The state budget shortfall awaiting the winner of next year’s gubernatorial election appeared to worsen Friday, even as the outlook for the current budget improved. The legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget agency issued a joint report that lowered expected revenues for the 2015-16 fiscal year by $163 million. […]
November 8, 2013 @ 12:00 am
Posted inEducation
Vallas to step down as leader of Bridgeport schools
Paul Vallas — who was recruited by the state’s education commissioner to run Bridgeport Public Schools — is stepping down as the district’s superintendent to be the running mate of Illinois Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn.
Posted inNews
Nation’s Report Card: CT continues to show largest achievement gap
For years, Connecticut has had the worst achievement gap in the nation between its minority students and their peers in learning to read and do math — and according to the results of a major test given periodically, not much has changed. While Connecticut students overall test very well in math and reading when compared […]
Posted inNews
Small businesses remain wary of Hartford-area economy’s future
Small businesses in the Capital Region are sending mixed signals about the future of the state’s economy, according to a new analysis. But Gov. Dannel P. Malloy told about 300 small business leaders gathered Friday at The Hartford Hilton that the climate for economic growth is gradually improving. Just 35 percent of the firms surveyed […]
Posted inNews
Gay rights in Connecticut: big impact, few cases
Connecticut’s passage of a law banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has produced just a trickle of cases over the past two decades, not the flood of frivolous complaints predicted by opponents then and cited as a reason now to block a federal law. The state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities has […]
Posted inNews
Blumenthal pressures federal agencies on mental health parity rule
Washington –- Cathy Morelli, a mother from Southington, told a panel of senators Thursday about the nightmares her family lived through when their insurance company repeatedly denied coverage for the treatment of her 13-year-old daughter’s mental illness. She spoke of her daughter’s repeated slashing of her arms and legs and of attempts at suicide. “My […]
Posted inEducation
Vallas running for office in Illinois, future as Bridgeport superintendent unclear
Paul Vallas — who was recruited by the state’s education commissioner to run Bridgeport Public Schools — is running for lieutenant governor in Illinois as the running mate with Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn.
Posted inHealth
Feds finally move on mental health parity
Washington — Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday that the Obama administration has finalized regulations that would bar insurers from treating mental illnesses differently from other ailments. Parity has been a longtime issue for mental health advocates, especially since Congress approved a law in 2008 that barred insurance companies from discriminating when it came to the treatment of mental illnesses.