The SustiNet Health Care Cabinet, an advisory board created as part of a compromise on the proposed SustiNet state-run health plan, will hold its first meeting Monday. The cabinet will be led by Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman and includes 16 members appointed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, legislative leaders and the board that developed the […]
SustiNet cabinet starts work Monday
Posted inMoney, Politics
Bysiewicz loses top fundraiser, campaign set to announce successor
Susan Bysiewicz’s campaign is losing its top fundraiser, Josh Handelman, who has helped the former secretary of the state rake in more than $1 million since announcing her U.S. Senate bid in January. Campaign manager Jonathan Ducote said that Handelman “decided to seek other opportunities,” but is leaving the campaign with a strong foundation in […]
Posted inNews
States could get $100 billion from Obama jobs plan
Although no firm figures have been released, information from the White House indicates states could receive $100 billion or more from the $447-billion job creation plan announced by President Barack Obama Thursday night, John Gramlich reports at Stateline.org. Included in that estimate is $18 billion in direct aid to states for school modernization and construction; […]
Posted inNews
Obama jobs plan has something for most in state delegation
WASHINGTON–No one was surprised. No one was blown away. But there was something for everyone to like in the $447 billion jobs package President Barack Obama laid out Thursday night–at least for most lawmakers in the heavily-Democratic Connecticut delegation. “I would describe it as solid,” said Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, who praised the president’s […]
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Larson urges super-committee action on jobs
WASHINGTON–As the super committee on debt-reduction got underway today with its first meeting, Rep. John Larson ramped up his campaign to expand the panel’s charter. Larson wants to add job-creation to the super committee’s debt-reduction mandate, or create a parallel “super committee on jobs.” He has pitched the idea to each member of the debt-reduction […]
Posted inNews
Business warily waits for the special session on jobs
ROCKY HILL–Gov. Dannel P. Malloy offered an optimistic take in Hartford on the struggling construction industry Thursday, but the outlook for the broader state economy was mixed, at best, at an annual business conference a few miles away. The 10th annual survey of businesses by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association found hiring and profits […]
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With his administration complete, Malloy feels ‘liberated’
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy reached a milestone this week: With another in a series of “outside-the-box” appointments–an education commissioner from outside the ranks of educators–his administration essentially is complete. And after a series of crises, ranging from tackling the nation’s worst per-capita deficit on day one to the natural disaster of Tropical Storm Irene last […]
Posted inNews
Health care costs eating into families’ disposable income
A typical American family saw its income grow by $23,000 between 1999 and 2009, but the rising cost of health care gobbled up so much of the increase that the family was left with just $95 a month in additional spending money after inflation, according to a study published this month in the journal Health […]
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White House puts out a statement from Malloy
Think the White House is trying to amplify the president’s jobs speech? It put out a one-paragraph statement tonight from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy praising the speech, not exactly SOP from the White House. The statement quantifies one impact of President Obama’s plan in Connecticut: an extension of unemployment benefits to nearly 80,000 residents who […]
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Nelson Brown, a one-term speaker and perennial honest broker
Nelson Brown, a speaker of the Connecticut House in the late 1950s and the trusted tie-breaker on legislative redistricting plans in 1991 and 2001, died early Thursday at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital. He was 89. As a genial and popular figure at the state Capitol, where he lobbied on freedom of information issues, it was […]
Posted inHealth
4th Circuit appeals court rejects Virginia, Liberty University challenges to health law
The Virginia case, brought by state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, was considered one of the highest profile health law challenges to the health law. In its opinion, issued today, the appellate court ruled that the state does not have standing to challenge the law’s individual mandate because it lacks “a personal stake.” It also concluded that Liberty University’s challenge […]
Posted inHealth
Connecticut’s long-term care system ranked 11th in U.S.
Connecticut’s long-term services and supports for seniors and people with disabilities ranked 11th in the nation in a scorecard of states released Thursday by The Commonwealth Fund and The SCAN Foundation. Connecticut led the nation in limiting staff turnover in nursing homes; the state’s 18.7 percent turnover rate less than half the median rate of […]
Posted inHealth
Did your doctor get drug company money?
Promoting pharmaceuticals is a big-money business, and reporters at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning independent newsroom devoted to investigative journalism in the public interest, have been tracking the cash flow. This week, ProPublica’s Charles Ornstein, Tracy Weber and Dan Nguyen reported that eight drug companies spent more than $220 million on promotional speakers for their products […]
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Education reform group presents proposals to state board
A group of business and philanthropic leaders presented their education reform proposals to the state Board of Education Wednesday, pitching changes to teacher certification requirements, preparation programs and evaluations to help close Connecticut’s dramatic achievement gap. Members of the Connecticut Council on Education Reform said they considered the timing appropriate, coming as Gov. Dannel P. […]
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New education commissioner tackles a different challenge
After helping rebuild Lower Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks and heading economic development efforts in Newark, N.J., a confident Stefan Pryor came to Connecticut Wednesday to tackle another daunting challenge. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy introduced Pryor as the man to lead the effort to close the state’s worst-in-the-nation public school achievement gap separating the poor […]