Facing a major cut in funding for the schools in Bristol, Superintendent Philip Streifer has cut electives, scaled back four-hour kindergarten to two hours, pruned athletics and cut other costs everywhere he can. But his hands are tied to reducing costs to the fastest growing section of his budget — special education. Twenty percent of […]

Chris Donovan’s formal entry into the 5th District congressional race got sidetracked: On the eve of his scheduled announcement last month, the labor concession deal on which the state budget depended was failing, and as leader of the House of Representatives, Donovan had some work ahead of him. “My full-time job is still speaker of […]

Tom Sheridan, the long-serving clerk of the Connecticut Senate, died Monday after a battle with cancer that was measured, as were many things in his career, by legislative sessions. Sheridan, 62, was diagnosed after seeking medical attention the day after the legislative session ended a year ago. It was a struggle, but he served again […]

The continuing controversy over state union concessions brought a significant increase in comments to our website, which we welcomed.  Regrettably, however, too many of those comments were rude, mean-spirited, misleading, and generally disruptive to our goal of promoting civic discourse. To elevate the level of the conversation, we are making changes to our comment policy, […]

As they say, “Everything’s been said and everyone’s said it”: Connecticut’s state workers were nuts to reject the deal offered by Governor Dan Malloy. Indeed, anyone who looked closely at the deal is doubly amazed, because it involved no genuine sacrifice: a two-year wage freeze (no pay cuts or unpaid furlough days) followed by three […]

The stage is set next week for the state employee unions to publicly settle on a path to salvage a $1.6 billion concession package–or resign themselves to more than 6,000 layoffs and spending cuts. SEBAC, the coalition of state employee unions, announced Friday after an all-day meeting that its leaders are confident of presenting Gov. […]

As state government launched a new fiscal year Friday, its chief budget watchdog cautioned against viewing the $85 million surplus left from 2010-11 as anything more than a “mirage” produced by an array of fiscal gimmicks. And Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo also warned that Connecticut still needs “significant budgetary reform to permanently repair” its finances. […]

The state of Connecticut began the new fiscal year Friday with a divided General Assembly approving a measure giving Gov. Dannel P. Malloy only a portion of the additional authority he sought to cut the budget. Called into special session by Malloy after unionized state employees failed to ratify a $1.6 billion concession deal, the […]

WASHINGTON–Freshman Sen. Richard Blumenthal concedes he’s not the “linchpin” to resolving the partisan standoff between Congressional Republicans and the White House over raising the debt ceiling. Nonetheless, Blumenthal said he’s happy to clear his schedule of Connecticut meetings and events next week to stay in Washington, as the Senate cancelled its week-long 4th of July […]

This morning, when state employees stroll into the Italian-style brick and glazed tile 1920 building at 79 Elm Street in Hartford that once housed an insurance company, the bronze sign over the entrance will still read Department of Environmental Protection. The guard at the front desk will do his job no differently than ever, and […]