Republican Tom Foley is using his civilian service as President George W. Bush’s director of private-sector development in Iraq as a hook for a fundraising letter to veterans, one of the end-of-year flurry of solicitations from politicians, including one from a U.S. senator not facing re-election until 2016. The goal is to pump the numbers […]
Foley uses Iraq in fundraising appeal to vets
Posted inNews
Funding cap slows CT vo-tech schools’ growth
The state’s 16 vocational-technical high schools could enroll many more students and open its vacant classrooms if the district had the money. “It’s a reality we don’t have enough seats,” said Nivea L. Torres, the interim superintendent of the 10,800-student district funded almost entirely by the state. More than 6,000 students applied for the 3,000 […]
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Veteran HR officer tapped as head of CT’s watchdog agencies
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy named a veteran state human relations officer as the new head of support services for Connecticut’s watchdog agencies, replacing an administrator whose two-year tenure was marked by conflict. Shelby J. Brown of East Hartford is to begin her new assignment as executive administrator at the Office of Government Accountability in an […]
Posted inNews
A year of grappling with the impossible
It was a where-were-you-when-you-heard-about-it? event. I stood in the small newsroom of WNPR, staring up at a TV with a half-dozen others. A producer sat at her computer, scanning the initial reports coming in from other news outlets. “CBS radio says 26 are dead,” she said in a flat tone, while a reporter standing behind her thrust […]
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Part of Newtown report zeroes in on the mystery that was Adam Lanza
The Connecticut state police released thousands of pages worth of reports Friday afternoon from their investigation into the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting in Newtown that claimed 26 lives. The state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, which includes the state police division, posted more than 840 pdf files of written reports, 22 additional files […]
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CT state college system discloses merit pay hikes
The state’s merged public college system released details Friday on merit pay increases, which averaged 2 percent for each of 278 officials and administrators. The raises, which were awarded Friday but are retroactive to early September, are in addition to the 3 percent cost-of-living increase the Board of Regents for Higher Education granted these non-union […]
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Thank You, from The Connecticut Mirror
Dear Friends, Thank you. Thank you to every individual, business, organization and foundation that sees the value in what our staff produces every day of the year. Thank you for your continuing support of The Connecticut Mirror, which now has the largest Capitol bureau in Hartford and is the only state news organization with a […]
Posted inHealth
When getting Medicaid now means repaying the state later
This story has been updated. To read the new part, click here. Thousands of Connecticut residents will become eligible for Medicaid Jan. 1, and for some, the coverage will come with an often-overlooked trade-off: When they die, the state could dock their estates to repay the medical costs it covered. So-called “recovery” of the assets […]
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SUBMIT: “2014: Looking Ahead – Your View”
Are you a lawmaker with a strong opinion on policy in the coming year? An advocacy group sensing strong trends in health, education or a social issue facing Connecticut? An academic whose research may shed light on some aspect of life in Connecticut next year? Or are you a Connecticut resident and want to […]
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Bradford to retire as public safety commissioner
Reuben F. Bradford, a former state trooper and NFL security director who is Connecticut’s first black public-safety chief, will retire Feb. 1 as commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, the agency that includes the Connecticut State Police. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s office announced Bradford’s plans Thursday. Bradford, 67, returned to a demanding job in […]
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Aiming to end bias against CT’s older unemployed
Ending a longtime discriminatory practice against the unemployed topped a list of recommendations from the state legislature’s chief investigative panel to help more of Connecticut’s older residents find work. The Program Review and Investigations Committee also recommended expanding education and training opportunities for seniors, increasing access to small business subsidies and promoting the state’s apprenticeship […]
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With gridlock in D.C., some question worth of lobbyists
Washington — For years, the University of Hartford employed a Washington lobbyist to help the school tap federal funds, including $2 million to help build a new performing arts center. “For every dollar we spent (on lobbying), we got about $8 back,” said John Carson, vice president of university relations. But the university ended its relationship […]
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Connecticut companies spent millions lobbying in Washington this year
Washington – To some Connecticut companies, making sure nothing happens in Washington is just as important as making sure something does. Take Guilford-based American Cruise Lines, for example. It spent $40,000 last year lobbying Congress not to restore the famous Delta Queen riverboat’s right to navigate the Mississippi River. Its investment in preventing congressional action was apparently […]
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Connecticut hospital scorecard: Who owns your hospital?
Connecticut has long been dominated by locally run, independent hospitals or those in small regional networks, but that’s changing. The number of hospitals joining larger networks has grown dramatically in recent years, and experts expect the trend toward consolidation to continue. Similarly, while all but one of the state’s hospitals are nonprofit, that’s likely to […]
Posted inPolitics
Gun owners see choices in CT governor’s race as bad or worse
When the Connecticut Citizens Defense League endorsed Republican Tom Foley in the 2010 race for governor, it went unnoticed. The gun owners’ group was just a year old, and gun control barely registered as an issue in Foley’s close contest with Democrat Dannel P. Malloy. Now, it is in rapid-growth mode, with a membership that […]