The state’s prison population continued its yearlong upward climb this week. According to a new report filed Thursday by the Criminal Justice Policy & Planning Division, the average inmate population during the first week in July stood at 17,115, an increase of 108 prisoners – or a little less than 1 percent – above June’s level.
State prison population climbs even higher
Posted inNews
Superintendents get pre-school pep talk from Malloy and Pryor
Hartford – Like a football coach in a pre-game pep talk, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy urged the state’s superintendents Wednesday to have courage as they face the challenge of moving their schools to a new national curriculum with a new standardized test. “These are confusing and difficult times, but they are necessary times if we […]
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UConn, Hartford summit leads to detente over downtown campus choice
Over an hourlong discussion at a private club, UConn and Hartford officials reached a détente Wednesday over the prickly issue of the new campus that the university wants to develop downtown on the Hartford Times site. The Times building remains the preferred site, but UConn reassured the city it will have input on the design […]
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Bureau of Prisons halts Danbury prisoner transfer
Washington – Ten days after a group of Democratic senators told the Bureau of Prisoners to stop a plan to move female prisoners in Danbury to facilities in Alabama and other places, the transfer was put on hold. “We have not transferred any inmates from Danbury to Aliceville (Ala.) and we are not transferring inmates […]
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Connecticut political establishment at odds with tribes
Washington – The state’s political establishment is lining up to oppose the latest efforts to grant federal recognition to three Connecticut Indian tribes, with Gov. Dannel Malloy the latest to say he’s against the move. “The governor shares the concerns of Connecticut’s federal delegation and the Attorney General regarding the potential impact of the proposed BIA […]
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Boughton’s exploratory candidacy is strategic
Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton’s formation of an exploratory committee for governor Wednesday is less an indication of uncertainty, than a matter of strategy in the era of publicly financed campaigns in Connecticut. Boughton is using a game plan followed four years ago by Dannel P. Malloy, who used an early exploratory committee to raise $526,000, […]
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Gridlock caution on anniversary of worst U.S. blackout
On one hand, it makes perfect sense that the Obama administration would use the week of the 10th anniversary of the worst blackout in the U.S. to release a report on electric grid resiliency. On the other hand, the fact that its focus is that “severe weather is the leading cause of power outages in […]
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Health insurance coverage is expanding. So are free clinics
Karen Gottlieb says she shares a dream with everyone else who runs a free clinic. “I would like nothing better than to close our doors,” said Gottlieb, executive director of AmeriCares Free Clinics, which serves uninsured adults in Bridgeport, Norwalk and Danbury. But Gottlieb doesn’t expect to get her wish anytime soon, even with the […]
Posted inPolitics
Esty opponent joins GOP efforts to distort Obamacare
Washington – President Obama’s signature accomplishment, the Affordable Care Act, continues to be a key weapon in Republican campaigns, including that of Mark Greenberg, a GOP candidate for Congress in Connecticut’s 5th District.
Posted inHealth
One judge’s fear
Editor’s note: The writer of this commentary piece states that its contents are solely his, and do not necessarily represent the position of the state’s Judicial Branch. Recently in a Connecticut juvenile court, “Chloe,” a teenage girl, pleads guilty to an offense and is released on house arrest to the custody of her parents pending sentencing. She […]
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Mixed results for Connecticut student achievement on CAPT, CMT in 2013
Connecticut’s two annual assessments of student achievement showed a mix of gains and retreats in 2013, according to results released Tuesday by the State Department of Education. The Connecticut Academic Performance Test showed improvements in math, science and reading and a decline in writing scores, while students scored lower in all elements of the Connecticut […]
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Parole reforms stall 5-year decline in prison population
Complications in reforming the state’s parole system have put the state’s nearly five-year decline in prison population on hold, according to a recent report from criminal justice policy analysts. And while one reform enacted following last winter’s fatal shooting in Newtown could push inmate numbers upward, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s chief criminal justice adviser said […]
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A sparrow’s story: Project looks at signs of climate change in Long Island Sound
Stonington – Chris Elphick squishes his way across the slick and sometimes muddy bottom of the salt marsh at Barn Island. “Oh there’s a sparrow. Oops, just gone,” he says suddenly, interrupting himself. “It hopped up and it flew back down again. Sorry. That’s the way it is.” The sparrow – which for the record, […]
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Lots of nickels: Supreme Court overturns $5.8 million award in bottle bill case
A Connecticut Supreme Court decision Tuesday overturns a $5.8 million award to a dozen beer and soda distributors who challenged the state’s ability to retroactively seize unclaimed bottle deposits in 2009. The decision settles a controversy that opened in the fall of 2008, when Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the General Assembly adopted a deficit […]
Posted inPolitics
Boughton expected to create gubernatorial exploratory committee
Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in 2010, is expected to ease into the 2014 race for governor with the creation of an exploratory committee, according to his hometown paper, the News Times. Boughton has called a press conference for 10:30 a.m. at Danbury High School to announce his plans for […]
