With the help of MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, a conservative think tank opened a small-government, anti-tax road show Thursday that marked the soft opening of the 2016 contest for the Connecticut General Assembly. Less clear was whether the event also was an early exploratory step by Scarborough toward a campaign in 2018 for governor or U.S. Senate.
Joe Scarborough is firm on taxes, less so on his plans
Posted inNews
DeLauro adds her support for the Iran nuclear deal
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, announced her support Thursday for the Iran nuclear pact, joining most of Connecticut’s delegation in backing the deal. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and 5th District Rep. Elizabeth Esty both remained undecided as of Thursday afternoon.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy administration mum on possible aid to keep GE in state
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration on Thursday would neither confirm nor deny a media report that it was preparing an aggressive package of economic assistance to keep General Electric from moving its headquarters out of state.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy to campaign in New Hampshire next week for Hillary
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat who swam against a Republican tide to win re-election last year, is headed to New Hampshire next week to campaign for Hillary Clinton.
Posted inPolitics
Wolf airs first ad in campaign to unseat Blumenthal
August Wolf, a former Olympic shot putter seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2016, is running his first commercial: a cable television ad urging U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to oppose the proposed U.S-Iran nuclear deal.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CT retirement panel says ‘no’ again in municipal pension case
A state retirement panel dashed the hopes Thursday of six legislators who contend that any retired municipal workers should be allowed to collect a pension and be re-employed by another Connecticut municipality.
Posted inMoney
CT unemployment hits seven-year low of 5.4%
Connecticut gained 4,100 jobs in July as the unemployment rate fell to a seven-year low of 5.4 percent, marking three consecutive months of job growth that have brought the state’s unemployment rate close to the U.S. average of 5.3 percent.
Posted inHealth
Respite center’s closure highlights frustrations for families of the disabled
Founders’ Cottage, a Norwalk respite center that gives families who care for adult children with developmental disabilities an occasional break, is closing next month, and its loss taps into a deeper frustration over years of cuts to services and a shortage of residential placements for people with developmental disabilities.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
It’s time for a new Lyme Disease vaccine
In recent years, there has been a renewed general acceptance that vaccinations are safe and the benefits greatly outweigh the potential risks involved. However, the failure of the Lyme disease vaccine is an excellent example of how influential public opinion can be and why a loud, informed, and unified voice from the health community is crucial to protect the public from preventable and costly illness. It is time for the public to also work towards the prevention of this epidemic disease. It is time for a new Lyme vaccine.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Does Connecticut need another gas pipeline?
Answers to two questions are key to approving a new gas pipeline in Connecticut:
1) Is there a problem?
2) Do proposed solutions to the problem create collateral damage?
In the case of the Connecticut expansion of the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline, the answers are NO — supplies of natural gas this winter will NOT run out and YES — contamination of our water supply is feared.
Posted inPolitics
Officially neutral, Malloy is drawn into Hartford primary
Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra pointedly warned the ostensibly neutral Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Wednesday that any effort to snub him in favor of the governor’s former aide, Luke A. Bronin, in the Democratic mayoral primary carries political risk.
Posted inPolitics
Skirting race, ethnicity in Hartford’s mayoral primary
Race and ethnicity are, not surprisingly, a subtle undercurrent in the Democratic contest for mayor in Hartford, which pits a white challenger with roots in Greenwich against a Puerto Rican incumbent in a city with the largest percentage of Latinos in the northeastern United States: 43.4 percent of its 125,000 residents.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Funding woes threatened CT labor department jobs a year ago
Though Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said last month that a projected shortfall in federal funds was forcing his administration to lay off almost 100 Labor Department workers, a deficit topping $14 million for labor personnel was identified nearly one year ago.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Most Americans want GMO foods labeled; big agribusiness doesn’t
The passage of the Safe and Affordable Food Act by the U.S. House of Representatives is yet another example of how the vast amounts of money spent by special interest groups undermines our democracy. This Act, also known as HB 1599, or the DARK Act (Denying Americans the Right to Know) would not only overturn Connecticut’s pioneering law that requires labeling of foods containing genetically modified ingredients (and similar laws in Maine and Vermont), it would permanently prevent people from knowing if foods contain genetically modified organisms and allow foods containing GMOs to be labeled as “natural.”
Posted inCT Viewpoints
GMO labeling case is not based on science
The movement to label foods containing genetically modified organisms is based on bad information and flies in the face of scientific reason. If state legislatures continue to pass bills that support the anti-science agenda, we will end up with a patchwork of unnecessary regulations that stand to negatively impact the food industry and ultimately hit consumers where it hurts most—in their wallets.