Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Thursday dismissed calls from the state’s largest teachers union to stop testing students with the controversial Smarter Balanced Assessment and stood by use of the test results in evaluating teachers. “We are not getting rid of the Smarter Balanced test,” the Democratic governor told reporters.
Malloy stays the course on reforms teachers’ unions detest
Posted inHealth, Politics
Malloy orders review of health care oversight, delaying Yale-L+M decision
Updated 8:30 p.m.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has ordered the state Department of Public Health to postpone until next year any final decisions on certain hospital transactions – or reject them if state law requires a quicker decision – while a newly created task force examines the state’s oversight process for transactions and other major changes involving hospitals.
Posted inEducation
Malloy: UConn pay raises don’t reflect new economic reality
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Thursday a union contract for non-teaching professional staff at the University of Connecticut, now before the legislature, is out of step with current economic conditions.
Posted inHealth
Charlotte Hungerford, Hartford HealthCare to explore affiliation
Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington has become the latest independent hospital to begin the process of joining a larger health system – in this case, Hartford HealthCare, the parent company of five Connecticut hospitals.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut needs to support quality child care, better pay for child-care workers
In response to “Child care funding: A choice between the struggling and destitute,” I agree that our state shouldn’t be leaving its most vulnerable out in the cold. When the allocation of our tax dollars becomes so focused on numbers, we lose a critical understanding of what’s at stake: the well-being, health and future success of our children.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Raises for UConn professionals spark broader CT budget debate
Tuesday’s debate over whether to grant raises to non-teaching professionals at the University of Connecticut reverberated Wednesday throughout the state Capitol. While some argued it weakened any chance of securing wage and benefit concessions from all state employees, others argued it was the first step toward a fairer budget debate that includes talk of tax hikes.
Posted inPolitics
Bush departure opens field in CT for GOP presidential candidates
WASHINGTON – No GOP presidential candidate raised as much campaign money or made as many stops in Connecticut as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, whose departure from the race gives those remaining in the GOP field a better shot at the state’s delegates. But members of the state’s Republican power structure haven’t, for the most part, indicated who they will support.
Posted inNews
Legislators say proposed school cuts would shift burden to towns
Top Democratic legislators are convinced the $69.7 million Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposes to cut from education will result either in local property tax increases or major program reductions in schools throughout the state.
Posted inJustice
A lesson on crime, redemption and trees at Yale
It’s all a bit movie-of-the-weekish, mixing ex-cons, the Ivy League, and a goal of reforesting a city famously hit hard by Dutch elm disease. But it’s been working for a half dozen years now, boasting a high survival rate for the trees and low recidivism for the guys.
Posted inPolitics
Um, governor, about your car taxes…
Taxes owed to Hartford on two cars owned by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy are listed in arrears, a subject of some gleeful emails among tax collectors opposed to Malloy’s plan to end the Department of Motor Vehicles’ role as a municipal debt collector. The bill was due Jan. 1. Malloy paid the bill on one car when told Tuesday night it was overdue. The other car has been sold.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
A budget built on the bones of Connecticut’s youth
Rationality devoid of humanity often masks cruelty. “I was only following orders,” is a problematic justification. Which brings me to Gov. Dannel Malloy’s proposed budget and the disproportionate gutting of behavioral health services in Connecticut. This in the midst of an epidemic of heroin and opioid abuse and an unprecedented number of overdose deaths.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Change to hospital regulation again looms – but direction unclear
As hospitals join larger systems and critics worry about access to care, a key legislator said the time is ripe for lawmakers to revisit the way the state regulates major changes in health care. But it’s not yet clear what shape such changes will take – or whether they would leave the state with more regulation or less, a sign of sharply differing views on its role.
Posted inMoney
A governor’s search for fiscal ‘balance’ on the road
On Sunday night, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was seated at a table with the president at the White House, where he is appreciated for pushing criminal justice reforms the Justice Department would like to implement on a broader scale. On Tuesday night, he was at a high school in New Haven, listening to complaints about the shrinking reach of state government.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
State budget panel sends mixed message on raises for UConn professionals
Despite huge looming state budget deficits, the legislature’s Appropriations Committee sent a mixed message Tuesday on a contract granting University of Connecticut non-teaching professionals annual raises ranging from 3 to 4.5 percent over the next five years.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal blasts GOP refusal to hold hearing for Supreme Court nominee
WASHINGTON — Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s blasted GOP senators on Tuesday because they said they won’t hold a confirmation hearing for any candidate for the Supreme Court that President Obama selects.