After surveying the official portraits of all 50 governors, the political trivia junkies at Smart Politics have found that  Republicans are eight times more likely than Democrats to wear flag pins on their lapels than Democrats, and three times more likely to wear red ties over blue. Republican governors also are slightly more likely to […]

Three Connecticut communities would have new leverage to press owners of blighted commercial sites to redevelop or sell their property under legislation raised by the General Assembly’s Planning and Development Committee. The land valuation measure developed by Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, would allow participating communities to modify how municipal taxes are levied […]

For many people, the image of the state Department of Environmental Protection is frozen in the 1970s, when it was established to clean up the earth, air and water. For the man tapped to lead the merger of DEP with the state’s utility regulation agency, the new mission is to use the environmental imperative to […]

Connecticut voters have a dim view of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s first two months in office, disapproving of his overall performance and his proposal to raise taxes by $1.5 billion to help erase an inherited deficit,  according to a poll released today. Quinnipiac University’s first take on voter attitudes towards the new governor found only […]

WASHINGTON–When it comes to health insurance, deciding what is an essential benefit–and what isn’t–is a political and medical minefield, with far-reaching consequences. Should health insurance plans be required to cover chiropractic visits? Should there be a limit on the number of physical therapy sessions a patient gets? What about cancer treatments? Health care policymakers and […]

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is the wealthiest freshman in Congress, according to a new tally by the Center for Responsive Politics. His net worth comes in at of $94.87 million, according to an estimated average calculated by the Center. (Lawmakers only have to report their assets in wide ranges, so a precise net worth is […]

WATERBURY– Residents of Connecticut’s fourth-largest city had no trouble defining their priorities Tuesday night as they enjoyed their turn grilling Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on his plan to close the state budget deficit. Sure there were a few advocates for universal health care. A few state employees complained about top-heavy administration. And a contingent from […]

Physician groups on Tuesday blasted a decision by lawmakers to remove a medical liability protection provision from the proposed SustiNet bill, and some doctors suggested that it could undermine the effort to create a state-run health insurance plan. “It wouldn’t shock me if we come out actually in opposition to the bill,” said Dr. David […]

Lawmakers and childcare advocates this week questioned a decision by the state Department of Social Services to tighten eligibility rules for a daycare program for children from low-income families–with the result that the department is spending millions less than the legislature allocated last year. “We appropriated this money for children to go to daycare,” said […]

Roderick L. Bremby, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s pick to run the state Department of Social Services, has worked for more than 20 years in government, implemented new technology systems and served on the board of the authority that runs the Kansas Medicaid program. On Tuesday, as Malloy introduced him, Bremby emphasized another credential not listed […]

What better time to reappoint Peter Boynton as commissioner of Emergency Management and Homeland Security? Gov. Dannel P. Malloy chose today, as the state is coping with flooding and gearing for more rain, to announce that he is retaining Boynton, a career Coastie hired by Gov. M. Jodi Rell in 2009. Boynton’s had plenty of […]

Interested in hookah lounges? Some legislator is, so the Office of Legislative Research has prepared this report.

The decade-long battle over voting rules, such as ID requirements and registration procedures, continues again this year, Peter Wallsten report in the Washington Post. But this year, some states are focusing on college students. The toughest proposed restriction on student voting is being debated in New Hampshire, where Republicans–back in charge of the legislature after […]