The stars are aligning for the state’s youngest population. Strong legislation was passed in the 2011 session to coordinate early childhood services for the whole child and family. A massive collaborative effort has gone into the preparation of Connecticut’s Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) application. And, Connecticut has a governor who […]

When Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced plans to commit $291 million in state funds to bring a major bioscience lab to Connecticut, Republican legislative leaders voiced support but said they had a lot of questions. Two weeks later those questions persist, and Malloy acknowledged Thursday he may not get the overwhelming bipartisan support he hoped […]

Chris Shays just laughed when asked to lay out the path he intends to take around, through or over Linda McMahon, the biggest obstacle to the former congressman’s comeback bid for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2012. “That’s the last [expletive] thing I want to talk to you about,” he said, grinning […]

Chocolate and other flavored milk has come under fire from advocates who say it should be removed from school cafeterias. But the beverage has allies among Connecticut officials who cheered when a federal official noted that it was left out of new rules aimed at ensuring students get healthier meals. “That would be a public […]

The Great Recession dragged down more than wages and housing prices: The nation’s birth rate fell sharply as well, Gretchen Livingston reports from the Pew Research Center, and the decline is closely linked to the failing economy. Provisional numbers for 2010 show the number of births in this country fell to just over 4 million, […]

Republican legislators grilled Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s staff and a top executive from Jackson Laboratory on Thursday, pressing for assurances that a planned $1.1 billion genetics research center will create the 7,400 jobs administration officials are anticipating. Republicans, who control a minority of seats in the House and Senate, specifically questioned growth projections tied to […]

State officials are developing plans for Medicaid recipients to be cared for in “medical homes” beginning in January, but they might want to start with a marketing campaign: In focus groups conducted on behalf of the Department of Social Services, many people said they were unfamiliar with the concept–or worse. Upon hearing the term “medical […]

Portland baker Frank Cavaliere offered the least complicated solution to date for fixing Connecticut’s economy during Wednesday’s state legislative forum. “If you really want to help–stop helping,” Cavaliere said. “Every time you pass a piece of legislation, you cost us money.” The 58-year-old small business owner, who was the lead speaker at a two-hour forum […]

Two major state agencies–including the governor’s budget office–shuffled millions of dollars into projects that wouldn’t begin for another 6 to 18 months to avoid having to return the money to the state’s coffers, according to recent audits covering parts of former Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration. The Department of Transportation released half of its $2.8 […]

Eight days after the movement started in Bushnell Park, Occupy Hartford awoke on a damp Thursday morning in a patch of land at Broad Street and Farmington Avenue, their small campground apparently tolerated by police as they continue to protest wealth disparity in the United States. On Wednesday, Hartford police issued a statement saying city […]

He doesn’t text and rarely emails, so LinkedIn probably is out of the question. But with his frequent travels, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy knows how to network. Malloy was one of several governors-elect in Washington last December when he arranged a meeting with Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services. He pitched Sebelius […]