Why leave your leaf peeping to chance? Start your foliage season planning early this year by perusing this list of the eight top places to view autumn colors, selected by Connecticut's Bureau of Parks and Forests.

Photo Gallery:
Fall Foliage on the Farmington River

_{Heublein Tower photo © 2000 Kim Knox Beckius.}

There's still time to plan one last summer camping outing. The Connecticut State Parks Division provides more than 1,400 campsites statewide for residents and visitors to enjoy. Here's what you need to know to plan your Connecticut camping trip.

Connecticut State Park Camping Reviews:

• Rocky Neck State Park
• Housatonic Meadows State Park
• Lake Waramaug State Park

Plainville, Connecticut's most colorful annual event, the Plainville Hot Air Balloon Festival, is scheduled for this weekend, August 22-24, 2008. Here's your guide to attending this free event, which features three hot air balloon launches, a Balloon Glow, fireworks and more. For a glimpse of what the festival is like, click through my Plainville Hot Air Balloon Festival Photo Gallery.

Also This Weekend:

• Connecticut Ballet Makes Its Riverfront Debut Saturday Night
• Old-Fashioned Family Fun at the Brooklyn Fair
• John Mayer Plays the New England Dodge Music Center
• See Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Free Outdoors in Canton
• Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament Finals are Saturday

_{Balloon Festival photo © 2001 Kim Knox Beckius.}

The 9 p.m. emergency curfew that went into effect in Hartford less than a week ago seems to be doing little to stem the epidemic of violence in the capital city. WFSB Channel 3 and the Hartford Courant are reporting that three separate shootings took place in the city before 9 p.m. this evening on Sterling Street, Cornwall Street and Laurel Street. Although details are still coming in, no fatalities have been reported, fortunately. Initial reports indicate the individuals involved were over the age of 18, and thus not affected by the curfew.

Where are all of these people getting guns?

If a curfew is not the solution to violent crime in Hartford, what is?

Click "Comments" below to share your thoughts.

Have information about a Hartford crime? Call the Hartford Police Department's Tips Line at 860-722-8477.