An AFSCME local representing correction officers rejected the concession deal in voting tallied today, formalizing what has been apparent for days: the unions’ tentative agreement with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for $1.6 billion in savings over two years is dead. Malloy said he will ask the legislature in a special session Thursday to authorize him […]
Labor deal rejected; Malloy wants authority to cut budget himself
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Greenhouse gas compact challenged by changing energy landscape
Supporters of the 2½-year-old Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative like to remind those who would criticize, if not outright kill, this first-in-the-nation carbon dioxide trading and reduction program of two things. First, the idea for it came from a Republican, former New York Gov. George Pataki. And second, it was modeled on a federal program to […]
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Gay marriage vote in NY draws electoral threat from Connecticut conservative
An old nemesis of gay rights advocates in Connecticut now has a national platform, and Brian Brown is using it to threaten four Republican state senators in New York whose votes were pivotal in passing a gay marriage law Friday night on a 33-29 vote. Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged passage. “The Republican party has torn […]
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There is one more thing…
No decent obituary of Peter Falk, who died Thursday night in California, is complete without this tidbit: the actor started his working life as an efficiency expert for the Connecticut state budget bureau.
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Delegation divided over Libya funding, authorization
Connecticut’s all-Democratic U.S. House delegation split in this afternoon’s vote on whether to authorize the American military campaign in Libya. Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Joe Courtney, of the 2nd and 3rd districts respectively, both supported a resolution Friday to authorize the “limited” use of American armed forces to support the NATO mission in Libya. Reps. […]
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Facing uncertainty in state funding, UConn cuts its budget
Faced with continued uncertainty over its funding from the state, the University of Connecticut Thursday approved a $30 million reduction in its budget for next year–the first cut in more than two decades. School officials had initially proposed maintaining next year’s budget at the current level of $1.04 billion, but decided on the cut shortly […]
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Malloy: Layoffs will be ‘large scale’ and quick
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said today he will outline spending reductions and mass layoffs next week in response to the apparent collapse of his $1.6 billion concessions deal with state employees. A special session of the legislature has been called for June 30 to approve a revised budget that Malloy says will be ready Monday. […]
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First report card on DCF under Katz: Potential, but little progress
The new leader of the agency responsible for the care of abused and neglected children in Connecticut has received her first report card, and it says that while the problems that have kept the troubled agency under federal court supervision for 20 years persist, there is reason to believe things may change. “It is acknowledged […]
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Special session called for Thursday
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called a special session for Thursday at 10 a.m. to deal with the budget revisions. His statement: “It was always my hope that the SEBAC Agreement would be ratified and we could move forward with the process of getting our state’s fiscal house in order and creating new jobs,” said Governor […]
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Lieberman, Rubio criticize planned House vote to nix funding for Libya
Sen. Joseph Lieberman is warning his congressional colleagues-Democrats and Republicans alike-against efforts to nix the U.S. military campaign in Libya. Lieberman teamed up with Marco Rubio, a Tea Party conservative from Florida, to pen an oped in this morning’s Wall Street Journal. The piece argues that the U.S. has an “unequivocal national interest in ensuring […]
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Researchers warn of marine species extinction
A new report by an international panel of marine experts says the health of the world’s oceans is deteriorating to the point that we are “at high risk for entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.” And while warnings of impending ecological disaster abound, this one is particularly worrisome because […]
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Prospects unclear for town aid, social services if labor deal fails
For the past five months, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has put a scare in municipal governments and social service providers, warning they could well face deep cuts in aid if unionized state employees refuse concessions. But while those threats may have been effective at mobilizing advocates for these groups to press state workers for givebacks, […]
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Droney gets a brief and cordial hearing on appeals court nomination
WASHINGTON–The Senate Judiciary Committee gave Connecticut’s Christopher Droney a light and breezy 15-minute quizzing at his confirmation hearing Wednesday, with no hard-ball or hostile questions for the appeals court nominee. The top Republican on the panel, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, asked Droney a half-dozen questions, querying him about a colorful quote he gave to […]
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As concessions face defeat, unions and administration react cautiously
On the eve of a vote by AFSCME that is expected to kill a tentative union concession plan, a top adviser to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the administration might be open to a new vote by the bargaining units that voted it down, but it won’t offer new terms. Union spokesmen called the question […]
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With givebacks in doubt, Malloy and legislators face new fiscal gap
The apparent rejection of a concessions deal by state employees leaves Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the General Assembly with a sizable hole in the budget for the year that begins in just over a week. The question is, how much do they have to make up? It’s not the $700 million that the labor […]