WASHINGTON–After essentially deferring hard decisions on budget cuts, Congress went on vacation this week without resolving an impasse over reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration–a move that is costing the government millions in lost taxes, keeping thousands of workers off their jobs, and leaving a small Connecticut airport waiting for a safety upgrade and runway […]
Political paralysis in Washington grounds work at state airport
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Clarified concession deal puts retiree health care funds in lock box
State employees have never warmed to the idea of having to contribute a portion of their pay to help fund their retirement health care, and one of the arguments they make against it is the history of special accounts’ being used as a piggybank by legislators and governors when money is tight. But while all […]
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ConnCAN’s Johnston leaving divided opinions as he moves on
Six years after launching what’s become the highest-profile education reform group in the state, ConnCAN’s controversial leader is moving on–and leaving Connecticut’s education system pretty much the way he found it. “We have not kept up the reforms other states are doing,” Alex Johnston said in an interview at his New Haven office. “We have […]
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House members part ways with party rank-and-file on debt-ceiling bill
Americans who identify themselves as Democrats strongly support the debt-ceiling bill, which was opposed by half the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, while Republicans overwhelmingly oppose the measure backed by most GOP Congressmen, a new Gallup poll says. The poll finds that 58 percent of Democrats approve of the measure, with 28 percent […]
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Health Center NICU transfer gets green light
Plans to transfer operation of the neonatal intensive care unit from UConn’s John Dempsey Hospital to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center received final approval this week, clearing the way forward for a key piece of the $864 million plan to expand and renovate the UConn Health Center. After the transfer, which is expected to take place […]
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An in-depth discussion of the legal challenges to health reform
Need a primer on the web of legal challenges to the health reform law? SCOTUSblog will be hosting an online symposium for the next two weeks on the Affordable Care Act and the high court, if and when the Supreme Court will examine the law, what the legal questions will be, and how the justices […]
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New data on HIV infections suggests troubling trend
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that while the overall number of people who are infected with HIV each year is relatively steady – approximately 50,000 new infections each year – there was a 48 percent increase in the number of young HIV-infected African American men who have sex with […]
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Last-minute agreement saves fall sports at state vo-tech schools
A last-minute reprieve has saved fall sports for more than 1,500 students at the state’s vocational-technical high schools, Acting Education Commissioner George Coleman announced late Wednesday, but the move will require the State Department of Education to identify budget cuts elsewhere. “Gov. Malloy and the Office of Policy and Management have worked with [the SDE] to […]
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Education chief calls for tougher penalties on test cheating
Educators who cheat to improve their schools’ test scores should be subject to financial penalties, the state’s top education official said Wednesday as the state began an investigation of alleged cheating at a Waterbury school. State Education Commissioner George Coleman said he plans to propose toughening the state’s anti-cheating laws by making teachers or principals […]
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Study finds Connecticut’s business tax burden is lightest in the nation
Despite its reputation as an expensive place to do business, Connecticut’s state and local governments imposed the smallest tax burden last year of any state when compared with its economic output, according to a new study released by a trade group for major corporations. The survey prepared for the Council on State Taxation found that […]
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The hottest ticket in Washington: A seat on the ‘super committee’
WASHINGTON–It’s the hottest new club in Washington, even if the name isn’t very snazzy: the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. That’s the 12-member congressional panel created under the debt ceiling agreement that just passed Congress, hours before a possible U.S. default. It’s already been dubbed a “super committee,” and it will wield enormous power. […]
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Report: Most state communities are off-limits to middle-income families
Families earning the state’s median income can’t afford a median-priced home in two-thirds of Connecticut’s cities and towns, according to a report released today by the Partnership for Strong Communities. Although the number of communities deemed “unaffordable”–112 of 169–remained the same from 2009 to 2010, that fact conceals a negative trend: While median home sales […]
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Three AFT chapters ratify concession deal
Three American Federation of Teachers chapters that represent 2,800 teachers at the state’s vocational-technical high schools, technical colleges and professionals at the University of Connecticut have ratified the tentative concession deal. The governing councils at these three chapters voted to ratify the deal without another vote by rank-and-file members. Jan Hochadel, head of the State […]
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State pink slip count drops slightly due to new retirements
Though nearly 3,000 state employees still have received layoff notices, the number targeted to lose their jobs shrank slightly over the last week as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration begins the complicated “bumping” process of reassigning workers based both on seniority and skills. According to the latest weekly update from the governor’s office, the pink […]
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Energy assistance for families needs to be preserved
On a sunny summer day, it’s easy to forget that winter is just around the corner. That’s no problem for some, as the thought of winter conjures up happy memories of family gatherings, snowmen, and hot cocoa. But for more than 300,000 families throughout Connecticut, winter is a time of desperation and danger, because they can’t […]