A Connecticut Supreme Court decision Tuesday overturns a $5.8 million award to a dozen beer and soda distributors who challenged the state’s ability to retroactively seize unclaimed bottle deposits in 2009. The decision settles a controversy that opened in the fall of 2008, when Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the General Assembly adopted a deficit […]
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 inNews
Mixed results for Connecticut student achievement on CAPT, CMT in 2013
Connecticut’s two annual assessments of student achievement showed a mix of gains and retreats in 2013, according to results released Tuesday by the State Department of Education. The Connecticut Academic Performance Test showed improvements in math, science and reading and a decline in writing scores, while students scored lower in all elements of the Connecticut […]
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Penny Bacchiochi: An unconventional pol’s unconventional campaign
Colchester – Penny Bacchiochi served up the vanilla version of her life story, condensed for the four-minute slot that an early-bird candidate for lieutenant governor in 2014 could reasonably expect from a Republican town committee in 2013. “My name is Penny Bacchiochi, and I know it’s very hard to say and hard to spell, so […]
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On beach battered by Sandy, HUD secretary takes cautious bow, promises more help
Milford – Two things are certain when men in suits stand on a beach in August at a plexiglass lectern, look at TV news cameras across a red velvet rope line and talk about how well government has responded to a devastating hurricane. One, they will draw the curious off freshly rebuilt decks and out […]
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ALEC’s ‘scholarships’ for state legislators under fire as national conference opens
With a Connecticut legislator presiding, the political lightning rod known as ALEC opened its annual conference in Chicago Wednesday, promoting a business agenda and drawing fierce protests from labor and questions about its scholarships for lawmakers. State law allows the seven state House Republicans registered to attend the American Legislative Exchange Council conference to accept […]
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A new voice at Voices for Children
Connecticut Voices for Children reached to New Hampshire to hire a new executive director with ties to Connecticut and Yale University. The New Haven-based research and advocacy group has hired Ellen Shemitz, the former director of the Children’s Alliance of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Association for Justice. She will begin work with Voices […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
Legislators lobby Malloy administration for Montville renewable energy project
Montville – The line between politics and commerce blurred here Monday as the mayor and state legislators backed NRG Energy’s bid to be chosen by the state for a valuable prize: a long-term contract to provide renewable energy.
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Day columnist describes Osten’s hardball politics
Hardball politics in a small town always makes good copy, as Dave Collins of The Day shows in his column today about Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague. Osten, who also is the town’s first selectwoman, cut the hours of the town’s senior director, Buddy Meadows, a Republican, after he announced his candidacy for Osten’s town job. […]
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Malloy headed to Milwaukee for NGA meeting
Governor Dannel P. Malloy is taking a long weekend in Milwaukee to attend the summer meeting of the National Governors Association. The three-day meeting opens Friday afternoon with a session of health cost containment. Over at C-Span, the NGA meeting is known by another name — summer programming. Three meetings will be broadcast live: “Under Construction: Building […]
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Jepsen spotlights court affirmation of state’s right to fire employees for harassment
It’s not often that a Democratic elected official goes out of his way to spotlight a legal win over AFSCME Council 4, one of the state’s major labor unions. But the case publicized Thursday by Attorney General George Jepsen was an affirmation of the state’s authority to terminate an employee who engages in on-the-job sexual […]
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Yes, a pleasant stroll through Sandy Hook
Newtown – Never has a first selectman been so happy to talk to a governor about her sidewalks, a simple ribbon of reddish concrete stamped to look like brick. They now wind through her town’s quaint village, a 19th century crossroads called Sandy Hook. One can walk on Patricia Llodra’s walkway from the United Methodist Church, […]
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Commerce secretary tours a Wallingford company famous in the oil patch
Wallingford – It’s a long way from here to the oil fields of China, Russia, Turkey and Dubai, where APS Technology helps modern-day roughnecks drill faster, smarter and deeper. From an upscale industrial park off I-91 in the heart of Connecticut, APS has hit an economic gusher, averaging annual revenue growth of 40 percent over […]
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Malloy on $537M for DOT projects: It’s roads, it’s bridges — and it’s jobs
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy cast the annual approval of bonding for transportation projects Friday as a $537 million booster shot for the economy that will create thousands of construction jobs and renew tired infrastructure. “I’ve said this before, but I think it’s something that bears repeating: Many of the projects we approve at these meetings […]
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Jepsen asked to review Waterbury Hospital deal
Health care activists asked Attorney General George Jepsen on Friday to seek a new review of the proposed takeover of Waterbury Hospital by Vanguard Health Systems, a for-profit health care company. Vanguard is being purchased by Tenet, another for-profit hospital company, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy recently vetoed legislation affecting the sale of Waterbury Hospital. […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment
In thunderstorm, UConn begins energy partnership with a world R&D leader
Mansfield – The University of Connecticut couldn’t quite close the deal 45 years ago, when William F. Hartman was trying to decide whether to start his academic career here or at the University of Minnesota.
