Sen. Joe Markley, the ranking Republican on the Human Services Committee, has asked state auditors to investigate claims of fraud involving benefits distributed by the state Department of Social Services this month to make up for losses incurred in Tropical Storm Irene. In a letter to the auditors, Markley questioned how eligibility for the benefits […]
Markley calls for investigation into DSS post-Irene benefits
Posted inMoney
Elections watchdog loses its director to retirement
The executive director of the State Elections Enforcement Commission for the past two years, Albert P. Lenge, retired Friday. Lenge, who is part of a wave of retirements across state government sparked by imminent changes in benefits ordered through the union concession agreement, had served in state government for 28 years. “Al Lenge has done […]
Posted inNews
Perry is cliché king in GOP presidential field
Rick Perry and Mitt Romney may be close in polls when it comes to the Republican presidential nomination for 2012, but the Texas governor has no challenger when it comes to trotting out clichés in debates, Eric Ostermeier says at Smart Politics. In three September primaries–one in California and two in Florida–Perry racked up 33 […]
Posted inNews
House GOP boosts federal heating fund
WASHINGTON–House Republicans released a spending proposal Thursday that would provide about $3.4 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program–a significant cut from the current funding level, but probably enough to cover the Connecticut heat aid program approved by three legislative committees this week. The House GOP plan, which has yet to win committee […]
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Audit: DSS gave benefits to dead people
The state Department of Social Services continued to pay cash benefits to clients after they died and failed to adequately review client eligibility for another cash assistance program, according to a report by state auditors released Thursday. The audit covered the 2008 and 2009 fiscal years and included 21 recommendations, 12 of which were made […]
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Thousands of non-union workers to receive longevity bonuses
While most veteran unionized employees are forfeiting their longevity pay as part of the labor concession deal, thousands of non-union workers, including several top officials in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration, will share millions of dollars in seniority bonuses next month. The Department of Administrative Services declined Thursday to release a preliminary list of staff […]
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Congress averts another crisis, and lurches toward the next
WASHINGTON–Lawmakers will limp back to Washington next week, bruised by another barely-averted government shutdown crisis and battered by sinking public approval ratings. But while many lawmakers agree that the latest fiscal fight was “embarrassing,” as one senator put it, it’s not clear this Congress can find any other way of doing business. The most recent […]
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Malloy approval ratings remain low
Only 36 percent of state voters approve of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s job performance, a new poll says, and 52 percent would vote for his 2010 Republican rival, Tom Foley, if they had it to do over again. The Malloy approval ratings reported by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic company, were even lower than the […]
Posted inHealth, Money
Malloy to announce major collaboration with genetics firm Friday
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and officials from the genetics research firm Jackson Laboratory will announce a “major collaboration” in bioscience Friday morning, according to Malloy’s office. On Wednesday, former UConn President Philip E. Austin, who serves as the university’s interim vice president for health affairs, said that a “major scientific group” will be relocating to […]
Posted inHealth
Community Health Network selected for Medicaid ASO
The Department of Social Services has selected Community Health Network of Connecticut Inc. to negotiate a contract to administer Medicaid and the state’s other public health care programs, which serve nearly 600,000 people. The Wallingford-based nonprofit currently serves as one of three managed care companies that administer the HUSKY program for mostly low-income children and […]
Posted inMoney, Politics
The Chrises set to be at same hearing next week, on opposite sides of dais
Connecticut’s U.S. Senate election isn’t for another year or so, but two of the candidates for that seat will have a chance to face off next week. Well, sort of. Ex-Rep. Chris Shays will once again be testifying before Congress on Tuesday about the findings of the Commission on Wartime Contracting, which Shays co-chaired. The […]
Posted inNews
Poverty leaps among Latino children
The spread of poverty across the United States beginning with the recent recession hit Latino children particularly hard, a new report from the Pew Hispanic Center says. Its analysis of 2010 U.S. Census data concludes that 6.1 young Hispanics are living in poverty–more than any other racial or ethnic group. The report says the increase […]
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Jobseekers, your host today will be Senator Blumenthal
EAST HARTFORD–It is a sign of the times, the newest wrinkle in congressional constituent services, the latest angle on the only issue that matters today: Sen. Richard Blumenthal, whose own employment is assured through 2016, staged a job fair Wednesday. With the passage of jobs legislation unlikely, Blumenthal is joining the small number of members […]
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DCF social workers ask Malloy for their jobs back
Although the drawn-out union concession process has been over for weeks, lingering labor issues remain–including the case of a group of social workers from the Department of Children and Families who rallied Wednesday asking that their layoffs be rescinded. “I know the state is not legally required to hire us back, but I also know […]
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UConn decides against second tuition hike
When officials at the University of Connecticut decided earlier this year to approve the smallest tuition increase in a decade and instead cut their budget by almost $30 million, they did so with a big caveat: They might be forced to come back after the start of the school year and increase tuition. UConn CFO Richard Gray […]