HARTFORD — President Obama’s secretary of housing and urban development, Julián Castro, dropped in Friday on 06120, one of the poorest zip codes in the United States, a place where the latest federal anti-poverty programs go to be road-tested. So it is with the North Hartford Promise Zone, a designation granted in April to about three square miles of unrealized promise.
A HUD secretary touts a new promise to a poor city
Posted inMoney
Transportation funding options: tolls and gas and sales tax hikes
A state panel is recommending restoring tolls to Connecticut highways, raising sales and gasoline taxes, and taking other steps to finance a 30-year transportation program – but Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Thursday he would propose none of the revenue-raising proposals in the new budget he will give legislators in three weeks.
Posted inHealth
Spending and enrollment up, but Medicaid per-person cost is down
Connecticut’s Medicaid program is projected to cost the state and federal government more than $6 billion this year, and it covers close to one in five state residents, a dramatic growth from a decade ago. But underneath the rising cost and enrollment trends, something else has been happening: The average per-person costs have been falling – particularly among those newly eligible for coverage under the federal health law.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
On keeping GE: Too little, far too late
When GE and other major employers warned that onerous taxes and financial instability would make it impossible for them to stay in Connecticut, the state’s response could be described as novice at best, similar to a minor league player in a World Series game. The governor’s office made a huge faux pas when they showcased GE’s competitor’s engine in their final pitch to persuade them to stay.
Posted inPolitics
Maynard, legislator injured in 2014 fall, involved in one-car accident in Waterford
Sen. Andrew Maynard, D-Stonington, who sustained a traumatic brain injury in a fall at his home in 2014, was being evaluated in a hospital Thursday after the car he was driving went off a road and down an embankment in Waterford.
Posted inPolitics
At Republican retreat, GOP senators press Kudlow to run against Blumenthal
BALTIMORE, MD. — Larry Kudlow continued to keep people guessing as to whether he’ll challenge Sen. Richard Blumenthal at the House and Senate Republican retreat in Baltimore Thursday, but the pressure was on. “I talked to quite a few senators,” Kudlow said. “They were very encouraging.”
Posted inHealth
Social Services Commissioner Bremby doesn’t get Kansas job
Social Services Commissioner Roderick L. Bremby won’t be leaving Connecticut for a post in Kansas. Although Bremby was a finalist to become city manager of Lawrence, Kan., the city commission selected another candidate Thursday.
Posted inMoney
Lembo offers a detailed plan to cope with pension costs
State Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo unveiled a detailed plan Thursday to help Connecticut dodge a fiscal iceberg nearly two decades from now by capping its annual pension costs below $2.3 billion through 2033.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Fight begins over lessons to draw from GE’s departure
Connecticut’s political elite raced Wednesday to frame General Electric’s decision to abandon its 1970s-era campus in suburban Fairfield for a new global headquarters in downtown Boston as everything from merely disappointing to politically cataclysmic. Business feared politicians would draw the wrong lessons.
Posted inMoney
Investing in business climate will be a tall order for CT
The challenge for state government, said economists and business leaders Wednesday, will be to find the resources to invest – in transportation, information technology and higher education – as the cost of public-sector retirement benefits spikes over the next decade to 15 years.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Resident: Willington unwilling to host CT State Police firearms compound
I am a 19-year-old resident of Willington, a town in the Quiet Corner of Connecticut that my family has lived in since 1914. This town of about 6,000 people is living with the fear that their home is on the brink of transformation into something unrecognizable. The state police wish to turn 326 acres of pristine woodland in the heart of our town into a massive training facility and gun range complex.
Posted inMoney, Politics
GE moving global headquarters from Fairfield to Boston
The company says Boston was selected “after a careful evaluation of the business ecosystem, talent, long-term costs, quality of life for employees, connections with the world and proximity to other important company assets.”
Posted inPolitics
Obama puts CT accomplishments on national ‘to do’ list
WASHINGTON — In his State of the Union speech, President Obama’s “to do” list was much like Connecticut’s “already done” list. “I’ll keep pushing for progress on the work that still needs doing,” the president said. “Protecting kids from gun violence, equal pay for equal work, paid leave, raising the minimum wage.”
Posted inPolitics
Maddow throws Malloy a VP curveball on MSNBC
Rachel Maddow asked Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on MSNBC if he was interested in being the Democratic vice presidential nominee this year. “I hope not. I thought you liked me. That’s a tough job. If Biden would do it again, I’d give it to him, to tell you the truth. That’s not what interests me. I enjoy being governor,” he said.
Posted inPolitics
Prepared text of S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley’s Republican response
“Barack Obama’s election as president seven years ago broke historic barriers and inspired millions of Americans. As he did when he first ran for office, tonight President Obama spoke eloquently about grand things. He is at his best when he does that. Unfortunately, the President’s record has often fallen far short of his soaring words.”