Washington – As the anniversary of the Newtown shootings nears, Congress not only seems unwilling to approve new gun control measures, but it’s stalling on reauthorizing old ones. The extension of a federal ban on guns designed to escape detection by metal detectors faltered this week when Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., used a procedural motion […]
Congress stalled on plastic gun ban
Posted inNews
‘Canceled’ plans, in Connecticut, by the numbers
Data released Friday by the Connecticut Insurance Department show that the vast majority of the state’s 66,437 individual-market policyholders will have to either pick a new plan or renew their current plan early to keep it. But the way each insurance company has handled the changes varies, as do the choices members have. Here’s a look:
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Connecticut EV buyers — Malloy has a deal for you
Hartford — If all it takes to get you into an electric vehicle is a reliable network of charging stations, then Gov. Dannel P. Malloy opened the Connecticut International Auto Show Friday with a pitch that may sell some cars in 2014. Yes, the administration is promising an end to range anxiety.
Posted inHealth
Malloy declines president’s ‘fix’ on Obamacare, but extends enrollment deadline
Connecticut will not allow insurance companies to extend policies now slated to be discontinued because of the federal health law, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Friday.
Posted inHealth
Obamacare worry: Will feds pay consumer premiums on time?
Thousands of Connecticut residents buying insurance as part of the federal health law are expected to rely on the federal government to pay a portion of their premiums. But the federal government’s problem-plagued rollout of the law has left some would-be customers worried about whether that share of their premiums will get paid on time.
Posted inNews
A struggle to balance justice and redemption for juvenile offenders in Connecticut
The 70-year-old man rose slowly when his name was called. Before taking a seat at the microphone, he carefully unwrapped two framed photographs, one of a smiling 14-year-old boy, the other of a woman in her 40s. He placed them before the Connecticut Sentencing Commission. “My name is John Cluny,” he said. “I’ve been up […]
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Plan takes shape for CT’s community colleges and state universities
Danbury — If the plan of the new president of Connecticut’s public college system works, enrollment at the 17 schools will increase by nearly 10 percent over the next few years. Gregory Gray, who became the leader this past summer of the recently merged 12 community colleges, four state universities and online college, is unfazed […]
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Vietnam veterans need your help
It appears that very few members of the military-veteran community or the general public are aware of problems still faced by veterans of the Vietnam War. Nearly half the surviving 100,000 members of the U.S. Navy and Fleet Marines who fought in Vietnam between 1962 and 1975 may be suffering disabilities from the effects of Agent Orange/dioxin. Yet, these veterans are being denied all service-connected health care and disability compensation for these diseases.
Posted inNews
Vietnam veterans need your help
It appears that very few members of the military-veteran community or the general public are aware of problems still faced by veterans of the Vietnam War. Nearly half the surviving 100,000 members of the U.S. Navy and Fleet Marines who fought in Vietnam between 1962 and 1975 may be suffering disabilities from the effects of Agent Orange/dioxin. Yet, these veterans are being denied all service-connected health care and disability compensation for these diseases.
Posted inHealth
As Obamacare fix is debated, Aetna says it discontinued 12,500 policies
Aetna notified 12,500 individual policyholders in Connecticut that their health plans would not be renewed when they expire. But about 40 percent of them so far have chosen to buy a new policy that begins this year, allowing them to get 12 months of coverage from a plan not subject to the requirements of the federal health law.
Posted inNews
Despite losses, CT jobless rate at 4-year low
The state’s unemployment rate cracked the 8 percent barrier for the first time in more than four years in September and October, falling to 7.9 percent despite more than 4,000 jobs lost, the Department of Labor reported Thursday. That’s down from an 8.1 percent jobless rate in August. Connecticut still lags the nation, which has a […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Norwich lights way as Connecticut starts to push gas heat
Norwich – Paul Blanchard’s heating system is purring like a kitten. OK, a very large kitten. But to him, it’s the sound of music. Before last winter that same system ran on oil. Now a new burner attached to his boiler runs on natural gas.
Posted inNews
Air Force could end Sikorsky helicopter mission
Connecticut lawmakers are panicking over reports the Air Force’s entire combat search-and-rescue mission — carried out by aging Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters — could disappear or be scaled back under Pentagon plan to handle sequestration –- or across the board budget cuts –- in the next federal fiscal year. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. and […]
Posted inNews
National Republicans boost Debicella, but not Greenberg
The National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) said Dan Debicella, who is running against Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, has earned the right to be “On the Radar” in the NRCC’s “Young Guns” program. The Young Guns program is aimed at culling the best GOP challengers or candidates for open seats and helping them in […]
Posted inEducation
‘The art of healing’ for UConn sexual assault victims
Project Unbreakable, a national campaign that seeks to give a voice back to victims of rape and sexual violence through photos, has spotlighted the students at the University of Connecticut who say university officials failed them after they reported their assaults.