Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini has joined a number of corporate leaders distancing themselves from President Donald J. Trump in the wake of the events in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Kyle Constable
Posted inTransportation
In CT’s battle with feds over rail, a new front in Fairfield County
STAMFORD — Fresh off a recent victory in southeastern Connecticut, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and activists have begun organizing opposition to a second federally proposed rail bypass. This time, the fight is in lower Fairfield County.
Posted inMoney
Despite unsolved deficit, CT must observe sales tax holiday
Connecticut remains without a budget six weeks into the new fiscal year, but by law officials must still move forward with the state’s 17th-annual sales tax holiday later this month. The Department of Revenue Services estimates the state will miss out on about $4.1 million in revenue.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal: North Korea strike near Guam would put military action on the table
“Military action would have to be considered in response to an attack,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal said in Hartford Thursday. “I’m not going to predict what that action should be, but every step should be used to convince the North Koreans that they face devastation and destruction.”
Posted inTransportation
Larson pitches carbon tax to fund $1.8 trillion infrastructure bill
EAST HARTFORD — Although the prospect of a major infrastructure bill is waning in Congress, Rep. John Larson remains optimistic and is seeking nearly $2 trillion to overhaul the nation’s infrastructure, funded by a tax on carbon emissions.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal calls Trump’s new Vietnam tweets about him ‘slurs’
Updated at 5:57 p.m.
President Donald J. Trump took to Twitter Monday morning – and again in the afternoon – to renew his attacks on U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., bringing up the senator’s misstatements about service in Vietnam for the third time. Trump called him a “phony Vietnam con artist.”
Posted inHealth
Access Health scaling back storefronts but seeks to broaden reach
Facing a shortened enrollment period, Connecticut’s health insurance exchange announced Wednesday it plans to scale back its two existing storefronts and redeploy resources to broaden its reach.
Posted inHousing, Politics
Legislature musters enough votes to override Malloy housing veto
The General Assembly dealt a blow to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s housing agenda Monday after legislators voted narrowly to override his veto of a bill that loosens the state’s affordable housing standards.
Posted inEducation
Education reform: CT clarifies plan before sending it to the feds
“I have every reason to hope, certainly from the tenor of the phone call, that we’re going to be OK,” said Deputy Education Commissioner Ellen Cohn said. “That’s very different from how we perceived it at the beginning.”
Posted inEducation
State OKs hundreds of new charter school seats for next year
The state Board of Education voted 6-2 Wednesday to add 504 more charter school seats, about a 5.5 percent increase. Currently, there are about 9,600 seats in the state’s 24 charter schools.
Posted inPolitics
Tom Dudchik, gatekeeper of the news for CT’s political class, is back on the air
Tom Dudchik is the political insider’s insider. Neither journalist nor politician, Dudchik is the man both turn to for the latest political news in the state. He runs CT Capitol Report, a news aggregation site that mimics Drudge Report in its minimalist style, but not its conservative tone. On the occasion of his new TV show, Dudchik is the subject of this week’s Sunday Conversation.
Posted inPolitics
Boughton: Income tax phase-out is one piece of 10-year plan
DANBURY — As he explores a third campaign for governor, Republican Mayor Mark Boughton is testing a message not seriously proffered in two decades: a call for elimination of the state’s tax on wages. He says it’s not a stunt, but voters will have to wait to hear how he thinks Connecticut could get by without nearly half its revenue.
Posted inPolitics
Murphy raises $2M in last quarter, total cash on hand at $5.1M
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Wednesday he raised $2 million for his 2018 re-election campaign in the last quarter, bringing his total cash on hand to $5.1 million.
Posted inPolitics
For now, CT won’t have to give records to U.S. voter fraud panel
A presidential advisory commission tasked by President Donald J. Trump with investigating voter fraud faced a setback Monday after lawsuits filed in federal court put a hold on its request for voter records from Connecticut and all other states.
Posted inHousing, Money, Politics
Malloy uses looming housing fallout to heighten budget urgency
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy began showcasing the potential fallout from the state’s budget standoff Monday at The Lyceum in Hartford, where he held a roundtable on looming setbacks in the fight to end homelessness.