Someone caught selling cocaine in New Haven is almost certain to face the most severe charges, since almost all of the city is within a “Drug Free Zone,” with a school, day care or public housing facility nearby. Just a few towns over, in Madison, where there are fewer schools and the population is much […]

Scrambling to find more revenue to balance the next state budget, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration and Democratic legislative leaders are considering legalizing Keno, a form of gambling that could require consent by the state’s two tribal casinos. Sources close to budget negotiations said the talks centered on a plan to raise $30 million to […]

A sharply divided Senate voted early Thursday to give final passage to a bill making Connecticut one of a handful of states allowing illegal immigrants to obtain a driver’s license. Passage of the bill on a 19-16 vote came after an 18-month campaign by Latino and religious groups, particularly Catholic nuns, priests and bishops. The […]

The state House of Representatives sent a measure boosting Connecticut’s minimum wage by 45 cents to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s desk Wednesday evening. The Democrat-controlled House passed the bill 89-53 in a vote largely along party lines. The Senate, where Democrats also hold a majority, adopted the bill last week. The measure, which raises the […]

Washington -– With the clock ticking toward a June 9 deadline, the Malloy administration on Wednesday unveiled its plan to spend $72 million in federal Storm Sandy recovery money and has asked for public comment. The money involved is Connecticut’s allocation of $5.4 billion in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block […]

With thousands of students each year showing up for the fourth grade still struggling to read, legislators last year celebrated passage of a reform package that required statewide reading intervention and improvement plans — the top priority of the legislature’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus. This year those reading reforms are likely to be delayed. The […]

On Broad Street in Hartford outside the headquarters of the nation’s oldest, continuously published newspaper, activists mobilized in protest against the Koch brothers’ reported interest in buying the Tribune Co. “We’re concerned about the way that the Koches know nothing about, and represent nothing about, the values of journalism,” said Josh Stearns, Journalism and public […]

With four months to go before a new health insurance marketplace opens to the public, the Senate on Wednesday approved a proposal requiring it to take a more active role in determining the costs of the plans it sells. The marketplace, known as the health insurance exchange, is being established as part of the federal […]

Critics say they have the votes to block Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s plan to raise at least $80 million by auctioning the rights to serve certain electric customers, an idea opposed by AARP in a months-long, grass-roots lobbying campaign. With one week until the end of the 2013 session, the fight exposes strains between the […]

A Senate renewable energy bill that pitted environmentalists and consumer activists against legislative allies and the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was revised Tuesday by House of Representatives on a 112-33 vote and returned to the Senate. The environmental community and power generators were quick to express disappointment, saying that the revised version still […]

As Connecticut’s shoreline continues to struggle after Superstorm Sandy pummeled it seven months ago, tens of millions of dollars in federal assistance the state is eligible for has not reached those who need it. Some of the delay can be attributed to Congress, which took months to  approve Sandy aid. Some is due to the […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy came out strong Tuesday in his defense of a tentative budget agreement, framing the deal struck Friday as balanced, constitutionally sound and free of new taxes. The Democratic governor rebutted his GOP gubernatorial rivals in the legislature, saying those who accuse him of crafting a gimmick-laden budget are “trying to score […]