Some of the issues may be large, but during these last days of the 2014 legislative session, it’s the less-than-momentous things that can matter the most.
CTMirror Contributor
Posted inEducation, Energy & Environment, Health, Money, Politics
Tax returns, dozens of dentists and Connecticut’s coastal forest
Monday starts the final full week of the 2014 legislative session. Some issues seem to be getting nailed down (universal pre-k; the UTC tax break deal; the courts’ guardian ad litem system). Others, not so much.
Posted inEducation, Politics
A Connecticut teen, a new UConn union, and money talk$
The story of “Jane Doe,” the transgender teenager who has never been charged with a crime being sent to the Connecticut adult women’s prison, burned a path through the week of legislative and political news.
Posted inEducation, Politics
Politics, politicians and children’s issues
Much of the important, but lower-profile, work at the State Capitol this week revolved around children’s issues.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Still more standardized testing? Listen to the youth.
A bilingual student remembered being told in first grade, ‘You have to do this because you’re preparing for the test,’ but the standardized test wasn’t given until 3rd grade.
Posted inEducation, Energy & Environment, Health, Politics
Pragmatic civics, shifting shorelines
You know how Congress works as defined in the Constitution. But we try to show how Congress actually operates on a day-to-day. Tune in to pragmatic civics, by Washington reporter Ana Radelat and data editor Alvin Chang.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
Obamacare deadline, and CT’s political season starts in earnest
One quasi-frenzy ends with a final Obamacare deadline, and the political uber-frenzy — also known as the gubernatorial election — truly begins with a totally expected announcement.
Posted inEducation
CT: Evaluating teachers, politics, a changing health landscape
We say to teachers: Take our children and make them model citizens, able to thrive and navigate the future. Often cutting resources, we also create standards for teachers to meet. And then – shockingly – there’s pushback!
Posted inEducation, Health, Money
The thrills of public policy (a non-ironic point of view)
Yes, legislative debates can be ridiculously long, redundant and ridiculously off-topic. But the issues can be – potentially – momentous, for specific individuals, and all of us.
Posted inPolitics
Opinion: CT government’s conflicted feelings about transparency
Gov. Dannel Malloy’s Executive Order #39, signed last month, creates an open data portal to “further Connecticut’s commitment to transparency, efficiency, social progress, and economic expansion.” But there are other kinds of actions — being undertaken by the state legislature — that would undercut the trend toward greater transparency.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Correcting misconceptions about sexual violence
Public outrage and attention to misconceptions about sexual assault create an opportunity to have important public policy conversations.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Time to face the facts and fix the problems
The Malloy administration tells us all is well, but Connecticut has lost its way.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Revamp CT’s property tax system to overcome inequity, inefficiency
This should be the year policymakers start to revamp the state’s property tax structure. We know the system is unfair, and there is a clear path forward to fix it.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Connecticut — Speak up! We’re listening.
At the end of 2013, we asked readers to submit suggestions about the issues lawmakers and policymakers should take up this year — the perfect time to give them an earful.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Too many Connecticut families need affordable housing
The private market simply does not meet the need for housing for about one in every four families.