the Common Council had the courage to challenge any of the points Taborsak raised in her criticism of the budget.

The Danbury Area League of Women Voters and the Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation will sponsor a special forum on Wednesday, April 11th at the UUCD fellowship hall at 24 Clapboard Ridge Road in Danbury. The forum will feature three speakers with different perspectives on land use and the dilemma of how to have vital urban centers, open space preservation and economic development – and have it all right here in Connecticut.

Panelists for the free public program include:

* David Kooris, Senior Planner with the Regional Plan Association. Mr. Kooris manages a variety of community design projects including the City of Bridgeport Downtown Master Plan and an inter-municipal land use strategy for 14 towns and villages in Orange County, NY.

* Steven Patton, director of the Devil’s Den Preserve and the Saugatuck Forest Lands Project for the Connecticut Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, has been involved for the past fifteen years in the preservation of critical watershed and open space land in Connecticut.

* Heidi Green, the third panelist is President of 1000 Friends of Connecticut, a statewide organization of community, labor and business leaders committed to promoting sustainable growth and development, urban renewal, conservation of open space and a vibrant state economy. She is an avid hiker and has been active in community and economic development in Connecticut for 15 years.

The forum will be held on April 11, 2007 at the Unitarian Universalist fellowship hall, 24 Clapboard Ridge Road in Danbury. The program will begin at 7:30 with the panel presentations and be followed by a question and answer period. The program is free and open to the public.

The League of Women Voters hopes to increase people’s knowledge of land use policy and emerging issues like Smart Growth and also to encourage more active participation of men and women in their local community land use boards and commissions. The Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation is co-sponsoring the program as part of its “green sanctuary program to raise awareness of environmental issues, to motivate people to take action, and to try to rectify environmental degradation.

Tessa Tranchant and Allison Kuhnhardt's parents want the arguing to stop. They said this national debate over illegal immigration is out of hand and they desperately want this time to grieve.

Colette Tranchant, Tessa's mother, said, "It just saddens me that people take this to a different level."

Friday, Colette and Alison's Father, David, wanted to calm the firestorm, saying they don't blame Virginia Beach for not sending Ramos to federal authorities after police arrested him for public intoxication.

"There's a media circus right now and everyone has their opinion, but the fact is our kids were killed," said Colette, "Right now we need time to grieve, we need time to figure this out and we would like laws enforced."

WILTON —The Theatre Arts II class whose performance about the war in Iraq was canceled at Wilton High School will be taking their play off school grounds before the end of the academic year.

"There is a legal way for me to take it off-campus," said theater teacher Bonnie Dickinson, who was advised by her personal legal counsel to sign a document which will disassociate the play, "Voices in Conflict," from the Wilton schools.

In the meantime, Dickinson and the 15 students in her class are still working on the piece in class.

Principal Timothy Cantyhttp://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif says Dickinson and her class have always been free to take "Voices in Conflict" to an external venue on their own time. He added that any legal documents signed by Dickinson are for her own protection; teachers who meet students off-campus for non-school events should clarify that such activities are not sponsored by the schools.

Canty says he's always encouraged the students to keep working on "Voices in Conflict" in class, although they would not be able to perform it in school this academic year.

It was always my perspective that the teachers and the students would continue to work on the piece in class," he said, adding that the performance would follow at a future date.

"The question was not if, but when," said Canty.