A father of twin autistic boys is urging legislators to support Sen. Terry Gerratana’s bill that would enable DDS workers help families of disabled children and repurpose closing regional centers into respite care centers so families can continue to care for their loved ones at home.
Families of disabled children need better access to respite care
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Trump is the real ‘enemy of the people’
President Trump is the real “enemy of the people.” All of us must remain focused on the federal investigation and the probability that Trump and his campaign team colluded with the Russians to affect our last election and that he and his cohorts made some kind of nefarious deal. This has been denied directly by Trump and his associates. When the truth is out for all to see, what will we, as a nation, do about President Trump? I believe that Republicans will have no choice by to initiate impeachment proceedings. Trump will be impeached and that is the legal and appropriate way to go.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Democrats eyeing sales tax hike to plug holes in next CT budget
While Gov. Dannel P. Malloy continues to push spending cuts as the chief solution to Connecticut’s latest budget crisis, his fellow Democrats on one key panel say a more balanced mix of reductions and revenue might be unavoidable.
Posted inHealth, Politics
As GOP health care plan falters, CT Dems watch and wait
Updated at 9:13 p.m.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and House Republicans are making both threats and promises to try to salvage the GOP health care bill – but the deal-making is all on the Republican side of the aisle, with Connecticut’s all-Democratic congressional delegation sitting on the sidelines.
Posted inHealth, Politics
CT GOP legislative leaders urge delay on Obamacare replacement
The Republican leaders of the Connecticut House and Senate politely distanced themselves Thursday from the push by President Trump and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan for the immediate passage of an alternative to the Affordable Care Act.
Posted inNews
Connecticut, U.S. unemployment rates were 4.7% in February
The Connecticut unemployment rate rose from 4.5 percent in January to 4.7 percent in February as the state posted a net loss of 1,600 jobs, nearly all in the private sector, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday. The U.S. unemployment rate also was 4.7 percent.
Posted inHealth, Money
State worker union launches TV ad to fight layoffs
Two days after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy threatened to lay off 4,200 unionized state workers unless concessions are granted, Connecticut’s largest healthcare workers union launched a television ad urging viewers to keep its members on the job.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The ‘open carry’ debate is about privacy, not guns
Granting police the power to ask to see open carry permits from gun owners may not violate the Second Amendment, but it might violate the Fourth Amendment, the right to privacy. You have the right to conduct business without agents of the government asking to see your papers.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
State should heed changes in SBAC testing
As Connecticut students get ready to take the Smarter Balanced Assessment tests, the time is now for parents to let their children’s teachers and principals know that they are sick and tired of test-centric programming. Smarter Balanced test results do not reflect their children’s learning and cannot be trusted as a meaningful measure of student growth, progress, or proficiency.
Posted inPolitics
If you stay long enough, the General Assembly will hear you
Bill MacDonald got right to it. Incurable cancer can do that, give a man a heightened sense of time, and MacDonald had just waited five hours for the chance to address the legislature’s Judiciary Committee in Room 2C. He’d get exactly three minutes, the standard allotted to witnesses as public hearings.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Murphy, Courtney: Trump cuts to job training grants could hurt EB
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s budget calls for cutting manufacturing training money that has helped provide hard-to-find skilled workers for Electric Boat and its suppliers, even as the president wants to ramp up building submarines. “This is exactly the wrong direction we should be going,” said Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Blumenthal presses Gorsuch on key cases, but judge won’t be pinned down
WASHINGTON — On Day 3 of the Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Neil Gorsuch, Sen. Richard Blumenthal tried to do what other Democrats have tried, and failed, to do – pin down the nominee’s opinion on a hot-button issue. Gorsuch deftly avoided giving his views – and Blumenthal said it leaves doubt in the minds of Americans about the nominee.
Posted inEducation
In CT, black students far more likely to get less-experienced teachers
In the 4th grade, 36 percent of black students are being taught by math teachers with less than five years in the classroom vs. 19 percent for white students. That gap is the largest in the nation.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Housing opportunity is educational opportunity
I have always believed that my success and opportunities in this country were attributable to my access to a solid education, and this fundamental belief has driven my passion to eliminate the achievement gap. Research resoundingly confirms the importance of good teachers, a solid curriculum, an appropriate cultural environment in school as well as other factors that are connected to the school setting. However, it is only more recently that I have begun to understand how segregated housing is a significant “missing” piece of the achievement gap. If we want better educational outcomes, then housing segregation – racial, ethnic, and economic – must be addressed.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Adding police to state’s hate-crime legislation confuses the issue
Jorge Fernandez says that state legislators should not add police officers or first responders to proposed legislation amending the state’s hate crime laws.