With shrinking revenues complicating state budget talks, anti-smoking advocates pitched a nearly 30 percent hike in the cigarette tax Wednesday as an increase most voters would welcome. Key state officials responded warily to the 95-cents-per-pack hike proposal, and Connecticut’s grocery stores argued it would harm retail sales in a vulnerable economy. “The answers are loud […]
Anti-smoking forces push higher cigarette tax to solve state’s budget woes
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Free dental clinic organizers looking to reach smaller cities
The dentists who run the annual Connecticut Mission of Mercy try to give each part of the state a chance to host the massive free dental clinic. There’s need, after all, in every town. This year’s clinic, which will be held June 7 and 8 in Bridgeport, is expected to draw thousands of people. At […]
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Pentagon shrinks furlough time for sub base workers
Washington – Hundreds of civilian workers at Naval Submarine Base New London will get a break from forced unpaid leave, but not much of one. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Tuesday said he would cut back – from 14 to 11 — the number of furlough days civilians working for the Pentagon must take this […]
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Waiting for the next storm, Part 3: A rail corridor exposed
This is the final installment of a three-part series examining areas on Connecticut’s coast that are vulnerable to flooding. The first two stories focused on residential areas. Now, we visit a beach that suffered severe damage – which has also exposed critical infrastructure right behind it. East Lyme — Beaches, marshes and wetlands on the […]
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Senate GOP leader: stop giving governor blank checks for businesses
The Senate voted Wednesday night to increase the amount of money the governor can use to induce out-of-state companies to relocate here or to keep them from leaving the state– a move that infuriates Senate Minority Leader John McKinney.
Posted inHealth
Jackson Lab hires seventh principal investigator for Conn. institute
A computational biologist who studies the factors affecting gene expression is joining the faculty of The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, based at the UConn Health Center in Farmington. Duygu Ucar is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University. She is the seventh principal investigator hired by The Jackson Laboratory’s Connecticut institute. Genes in the […]
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UConn President forms task force to ‘explore all matters of civil behavior and speech’
Still recovering from a letter critical of the president of the University of Connecticut that went viral, officials at the state’s flagship university have decided to form a task force to “explore all matters related to civil behavior and speech at the university.” In a letter sent to students Wednesday, UConn President Susan Herbst wrote that the […]
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Spending cap gives senators leverage over state budget debate
For the next few weeks, each of 22 Democrats in the state Senate is a king or a queen — at least when it comes to the budget. And as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy seeks lawmakers’ approval to rewrite the rules of constitutional spending cap, it’s becoming clear that keeping all of those senators happy […]
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Suit hammers huge Medicaid backlog, long waits
Every month, thousands of poor state residents go without health care coverage while their applications for Medicaid linger, without being approved or denied, for longer than federal law allows. The numbers “tell the whole story,” attorney Sheldon Toubman said Tuesday at the start of a trial in Hartford centered on allegations that the state Department […]
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Murphy critical of Foreign Relations colleagues
Washington — When it comes to engaging the rest of the world on the issue of climate change, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy does not have a lot of faith in his fellow members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. They are out of sync with public opinion, he said. “This used to be the […]
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DSS trial: Are Medicaid application delays breaking the law?
Paul Shafer, a Trumbull resident, had a seizure disorder and no job when he applied for Medicaid in July 2011. The program would have paid for the $165-a-month anti-seizure medication Shafer relied on. By law, he should have heard back within 45 days. Instead, Shafer waited months without a decision on his application. He took […]
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Himes helping DCCC break fundraising records
Washington — When he walks the halls of Congress, U.S. Rep. Jim Himes is likely welcomed by many fellow Democrats and avoided by others. That’s because of his new job as the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s finance team. Named to that post in February, Himes’ job requires him to raise millions from […]
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Waiting for the next storm,Part 2: Elderly and disabled on the waterfront
This is the second in a three-part series focusing on areas of Connecticut’s coastline that are vulnerable to flooding. In the first installment, we visited Morris Cove, one of New Haven’s most desirable neighborhoods. For this story, we headed to a very different residential area on the shoreline: Czescik Homes, a public housing complex for the […]
Posted inEducation
(Some) Charter school applications released
Looks like officials at the State Department of Education have changed their minds about not releasing the applications of those seeking to open new charter schools in the state. The department has now made available three of the seven pending applications. (See the application for the charter in Waterbury here, Norwalk here and Windham/Willimantic here.) The move to release […]
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Blumenthal hoping to make his mark in immigration debate
Washington — U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is leveraging his seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee to plunge headlong into the fractious debate in Congress on immigration. Blumenthal, a Democrat, said he’s motivated to become a player in Congress’ attempt to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws because “the current system is, in fact, badly broken.” He […]