WASHINGTON — GOP White House candidate Donald Trump provoked another uproar Tuesday by saying “Second Amendment people” can stop Hillary Clinton from appointing judges to the Supreme Court – a statement Clinton supporters like Sen. Chris Murphy called an assassination threat. Trump spokesmen said their candidate was referring only to action at the polls.
Murphy accuses Trump of Clinton assassination threat
Posted inMoney
Report: State agencies cut overtime costs by $37 million in FY16
Updated at 3:48 p.m.
After releasing an initial report last month showing significant savings in overtime costs, the legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal analysts announced Tuesday that state agencies spent about $37.1 million less on overtime in the fiscal year that ended in June than in the year before.
Posted inNews
Outgoing Navy secretary still urging a base-closing round
WASHINGTON — Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said submarines have become more important to the national defense and the Navy has less excess capacity than the other services, but he also said all Navy facilities would be on the table, even sub bases, if there were a new base-closing round.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Higher taxes negate the higher minimum wage
“We” in Connecticut boast of raising the minimum wage. But for what purpose? “We” said it was to offset the high cost of living in this state. But it looks like it was just another rather nefarious way to justify increasing taxes — like the impending insurance increases, along with a proposed mileage tax. It seems to defeat the intention of raising the minimum wage.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Primary candidate: Time to end legislature’s indecision and inaction
Ask yourself one question: Are you happy with the way things are right now in Hamden? I know I’m not. Six years ago, I moved to Hamden because I saw it as a terrific place to raise a family and start a business. Since then, I’ve laid roots down, am helping run two family-owned grocery stores, and have met many customers whom I soon hope to call constituents. It’s the people I’ve met at my family’s store, Thyme & Season, who have fueled my interest in representing them in the 88th district. I’ve learned a lot about why people are frustrated with local government — and I share those frustrations. IWe need new leadership that will fight for innovative and actionable ideas that will generate revenue for Hamden.
Posted inEducation
CT school funding on trial: 5 key questions facing the judge
The opposing sides are summing up their arguments this week in the five-month trial that will determine whether the state is providing students in high-poverty districts with a suitable education. Here are five critical issues the judge will wrestle with.
Posted inEducation
Federal monitor: Progress being ‘made and sustained’ at DCF
The state Department of Children and Families has “made and sustained progress” toward improving the state’s child welfare system, a federal court monitor reported Monday. The monitor released his “best findings ever” in two key areas – case planning and meeting children’s basic needs.
Posted inMoney
Temporary reprieve for Old State House amid squabbling
Updated at 6 p.m.
It looks like the Old State House won’t be stripped of its artifacts after all, but the Hartford landmark remains closed to the public while legislators and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy reconsider a budget provision that slashed funding and gave the building to a reluctant new landlord, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey says the administration’s opposition seems “petulant.”
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Malloy’s cuts of watchdog budgets must not stand
The League of Women Voters of Connecticut takes seriously its role of looking out for the integrity of the voting and electoral process. We naturally became concerned when catastrophic budget cuts were proposed for the State Elections Enforcement Commission, the elections watchdog agency set up in the wake of the Rowland scandal and charged with the authority to protect the integrity of the electoral process.
Posted inPolitics
A Republican asks: What is party loyalty in the time of Trump?
The backlash experienced by a Republican councilman after endorsing Hillary Clinton illustrates why some GOP candidates might distance themselves from Donald J. Trump, but only a handful have crossed that very bright line to say the Democratic nominee would be preferable as president.
Posted inHealth
Health insurance brokers set to exit exchange if commissions go
As state regulators consider rate proposals for next year, both of the carriers set to remain on the exchange – Anthem and ConnectiCare – could eliminate their commissions for brokers in 2017, creating uncertainty as brokers and customers plan for the coming year. Many brokers have indicated they will leave the exchange if they will not receive sufficient compensation.
Posted inJustice
Former state Supreme Court Justice David M. Borden dies at 79
David M. Borden, a former justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, died Sunday morning of cancer, according to officials at the state’s Judicial Branch. He was 79.
Posted inPolitics
DeLauro visits Afghanistan after a stay in Italy
WASHINGTON – Pivoting from a taxpayer-funded trip to Italy this week with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Rosa DeLauro visited Afghanistan this week to talk to soldiers and the nation’s officials.
Posted inHealth
Charlotte Hungerford, Hartford HealthCare say they will partner
After more than five months of negotiation, Charlotte Hungerford Hospital and Hartford HealthCare announced they will seek state and federal approval to make the Torrington-based hospital the sixth in the Hartford HealthCare network. But regulatory hurdles could keep the deal from being approved for months.
Posted inPolitics
DOJ, Connecticut settle ‘motor-voter’ registration complaint
The U.S. Department of Justice and Connecticut announced Friday that an enhanced online voter registration system will launch Monday at the Department of Motor Vehicles in response to a civil rights investigation that concluded the state was in violation of the so-called “motor-voter” provisions of the National Voting Rights Act of 1993.