Connecticut’s cities and towns were spared major funding cuts in this year’s state budget–as long as state employees accept a concession deal–but they face the potential of a more fundamental upheaval: an overall assessment of how nearly $2.9 billion in aid is distributed among the 169 municipalities. Legislators and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy agreed just […]

The state Department of Social Services is revising and shortening the notices sent to families of infants in an effort to keep thousands of children from mistakenly losing Medicaid coverage after their first birthday. The department is also trying to ensure that workers are alerted when babies are at risk of losing coverage, DSS officials […]

NEW BRITAIN–Cathy Malloy, Connecticut’s new first lady, spent more than a decade running a rape crisis center, but often, acquaintances get the details wrong. “People introduce me all the time: ‘Here’s Cathy Malloy, the executive director of a domestic violence crisis center,’” she said. “You feel very odd having to say, ‘No, no, it’s sexual […]

With seven GOP presidential candidates on stage for the debate in New Hampshire this week and more high-profile potential entrants in the wings, you may be having trouble keeping track. But what about the other 60 or so Republicans who have officially joined the race? As of mid-week, 156 people had filed paperwork with the […]

The campaign to win ratification of $1.6 billion in concessions and labor savings suffered its first setback Thursday with votes by two AFSCME locals to reject the tentative deal reached a month ago by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and a coalition of state employee unions. AFSCME Local 749, representing about 1600 non-professional Judicial Department employees […]

CROMWELL–After being praised Thursday for expanding municipal aid in the new state budget, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy warned local officials that he might take some of that back should labor unions reject a tentative concession package. Addressing the annual meeting of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, the governor told more than 100 mayors, first selectmen […]

WASHINGTON–When the House Appropriations Committee approved its spending bill for agriculture programs two weeks ago, the measure included a small provision sponsored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro to increase funding for a popular food-assistance program. But DeLauro’s amendment was quietly removed by House Republicans just before the full House began debating the agriculture bill this week. […]

On the heels of a major consolidation, Connecticut’s probate court system will end a year in the black for the first time in six fiscal years later this month, reducing its reliance on the General Fund and returning more than $5 million to the state’s coffers. The turnaround is well-timed as the new state biennial […]

More than half the adult users of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are older than 35, up from a third just two years ago, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. The survey of 2,255 adults over 18 also found that use of social […]

With 29 bargaining units still to vote, state union leaders are five-for-five in winning ratification of the tentative concessions-and-labor savings agreement they negotiated with the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. “It’s early in the process,” said Larry Dorman, a spokesman for the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition. “It’s a positive sign so far.” The […]

As Joette Katz manages the high-profile case of a five-month old Ansonia boy dying under her agency’s supervision, child advocates are waiting to see if the new commissioner of Children and Families has the resolve to avoid the mistakes of some predecessors, who hastily removed children from their homes. “What has happened in the past […]