Proponents of assisted suicide call the concept aid-in-dying. They view it as a choice issue, much like same-sex marriage, an idea whose time has come. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Op-Ed: Physician-assisted suicide is not a choice issue
Posted inNews
Op-Ed: Her story in support of ending one’s life with dignity
Death with dignity is a tough issue for many of us. Although I have co-sponsored the bill before the Legislature, I didn’t always support the concept. When I started to think about it as a matter of individual choice, I realized what a personal and intimate decision it was.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Connecticut legislators set energy agenda for 2015
With a packed audience of lobbyists waiting and watching, a legislative committee approved three dozen bills Tuesday that define the General Assembly’s relatively modest ambitions on energy policy in 2015. The more significant bills would ban variable electric rates for residential customers, cap the fixed-costs portion of electric bills and authorize state officials to explore expanding the supply of natural gas in Connecticut.
Posted inPolitics
Wilson-Foley given 5-month jail term
Lisa Wilson-Foley, a wealthy protégée whom ex-Gov. John G. Rowland liked to call “grasshopper” as he tutored her behind-the-scenes on the art of politics, will be following her mentor straight to prison for her role in the botched business scheme they engineered with her husband to help her win a U.S. Congressional seat.
Posted inHealth, Politics
With protest, legislators move forward governor’s human services budget cuts
The legislature’s human services committee voted to move forward Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed social services budget, but not before disowning the cuts within it and debating whether the way they handled the measure was a sufficient protest.
Posted inEducation
Rabinowitz drops bid to become state’s next education chief
Fran Rabinowitz, the Bridgeport schools chief, has withdrawn from consideration as the state’s next education commissioner, and plans to instead continue running Bridgeport’s public schools. “I want to stay here and do the work here,” Rabinowitz told the Connecticut Post yesterday. Rabinowitz was one of three candidates who was to be interviewed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for the commissioner’s post. […]
Posted inEducation
GOP lawmakers: Open $100 million financial aid pot to undocumented students
Most Republican legislators on the Higher Education Committee voted Tuesday in favor of opening a $100 million pot of college financial aid to undocumented immigrants. The vote may signal a change of heart among legislative Republicans about providing financial help to undocumented students.
Posted inEducation
The charter debate: More schools, transparency and oversight?
Legislators are grappling with whether to fund new charter schools in Bridgeport and Stamford, put a moratorium on new charters while existing schools are assessed, or demand more transparency and oversight in the wake of financial and management failures at a charter school in Hartford.
Posted inNews
Op-Ed: CT policy recovering welfare benefits from the dead damages poor families
Government assistance should not be treated as a loan, and the law that allows the state to seize the estates of deceased welfare recipients hurts the surviving family members — the very people public assistance is supposed to help lift out of poverty. The law should be changed.
Posted inNews
Op-Ed: It is time to unshackle Connecticut’s juvenile defendants
When we use shackles in juvenile court, we are not seeing youth with a potential for reform. That is not juvenile justice. In fact, that is no justice at all.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Blumenthal: Effort to block recognition of CT tribes faces challenges
WASHINGTON – Rules under consideration that would make it easier for Indian tribes to win federal recognition have a carve-out aimed at denying that status to several Connecticut tribes, but Sen. Richard Blumenthal has joined others in saying the provision may be unconstitutional.
Posted inHealth, Money
Anti-smoking forces say cigarette tax hike is a no-brainer
As legislators and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy grapple with the unpleasant prospect of raising taxes, anti-smoking forces insist state officials are overlooking the only tax hike that yields huge benefits – and almost no public backlash.
Posted inHealth
Acting Commissioner Dowling leaving insurance department
Dowling previously served as deputy commissioner and ran the agency’s day-to-day operations while the previous commissioner, Thomas B. Leonardi, traveled extensively. She was considered a possible replacement for Leonardi.
Posted inNews
Op-Ed: CEA rhetoric not helping kids, public schools are
The CEA’s recent Op-Ed, “Connecticut charter schools a good idea gone awry,” made a bunch of claims that aren’t only false, they’re dishonest and frankly insulting to parents who are exercising their right to choose a school for their children.
Posted inHealth, Money
Tax hike ideas abound at the Capitol
Now that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s campaign pledge not to raise taxes is in the political rearview mirror, the Democratic governor’s political base is seeking to widen the tax debate in hopes of averting some painful spending cuts. Higher income-tax rates on the wealthy, restoration of the capital gains levy, an extra $1.50 per pack on cigarettes and expanding sales taxes on business are among the ideas circulating at the Capitol.