CT-N has just proposed a new State Civic Network with up to ten channels of coverage via the web. The technology would allow viewers to do a key-word search of archives, wading through hours of coverage to find exactly what matters to them. Citizens (and media) could lift video clips at no charge. And all this would cost cable subscribers just 40 cents a month.
Stop cable TV’s big lie from derailing CT-N’s State Civic Network
Posted inPolitics
A legislative mystery: Who changed a watchdog’s bill?
The State Elections Enforcement Commission was surprised Monday to find a provision added to campaign finance legislation that, arguably at least, might undermine the commission in its litigation against the Connecticut Democratic Party. One reason for the surprise was that the unwanted language appeared in a bill proposed by the commission itself.
Posted inEducation
Bill spurs clash on linking student test scores to teacher ratings
As turbulence increased at the Capitol Monday around the state’s plan to start grading teachers based partly on student test scores legislators were skeptical of a new survey from the State Department of Education that purported to show substantial teacher support for keeping linkage as an option.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Schaghticoke hire Lieberman to help sue state over casino law
The Schaghicoke Tribal Nation has hired former Sen. Joe Lieberman – who once fought against the tribe’s efforts to win federal recognition — to help them sue the state over a gambling law that allows only the state’s two gaming tribes to open a new casino. In their legal challenge, the Schaghticokes’ have joined forces with MGM, which has also been blocked from building a casino in Connecticut.
Posted inPolitics
Air Force says Pratt & Whitney will build B-21 engine
WASHINGTON — Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford will build the engine for the Pentagon’s new super-secret, long-range bomber, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said on Monday.
Posted inHealth
Connecticut’s drug overdose crisis isn’t slowing down
On average, two people die of a drug overdose every day in Connecticut. This week the Connecticut Mirror and TrendCT are exploring data that illuminate the extent and growth of the crisis. First of four stories.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Saving jobs and protecting tourism is a winning combination for Connecticut
The recent groundbreaking for a casino just north of the Massachusetts border in Springfield promises to draw more customers from Connecticut than from their own region. Connecticut’s Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Tribes are working to remain competitive in this new environment with a strategically located, jointly run facility that will directly compete with new gaming options on our border. Last session, the Connecticut General Assembly allowed the tribes to work together and accept proposals from towns interested in hosting this new facility. The tribes have been good neighbors and friends to the state for 13 generations, and business partners for the past two decades. They are asking the state to support a plan to protect jobs, business and revenue. Doing so is a win-win for all.
Posted inMoney
Burned once, state upbeat on new office projects
Capitalizing on a soft real estate market, the state purchased three Hartford office towers in the early 1990s. But two of the deals quickly proved to be losers, a cautionary tale as the Malloy administration is investing in real estate to escape expensive leases. So far, the state is having better luck this time.
Posted inHealth, Money
Malloy holds back community health center funds
The move is similar to one the administration made in suspending $140 million in payments for hospitals, and led health center officials to warn that it could cost jobs and set back services for poor patients.
Posted inEducation
Education heavyweights draw line in the sand on teacher ratings
A coalition of statewide organizations that represent businesses, superintendents, principals, school boards and charter schools are calling on state lawmakers and officials to move forward with evaluating teachers based on test scores and reject calls from teachers’ unions to do otherwise.
Posted inMoney
Sharkey, Malloy clash over UConn deal, hospital cuts
House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, and the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy engaged in an extraordinary exchange of criticism Friday over two fiscal controversies, ratcheting up intra-party tensions over how to resolve a worsening budget shortfall.
Posted inPolitics
Murphy says Pentagon not ‘buying American’
WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Murphy is at war with the Pentagon over what he says is the military’s failure to comply with “Buy American” laws that require the purchase of U.S. made goods – with certain exceptions.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut not going back to the way things were
Connecticut is not going back to the way it was, and neither is our state budget and the high level of services from state and local government to which we have become accustomed. Connecticut continues to be a state of great strengths; our people are among the most productive and highly educated workers in the nation, and our geography between New York City and Boston is a singular advantage.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut patient privacy rights bill needs citizen support
The State of Connecticut is on track to collect all of your medical insurance claims information into a large data base called the All-Payers Claims Database- APCD. Senate Bill 130 has been raised to allow patients a mechanism to prevent their data from being included in the APCD by using either an opt-in or opt-out option. This bill would make the APCD directly accountable to consumers for its actions as they would be able to choose who sees this medical information. But right now many state agencies have expressed opposition to that choice because of the cost and the possible decrease to the data base. So unless citizens express their support of SB 130 to the members of the Public Health Committee now, the bill may never get out of committee to go to the legislature for a vote, and we will lose this control over our medical information.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Prospect of detox, psychiatric bed cuts worries hospital officials
As they try to cut more than $34 million from their budget, officials at the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services say they anticipate reducing the number of treatment beds available – a prospect that worries hospital officials and mental health professionals. “In an era when we’re in this opioid crisis, why would we be reducing capacity when there’s already not enough?” said Terri DiPietro, director of the Center for Behavioral Health at Middlesex Hospital.