WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday to propose regulations that would ban bump stocks and similar devices “that turn legal weapons into machine guns.” But proponents of stricter federal gun regulations, including Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, are skeptical of Trump’s initiative.
February 20, 2018
Posted inJustice
Student movement against gun violence reverberates in Newtown
The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., has galvanized teenagers around the country to organize protests and marches to push lawmakers to address gun violence and pass stricter gun laws.
Posted inJustice, Politics
In CT Senate, a partisan edge to fighting workplace harassment
Connecticut Senate Democrats aligned themselves Tuesday with the burgeoning Me Too and Time’s Up movements by proposing a sweeping election-year bill that they say would be “the largest overhaul in modern Connecticut history of sexual harassment laws.” Republicans objected to their exclusion.
Posted inHealth, Politics
White House moves to allow Obamacare rival
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday moved forward on allowing Americans to purchase short-term health plans that may be more affordable than what’s on the market right now but would not contain the Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections and would undermine the health care law.
Posted inPolitics
Stefanowski: Crowded field makes public financing too expensive
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski is challenging his many opponents to drop out of the voluntary public financing program that pays qualifying candidates $1.25 million for a primary and $6 million for the general election. That probably won’t impress many delegates at nominating conventions, where a candidate’s ability to qualify for public funds is a sign of credibility. But his call underscores how expensive this crowded election might be for taxpayers.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Overdose kit distribution: A how to guide
I’m not much of a host. But with the opioid epidemic getting worse, I knew we had to start doing overdose-kit distributions. The whys seem obvious. As a medical director for a large mental health and substance abuse non-profit agency —CMHA in New Britain— I see too much death. The toxicology reports from the state’s medical examiner increasingly come back positive for fentanyl, which is now present in over 50 percent of our fatal ODs. At 50 to several-thousand-times-more potent than morphine, fentanyls—yes, there are more than 20— from China have thrown gas onto the fire of America’s opioid epidemic.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Put students first: Close the CSCU system, disband the Board of Regents
The “Students First” plan proposed by the CSCU Board of Regents, intended to save $28 million by consolidating the state’s 12 community colleges, has engendered frustration among system faculty due to the lack of visible research or analysis proving that the plan will realize the projected savings. Faculty, therefore, were taken by surprise when a recent CT Mirror article reported that the accrediting agency, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, had given feedback on a draft plan for the Students First initiative submitted to it by the Board of Regents.
Posted inPolitics
Weighing unpopular governor against unpredictable president
One of the great ironies in politics is that the election of a Republican president has injected uncertainty into what had seemed to be an inexorable, 10-year march by Connecticut Republicans from irrelevance to dominance at the State Capitol. Anger at Donald J. Trump now competes with dissatisfaction over Democrats’ stewardship of the state’s finances and economy.