Connecticut got a clearer picture of the painful cuts in the new state budget Friday when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy imposed more than $880 million in spending cuts mandated by the General Assembly.
Malloy dishes out legislature’s big mandated cuts
Posted inMoney, Politics
State, Foxwoods scuffle over tax status of new gaming machines
The unheralded arrival of 100 electronic bingo games at the Foxwoods Resort Casino is raising concerns at the State Capitol that the casino’s owner, the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, is testing the market for gambling machines that appear to fall outside the tribe’s longstanding revenue-sharing deal with the state of Connecticut.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
What do rich people want?
The Republican Party is trying madly to lower taxes for its base. For coal miners and factory workers and for you and me, you’re guessing.
“Don’t be silly,” as my grandmother used to say. No, they are scrambling to slash taxes on the already too richly redundantly rich for words.
Sure, you and I might get a pittance — that is, if they don’t snatch away federal tax deductions for our mortgage interest, sky-high medical bills, student loan interest, state and local taxes, our personal exemption; or if they don’t lower our 401K contribution limits and eviscerate the Affordable Care Act.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Child Welfare in Connecticut: The DCF revenge machine
The abuse, starvation and near-death of a year-old baby while under the state’s protection put the Connecticut Department of Children and Families under intense scrutiny by the state’s child advocate and others a year ago — scrutiny that continues today. The following text is the introduction to a longer and more detailed analysis of the so-called “Baby Dylan” case by Richard Wexler, Executive Director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform in Alexandria, Va.
Posted inHealth
A hospital-insurance fight, and ‘a dead zone’ of care
Consumer advocates said Thursday the impact of a prolonged contract dispute between a major insurer and healthcare provider, Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield and Hartford HealthCare, has been exacerbated by the rapid consolidation of hospitals, physician groups and clinics in Connecticut. In eastern Connecticut, they said, there is a “dead zone” of coverage.
Posted inMoney, Politics
GOP approves tax bill over opposition of CT lawmakers
WASHINGTON – The U.S. House on Thursday approved a wide-ranging overhaul of the federal tax code that will lower taxes for many in Connecticut, while hiking them for some, especially in middle-class tax brackets. The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy said 305,000 Connecticut households earning less than $197,000 would see a tax increase under the bill.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Murphy, Blumenthal team up with GOP leader on new gun bill
Updated qt 5:20 p.m.
Sen. Chris Murphy teamed up with a Republican colleague who is usually on the opposite side of the gun control debate, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, to introduce a bill Thursday that would improve federal background checks of prospective gun buyers.
Posted inPolitics
Nancy Wyman says she won’t run for governor in 2018
Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman said Thursday she will not run for governor in 2018, ending months of personal contemplation and political calculation. Her decision deprives the Democratic Party of its highest-profile contender, while sparing it from a campaign that could have struggled to emerge from the shadow of an unpopular incumbent, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
Why don’t we (you name it)? Because we don’t have the money.
“Why don’t they build a monorail down the middle of I-95?”
So began the latest in a series of well-intended emails I regularly receive from readers, anxious to offer what seem like smart solutions to our transportation crisis in Connecticut.
Why no monorail? Because we don’t have the money.
So let me ask — and answer — a few questions:
Posted inCT Viewpoints
University Of Hartford President: ‘Racism in America is right here on our campus’
The following is a letter to the alumni of the University of Hartford written by President Gregory S. Woodward.
Dear University of Hartford Alumni,
A student at the University of Hartford was recently the victim of some reprehensible acts by another student. This has been deeply upsetting to me and to the entire University of Hartford community. While the University is limited in our ability to legally answer many of the questions raised, we are working diligently to provide details and action steps surrounding this situation. …
Posted inPolitics
Internet giants say they are open to new political-ad rules
WASHINGTON — When it comes to disclosures about political ads, the Internet was like the Wild West, with few regulations that required them to lift the veil on those using social media to influence voters, a situation that allowed Russian operatives to meddle in U.S. elections last year. But that may be changing thanks to political pressure from lawmakers, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Lawmaker says keep CT-N independent — or kill it
A legislator who helped create CT-N, the public affairs network that provides gavel-to-gavel coverage of the General Assembly, accused legislative leaders from the House floor Wednesday of turning the network into a staff-operated “political propaganda” instrument.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
House gives final approval to CT budget fix
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly gave final approval Wednesday to a measure fixing technical flaws with the hospital tax, a renters’ rebate program and other aspects of the new state budget.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Getting ahead of Connecticut’s next state deficit
We have a state budget! But we’re not nearly out of the woods yet. A new round of projected deficits is just over the horizon, and if prompt and substantial action isn’t taken, we’ll go through this again, and again. There is surely some good news in what was achieved in the bipartisan budget agreement. But it’s barely a toe in the water. We need to really dive in if we are to calm the waters for more than just a few months.
Posted inNews
House GOP tax plan ends historic preservation break
WASHINGTON – A tax break that was key to the rehabilitation of the Colt complex in Hartford, a Victorian opera house in Norfolk and dozens of other historic properties throughout the state is on the chopping block in Congress. The House Republican tax overhaul, which the chamber hopes to vote on Thursday, would eliminate the 20 percent federal investment tax credit for historic preservation projects, a tax break Congress approved about 40 years ago.