The Connecticut Public Affairs Network, the non-profit operator of CT-N since its inception in 1999 as the provider of gavel-to-gavel cable-television coverage of the General Assembly, said Thursday it will end operations Friday, unable to abide by a slashed budget and the loss of editorial control imposed by the legislature.
2017
Posted inMoney, Politics
GOP tax plan would touch most CT taxpayers, creating winners and losers
WASHINGTON – House GOP leaders unveiled a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code Thursday, eliminating some popular tax breaks while lowering the tax rate for many Americans. Billed as a boon to the middle class by its supporters, the tax overhaul was panned by Democrats — including lawmakers from Connecticut –and some Republicans concerned about its elimination of of the popular deductions for state and local income taxes.
Posted inJustice
Chase T. Rogers to resign as chief justice
Chase T. Rogers announced her intention Thursday to retire in February after nearly a decade as chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, capping a period of great turnover on the state’s highest court. Rogers, 60, pointed to numerous reforms the branch has undergone in recent years to improve services amid state budget cuts and an increasing number of impoverished, self-represented defendants.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
DEEP is Protecting Eversource, not the Environment
The state agency in charge of environmental protection here in Connecticut is proposing changes that will restrict its citizens’ ability to contribute to a cleaner energy future. This may sound crazy, but it makes perfect sense to our local utility companies, which are lobbying hard in Hartford for such restrictions, as are power companies in other state capitals.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Big deficits two years from now could undercut tax cut promises
While the new state budget promises an array of tax cuts two and three years from now, it also leaves the next governor and legislature to close a $4.6 billion projected shortfall — far larger than the deficit lawmakers addressed in the current plan.
Posted inHealth, Money
CT budget cuts program that helps low-income and disabled Medicare patients
The two-year, bipartisan state budget signed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy this week will cut Medicaid help for at least 68,000 Connecticut seniors and disabled individuals, a change decried by doctors and health care advocates in the state.
Posted inJustice
Legislators confirm nominees to Supreme, Appellate courts
The General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to confirm the nominations by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of two justices to the state Supreme Court and one judge to the Appellate Court.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Tale of how a political plum went to an apolitical prosecutor
The path to becoming a U.S. attorney or federal judge is found on no map. It is defined in no political text. It is determined by custom, political and professional networks, and, ultimately, a measure of luck. Such is the story of John H. Durham’s selection Wednesday by President Trump as the next U.S. attorney of Connecticut.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Domestic violence, at epidemic level, can be financial, too
October was domestic violence awareness and prevention month across the country and here in Greenwich. Domestic violence occurs when one partner intimidates, manipulates or threatens the other in order to establish dominance. While most people think only of physical abuse when they consider domestic violence, financial abuse is largely overlooked in the dialogue about domestic violence. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, financial abuse is experienced by 94 to 99 percent of domestic violence survivors and occurs across all socio-economic, educational, racial and ethnic groups. Yet, according to the Allstate Foundation, 78 percent of Americans have not heard of financial abuse as a dimension of domestic violence.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Urban school districts still don’t have equal access to digital tools and education
I teach at Bulkeley High School in Hartford and so often I find students who lack even the most basic digital literacy skills. Asking students to log into an online platform will take 15 minutes. Organizing documents in Google Drive will take even longer. These are the basic skills which a governmental commission has frequently reiterated from the year 2005 to the present. If this objective has stood for 12 years –the standard measure of time for a student to be enrolled in K to 12 education –– why is it that my students are still coming to me without even the most basic skills in digital literacy?
Posted inMoney
‘CT-N is alive, for now’
CT-N, the public’s video window into operations of the General Assembly and other government functions, will continue operations past the expiration at midnight Tuesday of the legislature’s contract with the network’s non-profit operator. Longer-term prospects are uncertain.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Blumenthal asks Twitter, Facebook, about fake ads in Russian troll probe
WASHINGTON — Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Tuesday asked Twitter and Facebook executives what they knew about specific attempts by Russian trolls to disseminate information through fake ads and stories, and received little response. Facebook says as many as 126 million people may have seen content from accounts tied to Russian sources.
Posted inEconomic Development, Politics
Tribes’ lawyers tell Interior it must accept casino deal
Two national law firms representing the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations pressed the federal government Tuesday with a letter insisting the Interior secretary has no choice but to approve their gaming agreements with Connecticut and clear the way for them to jointly develop a commercial casino in East Windsor.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Malloy rejects hospital tax plan but signs most of CT budget into law
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy used his line-item veto to reject a new taxing arrangement on hospitals, but signed into law the bulk of a new, two-year state budget negotiated without direct input from his administration.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Malloy signs Millstone bill, then questions its need
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a bill Tuesday that allows the state to enhance the profitability of Dominion Energy’s Millstone nuclear power plant in Waterford, while pointedly asserting that Dominion has not convinced his administration any such help is warranted.