For decades, Connecticut residents have taken water for granted. But approval of a water bottling plant in Bloomfield, the coming of the state’s worst drought since the 1960s, and several other water controversies in recent years have put the spotlight on both the state’s lack of an overall water plan and questions about the transparency and accountability of the Metropolitan District Commission, the Hartford region’s big water and sewer agency.
Bottling plant a wake-up call on state water
Posted inPolitics
Defense hawks hope Trump keeps vow to boost military spending
WASHINGTON — The House has approved a $619 billion defense bill and the Senate is expected to follow this week, but there’s a push to add F-35s, Black Hawk helicopters and other military hardware to the Pentagon’s shopping list early next year, right after President-elect Donald Trump assumes office.
Posted inPolitics
Murphy tweets: Trump’s foreign policy pivots are ‘how wars start’
Updated Saturday at 11:45 a.m.
WASHINGTON — Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, attacked Sen. Chris Murphy for tweeting that Trump’s recent calls with foreign leaders, especially the president of Taiwan, are “how wars start.” Murphy lit up the twitterverse late Friday by attacking Trump for his overtures to foreign leaders.
Posted inHealth
Insurance Department will seek to liquidate HealthyCT
The Connecticut Insurance Department plans to seek a court order to liquidate insurer HealthyCT at the end of the year, after an appointed overseer’s report that the nonprofit company – created with federal funds made available through Obamacare – is insolvent.
Posted inPolitics
Rep. Betty Boukus, ‘force of nature,’ dies at 73
Rep. Betty Boukus, D-Plainville, an irreverent and irrepressible presence at the State Capitol for 22 years, who defied a cancer diagnosis to keep working in Hartford and wage a final, if losing campaign for re-election to the General Assembly, died Friday.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Aetna-Humana antitrust trial to have a different twist
WASHINGTON – As the first part of the antitrust trial on a proposed merger of Anthem and Cigna is wrapping up, a similar challenge to Aetna’s plan to merge with Humana will begin Monday. While both are the result of lawsuits to block the mergers filed by the Justice Department on the same day in July, the trials will be much different.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Trump’s flag-burning tweet ‘troubling’ for its First Amendment ignorance
The New England First Amendment Coalition is deeply troubled by President-Elect Donald Trump’s recent statement calling for the imprisonment or loss of citizenship of those who burn the American flag. While Trump’s comments may reflect the feelings of many citizens, they perpetuate a dangerous misunderstanding about the breadth of the First Amendment and the protection it provides all Americans.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT Health Care Cabinet proposal will hurt doctor-patient relationship
A state committee that most people have never heard of, the Health Care Cabinet, is planning to damage health care in Connecticut by disrupting the only thing that’s really working for us right now – our doctor-patient relationships. I am a breast cancer survivor and caregiver to my severely injured husband. Our family has spent years struggling with Connecticut’s broken, insurance-driven health system. We know how badly the system needs reform, but the Cabinet, whose mandate is to find practical fixes, is making a big mistake by focusing on the wrong thing.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Malloy tells D.C. audience bail reform on his agenda in 2017
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy told a criminal justice conference in Washington, D.C., on Thursday he intends make another attempt in 2017 at bail reform, one of his “Second Chance Society” initiatives that never came to a vote in 2016.
Posted inEducation
New data: Majority of Hartford schools still segregated; some progress made
Twenty years after the Connecticut Supreme Court ordered the state to eliminate the inequities caused by the isolation of black and Hispanic students in its capital city, data released Thursday show that the majority of Hartford’s children still attend segregated schools – though not as many as last year.
Posted inHealth
With Obamacare’s future uncertain, CT exchange contemplates strategies
One person likened it to looking at a “foggy crystal ball.” Another spoke of changing a tire on a car that’s still moving. But others cautioned against speculating and emphasized the fact that, so far, nothing about the Affordable Care Act has changed.
Posted inPolitics
Himes to head centrist Dem group
WASHINGTON – Rep. Jim Himes was elected on Thursday to head the centrist New Democrat Coalition in the next Congress, a group that says it’s “moderate,” “pro-growth,” and has about 50 members.
Posted inMoney
Lembo says all is not bleak in CT’s fiscal forecast
One day after analysts briefed the legislature’s budget panels on surging retirement benefit and other debt costs that could imperil state finances through the early-to-mid 2030s, Comptroller Kevin Lembo peppered his monthly budget forecast with “positive economic indicators that are worth highlighting.”
Posted inMoney
S&P warns CT: Surging debt costs could lower bond rating
While legislators learned Wednesday how surging debt costs would hamper the next state budget, a major Wall Street credit rating agency downgraded its outlook for Connecticut for the same reason.
Posted inHealth
Developmental Services Commissioner to step down
Department of Developmental Services Commissioner Morna Murray plans to leave the job early next year — a time of significant changes for the department serving thousands of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.