WASHINGTON — After the Trump transition team selects candidates for top jobs, it will turn its attention to thousands of other positions it must fill – including the entire West Wing staff – and Connecticut GOP Party Chairman J.R. Romano and other state Republicans say they would not mind being in the mix.
Romano, other CT Republicans open to Trump administration jobs
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal: Sessions to receive ‘exacting, serious scrutiny’
Sen. Richard Blumenthal and other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee vowed to give Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, tough scrutiny, setting the groundwork for a contentious confirmation hearing.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
An open letter from Connecticut to President-elect Trump
Dear President Elect Donald J. Trump,
I wanted to congratulate you on your unprecedented victory. You have reminded the world that anything is possible as a citizen of the United States;
You’ve reminded us that being overconfident can be your worst enemy and quickest route to defeat;
You’ve reminded us that history repeats itself and pendulums swing both ways and absolutely will when pushed too far to one side or another…
Posted inEducation, Health, Money
State agencies offer more painful possibilities for budget cuts
State agencies have offered the governor’s budget office options as it prepares a 2017-18 state budget proposal. Among those just made public: Some DMV offices could close. Housing subsidies for those with AIDS could be cut. And hundreds more state jobs could be eliminated by privatizing services for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
Posted inMoney, Politics
In gloomiest forecast yet, deficit in next budget creeps up to $1.5B
Two days after taking a partial look at the next state budget, nonpartisan analysts cast a broader gaze Thursday — and offered their gloomiest forecast in the past 12 months.
Posted inPolitics
No change in three House recounts
The 79-72 House majority won by Democrats on Nov. 8 has withstood recounts in three districts, the secretary of the state’s office announced Thursday.
Posted inPolitics
Looney, Fasano talk rules of the road for evenly divided Senate
Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, and Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, say they have met once since the election of an evenly divided Senate to explore whether they can open the 2017 session in January without a rules fight. The ability of the lieutenant governor to break ties gives Democrats the upper hand.
Posted inHealth
Average Obamacare prices drop for those with subsidies, rise for others
Exchange customers who signed up for 2017 coverage and get federal help discounting their premiums will save a couple of dollars each month compared to what they pay now. But for those who don’t qualify for financial aid, costs are rising an average of $76, and for some, that’s after switching to plans with less coverage.
Posted inEducation
State auditor: CT wrongly picked up health coverage tab for 3 re-employed teachers
In a review of seven sample cases, State Auditor John Geragosian found that three re-employed teachers still had health benefits being paid for by the state’s Teachers’ Retirement Board rather than by the local school districts employing the teachers.
Posted inMoney
CT lost 7,200 jobs in October, but jobless rate improved to 5.1 percent
Connecticut’s unemployment rate declined three-tenths of a point to 5.1 percent in October, despite the loss of 7,200 jobs, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Westport Dems: No place here for xenophobia, misogyny, and intolerance
Since Election Day, the Westport Democratic Town Committee has heard from many people in our community who are struggling to reconcile themselves to this [presidential] result and what it means for our nation. Tuesday night, a week after Election Day, we had a record turnout at our monthly meeting. People who had never attended a DTC meeting before came to express their fear, their anger, and their worry about the future. They spoke of sleepless nights, of difficult conversations with their children, and of feeling like foreigners in their own country.
In the past week, incidents of racial intimidation and hate speech have sharply risen all around the nation. Sadly, our town has not been immune.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
What? 30,000 register to vote in Connecticut at the last minute?
Last Tuesday on the evening news there was a piece about how the voting went in the state that day. Overall, it went well with few problems. However, this was the first presidential election since Connecticut started Election Day Registration and the Secretary of the State’s office said that more than 30,000 people took advantage of that.
What – The – Heck? Thirty thousand people waited until the last minute to register to vote? Are they all brain dead or did they all happen to move into the state the day before?
Posted inCT Viewpoints
A day in the life of a UConn faculty member
As a faculty member at the University of Connecticut for more than 25 years, no two years have been the same, let alone two days!
My Ph.D. is in Immunology and I am based in the School of Pharmacy on the Storrs campus as a tenured associate professor. In this position, I have served as a teaching/research faculty member, as an associate dean and now primarily as a teaching faculty member. This semester I am teaching in three courses to pharmacy students and to new college freshmen as well as graduate education courses.
Posted inEducation
For minority teacher recruitment panel, ‘A slap in the face’
Members of the state panel tasked with boosting Connecticut’s ranks of minority teachers are feeling disrespected by the State Department of Education’s handling of a controversial teacher-training program earlier this month.
Posted inPolitics
CT lawmakers hail likely return of reviled earmarks
WASHINGTON – U.S. House Republicans were stopped from bringing back a practice that once funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to Connecticut – but the once reviled earmark, or special project, looks like it’s going to make a comeback anyway.