WASHINGTON–At first blush, the efforts by Connecticut’s congressional delegation to get the Coltsville Historic District designated as a national park look as quixotic as ever. As in past years, they’ve introduced the proposal in Congress, but it’s on a slow legislative track, with numerous obstacles in its path. But supporters say the political stars may […]

Every June, Melissa Pandolfi heads to New Haven for what she calls “a physical, times 12.” She gets blood work, an electrocardiogram, bone scan, bone density scan, and chest X-ray, along with a document detailing her health risks and treatment history. “I look forward to going back, as much as I hate being pricked with […]

While there is growing sentiment at the Capitol that excessive regulations are slowing job growth here, there’s no evidence that Connecticut’s rules governing environmental protection are one of the culprits, according to the state’s chief environmental watchdog. But Karl Wagener, executive director of the state Council on Environmental Quality for the last 26 years, did […]

Times are tough for state and local governments, and their overall employment level is down nearly half a million in the last three years, according to Stateline.org. But government employment actually has increased in some states. At opposite ends of the spectrum are Wyoming, where the government workforce grew by 11.3 percent, and Nevada, which […]

The state Department of Children and Families has reversed a year-long decline in the number of foster homes available for abused and neglected children in its custody, the latest report by a federal court monitor says, but the increase has been slight, and leaves the agency well short of the court-mandated goal. The quarterly progress […]

After leading the effort to rebuild post 9/11 New York City and later heading economic development projects in Newark, N.J., Stefan Pryor now faces the challenge of overseeing Connecticut’s public schools. The state’s new education commissioner sat down recently with reporters from The Mirror to talk about teacher evaluation, school finance, charter schools, fixing low-performing […]

Connecticut needs to make significant changes in a wide range of areas–including education, transportation, export strategy, regulatory systems and its very business base–if it hopes to break a growing cycle of jobless recoveries, a panel of economic experts said Thursday. “You have every reason to expect success,” Harvard Business School Professor Michael E. Porter told […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy opened an economic summit in Hartford today by promising a standing-room audience of business executives, union leaders, educators and public officials that Connecticut is poised to reinvent itself and its business climate. After months of touring companies and pitching his administration as business friendly, the first Democratic governor in 20 years […]

On the question of whether his old consulting business poses a conflict with his new public role as a state commissioner, Daniel C. Esty has the governor and the state ethics code on his side. But will it be enough? To function as the state’s first commissioner of energy and environmental protection, Esty acknowledged Wednesday […]