Tinkering with the death penalty: A hot-button issue in an election year

A year after Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed a bill to abolish the death penalty, Republican legislators are proposing legislation intended to speed up executions in Connecticut. One of the bill’s sponsors concedes that passage is unlikely, but the proposal ensures that capital punishment will get a public hearing in the run-up to the 2010 […]

Fed up with telemarketing calls? The next one could help Connecticut pay its bills. Looking to buy a used gun?  The state might get in the business of selling weapons seized by the police. And if you’re not paying your fair share of taxes-at least in the state’s view-lots of folks in Hartford are thinking […]

Is the state doing enough to promote a new health plan that promises better care by bypassing insurance companies? Advocates say no, but the commissioner responsible for the program–and some health professionals–argue that the plan puts a heavy administrative burden on physicians without adequate reimbursement. “The word is out. This is a choice program and […]

Southern Connecticut State University President Cheryl J. Norton has requested a sabbatical leave starting in June and will retire next year, she announced today. “After much thought and deliberation, I have come to the decision that for both personal and professional reasons it is time for me to move on,” Norton said in a message […]

Thousands of people have died in Connecticut because of their lack of health insurance says a report released today, and a group of state officials say the findings show the need for more scrutiny of rate increases. “Let’s have accountability on these rate increases,” said House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan. Currently the Connecticut Insurance Department […]

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, […]