WATERBURY– Residents of Connecticut’s fourth-largest city had no trouble defining their priorities Tuesday night as they enjoyed their turn grilling Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on his plan to close the state budget deficit. Sure there were a few advocates for universal health care. A few state employees complained about top-heavy administration. And a contingent from […]

Departure was the theme of the day as legislators heard testimony on Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s new tax plan: dire predictions of the customers, airplanes, boats, businesses, residents and jobs that would flee the state to avoid the plan’s myriad proposed tax increases. “To state the obvious, airplanes fly,” Eric Zipkin, owner of Trade Winds […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy named Correction Commissioner Leo C. Arnone, originally an appointee of former Gov. M. Jodi Rell, to continue to oversee Connecticut’s prison system as the administration undertakes efforts to further reduce the inmate population. Arnone, 59, who was originally appointed Aug. 1, 2010 following the retirement of then-Commissioner Theresa Lantz of Manchester, […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s new budget doesn’t go far enough to accelerate Connecticut’s economic recovery and create better-paying jobs, according to the latest report from the University of Connecticut’s Center for Economic Analysis. State government needs to invest more heavily in high-technology, cutting-edge projects particularly by overhauling “moribund” research and development tax credits to underwrite […]

Legislation requiring most Connecticut employers to provide paid sick leave narrowly cleared its first hurdle Thursday when the Labor and Public Employees approved it by a 6-5 vote. The Democrat-controlled panel adopted the bill over Republican objections in a vote largely along party lines. The only defection involved Rep. Ernest Hewett, D-New London, who backed […]

NEW LONDON–A predominantly blue-collar audience urged Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Wednesday night to spare them from his proposed tax hikes–among the largest in state history–and pressed the governor instead to seek more revenue from the rich and major concessions from state employees. The crowd of more than 300 that packed the Jennings Middle School gymnasium […]

Connecticut’s automotive retailers are hoping they can convince Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to drop two controversial tax proposals by translating them into a term he has used repeatedly since taking office: jobs. The retailers contend Malloy’s plans to impose the sales tax on automobile trade-ins, and to charge a luxury tax on vehicles worth more […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s new budget leaves the state’s six legislative commissions designed to serve specific ethnic and other demographic groups pondering their futures. While Malloy didn’t recommend any consolidation or elimination of these panels, he said during a recent interview that merging all six into one makes sense. And while the governor’s budget was […]

A week after winning accolades from municipal officials for proposing a budget that largely maintains state aid to cities and towns, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is under fire for seeking authority to reduce that assistance unilaterally if the state’s financial problems worsen. Allowing the governor to reduce aid mid-year “is non-negotiable for us,” James Finley, […]

Some 300 union members gathered Wednesday outside the Capitol to show solidarity for Wisconsin’s embattled public-sector workers–but relatively few Connecticut state employees turned out. And while the crowd, composed largely of private-sector labor and unionized school teachers and other municipal employees, roared its approval for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, state union leaders said that was […]

Though there’s arguably no good time to increase taxes, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy would have been hard pressed to find a worse time for the gasoline tax hike he presented to lawmakers last week. The governor’s proposal, which would add 3 cents to the retail gasoline tax and 2 cents to the diesel fuel tax, […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy would use more than $350 million in budget surpluses across the past two fiscal years to mitigate a controversial electricity rate hike his predecessor approved to help balance her last budget. But the governor could be in for a battle as clean energy advocates, key legislative leaders — and even the […]

It’s barely three months since Election Day, but Gov. Dannel P. Malloy goes back on the campaign trail Monday — not to run for a second term but to sell one of the most painful budget proposals in recent state history. The governor, who begins the first of 17 Town Hall-style meetings at 7 p.m. […]

The big number is bad enough: $1.5 billion in new taxes to balance the coming year’s budget. But when the vast majority of state residents haven’t had to deal with anything more complicated than a two-tier levy, adding five new brackets to the state income tax is adding to the public consternation. Gov. Dannel P. […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy summed up the meaning of his new budget proposal Wednesday in one word: jobs. But while the new governor once again declared that Connecticut is “open for business,” reactions were mixed as to whether his initiatives would enhance or hinder the state’s already sluggish economy. The state’s chief business lobby, the […]