News

State employee union officials said Thursday they have agreed to a plan by Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration to delay $100 million in contributions to their pension fund–a move that shrinks the budget deficit projected for this year, but adds to the state’s $15.8 billion in long-term, unfunded pension obligations. “It’s better than cutting spending,” […]

Just as business leader Oz Griebel launched his campaign for governor Thursday, the man he is chasing for the Republican nomination hit the accelerator, an effort to get some distance on a growing field of candidates. Tom Foley, a former ambassador and an independently wealthy businessman, unveiled two biographical commercials that will air throughout February, […]

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, said Thursday night he would vote for the Senate health reform bill, even though it lacks key provisions sought by him and other members of the House Democratic majority. “I am willing to vote for the Senate bill, even though I’ve got real problems with it, if the alternative […]

Young workers are leaving Connecticut at alarming rates, in part because of the lack of affordable housing. But House Majority Leader Denise W. Merrill and the chairman of the state’s Planning and Development Committee Brendan J. Sharkey said Wednesday the state can and should do only so much to address the problem. “There’s no money. […]

Connecticut’s restrictions on charter schools could jeopardize its chances of winning millions in federal stimulus money, an outspoken school reform advocate told state officials Wednesday. Unless the state removes barriers to the growth of charters, “we are not going to be competitive” in the federal school reform competition known as Race to the Top, Alex […]

Tom Foley knows how to cut at least $150,000 in state spending: He pledges to forgo a salary if elected governor. Foley, an independently wealthy businessman who is the early frontrunner for the Republican nomination, makes the pledge in “A Plan Forward for Connecticut” posted Wednesday night on his campaign web site. As for as […]

Want to handicap the odds of saving the state’s voluntary system of publicly financing campaigns? The Senate majority leader is optimistic about the legislature revising the law, which was found unconstitutional last summer. The Senate minority leader is betting against it. “I think we are coming close to the point where it is too late,” […]

State of the Union edition. Two essentials: A transcript, from the New York Times, and a link from CBS to what probably will be the longest-remembered moment of the night, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s judicially-tempered reprise of “You lie!” Healthcare: Sam Stein at The Huffington Post notes that much of Obama’s address was aimed […]

Oz Griebel launched his campaign for governor today, but the buzz belonged to former U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays. After a charity roast Wednesday night in Greenwich, Shays  sounded like he was ready to become a candidate: “I feel that I have a voice that can make a contribution, win or lose,” Shays told the Greenwich Time. […]

Connecticut has received a commitment of $40 million in federal stimulus funding to add double tracking to part of the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield rail line – the first step toward providing high-speed commuter rail service in the corridor. The award, to be annonced in Philadelphia today, is part of $8 billion in federal funds designatd for […]

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Rep. Matthew Lesser Three thoughts are animating Themis Klarides these days: A soldier can never have too many socks, the New York Yankees are the best baseball team ever, and the Republican Party is the way of the future. But if you followed the deputy House minority leader on the popular social networking sites Facebook […]

Connecticut needs a half-billion-dollar answer to its fiscal woes – and state Comptroller Nancy S. Wyman (left) told a crowded room on Tuesday there are only so many options. “People really don’t want to hear it, but the fact is we’re going to have to cut spending. We’re maybe going to do some more borrowing […]

Common Cause today bolstered its efforts to save the public financing of campaigns in Connecticut with a poll showing support for the reforms passed in 2005 after the resignation of Gov. John G. Rowland. The group is trying to nudge legislators to cure legal defects in the law that could kill the Citizens Election Program […]

As parents strolled among rows of displays at a recent magnet school fair in Hartford, those who stopped at a booth for the city’s Classical Magnet School heard an appealing sales pitch. Tim Sullivan, the school’s high-energy principal, told them about the prep-school atmosphere at Classical Magnet, a place where college-bound teenagers study Latin, read […]