A renewed effort to make Connecticut the first state to mandate that private employers offer paid sick days is an election-year fault line dividing business and labor, Republicans and Democrats. The Working Families Party chose “business day” at the Capitol Wednesday to resume lobbying to require businesses with at least 50 employees to offer up […]

Convincing fellow Democrats to send him to the General Assembly was the hard part, Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield says. After that, getting the legislature to vote for the first time to abolish the state’s death penalty seemed easy. “I don’t usually stop when people tell me no,” said the freshman Democrat from New Haven. Rep. Gary […]

When they adopted a budget in September, state legislators and Gov. M. Jodi Rell balanced the books-at least on paper-by assuming an unprecedented level of savings to be achieved later. For Connecticut’s nonprofit social services industry and the clients they serve, later has arrived. These providers are accusing Rell’s administration of testing the spirit — […]

Although demand for coverage is rising, the state’s social services commissioner told legislators Tuesday that the Rell administration wants to shut down a toll-free phone line that provides information about the HUSKY health care program for low-income children and their families. The toll-free line costs the state $670,000 a year. Department of Social Services Commissioner Michael […]

A milestone in the life every lame-duck governor will come today as legislators confirm the appointment of Anna M. Ficeto as a commissioner of the Public Utilities Control Authority. Ficeto, the legal counsel to Gov. M. Jodi Rell, appears to be the first high-ranking administration official to leave for a more secure job since Rell […]

At Jumoke Academy, a nearly all-black charter school in one of Hartford’s poorest neighborhoods, Monique Griffin, the mother of four students, scoffs at the idea the school would be considered a failure. “Jumoke has been great,” says Griffin, citing its family-like atmosphere, after-school programs and encouraging academic record. Nevertheless, a controversial new report takes direct […]

Following Connecticut’s dismal record in getting money for transportation projects from stimulus grants, the U.S. Transportation Secretary announced the state will receive help in submitting future grant applications to assure the state is competitive. “My department will meet with each and every Connecticut applicant to ensure that they are fully prepared to compete later this […]

Cities and towns clamored Tuesday for state road maintenance grants they’ve been awaiting since July, warning that projects could be deferred or canceled unless the $30 million Town Aid Road program is launched before the spring construction season begins in a few weeks The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, the New Haven-based lobbying arm for the […]

A Superior Court judge has rejected a claim that the state failed to meet its quotas under a school desegregation court order in the long-running Sheff vs. O’Neill case. Plaintiffs argued that the state fell short of its goals to enroll sufficient numbers of Hartford schoolchildren in racially integrated schools, but Hartford Superior Court Judge […]

The signs were intriguing. He dropped hints. He showed up for the opening day of the General Assembly. He put a deposit on a condo in Bridgeport. But Chris Shays said today today he is not running for governor. Shays, the Republican congressman who moved to Maryland after losing his 4th District seat in 2008, […]

To understand the political challenges involved in trying to save the Citizens’ Election Program, imagine the state’s embattled system of publicly financing campaigns as a house on fire. Gov. M. Jodi Rell is desperately trying to dial 911. The Senate’s Democratic majority isn’t sure the fire is that bad. And some leading Republicans hope it […]

Following controversy over a large rate increase sought by a health insurer last summer, a group of state officials is pushing for a new law requiring greater scrutiny of such changes–with opposition from both the industry and the commissioner in charge of regulating it. The bill before the legislature’s Insurance and Real Estate Committee would […]

There’s a $515 million hole in this year’s budget, and four months left in which to fill it. The question now percolating around the Capitol is, will Gov. M. Jodi Rell try to raid next year’s budget to plug the gap? It’s not a new idea: Since Rell and the legislature’s Democratic majority deadlocked on […]

In the University of Connecticut student newspaper last week, columnist Jason Ortiz struck an increasingly familiar note of skepticism about higher education as he decried the growing burden of tuition hikes. UConn should not “balance bloated budgets on the backs of working young people . . . ,” Ortiz wrote as university trustees were about […]

With the economy down, business interests have decided that the political environment is ripe for restricting the regulatory reach of the Department of Environmental Protection. “There is a sense this is a time, an opportunity to reset the ground rules,” said Eric J. Brown, who lobbies on environmental issues for the Connecticut Business and Industry […]