Events in Ukraine, doctor reimbursements for Medicare and extending unemployment benefits for the unemployed will all be discussed on Capitol Hill this week.
Washington Watch, Week of March 9-15
Posted inPolitics
Opinion: CT government’s conflicted feelings about transparency
Gov. Dannel Malloy’s Executive Order #39, signed last month, creates an open data portal to “further Connecticut’s commitment to transparency, efficiency, social progress, and economic expansion.” But there are other kinds of actions — being undertaken by the state legislature — that would undercut the trend toward greater transparency.
Posted inPolitics
Foley’s support of minimum wage comes with caveats
On the minimum wage issue, Republican Tom Foley is more comfortable standing with President Obama than Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the Democrat he hopes to unseat this fall. Foley generally endorses the president’s call for a $10.10 minimum, but his endorsement comes with a long list of conditions and exceptions.
Posted inFundraising
Live in Fairfield County? Please support the Mirror today
The Connecticut Mirror (listed as The Connecticut News Project, Inc. during this drive) was invited to participate in Fairfield County Community Foundation’s Giving Day. The drive is today and today only. How does it work? Fairfield County Giving Day is a new, innovative way you can help support the important work of local nonprofits. The […]
Posted inEducation
CT community colleges’ emergency budget reserves hit all-time low
“This is not a sustainable outlook,” said Matt Fleury, chairman of the Regents’ Finance Committee, of the remaining $9.7 million balance. College officials said they were forced to turn to the reserves in recent weeks to close this year’s budget deficit.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Latest Obamacare tweak could revive CT debate on extending health plans
The federal government now says that people who renewed their health plans late last year to avoid having to buy new plans that comply with the federal health law can keep them for an extra two years — but only if their states allow it.
Posted inPolitics
Foley campaign, think tank both push urban agenda
The Connecticut Policy Institute, a think tank founded by Republican Tom Foley after his loss in the 2010 race for governor, is launching an urban issues project Friday that reinforces an element of Foley’s new gubernatorial campaign.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Blumenthal clashes with federal railroad chief over Metro-North crashes
“Four people might be alive today if those (railroad regulations) had been implemented,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal told the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. The hearing was Blumenthal’s first as a Senate subcommittee chairman.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Report: CT sick leave policy has had little impact on businesses
WASHINGTON — Concerns by the business community that Connecticut’s sick leave policy would be a “job killer,” driving employers out of the state, is a myth, say authors of a study on the policy’s impact.
Posted inEducation
Changing remedial college courses: law, implementation, pushback
Some people are confused about a new state law aimed at helping the many community college students who need remedial work.
Posted inPolitics
Poll finds broad support for assisted suicide in Connecticut
In a boost for controversial legislation now before the General Assembly, a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday found broad support among Connecticut voters for allowing doctors to prescribe drugs to help terminally ill patients end their lives.
Posted inPolitics
Poll: Malloy gets low marks on priority issues
Connecticut voters agree with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s strong stand on gun control after Newtown, but they give him low marks on economic issues, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday. His proposed tax refund is seen as an election-year gimmick, not good policy.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CT businesses say investing in state’s future trumps tax cuts
Talk of tax cuts may once again be framing Connecticut’s gubernatorial debate, but Joe McGee of the Business Council of Fairfield County, and other business leaders, say it’s time for a wider frame with more long-range perspective.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: CT bill could help keep our children safe from toxins
A large body of scientific evidence links exposure to toxic chemicals in consumer products, beginning in the womb, with the rise in many serious diseases we are seeing in this country.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Obama at CCSU: Economy must work ‘for all of us’
New Britain – President Barack Obama told a pep-rally audience of students and politicians from across New England that his campaign for a $10.10 minimum wage was central to a broader call to address economic inequality in the U.S.