Gov. Dannel P. Malloy ordered state agencies Tuesday to develop a comprehensive, $10 million study of electronic tolling that would examine pricing, locations, and the potential to capture revenue from out-of-state motorists.
Malloy does what legislators won’t: Orders $10 million study of tolling
Posted inPolitics
Esty returns $350k in campaign donations, still has $1 million war chest
WASHINGTON– Retiring Rep. Elizabeth Esty has returned nearly $350,000 in contributions, but still has more than $1 million in her campaign account, the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission show.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The GOP: Afflicting the afflicted, comforting the comfortable
Republicans will likely do for Connecticut what they have done for other states and at national level: namely, cut taxes for their wealthy donors, make it harder to vote, make abortion inaccessible, reduce public employee pensions, promote private schools and vouchers, bust unions, loosen gun controls, allow discrimination again, break down the wall between church and State, cut social programs including health care, but ramp up corporate welfare.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Lawmakers let Connecticut sex traffickers off the hook
Little attention had been paid to a proposed bill — An Act Concerning Human Trafficking — that unfortunately died at the end of the 2018 Legislative Session. Given the significant attention and gains that Connecticut has made in recent years in the fight against human trafficking, it was a heartfelt defeat. For nearly a decade, Connecticut has been a leader in the nation in human trafficking reforms that better protect victims, more vigorously prosecute traffickers, and prevent continued victimization.
Posted inPolitics
Trump digs coal, and GOP candidates skip climate forum
By skipping a forum on climate change Monday night, the five Republican candidates for governor saved themselves from two unpalatable options: Defending the Trump administration’s love affair with coal to furious environmentalists, or riling the GOP base a month before the primary by publicly breaking with the president.
Posted inPolitics
CT lawmakers join Congress’ outcry over Trump-Putin summit
WASHINGTON — Connecticut lawmakers on Monday added to the bipartisan outrage at President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. During that summit in Helsinki, Trump refused to support the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election.
Posted inPolitics
The careful dance of Susan Bysiewicz’s primary campaign
EAST HARTFORD — The carefully calibrated campaign of Susan Bysiewicz was on display Monday on a third-floor balcony overlooking the Connecticut River. A half-dozen elected officials sang the praises of Bysiewicz, studiously avoiding criticism or even mention of the young labor organizer opposing her in a Democratic primary for lieutenant governor.
Posted inPolitics
Dems outpace GOP fundraising in race for Esty’s seat
WASHINGTON – Democrats running for the 5th District congressional seat have vastly outpaced Republican candidates in campaign fundraising, the latest reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show. As if June 30, Mary Glassman raised about $380,000 and her Democratic rival, Jahana Hayes, raised about $295.000.
Posted inPolitics
Boughton sketches path to CT income tax repeal
Republican gubernatorial contender Mark Boughton upped the ante Monday in his plan to phase out the state income tax, pledging more than $380 million in taxpayer relief in his first two-year budget.
Posted inNews
Federal prosecutor: two immigrant children in Connecticut to be reunited with parents
Two immigrant children currently detained in Connecticut are being reunited with their parents after they were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, a federal prosecutor said Monday.
Posted inNews
Marcia Chambers dies at 78, was founding member of Connecticut Mirror
Marcia Chambers, a barrier-breaking New York Times reporter who combined keen instinct with deep intellect and who went on to found and edit the online Branford Eagle, died Friday night at Smilow Cancer Hospital.
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
The Automotive-Construction Complex or why we love our cars so much
How did Americans develop their love affair with driving? Visit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington and the transportation exhibit “America on the Move” will sell you on the commonly held theory that when Henry Ford made cars affordable, Americans loved them and demanded more and more highways. But University of Virginia history Professor Peter Norton, author of “Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in American cities” says that’s a myth. Just as outgoing President Dwight Eisenhower warned us of the military industrial complex, Norton says an automotive–construction complex took over our country, paving from coast to coast.
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut Democrats lose their gubernatorial rainmaker
Without an incumbent governor seeking re-election, individual contributions to the Democratic Party are down 58 percent from four years ago, when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was a candidate seeking every possible advantage in a tough fight for a second term. The numbers are a reflection of one of the oldest and most enduring dynamics in politics: Even in an era of so-called clean elections in Connecticut, when state contractors are barred from contributing to directly to state campaigns, money will find its way to power.
Posted inNews
Breast milk block inspires call to action
A day after Sten Vermund felt “kicked in the gut,” he found himself talking about a new opportunity to fight back against a U.S. government effort to water down and almost completely derail a resolution by the World Health Assembly calling on countries to recognize that breast milk is the healthiest beverage for children and to limit misleading marketing of substitutes like infant formula. The dean of the Yale School of Public Health talks about it in this interview.
Posted inNews
Changing public opinion one indictment, one TV commercial, at a time.
While President Donald Trump was off in Europe reshaping the continent’s opinion of the United States, Special Counsel Robert Mueller was reshaping the public’s opinion of Russian President Vladimir Putin by indicting a dozen Russian military intelligence officers for hacking the 2016 election. Connecticut politicians, meanwhile, were at full televised stride in their pursuit of victory in the Aug. 14 primary.