Ashley Foster will soon be graduating from college, defying the odds against foster children. One in five leave the state’s care without having a high school diploma or GED, few have a college degree and the majority are unemployed. Many go on to become homeless or incarcerated shortly after they leave care – things Foster is determined to avoid. She sat down to talk with The Mirror at her apartment in East Haven as she braces for aging out of the Department of Children and Families’ care.
She’s aging out of DCF care, graduating college and beating the odds
Posted inNews
Budget crunch, jobs, hearings and a heroic health-care worker
Fiscal matters continue to be the focus of the state legislature as it tries to craft a budget that will address a two-year deficit in the $3 billion dollar range.
Posted inTransportation
Sharply opposing views about New Haven’s Union Station
State and city officials, along with a chorus of community activists, offered starkly competing visions last week at a state legislative hearing room as a dispute over the future of New Haven’s Union Station burst into public view.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Death of GOP health care bill increases CT Dems’ calls to fix Obamacare
WASHINGTON — With the stunning failure of the GOP to win support for its health care bill Friday, Connecticut Democrats increased their calls for reforms to the Affordable Care Act that would keep it alive. “If they want to work together to enact improvements to the Affordable Care Act, I will be there,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Dems, GOP test their arguments on labor cuts, tax increases
Ostensibly called to protest the GOP’s labor bills, a news conference of pro-union Democrats in the General Assembly on Friday began to sound like the stirrings of a revolt against the governor’s push for employee concessions and his resistance to any significant new revenue, including a tax increase on the wealthy.
Posted inPolitics
Himes: GOP wants to keep Congress’ Russian probe from public
WASHINGTON — Rep. Jim Himes, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the GOP head of the panel wants to hide its probe of any ties between the Trump campaign and Russia behind closed door. “It’s a naked attempt to shut down an open hearing,” Himes said.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Anthem’s cost savings at center of merger suit appeal argument
WASHINGTON — Anthem and the Justice Department faced off in court Friday over the insurer’s proposed merger with Cigna, with the legal wrangling centered on whether any savings from the deal would justify shrinking the market for large employer insurance policies from four to three carriers.
Posted inEducation
Tuition hikes pitched for public colleges and universities
The president of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system is proposing a two-year $800 hike for the four regional state universities and $210 for community college students.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Quality education requires balanced approach to teacher recruitment
Just as we expect the standards for doctors to remain high and the requirements for becoming a lawyer to remain rigorous, we should expect that the systems preparing those who teach our students remain focused on quality and readiness, writes Jahana Hayes, the 2016 National Teacher of the Year.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Families of disabled children need better access to respite care
A father of twin autistic boys is urging legislators to support Sen. Terry Gerratana’s bill that would enable DDS workers help families of disabled children and repurpose closing regional centers into respite care centers so families can continue to care for their loved ones at home.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Trump is the real ‘enemy of the people’
President Trump is the real “enemy of the people.” All of us must remain focused on the federal investigation and the probability that Trump and his campaign team colluded with the Russians to affect our last election and that he and his cohorts made some kind of nefarious deal. This has been denied directly by Trump and his associates. When the truth is out for all to see, what will we, as a nation, do about President Trump? I believe that Republicans will have no choice by to initiate impeachment proceedings. Trump will be impeached and that is the legal and appropriate way to go.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Democrats eyeing sales tax hike to plug holes in next CT budget
While Gov. Dannel P. Malloy continues to push spending cuts as the chief solution to Connecticut’s latest budget crisis, his fellow Democrats on one key panel say a more balanced mix of reductions and revenue might be unavoidable.
Posted inHealth, Politics
As GOP health care plan falters, CT Dems watch and wait
Updated at 9:13 p.m.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and House Republicans are making both threats and promises to try to salvage the GOP health care bill – but the deal-making is all on the Republican side of the aisle, with Connecticut’s all-Democratic congressional delegation sitting on the sidelines.
Posted inHealth, Politics
CT GOP legislative leaders urge delay on Obamacare replacement
The Republican leaders of the Connecticut House and Senate politely distanced themselves Thursday from the push by President Trump and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan for the immediate passage of an alternative to the Affordable Care Act.
Posted inNews
Connecticut, U.S. unemployment rates were 4.7% in February
The Connecticut unemployment rate rose from 4.5 percent in January to 4.7 percent in February as the state posted a net loss of 1,600 jobs, nearly all in the private sector, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday. The U.S. unemployment rate also was 4.7 percent.