While there is growing sentiment at the Capitol that excessive regulations are slowing job growth here, there’s no evidence that Connecticut’s rules governing environmental protection are one of the culprits, according to the state’s chief environmental watchdog. But Karl Wagener, executive director of the state Council on Environmental Quality for the last 26 years, did […]

Connecticut needs to make significant changes in a wide range of areas–including education, transportation, export strategy, regulatory systems and its very business base–if it hopes to break a growing cycle of jobless recoveries, a panel of economic experts said Thursday. “You have every reason to expect success,” Harvard Business School Professor Michael E. Porter told […]

A quartet of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s top staffers offered municipal leaders simple advice Wednesday for obtaining state aid in this economy: Projects that employ people, or stand to create new jobs are good. Those ready to begin right away are better. Commissioners Daniel Esty, James P. Redeker and Catherine Smith, along with Office of […]

After more than a decade of efforts to launch a full-blown advocacy agency for Connecticut’s growing Asian community, organizers finally won a budget allocation this year that would allow them to hire an executive director–only to find themselves barred from spending it. Republican state legislative leaders not only blocked the Asian Pacific American Commission’s request […]

Bargaining units representing more than 6,400 unionized state employees chastised Gov. Dannel P. Malloy this afternoon for allowing non-union managers and executives to receive longevity bonuses in October under a new capping system while unionized staff will forfeit some or all of theirs. CSEA-SEIU Local 2001, called for Malloy to apply the same standard to […]

While most veteran unionized employees are forfeiting their longevity pay as part of the labor concession deal, thousands of non-union workers, including several top officials in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration, will share millions of dollars in seniority bonuses next month. The Department of Administrative Services declined Thursday to release a preliminary list of staff […]

Though Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration has insisted to date it intends to live within the constitutional spending cap, its budget office recently gave warning — less than three months into the new fiscal year — that this goal would be difficult to reach. In its monthly budget report to Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo, the […]

Union representing electric and phone utility repair crews charged Monday that profit-driven cutbacks significantly hampered the response to Tropical Storm Irene in the week following the Aug. 27-28 tempest. And as state legislators concluded their two-part hearing on the Irene response, they also heard a wide array of ideas for improving Connecticut’s readiness for future […]

Republicans got another lesson in how Democrats have consolidated power Friday as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy secured $20 million in financing for a competitive municipal grant program without disclosing how he intends to divvy up the funds. There was no legal requirement for Malloy to first disclose his intentions to the State Bond Commission, but […]

New federal data showing Connecticut’s overall income rose last year while most households earned less intensified the focus Thursday on the special legislative session on jobs just five weeks away. The estimates in the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 American Community Survey also showed that despite little change in Connecticut’s uninsured population there is a growing […]

Though just a fraction of the state budget, the $80 million winter heating assistance funding shortfall might not be the last small-ticket item to toss a big wrench in Connecticut’s fiscal machine. With virtually no cushion below the constitutional spending cap, more than $830 million in savings targets that must be hit, the potential for […]

Despite new legislation aimed at helping the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities streamline its operations, key officials say further action may be necessarily if the agency is to deal with a massive backlog of cases reported this month by auditors. The report from state Auditors John C. Geragosian and Robert M. Ward found […]

Facing a legislative inquiry after the state’s worst power outage, Connecticut’s largest electric utility intends to defend its performance today by telling legislators that it restored power to more customers and in less time after Tropical Storm Irene than in any previous blackout. Jeffrey D. Butler, the president and chief operating officer of Connecticut Light […]