According to the United Way of Connecticut, the agency that administers the Care 4 Kids (C4K) program, 4,424 fewer children were being served in December 2016 than in August 2016 when the program closed to most new applicants. Families from cities like Bridgeport, Hartford, Waterbury and New Haven were hardest hit, with a combined 1,429 fewer children being served. These cities represent one third of the total subsidies lost between August and December. … I urge our elected officials to reopen the C4K program now and provide the required funding needed today and into the future to ensure that CT’s most vulnerable children begin on the right path from the very beginning. It is time to put our money where our mouth is.
Why we can’t wait — Race and the Care 4 Kids Program
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Cutting Help Me Grow program will inflict collateral damage
In his proposed budget, Gov. Dannel Malloy has targeted Help Me Grow, a program of Connecticut’s Office of Early Childhood, for elimination. The mandated reconciliation of the state budget deficit creates, by necessity, a painful dilemma akin to Hobson’s choice. However, certain decisions provoke unintended collateral damage. Such is the case with Help Me Grow.
Posted inPolitics
Trump, Malloy and PACs are factors in special elections today
Updated at 11:26 a.m.
Voters go to the polls today in special elections for three seats in the closely divided General Assembly, with one race drawing more than $50,000 in independent expenditures by a national group hoping to elect a Democratic senator in a solid Republican district. After voting this morning, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy shrugged off GOP efforts to make him a central issue and said, “I don’t think the outcome will be reflective of anything other than who did more work, quite frankly.”
Posted inPolitics
U.S. House advances Coltsville National Park plan
WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday brushed aside a major obstacle to the full establishment of Coltsville National Park by approving legislation that changes the site of the park’s headquarters.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy leaves D.C. feeling bad about ACA, better about infrastructure
WASHINGTON — Like other Democratic governors, Dannel Malloy ended his long weekend here at the National Governors Association winter meeting pessimistic about President Donald Trump’s plan for the Affordable Care but hopeful the new administration will be receptive to other state needs – especially when it comes to infrastructure.
Posted inMoney
Nonpartisan analysts cite eroding CT income tax receipts
Nonpartisan analysts are tracking eroding state income tax receipts that could push the current state budget – and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s plan for the next two fiscal years – modestly into deficit.
Posted inPolitics
CT lawmakers’ guests for Trump’s speech intended to send message
WASHINGTON – Connecticut lawmakers have joined other Democratic colleagues in inviting guests to President Donald Trump’s first address to Congress Tuesday — people who will serve as symbolic rebukes to the new president’s policies. Among them: Constituents from seven Muslim countries that were subject to a presidential travel ban and advocates for public schools and the Affordable Care Act .
Posted inJustice
Bailing out: How many people are held at each pretrial phase
There are a number of times when defendants are considered for bail, from police contact through trial, disposition and ultimately sentencing. Here’s how that shook out in 2014.
Posted inHealth, Money
Hospitals say they face hidden, $156M tax hike in Malloy budget
Connecticut hospitals would pay $156 million more in state taxes over the next two years under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s new budget — an increase Malloy did not report to legislators when presenting his biennial plan on Feb. 8, the Connecticut Hospital Association says.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT No. 4 nationally in use of evidence-based policy-making
Evidence-based policy-making is not inherently the most exciting topic of conversation. While the practice is known to be effective by allowing for increased data driven investment in the most cost-effective programs and ultimately improving the outcomes of taxpayer funded programs, the successes do not get headline coverage the way flashy, new government programs do. Connecticut ranks fourth highest for use of evidence-driven policy-making, according to one report.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Pistol permit fee increase is blatant attempt to limit gun ownership
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.
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.