For nine years, Connecticut was one of the very few states in the country that did not reduce state funding for public education. In 2016, that very praiseworthy policy ended. The impact of reduced state funding for education will be felt in one way or the other by every child who attends a public school in the state.
Connecticut — where there is less for every student
Posted inNews
GE part of a national move away from big, suburban office parks
Among other lessons, the move provides further evidence that large, isolated, one-tenant suburban office parks, such as the sleek but aging campus that GE has occupied since 1974 on 68 arboreal acres in Fairfield, have seen their day.
Posted inMoney
Connecticut middle class losing ground, as in most of the nation
Connecticut has seen some of the sharpest declines in the size of its middle class over the past decade and a half, according to new research
Posted inHealth, Politics
CT signs off on Aetna-Humana merger, but other hurdles remain
WASHINGTON — The Connecticut Insurance Department has signed off on Aetna’s proposed merger with Humana, but other hurdles remain for that deal and another merger proposed by Cigna and Anthem.
Posted inHealth
State tentatively OKs hospital purchases in Manchester, Vernon
The consolidation of the hospital industry progressed Wednesday as state regulators gave tentative approval to the $105 million purchase of Manchester Memorial and Rockville General hospitals by Prospect Medical Holdings, a for-profit hospital chain based in Los Angeles.
Posted inEducation, Money
State says thousands of children to lose day care subsidies
Updated at 1:50 p.m. Thursday
Thousands of children from low-income families will soon lose the state subsidy that helps them pay for daycare or preschool so their parents can work, the state Office of Early Childcare estimated Wednesday.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
How has ‘wealthy’ Connecticut run out of money?
As we head into summer, we also head into increasingly turbulent economic times. The sad economic reality is that Connecticut, the wealthiest state per capita, has been driven to near fiscal collapse by years of fiscal mismanagement in Hartford, and our loss of authority to Washington.
Posted inEducation
What cuts loom at your community college or regional university?
“This is a very challenging budget that we are looking at,” said Mark Ojakian, the president of the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities system. “Times of crisis are a time of opportunity. We are going to have to do business differently. We are not going to be able to sustain even this level of funding in the future. It’s going to be tough.”
Posted inPolitics
Carly Fiorina urges GOP unity, yet won’t speak Trump’s name
STAMFORD – Carly Fiorina seemed to endorse Donald J. Trump, if only by inference Tuesday night. She never allowed herself to say his name in a 30-minute speech to Connecticut Republicans, yet vowed, “I will do everything in my power between now and November to make sure that Hillary Clinton is not our next president.”
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal says VA chief should apologize for Disney comments
Washington – Sen. Richard Blumenthal joined a growing number of lawmakers who slammed Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald for comparing wait times at VA hospitals with wait times at Disney theme parks.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy says it’s foolish to believe Trump on guns
WASHINGTON — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Tuesday “you’d have to be a fool” to believe what presidential hopeful Donald Trump says on gun control or any other subject. The governor made his comments during an all-day White House summit on gun safety.
Posted inPolitics
Ganim, Gomes and Moore keep things complicated in Bridgeport
Summer is coming to Bridgeport, where the living never is easy, not in even-number years, not for Sens. Edwin A. Gomes and Marilyn Moore. On the day after the Democratic machine denied Gomes and Moore its backing for another term, Mayor Joseph P. Ganim lavishly praised them at a public ceremony Tuesday – taking care to stop well short of an endorsement.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CT expected to provide $22M to help major hedge fund expand
The State Bond Commission is expected to approve $22 million in financing Friday to help a major hedge fund expand operations in Westport, Wilton and Norwalk.
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
Connecticut’s infrastructure dangling by a thread
The recent fire under the Park Avenue viaduct in Harlem, which disrupted commutes of a quarter million Metro-North riders, got me thinking: our aging, crumbling and vulnerable transportation infrastructure is close to collapse, and the effects of such failure could be catastrophic. Consider this track-record:
Posted inPolitics
On outs with Sanders and labor, is Malloy still a progressive?
The stated cause of Bernie Sanders’ displeasure with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy as co-chair of the Democratic platform committee stems from his being one of Hillary Clinton’s “aggressive attack surrogates,” not deficiencies as a progressive politician. But controversy over Malloy’s suitability as an arbiter of the Democratic agenda coincides with a budget controversy in Connecticut that’s fueling a reappraisal of the man once described by The Daily Beast as the “progressives’ dream governor.”