Despite efforts to reverse the trend, hundreds of foster children continue to be funneled into costly congregate homes instead of being placed in family settings, a new report says. About a quarter of some 4,000 abused or neglected children in the custody of the state Department of Children and Families live in “orphanage” settings, according […]

WASHINGTON-For a crowd that so adamantly decries the role of big money in politics, Connecticut’s congressional delegation sure does a lot of extra political fundraising. And some of them do it with considerable style to boot. Take Rep. John Larson’s weekend excursion last spring, open to lobbyists and other deep-pocketed donors, in California’s Napa Valley, […]

Despite the failure to win millions of dollars in a federal school reform competition, Connecticut should not back away from the effort to reshape its public schools, Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan said Wednesday. “We still have much on the table I think is worth doing,” McQuillan told the State Board of Education in a postscript […]

The state income tax has dominated legislative revenue debates since its controversial enactment nearly two decades ago. But the sales tax, whose base rate of 6 percent hasn’t changed since that watershed debate in 1991, may be back in the spotlight next year as politicians begin the task of closing the largest projected budget deficit […]

WEST HARTFORD–On the wall next to his college diploma, Bob Mandelkern keeps the framed letter announcing his appointment to the state stem cell research advisory committee. Next to that hangs a newspaper article about grants the committee awarded, with a quote from Mandelkern highlighted in yellow: “Without hope there is no quality of life. This […]

The state’s allocation of federal stimulus money intended to save teaching jobs in cash-strapped school districts excluded charter schools, many of which serve students in Connecticut’s poorest communities. The experimental charter schools, along with the state’s technical high schools and some public magnet schools, were left out under a formula used by the state to distribute […]

State Comptroller Nancy Wyman certified a $60 million-plus deficit this afternoon for the new fiscal year, even as she closed the books last year with a final surplus of nearly $450 million. The $63.4 million deficit for the $19.01 billion budget launched on July 1 stems from modest growth in income and sales tax offset […]

SOUTHINGTON — The Tea Party may have preferred to see the full-throated, anti-government zeal of Peter Schiff in the U.S. Senate, but its adherents demonstrated Tuesday night they will accept Linda McMahon’s milder brand of conservatism. McMahon headlined a fundraiser for Tea Party organizer and Republican state Senate candidate Joe Markley, drawing a standing-room crowd […]

Connecticut’s prison population stood poised Tuesday to record its fourth consecutive monthly increase, a trend likely to put a damper hopes that a prison closure could help balance the state’s budget. The latest surge in the inmate population, which approached 18,600 Tuesday, was attributed largely to an unanticipated jump in the number of unsentenced prisoners. […]

WASHINGTON — When the health care debate started bubbling up in Congress last year, Ethan Rome jumped straight into the pot, helping to lead a liberal coalition in favor of the bill. Now, the West Hartford native is in the middle of another fight: trying to mold public opinion in favor of the reform law. […]

If the chronic problem of lagging academic achievement among poor children has perplexed educators for years, can a group of business leaders find a solution? A state commission made up mainly of top business officials will issue recommendations in October that could shape Connecticut’s policy to address what the group described Monday as an educational […]

WASHINGTON-As President Barack Obama prepares to mark the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq with an Oval Office speech this evening, Connecticut lawmakers say they are still deeply anxious about the conflict and the U.S. role there. Today marks an official change in mission in the seven-year war, which roiled domestic and international politics, […]

Though state government’s impending fiscal woes are well-documented, a new report shows local schools also face a financial hit 10 months from now that could reverse efforts to increase education assistance. In a briefing to candidates for state office, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities also noted that non-education programs have dwindled to to what CCM […]

Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s proposal earlier this year to end the use of managed care in the state’s HUSKY insurance program was seen as a win on several fronts. Patient advocates said it would improve access to health care, and legislators figured anticipated savings of $76 millon into this year’s budget. But two months into […]