A quarter of the students who enter a public college in Connecticut spend their first year taking only non-credit remedial courses. Some even spend two years. That may soon end, with the legislature overwhelmingly approving a bill that will, starting in the fall of 2014, restrict the circumstances that college officials can, and cannot, require […]

On a closing day marked by partisan friction, the House of Representatives found a rare moment of harmony Wednesday evening, unanimously granting final passage to a bill imposing penalties in the future on Connecticut’s utilities for poor performance in restoring blackouts. But other bills, including priorities of House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan, D-Meriden, and Senate […]

On the last day of the session, when time is the legislature’s most precious commodity, the Connecticut Senate lavished a long farewell Wednesday on Sen. Edith G. Prague, an indomitable political voice in Hartford for 30 years. Prague, 86, a Democrat of Columbia, is retiring as the oldest member of the General Assembly, a woman […]

Bill Cosby never met state Sen. Toni Harp, D-New Haven, until Wednesday. But after hearing her passion for mentoring urban youth, the actor, comic and activist had his own unique way of complimenting her: With a smile, he vowed to commit voter fraud on her behalf. “I’m going to illegally cross the line in Connecticut and […]

In Connecticut’s post-storms legislative world, most of the focus has been on how to make sure power outages like the ones the state suffered in August and October never happen again. But for communities along the shoreline, where some buildings are still in disrepair, seawalls remain crumpled and some landscapes were altered permanently by Tropical […]

The Connecticut Senate gave final approval early Wednesday to what the national advocacy group Common Cause said would be the strongest campaign-finance disclosure law in the United States. But the general counsel for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the bill is plagued by practical and constitutional flaws, an assessment that appears to raise the possibility […]

With 60 minutes left in the 2012 session of the General Assembly, a favored bill of the Senate’s leader was stuck in the House, while a favored bill of the House leader was stuck in the Senate. At midnight Wednesday, both bills die. Senate Democratic leaders were trying at 11 p.m. to salvage S.B. 1, […]

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 […]