Minority Republicans in the state House of Representatives called Thursday for the cancellation of tens of millions of dollars in bonuses due next month to senior state employees. House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero, R-Norwalk, said the legislature and Gov. M. Jodi Rell should immediately repeal the law giving longevity bonuses to employees with 10 […]
House Republicans want to cancel longevity bonuses for state workers
Rell budget chief: It’s time for cities and towns to crack open their piggy banks
State government has emptied its savings to reduce the budget deficit, and Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s budget chief said this week it’s time for cities and towns to do the same. But municipal officials said their budget reserves already have been reduced to compensate for shrinking state aid. More importantly, they added, communities can’t exhaust […]
DeNardis joins GOP gubernatorial field
HAMDEN — It’s been a long time between races for Larry DeNardis. Twenty-eight years after leaving Congress and one week before his 72nd birthday, DeNardis declared his candidacy for governor Thursday at a museum dedicated to a bygone industrial age, bringing to seven the number of Republicans actively seeking the job. “Connecticut needs a governor […]
House GOP would cancel bonuses for senior state workers
Minority Republicans in the state House of Representatives called Thursday for lawmakers to cancel “longevity” bonuses due next month to 4,000 senior state employees. House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero, R-Norwalk, also said Gov. M. Jodi Rell should ask unionized state employees to forfeit their longevity pay as state government grapples with a growing budget […]
Sunday Alcohol Sales Bill Dies in Committee
Sunday alcohol sales will remain off limits in Connecticut after a bill that would have lifted the old holdover from the state’s “Blue Laws” died in committee. The committee did not vote down the Sunday sales bill, but they will not meet again before their committee’s deadline to vote the bill out of committee for […]
Rise in million-plus incomes will shape future tax debate
Despite losses as the recession set in, Connecticut’s wealthiest households came through 2008 with a six-year record of income growth more than five times greater than that of the average taxpayer. Buoyed by a five-year stretch during which their collected adjusted gross income shot upward by more than 230 percent–a growth spike unmatched in the […]
In-school suspensions may lose to budget again
Students who habitually skipped class at Cromwell High School used to be suspended from school for up to 10 days. But that all changed last year when an in-school suspension program was launched at the school: Now students are only sent home if they pose a danger or are a disruptive to others. “It just […]
Bysiewicz in controversy on two fronts
A Hartford Superior Court judge said Wednesday he expects to begin hearing evidence next month about whether Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz meets the statutory qualifications for attorney general. But questions about her qualifications receded in the face of a new controversy over a constituent-services data base that other candidates say appeared to be […]
Rell under fire from GOP lawmaker
Gov. M. Jodi Rell came under fire from within her own party Wednesday when a top Republican on the Appropriations Committee accused her of pursuing minimal cuts from unionized state employees’ salaries in her latest bid to reduce the budget deficit. Rell’s plan should call for greater sacrifice by state workers “if the governor really […]
Malloy declares for governor touting mayoral experience
In a season when the “outsider” label is in vogue, Dannel P. Malloy touted his love of government and experience as mayor of Stamford on Wednesday in announcing his candidacy for governor. Malloy filed campaign papers in a state office across from the State Capitol, then told a waiting crowd of more than 100 supporters […]
GOP lawmaker says Rell deficit plan goes easy on state workers
Gov. M. Jodi Rell took a hit from within her party today when a leading Republican lawmaker accused her of going easy on unionized state employees in her latest plan to eliminate this year’s budget deficit. Rep. Craig A. Miner of Litchfield, ranking House Republican on the Appropriations Committee, told Rell’s budget director during a […]
Should nursing homes evict non-paying patients?
So many Medicaid patients at Leeway nursing home in New Haven fail to pay their bills that the facility has a hard time operating, executive director Martha Dale told legislators Tuesday. She wants to be able to evict them after 60 days. “We don’t have money to spare,” she said. “They have income but somehow […]
$352 million UConn Health Center plan counts on the clout of two lame ducks
FARMINGTON – An upbeat Gov. M. Jodi Rell framed a $352 million plan to improve the University of Connecticut Health Center as transforming the delivery of health care for “generations to come.” But the proposal rolled out Tuesday to a standing ovation by UConn staff and students relies on the influence of two lame ducks: […]
Moderate Democrats urge leaders to close budget deficit without more borrowing
An appeal from moderate Democrats for decisive leadership to close the state budget deficit left some lawmakers questioning Tuesday whether a rift has opened within the General Assembly’s majority party. A coalition of four senators and 11 representatives sent a letter to party leadership urging immediate action to close the $518.4 million deficit for 2009-10 […]
Private colleges chafe at state review of programs
When Walter Harrison became president of the University of Hartford, he was astonished that a state regulatory process was holding up a proposed new academic program to train cantors, the officials who sing or chant prayers in synagogues. The campus already had well-known programs in music and Jewish studies, and Harrison didn’t understand why a […]
