What a difference a year can make for the abused and neglected children that the Department of Children and Families removes from their homes. When Joette Katz became the commissioner of DCF just over a year ago, one in seven children in state custody were being placed with other family members — one of the […]
DCF: 1 in 4 children now placed with relatives
Posted inEducation
Why Senate Bill 24 is Good for Connecticut Schools
It’s been 29 years since the federal government released the landmark “Nation at Risk” report that said, “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.” Three decades later, we are still a nation at […]
Posted inNews
Poll shows Shays competitive in Senate race
The Senate campaign of former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays got a boost Thursday in a Quinnipiac University poll that shows him pulling to within 9 percentage points of former wrestling executive Linda McMahon among Republicans and running even with leading Democrats in general-election matchups. The results feed into Shays’ two main talking points: He is competitive […]
Posted inNews
Key senator says ‘no’ to BRAC, but Courtney remains vigilant.
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said Thursday he’s relieved that a key Democrat on the Senate Armed Forces Committee, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, told Pentagon brass this week that she would not consider a base closing bill in her subcommittee this year. The Pentagon wants two new rounds of base closings, one in 2013 and […]
Posted inNews
Wilson-Foley dings Roraback — for taking her advice
After airing a radio commericial urging state Sen. Andrew Roraback, R-Goshen, to vote against repeal of the death penalty, Lisa Wilson-Foley is now criticizing him for taking her advice. The two Republican candidates for the 5th Congressional District nomination have been scrapping for weeks over Roraback’s historic opposition to capital punishment, which took an unexpected […]
Posted inEducation
Hogan, former UConn president, resigns from University of Illinois
It turned out to be a short stay in Illinois for Michael Hogan, the former UConn president.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Critics filing legal challenges to Malloy executive orders
Opponents of two executive orders allowing home care workers and daycare providers to unionize are filing lawsuits this week alleging that the orders violate state and federal law. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy issued the orders in September, following a legislative session in which lawmakers considered but did not pass proposals to give collective bargaining rights […]
Posted inPolitics
Lieberman, McCain & Lindsay Graham on staying the course in Afghanistan
Three members of the Senate Armed Services Committee say it’s in the country’s best security interests to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The three argue on the opinion page of The Washington Post: “Significant military progress has been made in Afghanistan — progress that we have personally witnessed over repeated visits. Four years ago, southern […]
Posted inEducation
State labor board dismisses teachers’ union complaint
Do school boards have to ask their teachers’ unions for permission before switching over to computer-based reporting? The Connecticut Education Association filed a complaint with the state’s Board of Labor Relations alleging that the Milford Board of Education violated its contract with the union when it began requiring their special education teachers to use the […]
Posted inNews
Obama comfortably leads Romney, Santorum in CT
The new Quinnipiac poll has Mitt Romney leading Rick Santorum by a 2-1 margin among Republican voters in Connecticut, while President Obama is favored by a wide margin over either of them among the general electorate. Obama tops Romney, 53-37, and Santorum, 55-35.
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut Leading the Way on Voting Rights
Earlier this month was the 47th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, one of the most important and infamous moments in U.S. civil rights history. The story is familiar to many of us: a peaceful march in support of black voting rights ends in violence on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. Local policemen attack nonviolent […]
Posted inNews
Coleman ‘optimistic’ of Senate repealing death penalty
A bill repealing the death penalty cleared the Judiciary Committee on a 24-19 vote Wednesday night and was headed to the Senate, where a proponent, Sen. Eric D. Coleman, D-Bloomfield, said he was “very optimistic” about winning passage. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is committed to signing a repeal bill similar to one vetoed by Gov. […]
Posted inNews
Connecticut lawmakers say Wall Street to blame for high gas prices
Washington — With their constituents’ anger on the rise over high gasoline prices, Connecticut lawmakers say Wall Street is to blame and want the Obama administration to take action against speculators. “What we need is tough enforcement against speculation that is contributing to the crushing prices at the pump,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. The […]
Posted inNews
Democrats’ gas tax pledge leaves them in a tight fiscal mess
Democratic state legislators this week wedged themselves between a fuel pump and a fiscal hard place — and there may be no easy way out. Trying to outmaneuver Republicans on the sticky issue of rising gas prices, Democrats pledged to cap a wholesale fuel tax, announcing Wednesday it could be approved next week. But because […]
Posted inNews
Tenure reform supported in Quinnipiac poll
Connecticut voters support Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s push for teacher tenure reform and Sunday liquor sales, while the state is evenly divided on the governor’s job performance, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. The poll also found across-the-board voter support for the legalization of medical marijuana and strong opposition to abolishing the death […]