Regarding Gov. Dannel Malloy’s proposed 2-year state budget and his plans to close the budget gap: One of his proposals is to increase the initial pistol permit fee from $140 to $370 – a 264 percent increase, and to increase the 5-year renewal fee for permit holders from $70 to $300 – a 428 percent increase. Make no mistake about it, this proposal that is squarely directed at gun owners is a blatant attempt to limit gun ownership by making it prohibitively expensive to do so, while claiming the need for more revenue to fill the gaping budget hole.
Pistol permit fee increase is blatant attempt to limit gun ownership
Posted inHealth, Politics
Anthem’s pursuit of Cigna still in play, but faces huge hurdles
WASHINGTON — Anthem’s effort to merge with Cigna, which seemed to end with a huge thud when a federal court ruled the $54 billion deal is anti-competitive, may have been given new life – but the odds are long and Connecticut could stand in the way.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal in New Britain: ‘We are in the fight of our lives’
NEW BRITAIN — If there were any supporters of President Donald J. Trump at the town halls held across Connecticut over the last week, they were drowned out by cheering crowds that urged the state’s congressional delegation to resist the policies of the Republican majority and push an agenda of progressivism in the face of seemingly insurmountable opposition.
Posted inHealth
Malloy: GOP’s plans to replace ACA ‘a moving disaster’
WASHINGTON — Gov. Dannel Malloy on Sunday said a GOP plan to replace and repeal the Affordable Care Act is a “moving disaster” that could force governors to dramatically shrink the number of Medicaid patients in their states just so the federal government could “pay for a tax cut for the wealthy.”
Posted inHealth
Kevin Counihan on the ACA: ‘Whatever happens, Trump is going to own this’
Kevin Counihan used to run the health insurance exchanges that serve most of the United States. Now he’s a customer. He talked to The Mirror about efforts to replace the Affordable Care Act, why the health law has gotten more popular since Barack Obama left office, how to keep insurance companies from fleeing exchanges, and what can be done to make it easier to buy coverage.
Posted inNews
Conflict over immigration, labor and transgender bathrooms
Concerns over the Trump administration’s measures greatly expanding the potential number of deportations were not the only ones evoking strong emotions here last week, but they were the only ones earning Gov. Dannel Malloy a rebuke from the White House.
Posted inEducation
Federal higher-ed tax breaks now exceed cost of grants for lower-income students
The cost of tax deductions that previous research has shown disproportionately help wealthier families pay for college continues to outpace what the federal government spends on grants for low-income students, a new study points out.
Posted inEducation
DeVos, reportedly opposed to rolling back transgender protections, defends the changes
If Education Secretary Betsy DeVos opposed rolling back protections for transgender students behind the scenes, she wasn’t letting it show last week when she spoke to many of the country’s staunchest conservatives.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Niko, Chris, Orson, Diana, yikes! Please don’t name winter storms!
Connecticut was dealt a double-blow by winter storms Chris and Diana earlier this month. Or was it winter storms Niko and Orson? Or just Thursday and Sunday’s winter storms? The answer depends on which TV station you’re watching. Not only is that confusing, but it can also be dangerous.
Posted inPolitics
Electoral College in the crosshairs
Advocates of using the popular vote to decide presidential elections are pushing bills that would have Connecticut join a “compact” of states agreeing to cast all their electoral votes for the winner of the popular vote.
Posted inEducation, Money
A glimpse into the philosophical divide over school funding
A recent exchange between the governor’s budget chief and the co-chair of the legislature’s Education Committee was telling.
Posted inPolitics
Spicer: Malloy ignores the law with his immigration policy
WASHINGTON – White House press secretary Sean Spicer took aim at Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Thursday, saying the governor “chooses not to follow the duly-passed laws of this nation” in telling the state’s police forces they don’t have to cooperate with the Trump administration’s new push to increase deportations of undocumented immigrants. Malloy’s spokeperson shot back that, “‘Mr. Spicer and the administration would benefit from a Civics 101 refresher.”
Posted inJustice
Malloy’s bail reform push makes for strange bedfellows
EAST LYME — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy stepped to a microphone in a prison waiting room to talk about bail reform Thursday. He glanced to at two unlikely allies, David McGuire of the American Civil Liberties Union and Suzanne Bates of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy, a conservative think tank.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Murphy presses for federal probe of ‘sober homes’ after overdose deaths
WASHINGTON — A rash of overdoses in “sober homes” in Connecticut and other states has prompted Sen. Chris Murphy and a bipartisan group of his colleagues to ask federal investigators to determine if additional oversight is needed of these residences for people recovering from substance abuse.
Posted inJustice
Malloy rebukes Trump on rollback of transgender protections
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed an executive order Thursday reassuring transgender students of the protections afforded them under state law, his second action in as many days to limit the reach in Connecticut of policies enacted by the administration of President Trump. The action comes as Malloy departs for meetings in Washington, including a social for governors with the president and first lady.