Connecticut has another opportunity to show the way forward on progressive reform. While many other states are suppressing the vote through strict new voter ID requirements, restrictions on community voter registration drives and shortened early voting periods, Gov. Dannel Malloy and Secretary of the State Denise Merrill are championing legislation to expand voter participation. A […]
Same Day Registration Makes Sense for Nutmeg Voters
Posted inMoney
Same Day Registration Makes Sense for Nutmeg Voters
Connecticut has another opportunity to show the way forward on progressive reform. While many other states are suppressing the vote through strict new voter ID requirements, restrictions on community voter registration drives and shortened early voting periods, Gov. Dannel Malloy and Secretary of the State Denise Merrill are championing legislation to expand voter participation. A […]
Posted inPolitics
Same Day Registration Makes Sense for Nutmeg Voters
Connecticut has another opportunity to show the way forward on progressive reform. While many other states are suppressing the vote through strict new voter ID requirements, restrictions on community voter registration drives and shortened early voting periods, Governor Dannel Malloy and Secretary of the State Denise Merrill are championing legislation to expand voter participation. A […]
Posted inNews
State activists hound Romney with PACK, errr, PAC
Washington — In one of the most creative attacks on a presidential candidate, at least in recent history, a couple of Connecticut political activists are trying to raise political cash from dog lovers who are howling mad at how Mitt Romney years ago treated his dog. To hound the presumptive GOP nominee, Martin Dunleavy, a former New […]
Posted inNews
Federal opinion undermines state’s health-pool concept
The U.S. Department of Labor has advised the Malloy administration that opening Connecticut’s state employee and retiree health plan to nonprofits and small businesses could jeopardize the legal protections it now enjoys as a government plan. The advisory opinion sought by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy could undermine a health care pooling bill passed last year […]
Posted inNews
Does race matter in the juvenile justice system?
When a child is referred to a Connecticut court, the state’s juvenile justice system is largely colorblind. New state data from 2011 show that whether a youth is black, white or Latino, he has about a 50 percent chance of having his case dismissed. Similarly, about 30 percent of all youths — regardless of skin […]
Posted inNews
On an evening stroll, Malloy corrects a critic
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy took two long walks through the State Capitol tonight, senior staff and security detail in tow, for a little backslapping — and one sharp elbow. His presence in the building indicated he probably harbored hopes of a breakthrough on the interconnected issues of budget and education reform, but he downplayed chances […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Health, Money
Outdoor wood furnace regulation clears Senate
For the first time in three years of trying, legislation to tighten regulations on outdoor wood furnaces has passed a chamber of the legislature. The Senate passed and sent to the House an amended version of legislation that advocates of it say is even stronger than the original. The original bill sought to ban outdoor […]
Posted inEducation
Special Session for education reform?
With time running short for legislators and Gov. Dannel Malloy to reach a deal on an education reform bill, the governor isn’t ruling out having to call them back to the state Capitol for a special session. “We could absolutely have a special session,” he said Friday. “It ain’t over until it’s over.” Asked about […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Defense and the environment: There’s no contradiction here
Global environmental writer and former New York Times reporter Andrew C. Revkin writes a blog for the newspaper, Dot Earth. Revkin’s covered many of the earth’s environmental hot spots over the years — Amazon rainforests, the transformation of the Arctic, Katrina, etc. — and so he’s worth reading. Wednesday’s blog, however, is Defense Secretary Leon […]
Posted inHealth
Support Nurse Delegation, for the Love of Joe
I never felt that I had a story to tell, but until you live it, you cannot possibly know what it is like. Several days ago, I sat by Joe’s bedside at home and talked with him about nurse delegation; he said what a great idea and wished it were effective now. I can truly […]
Posted inNews
Labor proposal passes Senate, heads for Malloy’s signature
A controversial proposal to give collective bargaining rights to certain home care workers and daycare providers is headed to the governor’s desk, completing a process begun less than seven months ago with two executive orders. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy plans to sign the bill, which passed the Senate 22 to 14 on a party-line vote […]
Posted inNews
Minority legislators back Malloy — to a point
With time running short, the legislature’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus tried Thursday to nudge forward some of the education reforms that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says are needed to turn around troubled urban schools. But the caucus, which includes 22 of the General Assembly’s 187 members, offered a mixed message at a press conference, […]
Posted inNews
Senate blocks effort to remove judges’ pay from political debates
The Senate overwhelmingly stymied a bid Thursday by Connecticut’s judges to remove their salaries from political debate, dramatically scaling back a measure creating a new judicial compensation study panel. The bill, which now heads to the House of Representatives, still would ensure that any pay raises the panel endorses for judges would be included in […]
Posted inNews
Senate sends project labor agreement bill to the House
The state Senate overwhelmingly approved a measure late Wednesday guaranteeing communities can negotiate working conditions with labor unions before public projects are put out to bid. The measure allowing so-called “project labor agreements,” spurred in part by a legal battle over school construction work in Hartford, passed 32-3 and now heads to the House of […]