Dr. Raul Pino, the deputy commissioner of the state Department of Public Health, was named Friday as acting commissioner by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Raul Pino named acting state health commissioner
Posted inPolitics
Special election scheduled in Backer’s district
A special election will be held Feb. 2 in the 121st House District of Stratford to choose a successor to Rep. Terry Backer, D-Stratford, who died Monday night, the secretary of the state’s office said Friday.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
EPA’s Gina McCarthy stops by with a Paris postcard
Gina McCarthy, the environmental regulator who worked in New England for Govs. Mitt Romney and M. Jodi Rell before leading the charge for President Obama on climate change, returned to Hartford on Friday for a post-Paris curtain call. She said the deal will create markets for clean energy.
Posted inPolitics
Defense spending, permanent R&D tax break benefit CT firms
A hyper-busy Congress accomplished this week much of what it wasn’t able to do all year.
Posted inPolitics
Murphy to help Clinton’s New Hampshire campaign
WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Murphy is travelling to New Hampshire next week to help sell Hillary Clinton’s gun safety plan in a state with strong gun rights supporters.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT hospital mergers, purchases, need strict scrutiny
It is hard to turn on your computer or to check out your evening news without hearing highly paid hospital executives saying that the sky is falling and arguing that they are on the side of consumers. In reviewing the recent filings with state regulators, it appears that this may just be an effort to create a distraction as they go about radically changing the health care landscape in Connecticut. If unchecked it is likely to have a very harmful impact on cost and access.
Posted inEducation
Senate saves Perkins student loan program
WASHINGTON– The nation’s oldest student loan program, which had expired in September, has been temporarily revived by the Senate. The Perkins loan program was available at most of Connecticut’s four-year colleges and has helped thousands of students in the state.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CT lawmakers, except Himes, split with party over tax package
WASHINGTON – U.S. Reps. John Larson, Elizabeth Esty, Rosa DeLauro and Joe Courtney split from their party leaders Thursday in voting for a tax package that would make permanent a research and development tax break benefiting many Connecticut companies and tax credits to help low-income families.
Posted inHealth
Ethics office won’t call for Wade to recuse herself on Cigna deal
The Office of State Ethics is not calling for Insurance Commissioner Katharine L. Wade to recuse herself from overseeing her agency’s review of Anthem’s proposal to buy Cigna, where Wade previously worked and her husband serves as an attorney. But Executive Director Carol Carson said the office has raised concerns.
Posted inMoney
Connecticut hits milestone in jobs recovery
After six years of fits and starts, Connecticut’s job recovery hit a significant benchmark in November as the state added 5,100 jobs, giving the private sector a full recovery from the job losses of the Great Recession. The unemployment rate remained at 5.1 percent.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Malloy gun proposal NOT about terrorism
No one wants terrorists to have guns. However, Gov. Dan Malloy’s recent proposal to ban gun purchases from those who appear on a nebulous terrorist “watch list” is a step too far. There is no doubt that Gov. Malloy is not a big fan of the Second Amendment. Unfortunately, this plan also guts the 14th Amendment due process clause by suspending the right to purchase and potentially confiscating legally owned property without providing ANY evidence to do so.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Federal budget bill good for CT defense, health insurance industries
WASHINGTON — The federal government’s proposed $1.1 trillion budget deal will please Connecticut health insurers, defense contractors and early childhood education advocates; but disappoint those seeking more federal heating aid and country-of-origin labeling on beef and pork.
Posted inHealth, Money
More CT households need energy aid despite falling fuel prices
Falling fuel prices weren’t enough to prevent the number of Connecticut households in need of energy assistance from growing in 2015, according to a new report released Wednesday.
Posted inEducation
UConn raises tuition, promises major budget cuts
It just became more expensive to attend the University of Connecticut: By 2019, tuition will be $3,275 more than this year. But students aren’t likely to see added services for the increased cost.
Posted inMoney
S&P warns Malloy’s pension plan could cause bond rating cut
A major Wall Street rating agency warned it might lower Connecticut’s bond rating — pushing up interest costs on capital projects — if the state adopts Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s plan to restructure contributions to the employee pension fund.