In an angry speech in Phoenix, Ariz., President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his reaction to the violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., and was met with cheers from his followers. Despite overall low job approval numbers, polls show he can count on a significant number of loyal supporters in every state, including Connecticut.
To some in Connecticut, Trump can do no wrong
Posted inEducation, Money
House Democrats offer modest town aid shift in new budget
Majority House Democrats unveiled a new budget Wednesday that matches the town aid proposed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy while redistributing education funds more modestly from wealthy and middle-income towns and into poorer communities.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
In praise of mongrels
Before the wedding, my mother’ parents, who were high (albeit lax) Episcopalians, came a calling on my father’s parents, who were staunch Irish Catholics. As a safety precaution, my paternal grandmother hid all the sharp knives.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
For history’s sake, save some of New Britain’s ‘Stanley Nine’
I’m increasingly upset by coverage of the total demolition permit for New Britain’s ‘Stanley Nine’ area east of Curtis Street and South of Myrtle Street. The mayor and one octogenarian factory worker are the primary sources, articles lean heavily toward “let’s get rid of it, it’s an eyesore.”
Posted inEducation, Politics
As UConn returns, a chapter in Hartford’s history is completed
HARTFORD — For nearly a half-century, the University of Connecticut has had no place to call its own in the state’s capital city. Today that changes as Connecticut’s flagship university opens the doors of its new $140-million downtown branch campus on Prospect Street.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Legislators to propose new budget plans to break gridlock
With the state budget standoff nearing two months, Democrats and Republican legislative leaders announced plans Tuesday to unveil revised budget proposals soon.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Larson, Courtney: Fix ACA by letting 50 to 64-year-olds join Medicare
After passing the eight-year mark since passing the Affordable Care Act, nonpartisan data from sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau have confirmed the real-life benefits the ACA has brought to the state of Connecticut. As the Bureau reported, the uninsured rate in our state has fallen from 9.2 to 3.8 percent, patients can no longer be cut off from medical treatment due to lifetime limits on coverage, and Americans have the peace of mind in knowing that a childhood illness or chronic disease will not prohibit them from purchasing health insurance later in life. However, in the seven years since its passage, the ACA has not solved every problem in the healthcare system and serious challenges remain even today.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Chief States Attorney’s views on juvenile justice are ‘out of date’
In an Op-ed published recently, juvenile justice-involved teenagers were referred to as “enterprising and energetic, wild and out of control.” While you’d expect to hear that from a member of Jeff Sessions’ Department of Justice, this came from Connecticut Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane in the Hartford Courant.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The racial malware running our culture
It isn’t the theatrical of white supremacy that worries me. It’s the practical. While we are outraged about the blatant racism in Charlottesville, we can and should ask ourselves, where is both racism and sexism subtly embedded in and enacted by our laws? Here are just a few easy-to-find examples if we look:
Posted inEducation, Money
Poorest districts spared some ed funding cuts, still to be hit hard by others
In the absence of a state budget, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has spared Connecticut’s most impoverished communities from losing their largest education grants, but there are plenty of other lesser grants these towns rely on that will be decimated or scaled back under his executive orders.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Blumenthal presses probe of White House official for alleged neo-Nazi ties
WASHINGTON – Now that Steve Bannon is gone, Sen. Richard Blumenthal and two other Democratic senators are renewing their calls for federal officials to investigate a Bannon ally who still works at the White House, counterterrorism advisor Sebastian Gorka.
Posted inMoney
It’s official: CT finances in deficit after seven weeks with no budget
Just over seven weeks into the new fiscal year without an approved budget, state finances — not surprisingly — are running $94 million in deficit, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration reported Monday.
Posted inNews
CT lawmakers wary of Trump’s new plan for Afghanistan
WASHINGTON – Connecticut’s Democratic members of Congress are wary as President Donald Trump assumes the mantle of commander-in-chief Monday night, asking the American people to trust him with a new strategy in Afghanistan. At 9 p.m., the president is expected to announce the deployment of about 4,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, where about 8,000 U.S. troops are already stationed.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Fasano asks AG for opinion on Malloy’s shift in town aid
Senate Republican leader Len Fasano has asked Attorney General George Jepsen to issue an opinion on the legality of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s executive order dramatically realigning municipal aid in the absence of a new state budget.
Posted inHousing
New Haven candidates clash on housing, immigration
Gentrification and immigration were two hot subjects over the weekend when Democratic mayoral candidates Marcus Paca and incumbent Mayor Toni Harp met in a pre-election “forum.”