This city’s mayoral election sharply veered into unchartered waters Tuesday as Mayor Bill FInch, the loser of a Democratic primary, endorsed a fusion campaign to elect Mary-Jane Foster and stop the return to City Hall of the fallen former mayor, Joseph P. Ganim.
Mark Pazniokas
Mark is the Capitol Bureau Chief and a co-founder of CT Mirror. He is a frequent contributor to WNPR, a former state politics writer for The Hartford Courant and Journal Inquirer, and contributor for The New York Times.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
With cash for bike trails, new era begins at ConnDOT
The Connecticut Department of Transportation marked a milestone Tuesday as the state Bond Commission authorized $8.3 million in bicycle and pedestrian projects, including $5.1 million to construct a missing piece of the New Haven-to-Northampton, Mass., bicycle trail in Farmington. For the first time, the state is paying to construct a bike trail, the beginning of an annual commitment of $11.2 million.
Posted inNews
FBI reports crime dropped across the board in Connecticut
Violent crime in Connecticut dropped by nearly 10 percent for the second consecutive year, placing it among the states leading a long downward trend in the incidence of crime in the U.S., the FBI reported Monday in its annual release of the Uniform Crime Report.
Posted inPolitics
Joe Ganim’s first campaign for a second chance
On a jubilant day of door-knocking in the East End of Bridgeport, the closest Joe Ganim came to a sour moment was at the end of Wilmot Avenue, where a woman demanded to know how someone convicted of a crime still can participate in electoral politics.
Posted inMoney
AG says MGM bluffing in the casino border war
Connecticut’s attorney general’s office asked a federal judge Wednesday to call what it suggests is a cheeky legal bluff by MGM Resorts International to protect the casino MGM is developing across the border in Springfield, Mass.
Posted inPolitics
Tale of two mayors: Finch to sue; Segarra goes gently
Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra ruled out an independent campaign Tuesday and endorsed Luke Bronin, winner of last week’s Democratic primary. Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, finding himself knocked off the ballot, vowed to fight on in court.
Posted inPolitics
SNAFU knocks Finch off ballot in Bridgeport mayoral race
Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch’s plan to continue as a minor party candidate after losing last week’s Democratic primary to former Mayor Joseph P. Ganim has come undone, a spokesman for the secretary of the state’s office said Monday.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy to greet Pope Francis at White House
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the Jesuit-educated governor of the nation’s fourth-most Catholic state, will attend a White House event Wednesday marking the formal start of the visit to the U.S. by the first Jesuit pontiff, Pope Francis.
Posted inHealth, Money
Market jitters prompt Malloy to make $103M in emergency cuts
Responding to a weak stock market, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy ordered $103 million in emergency cuts Friday, including a major hit in Medicaid payments that will ultimately cost hospitals about $190 million in state and federal funds.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy congratulates Bronin, pleads for time on Ganim
With an appeal for Democratic unity in Hartford, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy followed a time-honored script Thursday for things to say and do after a primary. He celebrated Luke Bronin’s capture of the mayoral nomination and praised the loser, Mayor Pedro Segarra. Joe Ganim’s win in Bridgeport was another matter.
Posted inPolitics
A bad night for Democratic mayoral incumbents
Democrats decided it was a night for change in mayoral primaries in Hartford and Bridgeport, endorsing newcomer Luke Bronin in Hartford and Joe Ganim, the former mayor and felon, in Bridgeport, where Mayor Bill Finch pledged to continue his campaign as a third-party candidate.
Posted inPolitics
Nick Carbone dies, was power broker, policy wonk
A 1970s Democratic power broker who schooled a generation of politicians and played crucial roles in the election of Ella T. Grasso as governor and the redevelopment of downtown Hartford. Carbone was 78.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Malloy signs U.S-Chinese greenhouse gas declaration
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy participated Tuesday in a U.S-Chinese climate summit to announce agreements by cities, state and provinces that he says signifies a greater willingness by China to restrict the production of greenhouse gases.
Posted inNews
Court warned of ‘life and death’ stakes in domestic cases
The Connecticut Supreme Court heard a public interest appeal Tuesday intended to clarify whether applications for restraining orders in family-violence cases ever can be denied without a hearing. “This isn’t a technicality,” Linda Allard of Greater Hartford Legal Aid told the court. “This is about life and death.”
Posted inMoney
On business, Connecticut craves climate change
The annual business survey by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association was released Friday as the new state Commission on Economic Competitiveness begins assessing a business climate regularly described as dismal in national ratings. “The challenge for us is why,” said Joseph McGee, co-chairman of the commission.