WASHINGTON–At first blush, it would seem the stars have finally aligned for a long-stalled bill creating a national “Infrastructure Bank,” a proposal pushed for years by top Connecticut lawmakers. The idea has gained prominence at a time when available federal transportation funds are far short of the nation’s needs, and lawmakers are looking for new […]

After 12 years in the U.S., ProPublica reporter Dafna Linzer became a citizen last month. All it took, she says, was steep filing fees, mounds of paperwork, and a willingness to provide the wrong answers if necessary to questions on the citizenship test. The 100 questions and answers that make up the test–applicants must get […]

Washington has delivered some big wins to Pratt & Whitney this month. The Pentagon announced today that it would award a $35 billion tanker contract to Boeing, with Pratt set to supply parts and two engines for each of the 179 planes. The engines will be assembled in Middletown, to the delight of the Connecticut […]

The announcement by the Obama Justice Department that it would no longer defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act grabbed all the headlines Wednesday, John Gramlich says at Stateline.org, but it wasn’t the day’s only good news for gay rights supporters. In Maryland, the Senate voted in favor of a bill to allow same-sex marriage, […]

There’s good news and not-so good news for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and his budget in a new poll by the Yankee Institute, a conservative think tank. In a one-day survey conducted Sunday night, four days after he proposed a $1.5 billion tax increase and $1.8 billion in spending cuts, about 70 percent of respondents […]

Gov. Dannel Malloy is headed to Washington again. He’s one of a dozen or so Democratic governors who’ve been invited to the White House to talk to President Barack Obama about jobs and the economy. The White House said the discussions will focus on “ways Washington and the states can work together to grow the […]

Sen. Joe Lieberman isn’t exactly a military dove when it comes to support for the current U.S. military campaigns in Iraq or Afghanistan. But apparently a military commander in Afghanistan, three-star Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, still thought Lieberman needed to be targeted with a sophisticated “psychological operations” campaign, aimed at manipulating U.S. policymakers into providing […]

Anthony Tarantino came to the state Capitol Wednesday with a message for state lawmakers: Leave his vocational-technical school alone. “Why would you change something if it’s not broken? If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” the senior, who is studying carpentry at Wilcox Technical High School in Meriden, told members of the Education Committee. Tarantino […]

A lawsuit filed in Connecticut is central to the Obama administration’s surprise decision Wednesday to end its defense of a federal law that denies a range of benefits to same-sex couples by defining marriage as being between a man and woman. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Department of Justice will not defend against […]

Some 300 union members gathered Wednesday outside the Capitol to show solidarity for Wisconsin’s embattled public-sector workers–but relatively few Connecticut state employees turned out. And while the crowd, composed largely of private-sector labor and unionized school teachers and other municipal employees, roared its approval for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, state union leaders said that was […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy named Appellate Judge Lubbie Harper Jr. to the Connecticut Supreme Court on Wednesday, choosing a judge who was sitting temporarily on the high court when it legalized gay marriage in Connecticut, a ruling the governor praised. He will succeed Joette Katz, who resigned to become the commissioner of children and families. […]

Connecticut wrongly denies food stamps to eligible residents at a higher rate than any other state. It ranks among the worst in the nation in processing food stamp applications on time and paying out accurate levels of benefits. And federal officials warn that without a “tremendous turnaround,” the state could face significant financial sanctions. Starkowski: […]

Republicans and Republican-leaning independents have no clear favorite for the party’s 2012 presidential nomination, Gallup says, with Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin in a statistical tie for the lead. The most recent survey shows Huckabee’s support increasing from 12 percent in September to 18 percent this month, Romney’s declining from 19 percent to […]