First the good news. The chances of a Connecticut student succeeding when they leave high school are among the best in the nation, and the state spends more for each student than almost every other state after factoring in the region’s higher cost of living, according to a national report card released Thursday by Education […]
Education Week grades the Nutmeg state
Posted inEducation
Foley’s back (sort of)
Tom Foley’s back, and the public policy group he formed after losing a close gubernatorial race is focusing on jobs and education. Foley’s Connecticut Policy Institute — which is described as a nonpartisan think tank — in the last two days has asserted it wants to be a part of the discussion as Gov. Dannel […]
Posted inNews
Pension fund gets a boost from concessions — and rebounding stock market
A new report shows that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy got the budget savings he was hoping for from state employee pension concessions — albeit with an assist from a rebounding Wall Street. A preliminary analysis from pension fund actuaries released Thursday shows that Connecticut should contribute $926 million to the fund this fiscal year — […]
Posted inNews
Murphy reaches $3.5 million in fundraising for U.S. Senate
In a bid to establish himself as the Democratic frontrunner, Chris Murphy today reported raising $720,000 for his U.S. Senate campaign in the last quarter of 2011, giving him a total of $3.5 million since entering the race early last year. Murphy, a three-term congressman trying to be seen in Connecticut and Washington as as […]
Posted inNews
Former Middletown mayor to oversee elections enforcement
For the first time, the state’s elections watchdog agency has chosen a politician and an outsider to lead its operations, tapping Sebastian N. Giuliano, a Republican fresh off a losing re-election campaign for mayor of Middletown. His appointment will not be formally approved by the State Elections Enforcement Commission until Jan. 18, but all five […]
Posted inMoney
At 4:03 p.m. on a Thursday, DECD ‘launches broad new marketing initiative’
Yes, the state does need marketing help. A two-year, $22 million marketing campaign to establish a “brand” for Connecticut is something important to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, but the Department of Economic and Community Development chose to “launch” the effort with a late-in-the-day email blast to reporters today. The campaign will led by Chowder Inc., a New […]
Posted inPolitics
Going to the dogs
Sen. Richard Blumenthal has come to the aid of heroic pooches. At a Thursday news conference in Hartford, Blumenthal, a Democrat, rolled out a bill that would cut the red tape involved in adopting a military dog. These dogs are regarded by the Pentagon as “equipment,” requiring potential adopters to bear the cost of transporting […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Health
Of caps and emissions and a program named Reggie
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — the first-and-only-in-the-nation carbon dioxide trading and reduction program — has reached its first three-year compliance and evaluation cycle with mixed results. Total emissions from more than 200 plants in the 10 participating Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states were 34 percent below the cap at the end of 2011, according to preliminary calculations by […]
Posted inMoney
Malloy names new task force to assess state’s business tax breaks
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy created a new task force Thursday to determine whether Connecticut is getting the best possible return on its tax breaks for businesses. Malloy issued an executive order to create the Governors’ Business Tax Policy Review Task Force, a nine-member panel that must report its findings to the administration by October. “Over […]
Posted inHealth, Money
Legislators sign on to health reform brief for Supreme Court
Forty-three Connecticut legislators have signed on to expressed their support for the federal health reform law through an amicus brief being filed on behalf of state legislators across the country. The legislators’ effort, organized by the Progressive States Network and the Working Group of State Legislators for Health Reform, is targeted at a challenge to […]
Posted inPolitics
UConn political scientist Howard Reiter dies
Howard Reiter, a UConn political scientist often quoted by journalists writing about elections, died Jan. 10 at his home after a long illness. He was 66. The university announced his death today. “Howard was the model of what a scholar-teacher should be,” said Mark Boyer, head of the UConn political science department. “He was a superlative […]
Posted inNews
Malloy backs performance standards, and penalties, for utilities
Simsbury — Writing new utility standards into law, complete with penalties for poor performance, topped a list of initiatives Gov. Dannel P. Malloy unveiled Wednesday to enhance Connecticut’s readiness for future weather-related crises. The governor, whose Two Storm Panel outlined its own proposals earlier this week, also endorsed enhanced tree-trimming and related measures to better […]
Posted inNews
Malloy frames education reforms as human rights issue
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy promised today in a wide-ranging radio interview that his planned education reforms would be “the most far-reaching in our state’s history,” a bold assertion certain to raise expectations about how he intends to improve troubled districts in an era of tight finances. In a one-hour interview on WNPR’s “Where We Live” […]
Posted inNews
UConn Health Center says professor falsified data
A three-year investigation has determined that a tenured UConn Health Center professor who studied the benefits of a substance found in red wine fabricated and falsified data, the health center announced Wednesday. The university has started dismissal proceedings against Dipak K. Das, director of the Cardiovascular Research Center and a professor in the department of […]
Posted inNews
Gas stations at risk as state faces deadline to salvage anti-pollution program
State government is facing a deadline this spring to resolve an $80 million backlog in a fuel cleanup program — or risk hundreds of gasoline stations going out of business. But a state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection spokesman said the department already is mobilizing industry representatives, state legislators and the U.S. Environmental Protection […]