The CT Mirror (https://ctmirror.org/)
Whether it’s expanding access to education and health care, rebuilding roads and cities or making taxes fairer, leaders have many ideas to reduce wealth inequality and promote prosperity. But they remain uncertain about how to solve this crisis while Connecticut simultaneously grapples with a historic debt burden that also threatens its future.
Connecticut’s new secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, Melissa McCaw, must help Gov.-elect Ned Lamont craft a long-term solution to a state fiscal crisis seven decades in the making. It’s a challenge she relishes, and that for which many say she is particularly well-suited.
Gov.-elect Ned Lamont began accepting policy recommendations Monday from broad swaths of Connecticut voters and interest groups, an exercise that could shape and produce allies for his still-developing agenda, while also raising expectations for what Lamont’s is willing to tackle in his first 100 days as governor.
Advocates for public- and private-sector social services workers offered competing recommendations to Gov.-elect Ned Lamont’s transition team on how to finance and deliver state-sponsored human services amidst lean budget conditions.
On Monday, the Getting to Zero commission presented a report to the Department of Public Health containing findings from listening sessions held around the state. One fact gleaned from those sessions is that black women, although 40 times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than white women, aren’t aware of their increased risk.
WASHINGTON – If upheld, a Texas court decision striking down the Affordable Care Act would likely strip thousands of Connecticut residents of HUSKY coverage, eliminate assistance with premium payments and other out-of-pocket expenses for thousands more, and remove adult children from their parents’ insurance policies. But the Texas court decision faces strong legal challenges, which could take more than a year to play out. Continue Reading →
For nearly a decade, it has been the favorite argument of those opposed to higher state taxes for Connecticut’s wealthy — migration. Simply put, if you tax them, they will leave.
But is it true? Continue Reading →
When it came out this year that President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee raised and spent unprecedented amounts, people wondered where all that money went. It turns out one beneficiary was Trump himself. The inauguration paid the Trump Organization for rooms, meals and event space at the company’s Washington hotel, according to interviews as well as internal emails and receipts reviewed by WNYC and ProPublica. Continue Reading →
Donald Trump’s presidency was like Dow Jones Industrial Average last week, down from setbacks both foreign and domestic: Yemen, the farm bill, and court appearances by his former close- associates-turned-felons underscoring the president’s loose affiliation with objective truth and the rule of law. Continue Reading →
Bloodwork was supposed to be the last step in Isela’s application for life insurance. But when she arrived at the lab, her appointment had been canceled. “That was my first warning,” Isela said. She contacted her insurance agent and was told her application was denied because something on her medication list indicated that Isela uses drugs. Isela, a registered nurse who works in an addiction treatment program at Boston Medical Center, scanned her med list. It showed a prescription for the opioid-reversal drug naloxone. Continue Reading →
Two years ago, it seemed like scrapping Obama-era guidance around school suspensions might be at the top of Betsy DeVos’s to-do list as education secretary. The rules encouraged schools to limit suspensions and expulsions, and have been supported by progressives and civil rights groups. But they have been heavily criticized by conservatives, who say they’ve made schools less safe. Still, the guidelines have stayed in place, even as conversations about school safety have taken on new intensity. Continue Reading →
While the push to revitalize Connecticut will be a struggle, Gov.-elect Ned Lamont pledged to African-American leaders Saturday his administration’s effort would be defined by diversity and cooperation. Continue Reading →
As state officials condemned a ruling by a Texas federal judge that strikes down the Affordable Care Act, Connecticut’s exchange — Access Health CT — announced Saturday it would extend the 2019 signup period by another month. Continue Reading →
Gov-elect Ned Lamont shared his first plans for restructuring state government Friday, announcing a new post of chief operating officer — a position recommended and never implemented decades ago in Connecticut, while becoming increasingly common in governors’ offices across the U.S. Continue Reading →
Efforts by the Malloy administration to move towards more renewable energy to help fight climate change are poised to shift to the Gov.-elect Ned Lamont, who has even more aggressive goals. But the battles the Malloy administration fought with the utilities for eight years, which are still unresolved, also are also poised to shift to the new governor. Continue Reading →