New Haven may have to lay off 20 workers and community agencies would lose millions in anti-poverty dollars if President Donald Trump’s newly proposed federal budget passes — something Sen. Richard Blumenthal says he will fight.
Blumenthal will oppose Trump reduction of anti-poverty money
Posted inMoney, Politics, Transportation
Legislative panel backs tolls, but bill faces uncertain future
The legislature’s Transportation Committee approved a bill Friday that would return tolls to Connecticut highways after more than three decades, but it faces a steep uphill climb if it ever is to become law.
Posted inPolitics
Trump’s move to end heating aid also would trim food stamps for many
WASHINGTON — The Trump budget blueprint was silent on the government’s largest social welfare programs, but elimination of federal help to pay heating bills also would cut back on food stamps for about 71,000 people in Connecticut.
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
What Metro-North can learn from Amtrak
Enjoying a speedy (148 mph) ride to Boston recently on Acela, I started thinking about the differences between Amtrak and Metro-North. Both are railroads, but each has a different mission. Still, there are a few things Metro-North could learn from its national counterpart.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Make no mistake, Dominion’s electric rate plan would boost rates
Dominion Resources Inc. is trying to convince us that Connecticut ratepayers will somehow save money by paying higher prices for the power Millstone provides to the electrical grid. In his March 7 letter, a spokesman for the private company that owns the Millstone Nuclear plant takes various steps to hide an obvious fact: Dominion is seeking higher selling prices for the power they produce, higher prices that will ultimately come out of ratepayer pockets.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Trump would slash CT environment funds; hit to Sound feared
The Trump administration called massive cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency an attempt to ease the burden of unnecessary federal regulations. Connecticut’s environmental commissioner called it an assault on public health and the environment.
Posted inGovernment
Bill would write state’s open-data practices into law
A bill now in its early stages would put Connecticut’s open data practices — established in an executive order — on the law books for good.
Posted inPolitics
Trump’s double down on defense would buy more Black Hawks, F-35s
WASHINGTON — On the same day President Trump rolled out his fiscal 2018 budget, which boosted defense spending, he also asked Congress for $30 billion in extra funding for the Pentagon, in part so it could immediately buy more F-35s and Sikorsky Black Hawks.
Posted inPolitics
With Trump as inspiration, anti-bigotry bills are partisan
Farhan Memon, state chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, stood with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal to denounce President Trump’s travel ban Thursday as evidence of anti-Muslim bigotry. Then he hurried across the Legislative Office Building atrium to join state legislators in their call for an expanded hate crime law in Connecticut.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Blumenthal wants Gorsuch emails to private address used by former WH official
WASHINGTON — Foreshadowing the partisan fight that will break out during Judge Neil Gorsuch’s impending Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Thursday asked the George W. Bush presidential library for any emails between the nominee and private email addresses of White House officials.
Posted inEducation
Trump’s education budget: 4 things to know for CT schools
President Donald Trump unveiled a budget outline Thursday that slashes federal funding for education by 14 percent – cuts that would cripple programs that thousands of Connecticut children participate in each year. Here is what you should know about what was and wasn’t cut.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics, Transportation
Trump budget would end CT heating aid, housing, after-school programs
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s first budget proposal would strip Connecticut of tens of millions of dollars in federal grants, eliminating programs that subsidize heating bills for nearly 110,000 Connecticut households and provide housing for the homeless and after-school care. But the budget would boosting the state’s defense industry and fund a border wall.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Justifiable anger over gun permit fee hike — unjustifiable reasoning
Connecticut handgun owners are peeved, and even opponents of handgun ownership can understand why. Gov. Dannel Malloy wants to raise the price of pistol permits from $75 to $300. It’s a universal law that people don’t want to pay more than they believe they should. Paying more feels bad. All of us can sympathize. But that’s where the sympathy should end. Raising the cost of pistol permits is not backdoor gun control.
Posted inPolitics
Syrian refugee talks about the impact of Trump travel ban
WASHINGTON – Fadi Kassar of Milford, 40, traveled a long, hard road through several countries before arriving in Connecticut and being granted asylum in 2015. He spoke to the Mirror about the human cost of the Donald Trump’s travel ban – and how it is changing the perception of the United States in the Muslim world.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut schools must illuminate history’s ‘big story’
Since 2013 the C3 Common Core has changed the way social studies is taught in our public schools. This has done irreparable harm to students understanding history’s “Big Story.” Fortunately, the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and authors of the C3 have done a complete reversal of their earlier position regarding national standards. […]