Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, whose strong backing of charter schools has strained his relationship with unionized public-school teachers, has sided with the unions by signing legislation increasing charter-schools’ transparency under the Freedom of Information Act.
Malloy signs charter-school transparency bill
Posted inPolitics
White House hopes to boost CT aerospace, shipbuilding
The Obama administration has given Connecticut special status when it comes to seeking federal grants that would help the aerospace and shipbuilding sectors.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Some bright spots in CT’s sluggish economy
WASHINGTON — There are bright spots in Connecticut’s sluggish economy, even as Connecticut’s key manufacturing sector has lagged, a recent federal report says.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut lawmakers help, but must do better for working people
Connecticut lawmakers took some critical steps to help low-wage workers and their families in the last legislative session, but they must do more to build an economy that truly works for everyone. People who work hard should be able to support and protect their families. But in our low-wage, race to the bottom economy, that is increasingly becoming a pipe dream. Lawmakers need to do better next year.
Posted inNews
Tremors from Puerto Rican debt crisis likely to be felt in CT
WASHINGTON – Connecticut will feel fallout from Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, analysts say, rippling through the state’s financial sector and opening the door to new migration if Puerto Ricans flee the island’s deteriorating economy and austerity measures.
Posted inHealth
Anthem, ConnectiCare, Golden Rule rate requests to get public hearings
Their plans cover 70,553 policyholders who purchased insurance for themselves through the state’s individual insurance market.
Posted inPolitics
Legal-aid to close its lobbying arm at State Capitol
The longest sustained funding crunch in the history of legal aid is about to cost Connecticut’s poor their long-serving lobbyist at the General Assembly: Raphael L. Podolsky, a Yale-educated lawyer who took them as a client 40 years ago, is getting a pink slip. So are his colleagues, Jane McNichol and Sara Parker McKernan. One lawmaker calls them “the conscience” of the Capitol.
Posted inEducation
CT’s new education chief describes her vision for the state
During her first month on the job, new education Commissioner Dianna Wentzell toured several schools and laid out her vision for Connecticut’s education system to state legislators.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Supreme Court housing decision will ensure equal opportunities
Amidst all last week’s news about decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court, it’s important that one less-noticed decision not get lost: the Court’s landmark ruling regarding housing discrimination. In a crucial ruling, the Supreme Court upheld a requirement in federal law that protects against housing discrimination against racial or other protected groups. The decision will benefit low-income people and people of color in Connecticut and across the country.
Posted inEducation, Politics
Achievement gap an issue as Congress considers new ed bill
WASHINGTON – Connecticut elementary students have among the highest reading and math scores in the nation, but a stubborn achievement gap persists between the state’s highest- and lowest-performing schools, said a White House report issued Monday.
Posted inPolitics
Young new GOP state chair promises ‘tenacity’
J.R. Romano was on the phone in his downtown Hartford office, confronting a daily reality of being the new chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party: The 36-year-old former marketer, securities dealer and college football player was cultivating a donor. He says he knows how to sell.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut a leader in microbead phase-out, cleaner environment
During its special session June 29, the Connecticut legislature passed a number of items as budget implementers. Two of these are of particular importance to our environment and the health of our citizens – a strong law banning plastic microbeads used in cosmetics and personal care products, and enhanced notification prior to a pesticide application on school grounds, along with restrictions on the use of pesticides on municipal playgrounds.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CT businesses pushing back on shutdown of Ex-Im Bank
WASHINGTON — The Tea Party, aided by other conservative Republicans and the billionaire Koch brothers, celebrated a big victory last week when Congress failed to reauthorize the charter of a bank that helps U.S. businesses, including Connecticut-based General Electric and United Technologies, make sales overseas.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Origins of our independence similar to today’s conditions
We are a long way from starting another revolution to take power away from today’s 1 percent and the government they have largely bought, and return it to the vast majority of working people. But when folks start reading up on their own revolutionary history, the Koch brothers should follow the example of Connecticut’s Tories and move to Canada.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
History education in Connecticut in abysmal shape
For the past 30 years progressive education policies emanating from Hartford have ultimately dictated what is taught in local schools. Apparently, to distance themselves from the damage incurred from these scorched earth policies, some local residents want to believe that Connecticut is a “locally controlled state” educationally. The implication is that the amount of history taught in local districts is just […]