A Quinnipiac University poll of Connecticut voters brought unsettling news Tuesday to both parties: Their presidential frontrunners are Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, but both candidates are viewed negatively by a majority of voters. Ben Carson trails Clinton by only 2 points in a general-election matchup.
Trump, Clinton lead GOP, Democratic fields in Connecticut
Posted inCT Viewpoints, Talking Transportation
Good news and bad news for Metro-North
It’s been a rough few years for Metro-North, what with derailments, crashes and commuter deaths. But it finally seems like service and safety are coming back.
Posted inHealth
In Windham Hospital service cuts, some see sign of the future
Most of Connecticut’s 29 hospitals are in or joining larger systems, raising the possibility that parent companies will seek to consolidate services rather than offering every type of care at each hospital in their network. Does the state have the proper oversight to address cuts in what services hospitals deliver?
Posted inEducation
Kaplan deVries, leader of school-funding coalition, dies
Dianne Kaplan deVries, the driving force behind the coalition that won a Connecticut Supreme Court ruling that the state pay for every child to receive an adequate education, died Sunday from cancer.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Justice, Politics
Blumenthal keeps his consumer focus with a shot at VW
The Volkswagen scandal is the latest consumer issue seized on by Richard Blumenthal, who has made consumer protection a priority in his five years in the U.S. Senate, much as he did during his 20 years as Connecticut’s attorney general.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Stop running universities like corporations
With capitalism driving higher education, we’re headed in the wrong direction and it’s time for students and the public alike, to turn it around.
Posted inMoney
Connecticut paying today for pension sins of the past
As legislators and others look closely at the cost of state employee salaries and benefits, one crucial factor often gets little or no attention: The overwhelming bulk of costs Connecticut faces today to support pension programs for state employees and public school teachers is from cleaning up problems caused years – and in many cases decades – ago.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Congressional scrutiny of fetal tissue research threatens work at UConn, Yale
WASHINGTON – Justin Cotney uses embryonic tissue for his research as the University of Connecticut health center into why some children develop cleft palate. But the use of fetal tissue from abortions is now coming under attack by conservative Republicans who have been thwarted in their attempt to defund Planned Parenthood.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Malloy to restore funding for smaller hospitals
The administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is making a strategic concession in the bitter political fight over hospital funding cuts by restoring $14.1 million to a half-dozen of the state’s smaller hospitals.
Posted inPolitics
CT in Washington: Leadership in chaos, gun violence revisited
Chaos reigned in the House Republican ranks after Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who was favored to become the next Speaker, dropped out of the race; but there was nary a peep from Connecticut’s all-Democratic congressional delegation about that. But Senate Democrats, including Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, were eloquent and forceful in the re-launch of a campaign promoting universal background checks of gun purchasers.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Medical errors report was unfair to doctors
All doctors would agree that there is room to reduce diagnostic errors. But the Institute of Medicine’s report was unfair to physicians because it did not mention that many times when they make errors, they correct them on their own or through hospital committees to lessen the likelihood of reoccurrence.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT’s repeat flood damage dilemma: move out or rebuild?
Thousands of Connecticut homes have been repeatedly damaged by flooding due to storms. costing the government millions in insurance claims. The losses are now causing some to question the wisdom of policies that encourage rebuilding. They say that with climate change, those properties will grow more vulnerable and money would be better spent moving people out. So far, however, few homeowners are interested.
Posted inPolitics
Feds plan early release for 32 prisoners from Connecticut, with more coming
WASHINGTON – Federal officials said Thursday that 32 inmates who had lived in Connecticut before their incarceration will have their sentences cut and be set free at the end of the month — part of the largest U.S. prisoner release in U.S. history.
Posted inPolitics
Busy week in Connecticut for Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton is headlining a $1,000-a-ticket fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign Wednesday at the West Hartford home of Attorney General George Jepsen. The next evening, he will be at UConn to accept an award named for Thomas J. Dodd.
Posted inPolitics
Oregon shootings spark new effort on Newtown-inspired gun control bill
WASHINGTON – Reacting to the nation’s latest mass shooting in Oregon, Senate Democrats, including Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, on Thursday said they would try once again to pass legislation first prompted by the mass slaying in Newtown.