Democrats running for key state and federal offices fired up Connecticut’s largest labor coalition Friday, painting President Donald Trump and GOP gubernatorial nominee Bob Stefanowski as major threats to the left’s core values.
August 2018
Posted inPolitics
Showdown on food stamps looms in Congress
WASHINGTON – Unless there’s a last-minute deal, there will be a huge showdown in Congress next week over the future of food stamps, a federal program that helps feed about 400,000 individuals and families in Connecticut. House conservatives — and President Donald Trump — want to add new work requirements to the program, but there’s resistance in the Senate to that idea.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
A Trump Administration progress report
Shortly after President Trump’s inauguration I thought that the true test of the Trump administration will be on how much it could deliver. If President Trump could just deliver on a third of his promises, it would be a successful presidency. Batting .333 is good in any league. I hoped that commentators would begin to focus on what the Trump administration actually does, and not what Donald Trump had done in his past or what they fear he will do in the future. Little did I realize how hard it would be to find out what the Trump administration has actually accomplished.
Posted inEducation
Advocates: State didn’t do enough to plan for CJTS closure
The Connecticut Juvenile Training School closed on April 12, forcing the state to place the boys in pretrial detention centers that were never intended to meet the needs of this population. Advocates say the state didn’t adequately plan for the closure of CJTS and that it must move faster to establish alternative facilities.
Posted inHealth
Study: 24 percent of Hartford area residents have pre-existing health problem
WASHINGTON – Nearly one-in-four residents of the Hartford metropolitan area have a pre-existing medical condition that might make it difficult for them to obtain insurance coverage for that illness if a key provision in the Affordable Care Act is overturned, a new study says.
Posted inNews
Feds give two immigrant children in Connecticut a year’s reprieve
Two immigrant children who were reunited with their parents in Connecticut after being separated at the U.S.-Mexico border have been granted temporary legal immigration status.
Posted inMoney
Connecticut starting to beef up its meager fiscal cushion
Next month Connecticut will post its largest emergency budget reserve in a decade. But Connecticut only ranks in the middle of all states when it comes to amassing a fiscal cushion against the next economic downturn.
Posted inPolitics
Ballot access is a step forward for Oz. Now, is there another?
Oz Griebel is on the ballot. It’s time now to see if potential donors pay attention, if the invitations to debates and forums come and if lightning strikes — something happens that gives Griebel a moment that connects with disaffected voters. If there exists a third-party Zeitgeist in Connecticut in 2018, he has yet to find it.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Why synthetic marijuana is so risky
The Green, a gathering place in New Haven near Yale University, looked like a mass casualty zone, with 70 serious drug overdoses over a period spanning Aug. 15-16, 2018. The cause: synthetic cannabinoids, also known as K2, Spice, or AK47, which induced retching, vomiting, loss of consciousness and trouble breathing. On July 19, the Food and Drug Administration warned consumers that another batch of synthetic marijuana had been laced with rat poison. In 10 states and the District of Columbia, hundreds of people were hospitalized with severe bleeding, and four people died.
Posted inHealth
STDs reach record levels in CT, early data show
Connecticut and the rest of the nation last year experienced a record-high number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases, including gonorrhea, which health officials fear may be becoming more resistant to antibiotic treatment.
Posted inPolitics
As former colleagues pay tribute, Lieberman mourns John McCain privately
WASHINGTON – As colleagues and friends gave emotional tributes to John McCain this week, former Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, has chosen instead to mourn his “amigo” more privately. Lieberman will speak at the memorial service for McCain in Washington on Saturday, but has declined to speak to the press about his friend and former Senate ally.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
What our congressional representatives are doing — or not
I believe Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters in Connecticut are so transfixed by the looming $70 billion in unfunded pension and health care benefits for present and past state employees that we don’t focus enough on the job being done — or not done — by our congressional delegation. But in my opinion our federal representatives seem to get a pass, as we don’t ask them about international issues.
Posted inPolitics
With labor, Lamont carefully treads a path blazed by Malloy
Ned Lamont has spent months trying to distance himself from the unpopular Democratic governor he hopes to succeed, but when it comes to the public-sector unions that bedeviled his predecessor, Lamont faces the same dilemma: How to keep labor’s support in difficult fiscal times?
Posted inPolitics
In first TV ads, Chris Murphy walks the walk
WASHINGTON – Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy will launch his first television ads on Wednesday in one of the quietest Senate races in the nation this year. The ads don’t mention Murphy’s challenger, Republican businessman Matthew Corey, focusing instead on the senator’s annual walk across the state.
Posted inPolitics
Oz Griebel qualifies for gubernatorial ballot
Oz Griebel, a former Republican running for governor with a former Democrat, Monte Frank, as his running mate, qualified for the ballot Tuesday, the secretary of the state’s office said. He joins Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican Bob Stefanowski.