Key legislators say a directive from budget director Benjamin Barnes restricting what agency heads can tell legislators about Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget proposal is hindering lawmakers in doing their jobs and will push more of the budget-writing process behind closed doors. Barnes says the administration simply works together “as one administration, with all our commissioners and agency heads.”
Is it a gag order or the Malloy administration speaking with one voice?
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Shared solar tries again to light up Connecticut
For the second year in a row, legislation to allow shared-solar installations to be built in Connecticut is facing a rough road. While some want to go slowly with only a couple of pilot projects, others want to plunge right in based on the models and success shared solar is having around the country. The goal for advocates is to avoid last year’s result, which was nothing.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Myths about Bridgeport charters hurt the entire community
Let’s get one thing straight: Bridgeport charter schools do not syphon money away from traditional public schools. This is not only the most pervasive myth about charter schools, it’s also the most damaging.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Basketball is enough. UConn should de-emphasize football, sharpen academic focus
A lifelong UConn Husky basketball fan and taxpayer argues that the since the University of Connecticut’s major football aspirations don’t seem to be panning out, it might make better sense to back down, rejoin the Big East and direct the financial savings toward strengthening the academic programs.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Study: Casino competition will cost CT 9,300 jobs
New casinos in New York and Massachusetts will siphon $703 million in annual revenue from Connecticut’s two tribal casinos by 2019, costing 9,300 residents their jobs and state government $100 million, according to an industry study.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Measuring social financing’s effectiveness is worth the effort
There are huge challenges to funding solutions to social issues. But there is much to be gained. Determining the long-term financial return – or cost — on any public investment takes work. However, the task will help us understand why our state’s operating structure cannot avoid deficits, and the benefit outweighs the required effort.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The Board of Regents makes CSCU more efficient, effective
Jon Brammer, an administrator at Three Rivers Community College, has written that it is time to dismantle the Board of Regents for Higher Education. I disagree. The Board of Regents has continually strived to be responsible and effective in its use of public funding, driving efficiencies in the system office, and reallocating as many dollars as possible to student services and instruction.
Posted inEducation
For students with limited English, glaring gaps in achievement and state remedies
One of every 15 students in Connecticut’s public schools speaks and understands only limited English, and their academic achievement lags far behind that of their classmates. The achievement gap in Connecticut is among the highest in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Posted inFundraising
The Mirror’s “Why I Give” campaign begins
As a nonprofit news organization, we reach out and ask for your support three times a year, and with two months remaining in a contentious legislative session, now is one of those times. The Connecticut Mirror’s “Why I Give” campaign begins. We hope at least one thought resonates with you, enough to support our organization with a tax-deductible donation.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy stands down in gay rights fight with Indiana
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy rescinded his ban on state-funded travel to Indiana on Saturday in response to what he called that state’s positive step toward clarifying a religious freedom law many deemed discriminatory to gays and lesbians.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Malloy’s proposed transit development authority is bad news for Newington
In Newington, my lifelong home, there is increasing concern about Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposal establishing a statewide transit development authority and its intentions to oversee his ambitious transportation plan. This proposal is not a friend of Newington — or any other municipality with open space.
Posted inMoney, Politics
On the state spending cap, Malloy and GOP have checkered past
While Gov. Dannel P. Malloy portrayed the spending cap Thursday as an unavoidable constraint on the next state budget, governors and legislators from both parties have skirted that constraint repeatedly for a decade.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut is in trouble, but we can fix it
Connecticut is in trouble, but we can fix it if we work together. Here are some strategies for improving life in our state.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Tribal lenders claim right to charge 448% on loans in CT
An Oklahoma tribe and its allies are fighting a legal, advertising and social-media war in Connecticut, claiming a right as a sovereign government to make unlicensed short-term loans at astronomical interest rates in defiance of state usury laws.
Posted inNews
CT seeks $6.6 million from feds for towns hit by January blizzard
WASHINGTON – Towns in New Haven, New London, Tolland and Windham counties suffered at least $6.6 million in damages and costs from January’s devastating blizzard, a state emergency management official says.