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 […]

The State Bond Commission approved spending $89.7 million to construct the long-planned Hartford-to-New Britain busway, despite bipartisan complaints that it should be reconsidered by the General Assembly because of cost increases. “It’s ridiculous. I don’t think it’s a good project and it sucks the air out of so many other worthy transportation projects,” said Sen. Eileen […]

Amid signs that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget deal with the legislature is starting to wobble over objections by House Democrats, his administration took another step today to convey a sense of urgency by broadening a previously announced hiring freeze to cover all positions. One of the key parties to the budget agreement announced last […]

Hartford educators say an ad campaign discouraging parents from sending their children to suburban schools reflects success of the city’s education reforms, but a lawyer for plaintiffs in the Sheff vs. O’Neill desegregation case says it threatens to undermine a court-ordered plan to reduce the racial isolation of city students. Hartford Public School officials launched […]

After seeing Democratic candidates battered in 2010 by Republican groups that raised money from anonymous donors, supporters of President Barack Obama are forming similar organizations in preparation for his 2012 re-election bid, Jeanne Cummings reports at Politico. The move reflects a reversal of Obama’s past rejection of outside money and criticism of anonymous donations made […]

“Pain at the Pump? We Need More.” Now, that’s a provocative headline for a New York Times opinion piece calling for a carbon tax, especially when one of the authors is Daniel C. Esty, the man advising Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on energy policy. And provoke it did. House Republicans used the article to assert […]

In the face of a move toward agency consolidation, Sen. Beth Bye has dropped her efforts to to create a new department to manage early education and daycare programs, and instead hopes to consolidate them all under the State Department of Education. “They’re not into starting a new agency, I get that,” Bye said Thursday. […]

The “birther” movement that prompted President Barack Obama to release his long-form birth certificate yesterday is part of a broader attack on civil rights, the Rev. Jesse Jackson told minority legislators in Hartford today. Jackson slipped into the Legislative Office Building for an unpublicized, closed-door meeting with the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, urging them […]

A Superior Court judge has ordered the closure of four financially-troubled nursing homes that together have 472 beds and employ 575 people. Judge Jerry Wagner’s ruling Thursday follows a recommendation from the state-appointed receiver in charge of the homes that they be closed because of financial problems. Wagner ordered the receiver, Phyllis A. Belmonte, to […]