Two Senate leaders wrote UConn President Susan Herbst Wednesday to object to hefty pay increases she awarded four of her top staff and to “call for more oversight over the compensation practices at UConn.” But the chairman of the school’s governing board vigorously defended the increases and rejected calls to rescind them.
UConn trustees’ chair rejects call to rescind pay increases
Posted inEducation
UConn adopts a largely flat budget, asks for big increase next year
The University of Connecticut’s governing board Wednesday adopted a largely flat $1.3 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins Friday, retreating from years of rapid spending increases at the public university. But it is asking for a big increase in state funding next year to catch up on its Next Generation plan to increase enrollment and faculty.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Merger opponents ask DOJ to block Aetna-Humana, Anthem-Cigna deals
WASHINGTON – Opponents of the planned Aetna-Humana, Anthem-Cigna mergers have asked the U.S. Justice Department to block them in a letter that alludes to the controversy over Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade’s lead role in state regulatory approval of one of the deals.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Cost of SBAC testing in Connecticut is unconscionable, unnecessary
Education activists have been speaking out and pushing back against the misguided Common Core State Standards and the flawed Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) statewide test protocol for several years now, as they have become more aware of the billionaire-driven, media-complicit, and politically-entrenched “corporate education reform” agenda.
Posted inPolitics
CT Dems joined national Democrats in gun-control fundraising pitch
WASHINGTON — Republicans vying to unseat Connecticut Democrats say they are outraged by the attempt to raise political cash from what they characterized as exploitation of the mass shooting in Orlando earlier this month. Meanwhile, the Connecticut Democratic Party accused the GOP candidates of using their outrage to avoid taking a position on the gun control legislation at the center of the controversy.
Posted inPolitics
A gay GOP candidate’s struggle to steer clear of the culture wars
SHERMAN — Clay Cope, the first selectman of this quiet lake community of 3,694, got into the race for Congress at the urging of Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, who says Cope has a compelling story to tell about restoring Yankee virtues of pay-as-you-go frugality and limited government to a town that had fallen into debt. But if there is a formula for keeping God, guns and gays out of congressional politics in 2016, no one has shared it with Cope.
Posted inJustice, Money
Marshals file labor complaint over troopers at CT courthouses
The union representing Connecticut’s Judicial Branch marshals has filed a complaint with the Department of Labor charging that the hiring of state police to patrol outside courthouses violates its contract.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
New Americans and young voters to play growing role
Primary season is over, party conventions loom, and the general election will follow in November. New Americans and young voters may play pivotal roles in certain states and Congressional districts. According to a Pew study, “An estimated 69.2 million Millennials (adults ages 18-35 in 2016) were voting-age U.S. citizens … 31 percent of the voting-eligible population.” Yet actual “young-adult turnout depends on … the candidates, the success of voter mobilization efforts,” and other issues.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Labor costs, tax receipts, threaten new CT budget before it starts
With Connecticut’s new fiscal year set to begin Friday, serious issues — involving both spending and revenue — have arisen in recent weeks that challenge state government’s new spending plan before it’s even begun. And a major Wall Street credit rating agency questioned Monday whether Connecticut’s fiscal house is in order.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Orlando victims look to Sandy Hook lawsuit against gun maker
WASHINGTON — Families of those massacred in an Orlando nightclub are weighing whether to follow the Sandy Hook families that have filed a lawsuit against makers of assault rifles like the one Adam Lanza used to kill 20 first graders and six adults.
Posted inNews
Protesters block Hartford’s Main Street over immigration ruling
Just days after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidated a White House plan to protect millions of immigrants living in the United States from deportation, more than 150 protesters gathered Monday afternoon outside the state’s federal immigration enforcement office in Hartford and blocked a portion of Main Street.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT employers need to prepare for new federal overtime guidelines
Regulations released by the United States Department of Labor establishing new guidelines under which employees must be paid overtime will have a far-reaching impact on employers throughout Connecticut and the nation. Business leaders throughout the state now must take the right steps to ensure they are in compliance with these new rules before they take effect in December.
Posted inJustice
State police don’t mirror CT when it comes to blacks, Hispanics
Nearly 30 years ago Connecticut’s state police signed a legally binding agreement to boost the number of black and Hispanic troopers to 10 percent of the force so it would mirror the proportion of minorities in Connecticut’s population. The state police met that goal decades ago, but there hasn’t been much change since, though minorities now represent about a quarter of the state’s population.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
As DEEP cuts budget and park hours, it gets a surprising new role
The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced cutbacks Friday at state beaches, parks and campgrounds. Left out of the announcement was a significant wrinkle: As the department struggles to manage its various assets with less money, it is being handed a significant new responsibility – managing the Old State House in Hartford.
Posted inHealth, Justice
Amid opioid crisis, substance abuse treatment programs cut
On any given day, there are 400 people on the waiting list for the substance abuse treatment and detox programs paid for by the state Judicial Branch. The wait is about to get much longer – and not because of the spike in overdoses throughout the state, but because those programs are being slashed to help close the state’s budget deficit.