Millions of dollars saved by instituting a mid-year hiring freeze has not been enough to get the state’s largest public college system out of the red, members of the Board of Regents’ Finance Committee learned Tuesday. With less than three months remaining before the end of the fiscal year, a $5.5 million deficit remains. “The situation […]
Deficit ‘dire’ for state college system
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Fighting to preserve a safety net for people with disabilities
Joseph Duffy worries about what will happen when he dies and is no longer around to fight budget cuts that threaten services for his 29-year-old developmentally disabled daughter, Katie. Despite her disabilities, Katie has a state-supported job at Cigna and has a weekly social outing. But nearly $40 million in proposed state budget cuts would […]
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With reservations, Sandy relief plan OK’d
Connecticut legislators today approved a state plan to use $72 million in federal Storm Sandy relief money primarily to rehabilitate housing that was damaged during the storm last November. But many expressed reservations, referring to the plan’s lack of detail and the delay in getting funds to those who have been waiting for months. “How soon will […]
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Malloy’s Sandy plan worries coastal mayors
Washington — With the help of $71.8 million in federal block grants, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy hopes to launch a new housing program to aid the state’s Hurricane Sandy victims. But several Connecticut cities and towns have reacted to the proposal with confusion and are concerned that Malloy’s plan is based on bad information. Mayors and […]
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Malloy proposing state funds to help parents who would lose Medicaid coverage
Democratic legislators effectively rejected a plan by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to cut about 37,500 poor parents from Medicaid and leave them to buy federally subsidized health insurance from a new marketplace being established as part of health reform. Now the Malloy administration is taking another shot at the cut, with a twist: Using state dollars to help those parents buy private insurance.
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Malloy takes to air to rebut budget critics
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy dug his heels in Monday, rebutting criticisms of his budget and insisting it is not a departure from his espoused principles of fiscal responsibility. Appearing on WNPR’s “Where We Live,” Malloy insisted that state finances would not fall into deficit down the road –even though his budget office projects a shortfall […]
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Promises, gimmicks and historic shortfall
When Dannel P. Malloy became the state’s 88th governor on Jan. 5, 2011, he inherited a financial mess unmatched in Connecticut history. The Stamford Democrat faced a state government on pace to spend almost 20 percent more than it would receive in its next budget — unless something changed dramatically. Forced to fill a $3.7 billion shortfall, Malloy challenged […]
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State lags in kids’ mental health screening
Selenia Velez remembers the near-daily phone calls from the pre-school, alerting her that her 2-year-old son had acted out aggressively and needed to be picked up immediately. The calls went on for months, as Velez, 27, of Hartford, and her husband bounced between the pre-school and their son’s pediatrician, who recommended that they take him […]
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State official ‘optimistic’ that huge VA benefits backlog will be tamed
Buoyed by a visit from the head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, state Veteran Affairs Commissioner Linda Schwartz said Friday she is optimistic for the first time in a long time about making it easier and quicker for Connecticut veterans to get their disability compensation benefits. She was reacting to Veterans Affairs Secretary […]
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Serious deficit awaits Malloy — or his successor — after 2014
After reminding people almost unceasingly for two years that he inherited — not created — the largest budget deficit in state history, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy struck a different tone this year when he presented his latest spending plan. “It no longer matters who caused those problems,” the governor said in his February budget address. […]
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Partisan battle erupts over sale of assets to cover pension payments
The partisan battle over state government’s finances heated up again this week after a top Republican lawmaker questioned the sale of pension fund assets to cover benefits owed to retired workers. But state Treasurer Denise L. Nappier countered Friday that “nothing constructive can be gained” by House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero’s comments, adding that state assets have to […]
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Major concessions deal undermined by bad guesses, secrecy
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a historic agreement,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy told the crowd assembled in the dark-paneled Old Judiciary Room of the state Capitol. Six months after insisting upon $2 billion in concessions from the state’s 45,000 workers, Malloy announced on Aug. 18, 2011, that unions had approved something worth more than $1.6 […]
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The short, fast life of a political gaffe
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy knew the drill. The last step in dealing with a political gaffe is address the press, take a few questions, smile and say something mildly dismissive like, “You know, we’re pretty much done with it.” And so it was that Malloy waited for reporters to surround him Thursday evening outside the […]
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California chancellor recommended as president of Regents system
A state Board of Regents’ presidential search committee voted Thursday to recommend a California community college chancellor to oversee Connecticut’s state university and community college system. Gregory W. Gray, chancellor of the Riverside Community College District, would become just the second president of the Regents’ system since its creation in 2011. The system includes the […]
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Connecticut lawmakers, advocates, pan GOP ‘family friendly’ bill
Washington — To try to repair strained relations with women voters, U.S. House Republicans plan a vote soon on what they call a “family friendly” bill that would allow employers to offer comp time instead of overtime pay. The bill is promoted as an effort to give hourly paid workers, especially women, more time with their children […]