In a move to stop manufacturers from “poisoning our children,” a handful of state lawmakers are pledging to pursue legislation to crack down on the use of toxic chemicals in children’s products. State Rep. Diana Urban, D-North Stonington, has proposed a bill that would ban any product marketed for the use by young children that […]

A bipartisan task force on gun violence concluded its work Tuesday without consensus or clarity on how the General Assembly should change Connecticut gun laws in response to the massacre of 26 children and women at Sandy Hook. Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate now plan to meet Wednesday to see if […]

Washington –– Connecticut lawmakers are poring over their office budgets, forced by the sequester’s across-the-board cuts to reduce their spending by tens of thousands of dollars. The salaries of the members of Congress are protected from the sequester’s cuts that went into effect on Friday to reduce the federal budget by $85 billion. But the […]

Yaleris Diaz, 8, raced across the gym from one Hula Hoop on the floor to another. She arrived safely before the music stopped and looked around with a smile on her face. This exuberant game of “musical hoops” was her favorite among several she and some classmates played recently at the Burns School in Hartford. […]

Middletown — Mary Botti gave her class a scenario: Someone in front of you is stressed, maybe having a panic attack for the first time. What do you say? The students — adults from a variety of backgrounds — consulted a handout with sample responses. Several hours into their two-day training, the class had little […]

The bipartisan panel examining mental health issues agreed Tuesday to four recommendations that could become part of legislation intended to respond to the mass shooting at Newtown’s Sandy Hook Elementary School. Legislative leaders are crafting a bill to address mental health, gun violence and school security. It’s expected to be taken up in the coming […]

Continuing his campaign against the National Rifle Association, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.,  on Tuesday issued a report detailing the gun group’s attempts to loosen gun laws in state capitols. As part of what it calls the NRA’s “radical legislative agenda,” the report cites an Indiana law that allows its citizens to fire in self-protection, even […]

The legislature’s Democratic and Republican leaders now plan to meet Wednesday to discuss the parameters of a gun violence bill likely to be adopted this month in response to the mass shooting in Newtown. Spokesmen for House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, and House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, said the legislature’s top […]

Washington — Gina McCarthy’s success in pushing power companies in Connecticut to curb greenhouse gases is expected to come under scrutiny when the Senate takes up her nomination to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. President Obama’s choice to head the EPA was Connecticut’s environmental chief during Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration. As such […]

The state’s health care exchange has awarded a $15 million contract to a Virginia company with a mixed track record in Connecticut. Through a competitive process, the exchange, called Access Health CT, selected Maximus Inc. of Reston, Va., to run its call center operation. Maximus will handle phone calls and guide consumers through buying and […]

Years of therapy convinced Paul Acker that he was broken, and his life seemed to bear it out. He couldn’t hold a job for more than a few months before his major depression and paranoia would take over, causing him to lose the job, his friends and wherever he was living. Suicide attempts landed him […]