WASHINGTON–With Connecticut’s congressional delegation mostly on the sidelines in the current budget battle, several lawmakers expressed deep frustration with the process and their diminished role in determining the outcome. “We don’t have a seat at the table,” said Rep. John Larson, a Democrat who represents Connecticut’s 1st District and who chairs the House Democratic Caucus. […]

WASHINGTON–When Janice Smolinski first told the police that her son was missing, they dismissed it as a voluntary runaway case. After all, Billy Smolinski was a 31-year-old man living in Waterbury, a 6-foot-tall tow-truck driver who owned a small house and German shepherd. The local police didn’t think there was anything suspicious about his August […]

Dan Livingston could be a literary invention. The son of progressive activists, he was the boy who talked to Martin Luther King Jr. about social justice, marched on Washington as a 7-year-old and grew up with a passion for movement politics that peers might have felt for baseball cards. Now, for the second time in […]

Connecticut’s contingent in Congress spent a good part of Tuesday reveling in last night’s triumph by UConn’s Huskies in the NCAA men’s championship. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, said he mentioned the team’s victory every time he got in front of a crowd, including at this morning’s meeting of the House Democratic Caucus. Rep. Joseph […]

As financially-strapped states cut spending on higher education, well-paid public university presidents face a tough balancing act, Jack Stripling and Andrea Fuller say at The Chronicle of Higher Education. They must argue that their institutions’ budget have been cut to the bone, while enjoying salaries and perks the far outstrip those of typical taxpayers or […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced today his office filed a “robust application” yesterday for $227 million in federal funding to complete the third phase of the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield high-speed rail project. The money is available because Florida recently rejected $2.4 billion in high-speed rail funds, not wanting to commit the state to matching funds. “Once […]

Whether by coincidence or plan, Connecticut’s senators managed to issue their congratulatory statements about UConn’s basketball championship at the same time, 11:29 p.m. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman: “It’s with great pleasure that I congratulate the UCONN men’s basketball team on winning their third National Championship! Jim Calhoun has once again proven why UCONN deserves the […]

The proposed state-run SustiNet health insurance plan could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars a year, according to the legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis. The analysis, released Monday night, offers the first nonpartisan projection of how SustiNet could affect the state’s finances. Although it does not provide a total dollar figure, the […]

A new compromise bill to remove time limits on the filing of lawsuits by victims of child sexual abuse drew renewed opposition Monday from longtime opponents of previous efforts, the Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference and the insurance industry. The compromise attempted to address objections to previous proposals by making the change effective only for […]

The first film wholly produced at Twentieth Century Fox’s digital animation studios in Greenwich debuted in Hartford today at an event that was as much about the politics of economic development as about entertainment. Fox’s Blue Sky Studios relocated to Connecticut two years ago as the state’s film tax credit program was coming under fire. […]

In his first major transportation decision, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy today gave the go-ahead to the Hartford-New Britain busway project, putting an end to a years-long tug-of-war between advocates for bus and rail projects. “The busway project is ready to go,” he announced Monday. He is promising to have the state’s bond commission vote to […]

One out of every 50 state employees is a “union steward,” allowed to conduct union business while on the state payroll, and Republican leaders at the State Capitol are asking why taxpayers are picking up that bill. Republican leaders said Monday the salary, not including benefits, of the 911 stewards cost the state $93 million […]

As mayor of Stamford, Dannel P. Malloy grew so frustrated seeing his wealthy neighbors get almost the same per-pupil education grants from the state as his city did that he joined a class-action lawsuit over the funding system. As governor, he intends to change that system from within. “There are two ways to do it: […]

There’s perks, and then there’s perks. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will be driven after his town hall meeting in Norwalk tonight to Damon’s, a sports bar in Hartford, to watch at least some of UConn’s attempt to win its third national championship. Chris Dodd, who was with Malloy in Hartford today for a movie event […]

Forget the showdown in Washington over this year’s spending bill. The real cliffhanger is, of course, tonight’s NCAA championship game between UConn’s Huskies and Butler University’s Bulldogs. To that end, Sens. Joseph Lieberman and Richard Blumenthal have put a bet on the congressional table-some Pepperidge Farm Swirl Breads and Dinner Rolls-that the Huskies will win. […]