Hartford school officials refused Monday to end an advertising campaign that has spurred protests from civil rights groups who contend it undermines a key strategy for desegregating the city’s schools. A coalition of groups supporting a court order in the Sheff vs. O’Neill desegregation case asked the school system to cease a campaign that discourages […]

Maria Madera doesn’t know what she’s going to do on July 16 when her weekly unemployment checks stop. “They’re done,” said the single mother who was laid off from an insurance company almost two years ago. Madera is studying for an associate’s degree in social services at Capital Community College; she’ll have another semester to […]

The first time Mike Walsh, East Hartford’s director of finance, heard the words “performance contract,” his response was, “What’s that?” He certainly found out. “They are a pain in the butt,” he said. And he loves them. “Simply put,” Walsh said “you take money otherwise put into energy use and put it into upgrading.” But […]

WASHINGTON–Christie Hager had a perch in the ultimate ivory tower last spring, teaching public health at Harvard University after a grueling, exciting stint at the center of Massachusetts’s health care reform debate. But one month after President Barack Obama signed the sweeping federal health reform bill, modeled in part after the Massachusetts law, Hager was […]

A wristwatch in Connecticut is considered clothing, not jewelry, in the budget bill being debated in the Senate. Why does it matter? By calling a watch clothing, the 7 percent luxury tax kicks in at $1,000 — not the $5,000 threshold for jewelry. The luxury tax is applied at clothing that costs more than $1,000, […]

As newsrooms across the country have been shrinking, the public relations industry has boomed, John Sullivan reports at Pro Publica. In a story co-published with the Columbia Journalism Review, Sullivan says the number of newspaper reporters and editors has fallen from a high of 56,900 in 1990 to 41,600 this year. Newspaper advertising revenue declined […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic legislative leaders have agreed on a revised budget that will forgo a gasoline tax increase sought by Malloy, clearing the way for Senate and House votes on Monday and Tuesday, top legislators said Sunday. The revised plan also makes clear that the legislature will return to implement any concessions […]

Ted Kennedy Jr. drank in the applause of a labor crowd Sunday in Hartford’s Bushnell Park after a speech that made him sound like a Democrat who is keeping his options open for a campaign some day – but not in 2012. Ted Kennedy Jr. “I am here today to honor you and to thank […]

Jack Fowler of Milford, the publisher of the National Review, is urging Republicans in the state Senate to stall next week’s expected budget vote by preparing a boatload of amendments (minimum of 200), demanding a roll call vote on each, and, for good measure, refusing to waive the reading. That means requiring the clerk to […]

Online voting is an appealing option to speed voting for military and overseas voters. Yet it is actually “Democracy Theater”, providing an expensive, risky illusion of supporting our troops. Technologists warn of the unsolved technical challenges, while experience shows that the risks are tangible and pervasive. There are safer, less expensive solutions available. This year, […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy got some good fiscal news late Friday that may complicate his budget and labor negotiations: The current-year surplus is growing by $300 million, and the revenue estimates for the next fiscal year are up by $282 million. The improving revenue numbers give Malloy more flexibility in balancing the budget for fiscal […]

Oh, the state Capitol loves its mysteries. Try this one: Who wrote a provision in the newly revised budget that shifts control over the public financing of campaigns from the non-partisan State Elections Enforcement Commission to a partisan elected official, the secretary of the state? Not us, says the governor’s staff. Or us, says the […]