Consumers’ groups delivered a reminder to legislators Monday about their high expectations for still-developing legislation that leaders promise will protect the public against bait-and-switch marketing by third-party electric suppliers.
Consumer protections promised, not yet delivered in CT
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy’s election-year tax cuts face big test this week
With his campaign announcement out of the way, the governor faces a big election-year test this week when a legislative panel decides whether to back his controversial tax rebate plan.
Posted inAnnouncements
A CT Mirror ‘Daily Briefing’ format change
Starting Tuesday, our faithful audience will notice a slight change in the “Daily Briefing” that appears in your inbox every weekday morning.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Foul shots in the classroom: A Fable
The Common Core requires the teaching of 200 narrow skills each year, skills that will never foster students’ growth as readers and writers. The Common Core keeps students on the foul line, practicing limited skills.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Raising the minimum wage: A good start, but not enough
Too much of our debate is around how expensive public assistance programs are rather than about how large corporations make huge profits by paying such low wages.
Posted inHealth
At Obamacare deadline, rush to enroll, questions about what’s next
Midnight is the deadline for people to enroll in private insurance coverage for 2014 and demand has been high. But whether the health law achieves its goals relies on far more than enrollment.
Posted inNews
Washington Watch: Obamacare, Medicare and equal pay
Expect an explosion of hearings on an array of issues, from Russia to GM. Among them, House Republicans will focus on “Examining Obamacare’s Problem-Filled State Exchanges,” and Senate Democrats will investigate why equal pay legislation known as “The Paycheck Fairness Act” has stalled.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
Obamacare deadline, and CT’s political season starts in earnest
One quasi-frenzy ends with a final Obamacare deadline, and the political uber-frenzy — also known as the gubernatorial election — truly begins with a totally expected announcement.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Report: Maryland to replace Obamacare exchange with CT model
Access Health CT CEO Kevin Counihan said late Friday that in addition to Maryland, four other states have been in contact with him about the possibility of adopting the technology of Connecticut’s health exchange.
Posted inPolitics
Plans for Coltsville National Park move ahead, with changes
Washington – Plans to build a national park on the site of the Colt factory in Hartford have moved ahead in the House of Representatives, but not without alterations by a Utah Republican who wanted to make the park more acceptable to the Interior Department.
Posted inPolitics
Yes, Dan Malloy is running in 2014
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy let Connecticut voters in on the state’s worst-kept political secret Friday: He and Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman are running for re-election. The only surprise was the time and place of the announcement. With a wry smile, Malloy confirmed their candidacy in the atrium of the Legislative Office Building at the conclusion his monthly press conference.
Posted inPolitics
It’s an ‘independent’ PAC, led by Tom Foley’s treasurer
A tangle of shared donors, consultants and a prominent Washington, D.C., law firm link Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley to two independent-expenditure groups, raising a question of illegal coordination should either group air ads to influence the 2014 race for governor. One, whose existence is not widely known, is led by Foley’s campaign treasurer.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: SB 445 — a step toward stopping the puppy mill train to CT
Over 70 percent of the USDA-licensed breeders supplying puppies to Connecticut pet shops in 2012 were cited for violations of the Animal Welfare Act within the past three years.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Live on every newscast, Malloy signs $10.10 minimum wage bill
Precisely timed to attract live coverage at the top of three local 6 o’clock newscasts, a jubilant Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed into law Thursday a bill that makes Connecticut the first state to embrace President Obama’s goal of a $10.10 minimum wage.
Posted inMoney
Budget cheat sheet: The CT legislature’s proposal
Spoiler alert: The budget proposal released Thursday by Democrats in the General Assembly is not going to become law as written. But it helps to set the stage for negotiations with the Malloy administration toward a final budget, and it points to the legislators’ priorities.