If anything, the recent Supreme Court decision clears the deck of subjective educational arguments and leaves only the issue of local taxation as a questionable aspect of Education Cost Sharing. It places full onus on the legislature to arrive at an ECS distribution system IMMEDIATELY that treats all Connecticut towns and taxpayers equitably. It cannot wait ten years and be dependent on $400 million of unlikely new revenue as does the current legislative plan.
Education Cost Sharing formula ripe for another lawsuit
Posted inPolitics
Goal of latest group to study Connecticut: ‘Go big, or go home’
Given just two months to address deep-rooted fiscal problems neglected by generations of Connecticut politicians, the co-chairs of a new study panel are undaunted, insisting the political establishment has reached a tipping point and is ready for change. History, and the election calendar, weigh heavily against them.
Posted inPolitics
Data: Candidates submit end-of-year fundraising figures
Here are the year-end summaries of fundraising by exploratory and candidate campaign committees raising money for state office elections in 2018.
Posted inEducation, Health, News
West Hartford teenager hopes to bring dental exams to schools
One teenager from West Hartford hopes to help more school-aged kids receive dental exams during these uncertain times. Months ago, Marwa Abdinoor, 17, decided to study the relationship between socioeconomic status and oral health for her senior research project. As part of her project, Abdinoor plans to offer free dental exams at at least two public schools in Hartford.
Posted inNews
When the government stops, temporarily, or has already done enough
Connecticut residents woke up Saturday morning to a partial government shutdown when parties could not come to terms to keep it open. The impact will not be immediately felt everywhere, but will deepen as time without an agreement grows.
Posted inHealth
Aetna agrees to $17M payout in HIV privacy breach
Aetna has settled a lawsuit for $17 million over a data breach that happened in the summer of 2017. The privacy of as many as 12,000 people insured by Aetna was compromised in a very low-tech way: The fact that they had been taking HIV drugs was revealed through the clear window of the envelope.
Posted inHealth
Home care agencies often wrongly deny Medicare help to the chronically ill
Colin Campbell has Lou Gehrig’s disease and Medicare coverage because of his disability, but no fewer than 14 home health care providers have told him he can’t use it to pay for their services. That’s an incorrect but common belief.
Posted inPolitics
Rally to empower women draws thousands to the Capitol
A year after thousands of Connecticut marchers took to the streets wearing pink hats and carrying homemade signs of resistance in the first Women’s March in Hartford, residents returned Saturday to again issue calls for action — this time to empower women at the ballot box.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Federal government shuts down, CT to feel aftershock
WASHINGTON — Connecticut residents will still get their mail and Social Security checks, but the shutdown of the federal government will reverberate through state agencies – especially those that are most reliant on federal grants and federal workers — and many in the state would eventually feel an impact.
Posted inPolitics
CT GOP, Lumaj campaign deny knowledge of Higbie’s views
Connecticut Republicans, including a gubernatorial candidate who once employed him as a spokesman, quickly distanced themselves Friday from Carl Higbie, the brash former Navy SEAL from Greenwich who resigned from a Trump administration post after CNN uncovered a string of bigoted and insensitive remarks.
Posted inHealth
CT extends HUSKY B coverage for kids again, now through March
Connecticut officials have again extended health care coverage for more than 17,000 children and teenagers in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), this time through March 31. The program is known as HUSKY B in Connecticut.
Posted inMoney
Malloy says CT budget deficit worsens slightly
The projected deficit for the current fiscal year worsened slightly from $223 million to $240 million, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget office reported.
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
An independent and Democrats say tolls are necessary
At a transportation forum for Democratic and unaffiliated candidates, an independent offered the broadest prescription for how to stabilize and grow a special transportation fund now projected to hit insolvency by 2022, leaving the state unable to borrow money to address a growing backlog of transportation needs.
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
Connecticut’s transportation Armageddon
Fare increases, reduced train service, less highway snow plowing, postponed construction. All of these and more are on the horizon, say Gov. Dannel Malloy and the Connecticut DOT because our Special Transportation Fund (STF) is running dry. I hate to say I told you so, but…
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Why walking with your doctor could be better than talking with your doctor
Gyms across the country will be packed this week with people vowing to “get moving” to lose weight this year. Much of the effort will be for naught. And, in fact, some of it could lead to injury and frustration. Currently, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exercise guidelines call for all individuals to do 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, or 75 minutes of high-intensity exercise per week. In addition, the CDC recommends two days of strength training, or muscle strengthening, for obese people.