Connecticut’s small towns pressed the General Assembly on Thursday to take the governor’s proposal to shift a third of teacher pension costs onto communities “off the table” in state budget deliberations – but administration officials held firm on their plan.
Small towns want teachers’ pension bills ‘off the table’
Posted inCT Viewpoints
GOP lust to defund Planned Parenthood could exact heavy price
With the election of a Republican president and control of the U.S. Congress by Republicans, you’d think Planned Parenthood is in trouble. Defunding the reproductive health organization has been for years a rallying cry among Republicans, especially Christian conservatives opposed to abortion. With the GOP now in power, it would seem the tide has finally turned. It hasn’t. In fact, Planned Parenthood has the advantage.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
A rallying cry for equitable education funding in Connecticut
E4E-Connecticut’s teacher members — who collectively decided to take on the issue of funding reform — are urging state leaders to give serious consideration to the fair and equitable appropriation to our neediest districts while supporting our wealthier districts through this transition, and place our state on the path to repairing this funding system that leaves too many low-income and disadvantaged communities behind.
Posted inPolitics
Campaign for casino expansion approaches a crossroads
In a political consultant’s conference room on the 16th-floor of CityPlace II, an MGM Resorts International executive named Uri Clinton sipped a late-afternoon Starbucks coffee, still jet-lagged after his latest red-eye flight from Las Vegas to Hartford. In Clinton’s world, the action right now is in Connecticut’s capital.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Transportation
Easing auto emissions rules would set back CT clean-air efforts
Anticipated action by the Trump administration to roll back auto emissions standards would threaten Connecticut’s greenhouse gas emission goals, its air quality and its push for more electric vehicles.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Larson joins partisan fight as GOP struggles to advance health care bill
WASHINGTON – During a day of acrimonious partisanship over the future of America’s health care system, Rep. John Larson on Wednesday was among the Democrats who tried to alter and slow the progress of a bill that would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
Posted inEducation, Money
Big education budget cuts — and potentially lots of smaller ones
In addition to their primary education grants, about $550 million in other education-related grants for Connecticut towns are on the chopping block, with recommended cuts ranging from 10 percent to complete elimination of funding. We’ve got the breakdown.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Palmer overcomes GOP opposition, wins another term on high court
Justice Richard N. Palmer, author of state Supreme Court decisions that struck down the last vestige of capital punishment and legalized same-sex marriage in Connecticut, was confirmed for a fourth and final eight-year term on the court Wednesday after a rare second-guessing of the court’s opinions and conduct by the General Assembly.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Bill to give towns more time to pass budget bogs down in Senate
State legislators sparred for the second day in a row Wednesday over whether to give communities more time to adopt their local budgets — a fight that left the extension issue in limbo after a 90-minute Senate debate.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Battle resumes over opening utility markets to Millstone
State legislators are grappling for the second year in a row over whether to allow the owners of the Millstone Nuclear Power Station to sell electricity to Connecticut’s utilities.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics, Transportation
Malloy asks CT businesses to push for transportation ‘lockbox’
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy urged business leaders Wednesday to help him convince legislators to safeguard transportation funds. The governor also said cities and towns must shoulder some of the burden of surging teachers’ pension costs.
Posted inHealth
American Health Care Act: Who gains and loses in Connecticut
Here’s how subsidies for buying health insurance would change in Connecticut, depending on age and income.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
DeStefano poisons public opinion, betrays agents, by calling ICE ‘jerks’
I am writing in response to a recent article that appeared in the New Haven Independent and was then reprinted by the CT Mirror. The article was entitled “Ex-Mayor: ICE Raids in Immigrant Friendly New Haven Likely Again.” In the article, former Mayor John DeStefano was quoted as stating in a presentation at Yale University that “The federal government is going to do exactly what those jerks did in Fair Haven.” The “jerks” he was referring to were federal immigration officers. After serving as an FBI special agent for 23 years, and working with ICE agents in numerous cases, I want to object to Mayor DeStefano’s use of the word “jerks” in describing these officers.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
What the GOP Obamacare replacement bill means for you and CT
The Republican proposal has big implications for Connecticut residents and state government. Here are nine things to know about it.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Insurers quietly assessing GOP health plan’s benefits and pitfalls
WASHINGTON — The nation’s health insurers are weighing the GOP’s newly released bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, which contains things they wanted – and some things they may not like, but for now keeping their opinions to themselves. “If they are smart, they are going to remain silent and let the legislation take its course,” said Rep. John Larson, D-1st District.