State and local capital spending in Connecticut and the other five New England states has been well below the national average since 2000, according to a new report issued this week by the public policy arm of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Report: CT, New England states lag nation in capital spending
Posted inPolitics
CT delegates to GOP convention to vote on conservative platform
WASHINGTON — When Connecticut delegates to the Republican National Convention arrive in Cleveland next week, one of the first orders of business will be to consider a party platform that has been called the most conservative in the party’s history.
Posted inPolitics
Senate GOP accuses Wade of FOI violation in Cigna merger
Senate Republicans asked the state Freedom of Information Commission on Friday to penalize Insurance Commissioner Katharine L. Wade, saying she and her department withheld documents related to the pending merger of Anthem and Cigna that another agency deemed to be public information.
Posted inPolitics
Trump’s choice of Pence puts Malloy back into the game
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, benched as a Hillary Clinton campaign surrogate in recent weeks in deference to Bernie Sanders, all but auditioned Friday for the role of taking down Donald J. Trump’s choice of a running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana.
Posted inMoney
Many laid off at UConn Health will still be working there
University of Connecticut Health Center workers represent the second-largest share of Executive Branch layoffs ordered since mid-April, but the savings will be blunted. That’s because of the 155 people who have been laid off at the Health Center, only 35 of them actually will no longer work there.
Posted inHealth
With two weeks left, Medicaid transition reaches 26 percent
Over the last two weeks, Connecticut’s health insurance exchange has helped another 1,400 low-income individuals transition from their state-sponsored Medicaid plans as they prepare to lose them after July 31st.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut’s income inequality in stark contrast to its prosperity
In the economic expansion following the great recession, the top 1 percent in Connecticut enjoyed exclusive benefit from all income growth, compared with 85.1 percent of income growth enjoyed by the top 1 percent in the United States as a whole. …By adding fairness to the state tax system, lawmakers could begin reinvesting in education, infrastructure and other smart investments to grow the state’s economy. Strategic investments would in turn increase opportunity across the state, enabling a return to a more democratic economy with a growing middle class and shared prosperity.
Posted inPolitics
A postscript to Malloy campaign case: Did anyone pay a legal bill?
State law does not require an accounting, and the Connecticut Democratic Party won’t provide one. But in the process of defending the party against allegations of using illegal campaign contributions to support the governor’s re-election, David S. Golub may have become its biggest benefactor. There is no record of his charging for a case that other lawyers say could easily have cost six figures.
Posted inPolitics
Murphy starts new campaign fund to help gun control candidates
WASHINGTON – Since Congress won’t pass any new gun control legislation, Sen. Chris Murphy and two Senate colleagues are taking another tack – raising money for candidates who will support these bills in the next Congress.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Building a foundation of hope for Connecticut
With the recent tragedies in Orlando, Louisiana, Minnesota and Dallas, this is a sad time for our nation and each and every one of its residents. It highlights in so many ways the worst of our instincts and policy failures –- lack of understanding, tolerance and acceptance as equals of the many groups that comprise this great nation; the ease with which weapons of war are obtained and used against both ordinary people and law enforcement officers; racial divisiveness, fear and fear-mongering promulgated by individuals, groups and mass media yearning for provocative messaging.
Posted inEducation, Justice
Juvenile Justice in CT: What’s left after all the cuts?
A long list of budget cuts released by the Connecticut Judicial Branch just before the fiscal year began July 1 has some state legislators, prosecutors, judges and child advocates wondering what they mean for the strategy of keeping the number of incarcerated children at record lows by providing community-based programs.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Layoffs may be coming to Sikorsky
WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin said Wednesday it was giving pink slips to 350 of its workers. Although none of them work for Sikorsky, the company made clear it was considering layoffs there.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Malloy’s budget spokesman to head CT’s largest nonprofit alliance
The spokesman for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget and policy office, Gian-Carl Casa of New Haven, will leave the administration later this month to head Connecticut’s largest coalition of private, nonprofit organizations.
Posted inEducation
Economic recovery leaving behind those who did not go to college
More than 95 percent of the jobs created in the economic recovery have gone to those with education beyond high school, according to a Georgetown University study.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
A state-owned seaside hotel Connecticut cannot afford
On July 6 the Yankee Institute for Public Policy published an article about the former Seaside Regional Center hospital in Waterford, CT, which closed in 1996. The state legislature and then-Gov. Jodi Rell authorized the sale of the state property to raise money for the 2010 state budget. The property was to be sold to Allied Development Group for $8 million, and they would then turn the property into a seaside hotel and public park, employing about 300 people for construction and operation of the facility.