The state’s election cops intensified their warning to legislators Friday that their ability to oversee public campaign financing this fall is in jeopardy from deep budget cuts. The State Elections Enforcement Commission needs nearly double its existing contingent of account examiners if it hopes to monitor a projected caseload that includes nearly 340 campaign grants […]
Warnings escalate over funding for Clean Elections
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Working families squeezed by housing costs in state
Washington — Janet and Quan Hightower are middle-income homeowners in Hartford who, like a rising number of working families, are finding it hard to keep up with housing costs. A new study says the Hightower family is one of 137,000 in Connecticut spending at least half their income on housing. The Hightowers, who have four […]
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Survey on teachers who don’t belong in the classroom
“We all know there are teachers in the classroom who don’t belong there.” That was the message Gov. Dannel P. Malloy brought to legislators this week to sell his education reform package to them. A survey released Friday by the New Haven education reform group ConnCAN indicates teachers and other educators agree. Fifty percent of […]
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Physician, cancer biologist to lead UConn Health Center
A physician who leads Wake Forest University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center will become the next dean of the UConn School of Medicine, the university announced Friday. Dr. Frank M. Torti will also serve as UConn’s vice president for health affairs and will hold a professorship in the Department of Medicine when he joins the health center […]
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House restores local zoning over solid-waste facilities
Is skipping the normal vetting process the best way to correct a legislative mistake made six years ago? By a vote of a 120 to 8, the state House of Representatives declared Thursday night that it was. The House approved and sent to the Senate an “emergency-certified” bill that restores local regulatory control over solid-waste […]
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Lieberman latest target in terror-by-mail campaign
Washington — Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is the latest target of a terror campaign that involves packages filled with a powdery substance that initial testing have shown to be harmless. The senator’s Hartford office received a suspicious package Thursday, and staffers quickly quarantined it and called local and Capitol Hill authorities, said Lieberman spokeswoman Whitney […]
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Senate Democratic candidates play nice at first debate
Mansfield — As the three Democratic candidates vying to be Connecticut’s next U.S. senator took the stage for their first debate, the directions were simple: keep it positive and don’t attack your Democratic competitors. “Refrain from negative comments,” said Ronald Schurin, a UConn professor who was moderator. “It will not be like the Republican [presidential] […]
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House passes emergency FOI fix
The House of Representatives adopted an emergency fix Thursday to the state’s right-to-know law that could break a legal logjam blocking the release of voter lists and other omnibus public registries. The bill, which passed 120-11 and now heads to the Senate, would allow public agencies to release major voter and property databases without the […]
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DOL retirements jeopardize unemployment checks?
Without two key information technology workers who retired last fall, the state Department of Labor might not be able to adapt its computer system to new unemployment benefit extension requirements in time to get checks out to state residents, an agency official said Thursday. The department wants to hire back the two retirees, but can’t […]
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House confirms nomination of lawyer in gay marriage case
The House of Representatives voted 129 to 10 on Thursday to confirm the nomination of Maureen M. Murphy, a lawyer who played a pivotal role in the legalization of same-sex marriage in Connecticut, to the Superior Court. Murphy’s nomination overcame opposition at her confirmation hearing Wednesday about her role as a court-appointed guardian for an […]
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Mohegans, Pequots and goals for Internet gaming
Washington — When it comes to Internet gambling, the owners of Connecticut’s two tribal casinos agree on some things and disagree on others, differences that will come into sharper focus if Congress takes steps to regulate online betting. Both the Mohegans and the Mashantucket Pequots expect Internet gaming to bring new revenues to their tribe. […]
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When it comes to the Post Office, Southern Connecticut’s loss is Hartford’s gain
To save money and in preparation for a change in the delivery of first class mail, the U.S. Postal Service announced Thursday that it plans to shut down all mail processing centers in southern Connecticut, transferring the work to facilities in Hartford and Springfield, Mass. That did not sit well with Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a […]
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Jackson Lab hires first scientist for Connecticut institute
An American geneticist who works in Singapore and developed techniques for sequencing and mapping DNA is the first scientist to be hired for The Jackson Laboratory’s planned Connecticut institute. Yijun Ruan is currently associate director and senior group leader at the Genome Institute of Singapore and serves as a professor of biochemistry at the National […]
Posted inEducation
‘Retroactively Validating’ the state’s takeover of Bridgeport school board
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is asking lawmakers now to validate the state’s takeover eight months ago of the Bridgeport Board of Education. “This legislation would eliminate any lingering questions and validate that action,” said Andrew McDonald, the administration’s lead counsel. The state Supreme Court heard arguments in October on whether the State Board of Education […]