The Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth produced a bleak assessment of Connecticut’s fiscal health for the incoming governor and General Assembly on Wednesday, the panel’s second attempt in nine months to convince policy leaders that the state is rapidly approaching a tipping point.
A second effort to sound a fiscal alarm in Connecticut
Posted inPolitics
Murphy scores win in campaign against U.S. involvement in Yemen
WASHINGTON – Sen. Chris Murphy scored a decisive win Wednesday in his campaign to end U.S. military involvement in Yemen, aided by his colleague’s anger at how the Trump administration is responding to the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Posted inHealth
CVS says purchase of Aetna is done deal
CVS announced the completion of its purchase of Aetna on Wednesday, promising the new combined company would lead to “improved health outcomes and lower medical costs.”
Posted inCT Viewpoints
On the importance of climate-change preparation: ‘It’s the deficit, stupid’
As important as you, the environmental community, and I feel climate change is, we all need to put up a sign in our offices which says “It’s the deficit, STUPID!”..and then connect the dots. I have requested that the environmental community look at certain connections of climate change mitigation and deficit reduction, but they are so overly focused they seem to ignore it even when it has actually worked going back to 1990.
Posted inPolitics
Hayes learning the ropes in Congress as part of a diverse freshman class
WASHINGTON – Cloistered in a hotel a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol, Rep.-elect Jahana Hayes and dozens of incoming members of the next Congress are learning the ropes of their new jobs and getting to know the colleagues they will work with – and sometimes fight with—next year.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Connecticut’s vanishing shoreline: Towns trying to beat the odds
Shoreline resiliency against sea level rise and flooding in Connecticut is largely in the hands of local governments. But with money tight and local budgets reliant on the taxes shoreline properties generate, efforts to protect coastal communities from climate change have been slow and underfunded. Some communities, however, are making more progress than others.
Posted inPolitics
By design, this transition is a little messy
WILLIMANTIC — The transition team of Gov.-elect Ned Lamont opened a free-wheeling, if slightly chaotic, series of policy discussions Tuesday that drew more than 450 people to a day of brainstorming and networking at Eastern Connecticut State University. “This is a fresh start that none of us are going to squander,” Lamont said.
Posted inPolitics
Hayes says she’ll support Pelosi, so do all other CT lawmakers
WASHINGTON – After saying during her campaign that she would not back her bid to lead House Democrats in the next Congress, Rep.-elect Jahana Hayes on Tuesday said she will support embattled House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. That makes support for Pelosi’s bid to hold the Speaker’s gavel unanimous among the members of the Connecticut delegation to the U.S. House.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Republicans should re-examine their message, not their tactics
Francis DeStefano authored an opinion piece for CTViewpoints recently entitled “Boughton, not Stefanowski, could have won the governorship for Republicans.” He stated that former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst, jilted at the Republican convention in May, refused to accept Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton as its nominee, ran a primary against him, and so played a role in allowing Bob Stefanowski to push aside Boughton, who earned “only a small percentage of the vote.” Contrary to DeStefano’s wishful thinking, two other points call attention to the fact that the Republican loss was due not to what party faithful or their candidate did during the campaign — though their missteps were contributory — but to what they had neglected to do since the last election.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Connecticut’s vanishing shoreline: One storm away from disaster
Connecticut is fortunate it hasn’t been hit by a tropical-style storm since the successive storms of Irene and Sandy in 2011 and 2012 swamped the coastline, illuminating its vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change. That’s because there’s a general consensus that if either of those storms were to hit now, they would be just as damaging.
Posted inPolitics
Conn. dairy farms caught up in Trump trade war
Connecticut’s dairy farmers, who were caught in the middle of President Donald Trump’s trade wars with other countries this year, have received little money from a federal mitigation program meant to compensate them for losses. “It’s a drop in the bucket,” said Seth Bahler, co-owner of Oakridge Dairy Farm in Ellington, of the trade mitigation payments.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal calls for hearing on whether Whitaker violated Hatch Act
WASHINGTON – Sen. Richard Blumenthal continued his campaign against acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker on Monday, requesting a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing into whether Whitaker violated the Hatch Act, a federal law that prohibits government employees from participating in political activities.
Posted inEducation
Ben Barnes named CFO of higher-education system
Ben Barnes, who has overseen Connecticut’s state finances for eight years as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s only secretary of policy and management, was named Monday as the chief financial officer for the state’s sprawling system of community colleges and regional state universities.
Posted inHealth
As DCF’s Katz bows out, the risky world of child protection awaits new administration
Joette Katz, who served under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for eight years, is resigning next month after what is believed to be one of the longest tenures leading a state child-protection agency in the nation. But it wasn’t always easy. Despite Malloy’s loyalty to her, Katz’s abrasive personality, refusal to back down from controversial decisions, and her decision to march the child protection agency in a new and sometimes perilous direction, resulted in a rocky eight years.
Posted inNews
Elections and holiday over, now it’s time to get re-organized.
With the elections over, (with one notable exception) Connecticut began getting re-organized last week. And it took some time off for the Thanksgiving holiday, too. Early in the week, Gov.-elect Ned Lamont returned from an orientation for new governors promising to assemble a top-notch group of departmental appointees. He and Lt. Gov.-elect Susan Bysiewicz have […]