The Pentagon said Wednesday it is cancelling plans to buy additional helicopters from Rosoboronexport, a Russian company supplied Syrian President Bashar Assad’s military forces with weapons. Rival Sikorsky had lobbied the Pentagon to abandon the Russian defense contractor. So did members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation, sending Defense Department Secretary Chuck Hagel letters opposing the Pentagon’s […]
Pentagon drops purchase of Russian helicopters
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT gets climate change – not the $ to fix it
Do folks in Connecticut think climate change is occurring? Yes they do – and big time, according to the first comprehensive state-by-state polling on climate change. Data compiled at Stanford University for 46 states (Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota, Wyoming and the District of Columbia were the exceptions) show a generally high belief that there is climate change, and government should do something about it – in fact several different things – even without the cooperation of other nations.
Posted inHealth
Connecticut is only state enrolling more in private insurance than Medicaid under Obamacare
Connecticut is the only state in the country in which more people have applied for private coverage than Medicaid through the health insurance exchange, an exchange official said Tuesday.
Posted inNews
Deal to save SNAP would cut funding
Washington – Federal funding for food stamps could be cut by $10 billion over 10 years under a compromise that would break a House-Senate deadlock and continue funding for a program that helps feed 430,000 across Connecticut, home to some of the nation’s richest suburbs and poorest cities. The compromise under consideration by negotiators for House […]
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal to co-sponsor Women’s Reproductive Health Act
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and five other members of Congress will outline a legislative response Wednesday to state attempts to limit access to abortion services: the “Women’s Reproductive Health Act of 2013.” Their press conference will be streamed live 2:30 p.m. It can be viewed by clicking here.
Posted inNews
CT auto insurance rates are high, but the market is competitive
A report released Tuesday by the Consumer Federation of America had mixed news for Connecticut’s drivers: Since 1989, auto insurance rates in Connecticut have risen more slowly than in most other states; the average auto insurance premium in Connecticut rose 30.4 percent since 1989, but the national average was a 44.3 percent increase. Nebraska had […]
Posted inNews
Act now on ACA to save later
The recently published article “CT exchange chief: Obamacare focus will turn to price, value,” highlighted Kevin Counihan – CEO of Connecticut’s state-run marketplace Access Health CT – and his prediction that consumer focus will soon shift to price as those who purchase their own health insurance start to examine their options ahead of 2014 and […]
Posted inPolitics
Foley tweaks Malloy with TV ad — in NYC
He’s not an official candidate yet, but Republican Tom Foley on Monday rolled out the first television commercial of the 2014 race for governor. With a big wink to the voters and media back in Connecticut, it airs exclusively – and ever-so-briefly — on cable in New York City. To make a point about Connecticut’s […]
Posted inEducation
UConn plan to limit transfer credits stalls
Storrs — A plan that would have limited the number of credits University of Connecticut students can take at community colleges and other colleges has been put off indefinitely.
Posted inHealth
Teetering at the Obamacare ‘subsidy cliff’
Some Connecticut residents who buy their own health insurance fall into a sort of subsidy “cliff,” earning too much money to qualify for financial assistance as part of the federal health law but not so much that their income compensates for the higher costs of insurance.
Posted inEducation
Community college faculty, lawmakers upset by UConn plan to limit transfer credits
Community college faculty and the leader of the legislature’s Higher Education Committee are upset with a proposal UConn officials plan to vote Monday on that would limit the number of credits students can transfer from community colleges.
Posted inNews
Bridgeport Schools, Mental Health, Achievement Gap, 2013 CT Elections
Friday afternoon: Just like that, Paul Vallas is gone. Even his supporters, education reporter Jacqueline Rabe Thomas wrote, concede that the nationally known Vallas -– who has been acting leader of the Bridgeport school system for two years — has been “a polarizing figure“ in Connecticut. Friday afternoon, Part 2: In another quick move (that actually […]
Posted inNews
Post-election CT budget outlook worsens, even as current finances improve
The state budget shortfall awaiting the winner of next year’s gubernatorial election appeared to worsen Friday, even as the outlook for the current budget improved. The legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget agency issued a joint report that lowered expected revenues for the 2015-16 fiscal year by $163 million. […]
Posted inEducation
Vallas to step down as leader of Bridgeport schools
Paul Vallas — who was recruited by the state’s education commissioner to run Bridgeport Public Schools — is stepping down as the district’s superintendent to be the running mate of Illinois Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn.
Posted inNews
Nation’s Report Card: CT continues to show largest achievement gap
For years, Connecticut has had the worst achievement gap in the nation between its minority students and their peers in learning to read and do math — and according to the results of a major test given periodically, not much has changed. While Connecticut students overall test very well in math and reading when compared […]