A last-minute boost in state funding won’t stave off a looming fiscal crisis for Connecticut’s public colleges and universities, the Board of Regents for Higher Education reported Thursday.
CTMirror Contributor
Posted inPolitics
On bipartisan vote, Connecticut bans bump stocks
The state Senate voted 26 to 10 Tuesday night for final passage of a bill that bans the sale and ownership of bump stocks in Connecticut, joining a growing number of states that have prohibited the rapid-fire rifle accessory used by the Las Vegas shooter who killed 58 people and injured hundreds last October.
Posted inEducation, Politics
Holocaust bill gets a vote, and CT House gets a blessing
It was a unique ending to a legislative debate: Rabbi Philip Lazowski, a Holocaust survivor who has watched the rise of a neo-Nazi movement that denies history, blessed the House of Representatives on Monday after it unanimously passed a bill requiring schools to teach a lesson about the Holocaust and other genocides.
Posted inPolitics
Senate passes bill to restore net neutrality in Connecticut
The state Senate brought back by a single vote Friday a bill intended to restore Connecticut’s ability to prohibit internet service providers from blocking websites or charging them for faster delivery of their content.
Posted inEducation
Regents determined to persist with ‘Students First’ consolidation
The governing board of Connecticut’s 12 community colleges is not giving up on implementing a controversial plan to merge the schools into a single accredited institution, even though a regional accrediting body rejected its current pitch. But Mark Ojakian, the system’s president, backpedaled on previous comments that he was considering closing one or more campuses and further raising tuition.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal: Elite sports organizations should be held accountable for sexual abuse
Blumenthal and Connecticut Child Advocate Sarah Eagan stood alongside four former elite athletes as they detailed abuse they experienced in their sports.
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut moves closer to banning bump stocks
The state House of Representatives approved a bill Tuesday that would ban bump stocks, moving Connecticut one step closer to a number of other states that have prohibited the devices used in the deadly Las Vegas shooting last October.
Posted inJustice, News
Project Youth Court, giving young offenders an alternate route
There are more than 1,000 youth courts across the country, but in Connecticut, there’s only one. As its director Jean Michaud, explains in this Sunday Conversation, Project Youth Court in New Haven uses trained teenage volunteers to run hearings for young, non-violent misdemeanor offenders.
Posted inEducation, Justice
Financial aid for ‘dreamers’ becomes a reality in Connecticut
The Connecticut House of Representatives gave final passage Wednesday night to legislation that opens financial aid in the state to “dreamers,” the undocumented immigrants brought here as children, only to find themselves priced out of higher education as they come of age. The bipartisan vote was 91-59.
Posted inPolitics
House passes resolution that would allow early voting
The House of Representatives, in an 81-to-65 vote Thursday, approved a resolution calling for a referendum on a constitutional amendment to allow early voting in Connecticut. But the earliest residents might have more than a single day to cast their ballot is 2020.
Posted inPolitics
GOP candidates promise a shift in reappointing judges
The failed confirmation of Justice Andrew J. McDonald as chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court became a focal point for Republican candidates battling for governor Wednesday, as they answered whether they would uphold the longstanding custom of reappointing judges to new terms regardless of their judicial philosophy or political affiliation.
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers advance bills banning bump stocks, ‘ghost guns’
Connecticut lawmakers on both sides of the aisle voted Tuesday to move forward legislation that would ban bump stocks and untraceable firearms called “ghost guns.” The measures, passed by the Judiciary Committee, will now move to the floor of the legislature.
Posted inNews
Sentencing change would help immigrants avoid ICE involvement
A bill recommended by the Connecticut Sentencing Commission would shave misdemeanor sentences from 365 days to 364 — minimizing the chance immigrants convicted of low-level crimes would face involvement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Posted inPolitics
White House encouraging states to consider red-flag law CT pioneered
The White House will be encouraging states to consider enacting a law Connecticut pioneered that allows the seizure of guns from people who might hurt themselves or others, administration officials said Monday.
Posted inPolitics
Thousands come together to ‘March for Our Lives’ in Hartford
A gathering police say grew to about 11,000 included demonstrators of all ages bearing signs that read “Not One More,” “Protect My Students,” and “We Call B.S.” Throngs of marchers standing in Bushnell Park could be heard chanting “no more silence, end gun violence,” and “enough is enough.”