Mother Jones posted a piece today exploring where Barack Obama and Mitt Romney overlap on environmental protection: It’s Gina McCarthy, the former commissioner of environmental protection in Connecticut under Gov. M. Jodi Rell. McCarthy worked for the Romney administration in Massachusetts, then came to Connecticut. She now is the top air-quality regulator in the Obama […]
May 29, 2012
Teacher evaluations: Coming to a school near you?
The State Department of Education announced Tuesday which districts have applied to become a pilot district to launch the state’s new pilot teacher evaluation system for the coming school year. Thirty-five districts have applied, and the state department will announce Friday which districts will have the pilots. The districts include Portland, Cromwell, New Hartford, Suffield, […]
Proposed changes to psychiatric manual could impact addiction diagnosis
What’s in a name? That’s a question that experts are wrestling with as they prepare to revise the diagnostic manual that spells out the criteria for addiction and other substance-use problems. The catalyst for this discussion is a set of proposed changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the reference guide upon which […]
Roberti proposes a dozen debates in 10 weeks
Democratic congressional candidate Dan Roberti pitched 12 debates in a radio appearance today on WNPR. And that’s a dozen debates before the Democratic primary on Aug. 14, not the general election in November. Roberti is competing with state House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan and former state Rep. Elizabeth Esty for the Democratic nomination for the […]
On the front lines of change in the risky world of DCF
The call for help came from an emergency room nurse. Her patient, the mother of a young son, tried to commit suicide while the boy was home. “She was worried about the kid,” Nana-Kyi Johnson, a social worker assigned to the Department of Children and Families’ 24-hour hotline, said of the nurse. Nana-Kyi Johnson, a […]
State to hear today on No Child Left Behind waiver
Connecticut will find out today whether the Malloy administration’s bid for a waiver from the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law has been granted. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will host a conference call on the waivers this afternoon, but Duncan also is scheduled to appear at the state Capitol with Gov. […]
State wins waiver to No Child Left Behind law
Connecticut has won its bid for a waiver to the federal No Child Left Behind requirements, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced in a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon on his way to the state Capitol to meet with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Connecticut joins 18 other states that have also received a waiver […]
Is Connecticut getting the federal dollars it deserves?
An openly skeptical legislative panel, the Program Review and Investigations Committee, launched an inquiry Tuesday into whether Connecticut gets its fair share of federal funding. The committee also approved new studies into the state’s Medicaid program, as well as the availability of substance abuse treatment for youth covered by private insurance. The studies, which will […]
A federal boost for Connecticut’s education reforms
When it came time for U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan to decide where he would make the announcement on which states landed an exemption to the federal No Child Left Behind requirements, he said Connecticut was the obvious choice. “Connecticut is absolutely a winner,” Duncan told a beaming Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in a crowded function room […]