School districts where more than 10 percent of students miss required statewide exams for a second consecutive year will lose funding and may have their performance ratings downgraded.
State sets penalties for schools with high exam ‘opt-out’ rates
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT Board of Regents should reconsider its spending priorities
The state of Connecticut claims that it has a large deficit and it needs to cut the budget for higher education – mostly through cutting the number of faculty positions at the Connecticut State College and University system. However, one questions its higher education priorities.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Panel struggles to solve state’s property tax woes
The panel studying Connecticut’s taxes off-and-on for two years has wrapped up its work struggling to find consensus on arguably Connecticut’s most onerous levy: the municipal property tax.
Posted inEducation
Feds say too few students took required tests in 148 CT schools
After thousands of Connecticut students failed to take required statewide achievement tests last spring, federal officials want to know what Connecticut education leaders are doing to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
2016 Predictions for transportation in Connecticut
Everybody writes “year in review” stories. But rather than dwell on the past, I’ve got the guts to predict the future! Here’s what will happen in 2016 in the transportation world on issues like Metro North performance, Uber, eminent domain for transportation, state highways and others.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CT has a good savings plan — though its bank balance is modest
Despite having a relatively modest emergency budget reserve right now, Connecticut’s saving strategy is better than those in most states, according to a new study by Pew Charitable Trusts.
Posted inNews
Plans for Coltsville national park hit some bumps in first year
WASHINGTON — A year after the go-ahead was given to authorize the first national park in Connecticut, efforts to commemorate the industrial innovation of Samuel and Elizabeth Colt in Hartford have hit some stumbling blocks, including one that may require an act Congress to resolve.
Posted inPolitics
A governor’s visit to a smokehouse that offers second chances
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy dropped in on Bear’s Smokehouse in Hartford on the day before Christmas for a low-key photo opportunity to promote his Second Chance initiatives and to thank the owners, Cheryl and Jamie “Bear” McDonald, for hiring ex-offenders. He stayed for the brisket.
Posted inJustice
Hartford case helped inspire tax relief for wrongfully convicted
WASHINGTON — East Hartford resident James Tillman was convicted of rape and jailed for almost 18 years before a DNA test exonerated and freed him in 2006. Congress is now adding to the restitution Tillman, and hundreds of wrongfully convicted people, received for the wrong the judicial system did them.
Posted inHealth
ER doctors: U.S. rule could raise patients’ out-of-network bills
Two professional organizations representing emergency doctors warn that a new federal rule could lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for consumers when they need emergency care outside their health plan’s network of providers.
Posted inHealth
Another Boomers Trend: More Golden Years In Poorer Health
After the last of the baby boomers become fully eligible for Medicare, the federal health program can expect significantly higher costs in 2030, both because of the high number of beneficiaries and because many are expected to be significantly less healthy than those in previous generations.
Posted inEducation
State drags feet on disclosing school desegregation data
State officials may have promised a judge in February that they would offer hundreds more students enrollment in desegregated environments this school year, but they’re not releasing the data to show whether that happened.
Posted inMoney
Trade mission gives Kaman a foothold in China
More than three years after a trade mission to China, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy celebrated Tuesday what he says were the fruits of that trip: An order from China for two K-MAX helicopters, a rugged utility aircraft manufactured by Kaman Aerospace.
Posted inEducation
A toddler dies, and the direction of a child welfare agency is tested
The debate over how to best protect children goes back decades, with advocates on one side arguing that keeping families together whenever possible is better for children. But others push back, saying that approach is applied too broadly and keeps children in dangerous environments.
Posted inHealth
100,314 signed up for Obamacare coverage to start 2016
Just over 100,000 people are signed up to receive private insurance coverage as of Jan. 1through Access Health CT, the state’s health insurance exchange. But exchange officials expressed concern that thousands of current customers could lose their coverage or the federal tax credits that discount their premiums.