There are currently 650 Connecticut soldiers stationed overseas. By December that number will dip below 100 soldiers, Gen. Thad Martin of the Connecticut Millitary Department told legislators last week on the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee. The number of Connecticut National Guard soldiers has steadily declined since the drawback in Iraq and Afghanistan. Two years […]
Troops stationed overseas to dip below 100 soldiers by December
Posted inMoney
Small town leaders join chorus against governor’s budget
Small town leaders Monday came out against Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed budget that would eliminate their ability to tax motor vehicles. “We are very concerned,” Richard Smith, the first selectman of Deep River and president of the Council of Small Towns, said during a press conference at the state Capitol complex Monday. Mayors from […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
It’s official – McCarthy nominated to run EPA
It’s official. As has been widely reported (including here) for weeks, President Obama is nominating Connecticut’s former top environmental official – Gina McCarthy – to run the Environmental Protection Agency.
Posted inNews
Feds reject Medicaid cuts, but more could be coming
The federal government has rejected the state’s controversial request to tighten Medicaid eligibility, a change that had been expected to leave more than 13,000 poor adults without health care coverage. “The [proposal] would eliminate coverage for as many as 13,381 very low-income individuals for an approximate one year period, which is not consistent with the […]
Posted inNews
Lawyer in ‘pyramid scheme’ endorsed for bench
A divided Judiciary Committee endorsed the judicial nomination Friday of Shelley A. Marcus after she defended her role as a legal adviser to women in Branford who ran a pyramid investment scheme, saying her “vehement” advice to them was to cease and desist. Marcus, 61, the daughter of former Democratic State Chairman Ed Marcus, was […]
Posted inNews
Connecticut to lose $56M in sequestration, with education, social services to be hit hardest
At midnight, Connecticut’s public and private sectors face a combined loss of $56 million, with deep cuts to education, social services and housing as the federal game of budget brinksmanship runs out of time. The state legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis on Friday released its latest projections of the impact cuts tied to federal […]
Posted inNews
Hospitals warn budget cuts will cut jobs and services — maybe close doors
For Connecticut hospitals, the good news is their patient caseloads have grown dramatically since 2009. The bad news is those are Medicaid patients, and government payments don’t cover the full cost of treatment. And then there’s really bad news: Gov. Dannel P. Malloy would cut their state funding by one-fifth over the next two years. […]
Posted inPolitics
Hewett contrite on Thursday, not so much on Friday
Rep. Ernest Hewett, D-New London, was contrite and accepted responsibility Thursday for a remark to a teenage girl at a public hearing that carried a sexual double-entendre, whether intended or not. But on Friday, Hewett, 56, was suggesting that House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, acted rashly in stripping him of his title as deputy […]
Posted inPolitics
With open letter on guns, Senate Dems suggest foot dragging by others
In an open letter released late Friday afternoon, the state Senate’s Democratic leaders called for a vote no later than March 13 on gun control legislation in response to the mass shootings in Newtown. The letter by Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr. of Brooklyn and Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney of […]
Posted inNews
Sequester now certain, but impact unknown
Washington — In largely symbolic moves Thursday, the Senate made one last-ditch effort to avoid sequestration, or automatic spending cuts that will affect most government agencies and many federal programs and services. Now the sequester will take effect Friday. But its full impact is under debate — and could determine which party has an edge […]
Posted inNews
Newtown father reaches out to reluctant senators
Washington –– The day after giving emotional testimony in support of an assault weapons ban, Neil Heslin, who lost his 6-year-old son Jesse in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, continued to reach out to lawmakers on gun control. As senators filed into the Senate chambers to vote on budget legislation, Heslin dodged lobbyists and […]
Posted inNews
Despite limited research, lawmakers scrutinize violent video games
In response to the horrific Newtown massacre, state and federal lawmakers have proposed at least four bills to study and regulate the impact of violent video games on children’s behavior. The bills all come in reaction to published reports that Adam Lanza, the gunman who shot and killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, […]
Posted inNews
UConn quietly boosts tuition $40 more
The University of Connecticut has quietly implemented an additional tuition increase over and above the 25.6 percent increase going into effect. A spokeswoman at the University of Connecticut says the additional $40 increase for fiscal 2014 was tucked into the fiscal 2013 budget approved last June and is in addition to the $2,112, four-year increase […]
Posted inNews
Popular NYC-Boston Bus Company Service Temporarily Shut Down
By: Georgia Lobb One of the cheapest ways to get from Boston to New York is by taking a bus. And for fifteen dollars a trip, it’s hard to beat the Fung Wah bus, which runs from Manhattan to Boston’s transportation epicenter, South Station. News broke earlier this week that Fung Wah busses are being […]
Posted inNews
Report Shows Recent Rise in Teen Driving Deaths
By: Georgia Lobb Photo courtesy of ghsa.org The year 2011 marks an increase in what was previously a steadily declining rate of teen driver deaths, according to a Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) report earlier this month. The GHSA reports that driving related deaths of 16 and 17 year old drivers have risen a staggering […]