WASHINGTON — The tight race in Iowa between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders is not reflected in Connecticut among donors to the two candidates. As of Dec. 31, Clinton’s campaign had taken in six times as much as Sanders’.
Among CT campaign donors, Clinton overwhelms Sanders
Posted inMoney, Politics
GOP plan includes end to bargaining for state retirement benefits
Republican legislators offered a blueprint Monday to curb future state spending by, among other things, no longer guaranteeing worker retirement benefits by contract. The plan also would require several new concessions by state employees, restrict borrowing and overtime, and accelerate closure of the Connecticut Juvenile Training School.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut needs to integrate and sustain community health workers
If we were to tell you there is a proven way to reduce health disparities and improve health outcomes while reducing costs you might say, “Where do I sign?” One such way exists, and it is to invest in and support the integration of community health workers (CHW) into our health care delivery system.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy to seek greater executive branch control over budget
After struggling to extract spending cuts from legislators last year, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will propose a new state budget that gives departments much greater discretion to decide how their money is spent. Sources familiar with the governor’s 2016-17 budget proposal say it won’t assign agency funding to many specific programs, moving instead toward the block-grant system used for state colleges and universities.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Shared solar program in Connecticut stalled over who pays for what
Connecticut’s shared solar pilot program has already missed its first deadline and faces even more delays. In the meantime, arguments over how to pay for clean energy are bubbling up again.
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut ‘super delegates’ part of Clinton’s insurance policy
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and at least three of Connecticut’s seven-member congressional delegation are campaigning for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire over the next few days, all elements of an establishment firewall of super delegates trying to protect against a surging Bernie Sanders.
Posted inMoney
Malloy promises ‘very austere’ state budget next week
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy warned Friday that the spending plan he will offer state legislators next week will be a “very austere” budget with no tax hikes. The Democratic governor, who needs to close a deficit projection topping $500 million in the preliminary budget for 2016-17, also all but ruled out use of the state’s modest emergency reserve.
Posted inPolitics
CT lawmakers ask food stores to ban ‘open carry’ of guns
Updated at 5:36 p.m.
WASHINGTON – As part of a ramped-up gun safety campaign, Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty have asked the Connecticut Food Association to implement a gun “open carry” ban in the state’s retail stores. “Customers should feel safe while shopping,” the lawmakers said.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT FOI ruling should challenge Norwalk school board that ‘does not exist’
The state Freedom of Information Commission will decide next month whether allegations of discrimination and racism among Norwalk school board members should be made public. Those who want to keep it all secret point to Norwalk Board of Education bylaw Section 9010: “The board of education does not exist between meetings. Board members have no authority except at a board meeting or when discharging an assignment made by the board.”
Posted inEducation
Staffing problems hamper failing schools, educators testify
Connecticut’s lowest-performing schools need great teachers and other support staff in order to improve, but education leaders from Bridgeport, East Hartford, New Britain and Windham have told a Superior Court judge that they lose waves of their best teachers each year, have trouble hiring replacements, and have too few teachers and other support staff to keep their students from falling further behind.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Malloy dubs bail, sentencing reforms as ‘Second Chance 2.0’
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy came to the Citadel of Love, a black church in the North End of Hartford, on Thursday to roll out “Second Chance 2.0,” a second round of proposals to negate the permanence of criminal mistakes, especially those committed by the young. He will ask the legislature next week to curtail bail for minor crimes, treat many defendants younger than 21 as juveniles and broaden the reach of a record-expunging youthful offender law.
Posted inPolitics
CT lawmakers help Dems hone strategy, message
BALTIMORE – Connecticut lawmakers are gathering here with their House Democratic colleagues to network and plan strategy in a key political year for their party. Connecticut’s all-Democratic House delegation has been in the minority since 2011 and likely will continue to be after November’s elections.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut making progress on road to regionalism
Connecticut is known as the land of steady habits. Who would have thought that “regionalism” would be a popular buzzword as we begin the 2016-2017 legislative session, set to start on Feb. 3? The time to discuss the idea that school districts and municipalities can and should work together to find efficiencies as a way to reduce costs and offer more quality services has finally arrived. This session, be on the lookout for the introduction of multiple bills that would both remove barriers for inter-town collaboration and incentivize towns and schools to work together.
Posted inHealth
In shoreline cancer treatment dispute, questions about hospital competition
What began with a plan to replace an aging piece of medical equipment has turned into a dispute over the delivery of cancer care along Connecticut’s affluent shoreline. And at a time when policymakers have expressed worries about preserving competition in the state’s fast-consolidating health care market, one side has suggested the case highlights questions about competition – and the way state regulation can limit it.
Posted inPolitics
Congress takes aim at epidemic of opioid abuse
WASHINGTON — After states have spent years grappling with the problem, Congress may finally address the epidemic of heroin use and abuse of prescription pain killers which has affected Connecticut and the rest of New England more than much of the country.