While Gov. Dannel P. Malloy watched his transportation initiative take another step forward Tuesday, it remained uncertain whether legislators are willing to insulate transportation funds from future budget cuts.
Legislators resist granting Malloy his transportation ‘lockbox’
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Call for DCF’s Katz to resign is about children, not politics
Recent reports concerning the Department of Children and Families, along with Commissioner Joette Katz’s long history of failure, misplaced priorities and lack of transparency and accountability, leave me with no confidence in her willingness or ability to openly and seriously confront critical issues within her agency. That’s why I felt compelled to call for her resignation.
Posted inFundraising
The Mirror’s Micro-Give begins today
Last year on The Mirror audience survey, a number of you asked if we could reset the support levels so you could give a smaller donation. So to close the annual feedback cycle, we listened, and this week we’re launching The Mirror Micro-Give.
Posted inEducation, Politics
Legislative hearings will probe conditions at state’s juvenile jails
Legislative hearings will be held to probe conditions and practices at the state’s jails for juvenile offenders after reports that they placed youths “at risk of physical and emotional harm.”
Posted inNews
Willington protesters decry proposed state police gun range
Residents of Willington in Connecticut’s “Quiet Corner” are campaigning against a proposal to build a state police firearms training facility in their town, and Tuesday about 50 of them brought their protest to the state Capitol complex.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Senate votes to revive Export-Import bank
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate late Monday voted to revive the embattled Export-Import Bank, a government corporation that helps exporters in Connecticut by financing and insuring foreign purchases of their goods.
Posted inHealth
Trying to break the cycle that creates health care ‘super-users’
By grappling with a host of issues the medical system hasn’t traditionally handled, a Middletown-based team tries to help patients who use large amounts of health care resources that often have little impact on the psychiatric or social service needs that keep them coming back.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Is your Connecticut nonprofit trying to get the word out?
Nonprofits rely on The Connecticut Mirror and now the organization’s other digital publications, CTViewpoints and TrendCT, for public policy news, analysis and opinion. After months of shaping CTViewpoints’ identity, we believe we can offer more.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Governor, close Southbury, other similar state-run institutions
Connecticut likes to think of itself as a progressive state. Yet when it comes to the civil rights of those with intellectual disabilities, we are not. As Connecticut clings to a discredited institutional approach, many states — including Oklahoma and Tennessee — will observe the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with none of their citizens isolated in segregated institutions. Sadly, “progressive” Connecticut will not be able to do the same. I call on the governor to close the state’s five such institutions by the year 2020.
Posted inEducation
DCF vows to reduce restraints, improve clinical care at juvenile jails
The state Department of Children and Families unveiled plans Monday to reduce the use of restraints and seclusion and expand clinical staffing and counseling at the state’s juvenile jails.
Posted inHealth
Insurer: Cost of cholesterol meds, other drugs driving rate hikes
High-cost specialty drugs, including a new class of cholesterol medications expected to come to market later this year, are key drivers of the need to raise health insurance premiums by nearly 10 percent, ConnectiCare’s chief actuary told regulators Monday
Posted inPolitics
A struggle for access, political and otherwise, at the Capitol
The man whose new job was to provide the disabled with access to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy arrived at the State Capitol, a landmark constructed a century before passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, to find the only elevator serving the governor’s office to be inoperable. That was 18 months ago. Bigger challenges lay ahead.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Good reasons to leave Connecticut; many more to stay
My nephew thinks we should all skedaddle right out of Connecticut as fast as our Prii can take us – last one to cross the border, turn off the lights. Party over. He emails me articles to bolster his case, and there is no question that our state is facing serious challenges. The cost of living and taxes are high and rising here, some businesses are grumpy and threatening to move to Florida and beyond, and our economy is growing slower than most other states. While still ranked near the top for our median household income, our personal revenue actually has declined since 2000; and Connecticut recently has become a leader for economic inequality among its citizens, a dubious honor that used to go to places like Mississippi.
Still…
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Body cameras on Connecticut cops — a help or not?
New state law providing funding and standards for the use of police body cameras will go into effect in October, signaling a new era of oversight of law enforcement officers. How effective do you think this law will be? CTViewpoints invites you to contribute your insights on this new legislation from your perspective as a citizen, civil rights advocate, law enforcement official or other interest group.
Posted inEvents
The Mirror’s ‘Small State, Big Debate: Race’ event set for Oct. 6
The Connecticut Mirror, the state’s award-winning, nonprofit public policy news organization, will hold its second statewide public policy event, “Small State, Big Debate: Race,” on Tuesday, October 6, at Fairfield University. Tickets go on sale today with an early bird special through Aug. 20. Find all the details here.