In one email, a lawyer for Heritage Pharmaceuticals suggests drug companies respond with “polite FU letters” to congressional inquiries.
Jenna Carlesso
Jenna is a reporter on The Connecticut Mirror’s investigative desk. Her reporting on gaps in Connecticut’s elder care system prompted sweeping changes in nursing home and home care policy. Jenna has also covered lapses in long-term care facilities, investigated the impact of cyberattacks on hospitals, and uncovered the questionable dealings of health ministry groups that masquerade as insurance. Her reporting sparked reforms in health care and government oversight, helped erase medical debt for Connecticut residents, and led to the indictments of developers in a major state project. Her work has been recognized by the National Press Foundation and the Association of Health Care Journalists. Before joining CT Mirror, she was a reporter at The Hartford Courant, where she covered government in the capital city with a focus on corruption, theft of taxpayer funds, and ethical violations.
Posted inHealth
Legislative leaders press health commissioner on religious vaccine exemption
Legislative leaders ramped up pressure Thursday on the state’s new commissioner of public health, asking her to take a formal position on the hot-button issue of vaccine exemptions.
Posted inHealth
Lamont signs bill upping tobacco purchase age to 21
Starting in October, Connecticut residents must be 21 to purchase tobacco or vaping products.
Posted inHealth
Couple sues to block release of new, statewide vaccination data
The health department would not say Monday whether it still plans to make public the latest school-by-school information. The data was expected to be released this month.
Posted inJustice
Lamont signs gun safety bills, reaffirms commitment to ending violence
One of the bills bars gun owners from leaving a handgun in an unattended motor vehicle unless the firearm is secured, while the other regulates 3D-printed firearms and bans so-called “ghost guns” without serial numbers.
Posted inHealth
Anti-abortion advocates call failure of crisis pregnancy center bill an ‘act of God’
While opponents of a proposal to regulate the state’s crisis pregnancy centers hailed the bill’s defeat, pro-choice advocates vowed to bring it back next year.
Posted inHealth
Lamont: We’ll revisit public option health care issue next year
Efforts to push through a revised public option health care bill came “too late” in the legislative session, and Lamont pledged to revive the issue next year.
Posted inHealth
Public option bill, already weakened by debate, dies in the Senate
The bill’s long slog and eventual death caps months of contentious discussion on efforts to change Connecticut’s health care landscape.
Posted inHealth
Watered-down public option bill heads to Senate after House approval
A deeply diluted version of a public option health care bill moved through the House Tuesday, drawing bipartisan support but abandoning its ambitious goals.
Posted inNews
Lawmakers press for new redevelopment agency in state budget
Tucked away in the budget bill is a provision to form the Municipal Redevelopment Authority, a quasi-public agency that could bond for city and town development efforts across Connecticut.
Posted inHealth
Tobacco 21 wins passage in Senate, heads to governor for signing
The Senate voted Friday to raise the legal age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21. The bill now heads to Gov. Ned Lamont, who has pledged to sign the measure.
Posted inHealth
Senate revives, then adopts deal on PTSD benefits for first responders
A day after one bipartisan deal to expand post traumatic stress disorder benefits to first responders bogged down, Democratic and Republican senators approved a revised bill.
Posted inHealth
Public option hits rocks, key components stripped from bill
State-sponsored health plans for individuals and small businesses are expected to be removed from the bill, along with a provision to re-establish an individual mandate
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Once again, it’s not easy being green
Elaborate plans for an ambitious one-off state incarnation of a green new deal were substantially scaled back when the legislation came to the House floor on Tuesday.
Posted inHealth
Union backs away from nursing home strike
The state’s largest health care workers’ union has again called off a threat to strike, following a pledge by governor to increase rates for nursing homes.