Municipalities and hospitals both fear the new cost burdens they would assume in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget would grow quickly as state retirement benefit costs surge in the coming years.
No one wants a share of CT’s teacher pension bill
Posted inMoney
Plan for XL Center to test value of entertainment
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is backing $250 million in bonding to make the aged XL Center in Hartford “look and feel like an entirely new building.” Intended primarily as a venue for UConn sports, chatter about the possibility of the return of major league hockey picked up last week when Malloy and Mayor Luke Bronin issued a long-shot invitation to the NHL’s New York Islanders to play there. Whether the transformation moves ahead is now up to the General Assembly.
Posted inPolitics
Himes knocks progressives for rejecting centrist speaker at Dem retreat
BALTIMORE — Rep. Jim Himes, the co-chair of a group of centrist Democrats, on Thursday criticized efforts by progressives to try to sideline centrist messages at the annual gathering of House Democrats. The retreat is an effort by Democrats to find unity and a shared message after November’s electoral losses.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy: ‘The world is upside down in Trump world’
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Thursday that President Trump’s claim that Sen. Richard Blumenthal misrepresented Judge Neil Gorsuch’s discomfort at Trump’s attacks on the judiciary was the latest evidence “the world is upside down in Trump world.”
Posted inPolitics
Trump attacks Blumenthal over Gorsuch comments – others confirm them
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump put Sen. Richard Blumenthal in the bulls-eye Thursday, attacking the Connecticut senator’s credibility in description of a private meeting with Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. But others, including a Nebraska Republican, confirm the nominee took issue with Trump’s attack on the federal judiciary.
Posted inHealth, Justice
Anthem will appeal judge’s decision to block merger with Cigna
WASHINGTON — Anthem said Thursday it will appeal a federal court’s decision to block the health insurer’s planned merger with Cigna. The decision to appeal came quickly on the heels of U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s ruling late Wednesday that the $54 billion merger would reduce competition in dozens of insurance markets across the nation.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The General Assembly needs facts, not falsehoods
A recent story in the CT Mirror described a presentation to reporters a few weeks ago by the Connecticut Education Association (CEA), the largest teachers’ union, in which union leaders attempted to expose the spending practices of charter schools. The problem is that the report the CEA was referencing was deliberately misleading –seeking to villainize charter schools during a tight budget year in which education funding will be a key issue.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Gorsuch tells Blumenthal Trump’s attacks on judge are ‘disheartening’
WASHINGTON — Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s pick to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, told Sen. Richard Blumenthal that the president’s attacks on the federal judiciary are ‘‘disheartening” and “demoralizing.”
Posted inHealth, Politics
Federal judge rejects Anthem-Cigna merger
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department won a second big health insurer antitrust case late Wednesday when a federal judge blocked a proposed merger between Anthem and Cigna. The Justice Department said the merger would stiffle competition, resulting in higher premiums and poorer medical care.
Posted inPolitics
Senate Dems suffer new defeat as Sessions confirmed as AG
WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats endured their second defeat in two days in their efforts to block President Trump’s cabinet nominees when their Republican colleagues late Wednesday confirmed Sen. Jeff Sessions as the nation’s new attorney general. Connecticut Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy joined their Democratic colleagues in saying Sessions is unfit for the job.
Posted inHealth, Money
How health care and Medicaid fare in Malloy’s budget
About 9,500 parents would lose Medicaid, fewer seniors would receive home care, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers would receive millions of dollars less from the state, and school-based health centers would see a 10 percent funding cut under the budget plan Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed Wednesday.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Some education aid increases might not be spent on schools
In his new budget Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is proposing to increase state education grants to 52 cities and towns with struggling schools by about $230 million, but it will be up to the municipalities to determine whether to actually spend it on their schools – or use it to close their own local budget shortfalls or make up for other state budget cuts.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Hospitals blast Malloy’s proposal to subject them to property taxes
The governor’s plan would also cut an $11.8 million fund that has provided money to small, independent hospitals. And it would restore the administration’s ability to unilaterally cut funding to hospitals through a technical budgeting change.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Amid cuts and concessions, Malloy promises progress
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy framed what is likely to be his final two-year budget as a call to recast the state’s compact with its neediest municipalities, expanding the tax base of teetering cities like Hartford and Waterbury and maintaining aid to the 30 poorest school districts that educate nearly 40 percent of Connecticut’s children.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics, Transportation
Malloy budget hinges on big labor savings, new revenues
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy unveiled a $40.6 billion two-year budget Wednesday that seeks $1.5 billion in labor concessions, imposes $400 million on annual pension costs on municipalities and reorganizes the financial relationship between the state, communities and hospitals.