The House Democratic majority announced nine new committee co-chairs Friday night as J. Brendan Sharkey of Hamden prepares to succeed Chris Donovan as speaker of the House next month. Four of the joint House-Senate committees — Energy and Technology, Government Administration and Elections, Human Services and Labor — will have two new House and Senate […]
House Democrats name nine new co-chairs
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Sending children to live out-of-state — a decision for DCF, not courts
State lawmakers have stripped state judges of the authority to send children who break the law to out-of-state facilities for treatment. Instead, the decision will be left to the Department of Children and Families, a state agency that has been monitored by the federal courts for decades for failing too many children in its care. […]
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Senate approves Sandy funding, but bill faces uncertain future
Washington – A $60 billion emergency spending bill to pay for the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy was approved by the Senate Friday, but the final fate of the bill is very much in doubt. Before voting 61-33 for the bill, the Senate considered more than 20 amendments that would have either stripped or added […]
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Commissioner, let’s build a better school-rating system
By Jack Dougherty, Associate Professor of Educational Studies, Trinity College When State Commissioner of Education Stephen Pryor unveiled Connecticut’s “School Performance Index” (SPI) website earlier this year, the initial story grabbed front-page headlines, but the substance was underwhelming. Both the Connecticut Mirror’s Jacqueline Rabe Thomas and the Hartford Courant’s Kathy Meganreported that the SPI site revealed few surprises. […]
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Microgrid project deadline nears. Do communities understand the concept?
Norwich – It was only for a few hours during Tropical Storm Irene, but the William W. Backus Hospital here still got a hard lesson on what losing power in the heat of summer meant. While the hospital has emergency generators, “they’re not large enough to power everything,” said Keith Fontaine, vice president and chief […]
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State revenue chief takes aim at identity theft in tax system
Connecticut’s top tax official is optimistic that a new initiative designed to target identity theft will better protect Connecticut residents and businesses from security breaches and will recoup millions of dollars in income tax fraud for the state’s coffers. But Department of Revenue Services Commissioner Kevin B. Sullivan was more skeptical about a controversial initiative […]
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Audit cites Department of Public Health procedural weaknesses
The state Department of Public Health issued licenses to day-care facilities without the needed criminal background checks on employees, failed to take action against a dentist despite four complaints, and paid more than $25,000 to volunteer stem cell grant reviewers that it might not have had the authority to spend, according to a state audit […]
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State’s unemployed will be first to feel fall over the ‘fiscal cliff’
Washington — Eventually, nearly every American will feel the economic pain brought on by going over the so-called fiscal cliff, but more than 43,000 unemployed Connecticut workers would be among the first. That’s because those long-time unemployed workers will stop receiving benefits next week unless Congress acts in the next few days. “Both houses of […]
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Malloy names first openly gay justice to high court
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who took office two years ago pledging to make the courts as diverse as Connecticut’s society, today nominated Andrew J. McDonald as the first openly gay justice of the state Supreme Court. McDonald, 46, was an influential legal voice as co-chairman of the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee before he left the […]
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Blumenthal wins concession for Newtown donations
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., has persuaded MasterCard, Visa, Discover, American Express, and PayPal/eBay to waive processing and transaction fees for donations made to organizations providing relief to Newtown. Last week, Blumenthal sent letters to five fundraising websites, four credit card companies and four wireless companies calling on them to waive the fees, which range from […]
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New Year’s Deal?
Connecticut’s lawmakers won’t be spending New Year’s at home. House GOP leaders ordered all House members return to Washington Sunday night and warned them they might work through Jan. 2, the last day of this Congress. The Senate came back to work on Thursday. But even if both houses of Congress are in session on […]
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Malloy skeptical Congress will avert nation’s plunge over the ‘fiscal cliff.’
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was openly skeptical Thursday that politicians on Capitol Hill would find the bipartisan unity necessary to keep the nation from heading over the so-called “fiscal cliff” of spending cuts and tax hikes next week. The Democratic governor also said he particularly was disappointed that the Republican majority in the U.S. House of […]
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Panel: Pay raises of college system’s central office unnecessary
Eighteen of the 21 controversial pay raises unilaterally approved last year by the state’s former college president have been determined to be inappropriate. “Basically, the salaries were competitive before the raises,” said Naomi K. Cohen, the chairwoman of the panel tasked by the Board of Regents for Higher Education to examine the $299,532 in raises […]
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A final cup of Joe
U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is doing his final diner tour today as the end of his fourth and final term in the Senate approaches. He was scheduled to stop at White’s Diner in Bridgeport, the Athenian Diner in New Haven, and Norm’s Diner in Groton this morning, then drop by Shady Glen in Manchester […]
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A commissioner outlines DCF reforms after Newtown
By Joette Katz The unspeakable horror that took 20 young children and six brave adults from their families naturally has spawned a search for answers. While no satisfactory response may emerge, one important part of the discussion has focused on children’s mental health. The Department of Children and Families has children’s mental health as one of our mandates and, […]