Some of Connecticut’s major health insurers are seeking rate increases far beyond medical inflation, including an average increase of 26.8 percent for the individual plans offered by the state’s biggest insurer, Anthem Health Plans, according to requests released Monday. The filings come as the insurance industry, state Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade and her department are under intense scrutiny over proposed mergers.
Major health insurers seek sharply higher rates in Connecticut
Posted inPolitics
CT delegates hope for agreement at fractured Dem convention
WASHINGTON — Connecticut Democrats who will represent their state at their party’s national convention in Philadelphia next month won’t encounter the usual – a scripted event that is largely a pep rally for their White House candidate. This time the stage is set for some political drama.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut’s youth voice is strong, but needs coordination
On Wednesday June 1, students at Amistad High School in New Haven organized a protest to voice their concerns regarding the absence of minority teachers, using their collective power to question the lack of diversity in the teaching faculty at this predominately African-American and Latino high school. This youth-led action not only highlighted the issue of diversity, or the lack thereof, within the educational system, but also shined a beaming light on the power of youth-led activism.
Posted inNews
Connecticut tribe says it has made federal bid, hopes for casino
WASHINGTON — The Schaghticoke Indian Tribe of Kent says it filed a voluminous petition for federal recognition with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a bid it hopes will result in the rights to open a casino in the Danbury area. But Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who has fought efforts by tribes to win acknowledgement, called the effort “frivolous.”
Posted inPolitics
Malloy guards executive authority with three vetoes
As Treasurer Denise Nappier discovered Friday, one of the surest ways to provoke a veto from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy this year is with legislation that intrudes on what the Malloy administration sees as the prerogatives of the executive branch. Half of his six vetoes involve protecting executive-branch authority.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
CT towns say they aren’t prepared for last-minute cut to state aid
While Connecticut municipalities decried a last-minute cut in state assistance Friday, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration defended the legality of his line-item veto targeting local aid.
Posted inEducation
State: Complaints about charter schools to be handled differently
The state said it has more discretion about whether and how to proceed with complaints against charter schools than it does for schools operated by local school boards.
Posted inPolitics
Electric Boat plans major hiring, expansion to tackle sub ramp up
WASHINGTON — The man in charge of developing and acquiring the Navy’s weapons systems said it’s going to be “a tough ramp up” to get Electric Boat’s shipyards and another at Newport News, Va., ready to meet the nation’s need for submarines. The decline in the U.S. manufacturing base and the retirement of skilled tradesmen pose key challenges.
Posted inPolitics
Labor and Connecticut Democrats: Can this marriage be saved?
The awkward estrangement of labor and the Connecticut Democratic Party: The head of the AFL-CIO, who organized a labor boycott of the Democrats’ annual fundraising dinner to protest the state budget was rejected this week as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Consumer group demands Wade recuse herself on Cigna merger
WASHINGTON — A consumer group says Gov. Dannel Malloy should avoid “going back to the days of Corrupticut” and replace Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade as the key state regulator on a proposed mega-merger between Anthem and Cigna insurance companies.
Posted inJustice, Money, Politics
Malloy signs CT budget but trims town aid to offset prison costs
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy showed legislators Thursday there was a fiscal price to be paid for rejecting his anti-recidivism proposals. The governor signed the legislature’s $19.76 billion budget for 2016-17 into law, but only after using the rarely employed line-item veto to cancel more than $22 million earmarked for municipalities, health clinics and the Connecticut Humanities Council.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics, Transportation
House rebalances state’s credit card, cancels $1B in bonding
The House of Representatives gave unanimous final approval in special session Thursday to a plan to rebalance Connecticut’s credit card in the face of shrinking tax revenues, canceling or delaying about $1 billion in financing for a wide array of projects and programs.
Posted inPolitics
CT House gives retiring speaker Sharkey a video sendoff
The state House of Representatives offered a fond farewell Thursday to retiring Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey through a video that was part roast, mixed with moments of gratitude and a little advice.
Posted inNews
Bridgeport schools leader says she asked the state for help
The superintendent of one of the state’s lowest-performing districts said Thursday the state had declined her request to mandate training for the rancorous, locally elected school board.
Posted inEducation
Feds, UConn faculty settle conflict-of-interest case
A handful of professors at the University of Connecticut have agreed to pay $400,000 to settle claims that they inappropriately used federal research grants for a tech company three of them owned while not accurately disclosing their role in the company. The professors did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement.