While social media such as Facebook and Twitter have been blamed for contributing to teen ills from narcissism to cyberbullying, a new study by the Knight Foundation says they also raise students’ appreciation for the First Amendment and its guarantee of free speech rights. As the use of social media has expanded, the percentage of […]

The new state panel charged with ensuring fairness in Connecticut’s education financing system hit its first quandary Thursday: How do you fix the program when decades of political compromises and nearly $3.8 billion in under-funding have left virtually all communities–rich and poor alike–feeling short-changed? In its first detailed briefing on state education financing, the Education […]

MASHANTUCKET–In the midst of a jobs tour calculated to convince business he is their ally and advocate, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy stressed his common cause with labor today at the annual convention of the Connecticut AFL-CIO. Malloy, the first Democratic governor in 20 years, acknowledged obvious tensions with labor since he exacted a labor-savings agreement […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s energetic performance during Tropical Storm Irene got great reviews, but it did not lift his anemic approval rating, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Seventy-nine percent of voters approved how Malloy oversaw the state’s response to a storm that knocked out power to more than half the state, and […]

WATERBURY–James H. Gatling took no pleasure in describing his corporation, New Opportunities Inc., with a workforce of 550, as one of the region’s largest employers. New Opportunities is a non-profit provider of social services, and Gatling told two visiting legislative leaders Wednesday that its status as a major employer is all they need to know […]

Connecticut farmers who suffered crop damage from tropical storm Irene may be one step clpser to potentially getting federal assistance to help cover their losses. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Thursday sent documentation of crop damage to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack along with a letter requesting a secretarial designation. Such a designation would release […]

At the urging of their “intimidating and vindictive” principal, teachers at a Waterbury elementary school coached students to change incorrect answers on the Connecticut Mastery Test last spring, a state investigation of alleged cheating has found. The investigation also concluded that educators at the Hopeville School violated test security procedures, received unauthorized copies of test […]

Forecasting a drop of more than $68 million in federal funds to help low-income residents heat their homes, the Malloy administration has proposed limiting assistance to people who buy fuel from dealers, leaving more than 80,000 households with electric or gas heat without the aid. The administration’s plan notes that state law protects low-income residents […]

The head of the state’s largest teachers’ union issued a call Wednesday to “upgrade the status” of Connecticut educators and address slipping wages and benefits–a call greeted with some skepticism by state and municipal leaders grappling with long-term budget problems. After acknowledging some of the problems facing the state education system–including a wide achievement gap […]

Attorney General George Jepsen Wednesday announced the creation of a task force to investigate Internet privacy and data breaches while educating the public and businesses about data protection, an issue he said his office deals with on a monthly basis. “If you asked me a year ago where Internet privacy considerations rank in my office […]

Connecticut could reverse most of its small business losses from the decade just prior to the last recession by easing the burdens that make it one of the most regulated states in the nation, according to the University of Connecticut’s new latest quarterly economic journal released today. The fall issue of The Connecticut Economy, released […]