Malloy backs Esty again

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy today defended his energy and environmental commissioner, Daniel C. Esty, saying that Esty’s acceptance of a $7,500 speaking fee from United Illuminating in 2009 does not disqualify him to over see state energy policy. “I don’t believe there is any conflict of any kind,’ Malloy said of the fee Esty collected […]

WASHINGTON–With his duties on a wartime contracting commission ended, Republican Chris Shays said Tuesday he has hired a campaign manager, signed a lease for his headquarters in Stratford, and even loaned his nascent Senate bid $70,000 to kick things off. In an interview Tuesday, Shays said he was not “intimidated” by his Republican rival Linda […]

A new poll starkly outlines the strength and weakness of former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays, R-4th District, as a U.S. Senate candidate in 2012: He is the Republican with strongest support among independents and Democrats, but GOP primary voters prefer Linda McMahon by at least a 2-1 margin. Public Polling Institute said Tuesday that its […]

After more than a decade of efforts to launch a full-blown advocacy agency for Connecticut’s growing Asian community, organizers finally won a budget allocation this year that would allow them to hire an executive director–only to find themselves barred from spending it. Republican state legislative leaders not only blocked the Asian Pacific American Commission’s request […]

WASHINGTON–Whether despite the political dysfunction in Washington or because of it, Connecticut businesses, universities and non-profits are spending big to aggressively press their legislative priorities in the nation’s capital this year. More than 100 Connecticut companies and other organizations currently have lobbyists in Washington, pushing Congress and the Executive Branch for a wide range of […]

No sooner had the U.S. agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 than conventional wisdom held that the goal was unattainable, Brad Plumer writes at the Washington Posts’s Wonkblog. But a new analysis–by a climate change adviser for Shell, no less–says the nation might actually meet that target, helped […]

The state has been Mufasa Abdulbasil’s guardian for nearly 10 years, seeing to his needs for everything from food and shelter to clothes for school. But unless he goes to college when he turns 18–something he’s not sure about now–he’ll be on his own. “It’s really scary to think about,” said the 16-year old foster […]

The recall today of 56 state troopers laid off during the summer’s bitter fight over wage-and-benefit concessions suddenly has their union and the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy singing the same happy tune. “Today is a very happy day,” Reuben F. Bradford, the commissioner the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, said as […]

Gateway Community College in New Haven had great expectations for the inaugural term of its Center for a Sustainable Future, with 10 continuing education courses from hands-on solar training in a brand-new lab to certification as a sustainable building adviser. But so far, only two of the courses have enough people enrolled to make them […]

Helping to care for her 94-year-old mother, Shelley Dietz noticed a problem, one with implications for much of the health care system. Dietz’s mother has heart failure, a condition that requires patients to drastically limit their salt intake and weigh themselves regularly. But when she stayed in a nursing home, Dietz’s mother got salty food, […]

Battered by the recent recession, millions of Americans “enacted their own anti-poverty program” by moving in with relatives, resulting in the largest increase in multi-generation households in modern history, a new Pew Resarch Center analysis of U.S. Census data says. The number of Americans living in multi-generation households has been growing steadily since 1980, driven […]