The Editor's Notepod, Fri., Sept. 25, 2009

Area: there are undoubtedly a few people, not all of them students, who are not comfortable with the use of Internet portals at schools for both parents and students where either can check grades and attendance as well as what’s for lunch. This is just another demonstration of the potential of managing the educational process in an electronic and harried world. The system in use at Lincoln Middle School in Meriden, for example, is extremely helpful.

Area: police report an increase in shop-lifting. We hadn’t known of a crime, until now, of “possession of a shoplifting device” though its existence as a parallel to “possession of burglary tools” is perfectly logical.

Southington/Cheshire: judges coming to terms with the consolidation plans in the works for probate court system. On the whole the changes will make sense, and it is somewhat ironic that, especially with the establishment of the children’s courts in the probate system, this court arrangement produces a dedicated court for children’s custody and welfare issue matters, demonstrating that the consolidation, a number of years ago, of the Juvenile Court into Superior Court in the state may have been too hasty.