What is it with politicians and sports on TV? Every NFL blackout game provokes congressional intervention. Now, Rep. Kelvin Roldan, D-Hartford, is trying to make the political version of a half-court shot at the buzzer on behalf of a city institution, Connecticut Public Broadcasting. At issue: broadcast rights for UConn women’s basketball. The university recently […]

Talking about her own retirement plans last night, Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, told the Mirror she was upset that her labor co-chair, Rep. Zeke Zalaski, D-Southington, also was leaving the General Assembly. Zalaski, who was not ready to make any announcement, halfheartedly insisted he still was thinking about it. Today, he acknowledged this term was […]

Legislators agree: The education reform bill they unanimously approved Tuesday is a step, one of several that will be needed to provide a better education for the lowest-performing students. “It’s a step. I wouldn’t call it monumental,” said Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, the leader of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus. “I won’t celebrate finally getting […]

As the Senate voted 22-13 to give final approval late Tuesday to a revised $20.5 billion budget for next year, there was bipartisan agreement that state finances were on the cusp of a major change. But while Democrats said the package would close small deficits and preserve vital services until the economy rebounds in the […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy took to the radio airwaves in New York Tuesday to celebrate the changes to the education system and teacher tenure he has won in the education bill making its way through the Connecticut legislature. “We were stuck in the mud [on real reform]. That all ends,” the Democratic governor told WCBS, a […]

Washington — With federal student loan interest rates set to double, the Senate failed Tuesday to move forward on a bill that would extend low 3.4 percent rates for another year. The student loan bill failed to win 60 votes needed to break a Republican filibuster and move it forward. The party line vote was […]

The Senate passed a sweeping education reform bill early Tuesday, the only opposition coming from Republican legislators who complained of the last-minute release of the compromise, saying no one should be voting on a bill they have not had a chance to read. “This is dereliction of duty,” said Sen. Andrew Roraback, R-Goshen. Democratic leadership […]

The House of Representatives voted early Tuesday to approve a revised $20.5 billion budget for the next fiscal year that preserves most of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s initiatives for education and nonprofit social services while closing a $200 million-plus shortfall in current finances. The budget, which passed the Democratic-controlled chamber on a 95-49 vote along […]

After five months of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy insisting that a souring fiscal outlook wouldn’t derail one of his biggest campaign promises, the oft-pledged conversion to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles officially landed on the political back-burner early Tuesday. Both the governor’s budget director and the House chairwoman of the legislature’s budget-writing panel conceded that the […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy declared victory Monday night in his long, contentious push for education reforms, announcing a compromise agreement at a televised press conference with legislative leaders who promised quick passage, beginning with an overnight debate in the Senate. The governor stepped before the cameras at 10 p.m., ending a day of negotiation and […]

“I am pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement on meaningful education reform. I can say, with confidence, that this bill will allow us to begin fixing what is broken in our public schools. “I want to thank my team – Mark Ojakian, Commissioner Stefan Pryor, and Liz Donohue, our policy director – […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic legislative leaders used a mix of programmatic cuts, borrowing and a raid on transportation and other special funds to preserve nearly three-fourths of the governor’s proposed education spending. The tentative deal, which calls for a $20.54 billion budget for the next fiscal year, also maintains the first funding increase in […]