May 2011

The Libyan conflict is two months old, and while lawmakers have had plenty to say about the U.S. military action, Congress hasn’t officially taken any votes. That could change this week. Sen. Joseph Lieberman joined with a half-dozen other senators on Monday to endorse the “limited use of military force” by the U.S. in Libya. […]

Aetna’s CEO Mark Bertolini had to stop mid-speech at his company’s annual meeting on Friday when protestors disrupted the session. The health insurance giant, based in Hartford, was having its annual conference in Philadelphia, reports the Associated Press, when demonstrators got into the meeting and started chanting about federal health reform. The story doesn’t say […]

It ain’t American Idol, but what these videos lack in sex and snaz, they make up for in substance. The Alliance for Health Reform, a nonpartisan think tank, has launched a series of videos to help illuminate key questions about health reform. One of the first snippets hits on a hotly debated question-whether health reform […]

Though unionized state employees can avoid layoffs for four years by granting the wage concessions sought by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the administration still has the flexibility to impose layoffs on hundreds, even thousands of new workers who might be hired in the next four years. Three high-ranking administration officials confirmed that option during a […]

WASHINGTON–At 74, Barbara Kennelly decided to give up her job as CEO of a major Washington lobbying organization. The reason? So she could jump into the trenches of a blistering political fight–the one now brewing in Washington over entitlement reform–as a lobbyist for Social Security Works, another D.C. advocacy group. “This way I can really […]

WASHINGTON–Between the bombshell comments by Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich and the headlines from a dry but urgent 273-page financial status report, Medicare has taken center stage in the current political debate. Connecticut’s Democratic House members have collectively held more than a half-dozen town hall meetings on the issue in recent days, mostly to blast […]

The agreement between state employee unions and the Malloy administration counts on a nearly 10 percent savings in employee and retiree health care costs in the first year from changing the way the benefits plan is designed. The concept behind it–structuring the plan to encourage workers to take care of their health–is already used widely […]

Not long ago, Connecticut’s solar energy industry was thriving, the envy of other states. Then the state’s generous incentive program ran out of money, the legislature failed to create a sustainable alternative, and the industry found itself on the ropes. “It’s not in danger of losing momentum, it’s lost it,” said Ron French president of […]

One of the best bits of advice I received as a new Capitol reporter in the 1980s was to get to know Leo V. Donohue, who died Friday at age 86, nearly 20 years after his retirement as the Democratic state auditor. Not only did a visit to Donohue’s office on the ground-floor of the […]

The Family Institute of Connecticut bemoaned the absence of the Catholic Church in the conservative group’s unsuccessful fight Thursday to defeat a transgender discrimination bill in the House. It passed 77 to 62, with no Republican support, even though some GOP lawmakers backed it previously. The FIC pointed to a close vote on an amendment […]

For the first time since it began asking the question, Gallup says a majority of Americans believe same-sex marriages should be recognized by law. The outcome of the poll–with 53 percent favoring recognition of gay marriage and 45 percent opposed–is a reversal of polling just a year ago. When Gallup first asked a similar question […]

When students come to school worried about bullying, they can’t learn. That’s why we strongly support Senate Bill 1138, a comprehensive “safe school climate” bill before the Connecticut General Assembly. One in four Connecticut high school students – and 35 percent of the state’s 9th graders – were bullied or harassed on school property in […]