The General Assembly is staggering toward the final weekend of the 2011 legislative session with unfinished business that includes the nation’s first state mandate on private companies to offer paid sick days. Debate began this afternoon. Ten days after the Senate passed the bill by a single vote, the House of Representatives today opened today […]

SB1 – the massive omnibus energy bill that establishes Connecticut’s first energy department in three decades, creates new energy programs, alters old ones, sets ambitious policy goals and overhauls parts of the energy business – is headed for a vote in the Senate as early as today, even as its final details are unresolved. “It’s […]

Yowza, yowza, yowza. The House GOP is considering talking and rocking around the clock on the paid sick days bill. The question is how many times around the clock? Debate got under way at 3:41 p.m. Rep. Arthur O’Neill, R-Southbury, says the GOP minority has been told to be ready for at least a 24-hour […]

Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman has written to state employees, trying to knock down a rumor that the concessions deal is setting them up to be forced into a non-existence SustiNet insurance program. Dear Fellow State Employee: Whether an employee chooses to support or oppose the pending SEBAC agreement is an individual decision, but it should […]

With two notable exceptions, the Connecticut delegation voted against twin resolutions critical of the U.S. military involvement in Libya. After an impassioned House debate Friday about the U.S. role in that conflict, the House approved a resolution stating that President Barack Obama had “failed to provide Congress with a compelling rationale” for the U.S. military […]

The House of Representatives voted 127 to 20 Thursday night for a bill that will allow law enforcement authorities to take DNA samples from convicted felons who are arrested for a subsequent felony. Opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the bill was narrowed from an original version that would have required DNA samples of […]

After failing last year to address a backlogged system for processing state employee complaints of corruption and waste, the General Assembly adopted a bill this week granting state auditors broad discretion to reject complaints while expanding whistleblowers’ protections. The measure, which now heads to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s desk, also prohibits agencies and state contractors […]

With health care costs fast outpacing company earnings and workers’ wages, Michelin North America assigned a team to find a new way to handle its health benefits. The result was a plan that gave workers a greater stake in taking care of their health and paid them for taking risk assessments and addressing problems the […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy sent a pointed message to unionized state employees Thursday, warning that a failure to ratify a tentative agreement for labor savings would lead to thousands more than his previously threatened layoffs, reaching senior employees. “We’re talking about a dramatic reshaping of state government with thousands more than 4,700 employees losing their […]

After tackling a $3 billion-plus state budget deficit and negotiating a tentative deal for unprecedented labor concessions, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy now faces a new fiscal challenge: the constitutional spending cap. The Democratic governor, whose original budget plan for next fiscal year fell a comfortable $406 million under the limit, now is expected to enter his first […]

The food pyramid is out, and a new dinner plate is in. In Washington today, First Lady Michelle Obama and other top officials unveiled the government’s new food icon, called “MyPlate,” to help Americans make healthier eating decisions. MyPlate (below) emphasizes that half of each meal should be fruits and vegetables. It replaces the more […]

As college graduates facing barren job markets, many are wondering if getting a degree was worth the time and effort, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa write in the Los Angeles Times. And in fact, many come away with “only limited improvement in the skills necessary to be successful in today’s knowledge-based economy.” Arum and Roksa, […]