Connecticut is at a crossroads. Now more than ever, we face a time when economic uncertainty abounds, energy costs are high, and public dollars for our seniors, schools, and underserved are scarce. But Dominion Resources, Inc., the Virginia-based Fortune 500 company that owns the Millstone nuclear plant in Waterford, wants a payout – courtesy of Connecticut consumers. Giving Millstone a payout would be wrong for several reasons.
Millstone is looking for deeper pockets, not bigger markets
Posted inPolitics
Gentler Trump fails to win over CT Dems
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump sought to shift his tone during his first address to Congress, striving for unity and renewal – but did not succeed in bridging a partisan divide. For Connecticut’s Democrats, there was little to like.
Posted inPolitics
Democrats win 2 of 3, keep control of General Assembly
In three special elections Tuesday night, Connecticut voters did nothing to shift the balance of power in the evenly split Senate or closely divided House, despite furious efforts to make one race a referendum on President Trump and another on Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Posted inEducation
Federal monitor: DCF can’t meet requirements under ‘current conditions’
After moving closer to compliance with its court supervision exit plan in the first quarter of 2016, the state Department of Children and Families was unable to make additional progress in the second and third quarters of 2016, a federal court monitor reported Tuesday. The court monitor put much of the blame for DCF’s continued failure to meet certain compliance standards on the state government.
Posted inHealth
2018 exchange plans could cover fewer hospitals, doctors, drugs
Insurance companies that sell coverage through the state’s health insurance exchange next year will be allowed to cover fewer hospitals, doctors and prescription drugs under changes the exchange’s board approved Tuesday. Officials hope those changes could help offset rate increases caused by the increased price and use of medical care and prescription drugs.
Posted inNews
Crackdown means deportation for New Haven immigrant
Wilmer Galo-Andino, a 46-year-old supermarket worker who has lived in New Haven for 12 years, is the first publicly known, local undocumented immigrant affected by a policy change ordered by President Donald Trump.
Posted inPolitics
Before and after Trump speech, Democrats pitching for cash
An email solicitation from Connecticut Democrats anticipated bad news Tuesday night in President Trump’s congressional address: “You can expect the GOP Congress to stay on their fee clapping as he talks about defunding Planned Parenthood, stripping away gun reforms, and repealing Obamacare.” But what’s been bad for the Democratic agenda has been decent for its fundraising.
Posted inEducation
State releases revamped grades for every school – and most drop
The zero-to-100 grade the state gives every public school and district each year declined for the vast majority of public schools and districts. But the state’s education commissioner said the widespread declines should be seen as part of a recalibration of the grading system. Most students scored better on standardized tests.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
President Trump on the road to impeachment
President Trump’s presidency of, now, about 45 days or so has distinguished itself by scandal after scandal. One, ultimately, will do Trump in: his and his staff’s secret involvement with the Russians and, in particular, Russian intelligence operatives. I have no doubt that Russian involvement in the presidential election was enough to change its outcome. This is, without a doubt, the equivalent or far more then Nixon’s Watergate.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Why we can’t wait — Race and the Care 4 Kids Program
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.
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.