Court oversight of how Connecticut investigates and cares for abused and neglected children is still necessary after nearly two decades of federal supervision, a judge ruled Wednesday. The state’s efforts to improve the performance of the state Department of Children and Families was “commendable,” but they fell short of requirements laid out in a consent […]

What do you get the candidate who has everything? It is a challenge that a national ally of the Tea-Party movement, FreedomWorks, faces in endorsing Republican Linda McMahon, whose self-financed U.S. Senate campaign has, well, nearly everything. “We’re obviously not seeking financial support, particularly from outside groups,” said Ed Patru, the communications director for the […]

Domenia Dickey was 10 years old and in fifth grade when the state Department of Children and Families removed her and her twin brother from the care of their mother. For the next eight years, she lived in four different foster homes and in a group facility with 100 other children. She turned 18 last […]

With the potential for deep municipal aid cuts looming less than 10 months away, Connecticut municipalities’ longstanding cry for a new alternative to the property tax could be answered next year at the Capitol. All three of the gubernatorial candidates support giving communities new revenue-raising options. And legislators did important prep work last spring when […]

Former Secretary of the State Pauline R. Kezer joined Avon Republican Martha Dean’s effort to become attorney general today, assuming the post of campaign director. Kezer, an Old Saybrook Republican who served as Connecticut’s chief elections official from 1991 through 1994, also waged an unsuccessful primary in the latter year for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, […]

WASHINGTON–In a highly-charged vote, Senate Republicans blocked consideration of a major defense bill Tuesday in part because it included a provision to repeal the Pentagon’s ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. Proponents of the measure, including Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, failed to win any Republican support and even […]

The nation’s largest academic achievement gap among poor children is high on the list of challenges confronting Connecticut’s next governor, but another education gap poses a more immediate dilemma. It is the $270 million shortfall that will be left in the state’s education budget when federal stimulus money runs out next year. Dan Malloy Both […]

WASHINGTON-An emotionally- and politically-charged showdown is set to unfold in the Senate today over whether gays should be able to serve openly in the military. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, will be defending his proposed repeal of the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which bars gays from serving openly in the military. […]

WASHINGTON-If Democratic leaders are irked with Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s most recent policy positions or political remarks, they’re putting on a good game face. His chairmanship post is safe, they insist, and no one is worried he’ll defect to the GOP. Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, recently announced that he had no intentions of […]

State government’s finances remain in modest deficit two-and-a-half months into the new fiscal year, according to Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s budget office, which reported a $45.3 million shortfall on Monday. The new deficit, which is improved slightly from the $63.4 million gap reported one month ago, is due largely to the same problems being tracked […]

The state paid more than $31,000 over an 11-month period for calls made on two cell phones missing from a state agency, according to a new report from state auditors. In one case, officials noticed the phone misuse after just a few months–and $3,311 in bills–but apparent inter-agency miscommunication kept the phone from being shut […]

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Malloy today accepted the endorsement of the Working Families Party, a labor ally that tries to draw disaffected unaffiliated voters to the polls. In a year when some Republicans are harnessing the angry energy of the Tea Party movement, Democrats say the Working Families Party might be a counter-balance on the […]

In the last decade, fuel cells–those extremely efficient electro-chemical devices that make power from hydrogen and oxygen–have been seen as Connecticut’s ticket to the alternative energy ball. The state remains a hub of the fuel cell industry, but it is a glass half full and half empty. Half full, it has created jobs and increased […]

While a new academic study finds that New England states can best grow their economies by choosing infrastructure and education investments over business tax breaks, Connecticut’s gubernatorial candidates say it could take a mix to revitalize the state. The report, written by a research professor at the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute, concluded […]