A Trump administration proposal that would change the way the government determines whether someone is likely to be a “public charge” could be deterring immigrants with legal status and parents of citizen children across Connecticut from accessing a range of public benefits like food stamps or Medicaid.
December 2018
Posted inPolitics
Lamont names legal counsel and senior adviser
Gov.-elect Ned Lamont, who went outside the State Capitol for a chief of staff and budget director, rounded out the top echelon of his staff Monday with two experienced insiders: Superior Court Judge Robert W. Clark as general counsel and Colleen Flanagan Johnson as senior adviser overseeing strategy and communications.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Locally manufactured renewable energy technology empowers, employs Connecticut
The conversation over what renewable energy source is best for Connecticut should start with which one of the many choices enhances the state’s economy and future. The renewable energy industry is very much in a unique position to meet the state’s needs and goals for renewable energy. While solar and wind technologies are well known and have high value to convert wind and sunlight to renewable electricity, lesser known technologies such as hydrogen, fuel cell, and oil-free Organic Rankine Cycle can also produce and/or store renewable power.
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
The trucker shortage
As if crumbling bridges and pot-holed highways weren’t enough to worry about, now America’s transportation network is facing a new crisis: a shortage of truck drivers. According to the American Trucking Association (ATA), trucks carry more than 70 percent of all domestic freight, bringing in $719 billion in revenue. It’s trucks, not trains, that deliver our Amazon purchases and fill the shelves of our favorite big box stores for the holidays. So while we hate to drive behind them on our highways, we love what trucks deliver.
Posted inEducation
Increase in minority teachers not keeping pace with influx of minority students
First the good news: hundreds more minorities have become teachers over the last 10 years following several changes that made it easier to become an educator in Connecticut. Now the bad news. The growth hasn’t kept pace with the influx of Hispanic and Latino students entering public schools and those students are now less likely to have a teacher that looks like them, a review of state data by CT Mirror has found.
Posted inNews
A former president is laid to rest, but not much else is
A great American was laid to rest last week, but there are dozens of matters here and in Washington that certainly were not — most notably the implications of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s latest filing in the investigation into Russian involvement in the last presidential election.
Posted inHealth
Seniors steamed over cuts to SilverSneakers fitness program
John Garland Graves was taken aback when he walked into his McKinleyville, Calif., gym in October and learned that his SilverSneakers membership was being canceled.
Since 2014, Graves, 69, has enjoyed free access to the gym through SilverSneakers, the nation’s best-known fitness program for seniors.
Posted inNews
Pearl Harbor Memorial Park dedicated in New Haven
Floyd Welch, 96, the last Connecticut survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, was at the center of attention as state officials dedicated New Haven’s new Pearl Harbor Memorial Park last week.
Posted inPolitics
Esty prepares to leave Congress — and politics
WASHINGTON – Many lawmakers who will retire at the end of this Congress or have lost re-election have shuttered their offices and gone home. Not so Connecticut Democrat, U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty. While she is determined to work to the last moment, without an office or staff, Esty says she’s done with politics.
Posted inPolitics
For now, silence from Lamont on Dems’ next party chair
Nick Balletto is making calls seeking support for his re-election as Democratic state chairman next month, despite the pointed absence of an endorsement from Gov.-elect Ned Lamont, whose viability as a candidate was sharply questioned by Balletto in the early months of the 2018 campaign.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Why are rich suburban kids doing heroin?
Why are rich suburban kids doing heroin? In the past two years, I’ve lost four friends to drug overdoses. I grew up with several people who are now heroin addicts, both recovering and using. My friends and I have watched our peers drop like flies over the past few years, and it’s only getting worse as the nation’s opioid crisis intensifies in a myriad of ways.
Posted inJustice
Gun control advocates optimistic new Congress will act on their agenda
WASHINGTON – Every year gun control activists from Newtown gather here to condemn congressional inaction on legislation they think will keep Americans safe. This year the mood at the gathering was quite different as gun control advocates are counting on the support of new members who ran — and won — on gun control and helped flip the U.S. House to Democratic control..
Posted inNews
Minimum wage, family leave top progressive wish list
Progressive Democrats in the state House of Representatives made an early effort Thursday to shape the 2019 legislative agenda of the Connecticut General Assembly, naming a $15 minimum wage, paid family and medical leave, and the legalization of recreational marijuana as their priorities.
Posted inNews
Census: Increase in CT drivers spending more than an hour to get to work
Commutes are getting longer and more Connecticut drivers are spending at least an hour to get to work — particularly in Fairfield County — new data from the U.S. Census Bureau show.
Posted inJustice
Malloy lauded for criminal justice reforms during final meeting of housing re-entry group
State leaders and advocates praised Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for his reforms of Connecticut’s criminal justice system on Wednesday as the working group charged with recommending ways to improve housing re-entry for former inmates met for its last time.