A major state employee union is using last spring’s unsuccessful bid to cancel longevity bonuses for senior, non-union state employees to rally support for its long-running battle to allow managers to bargain collectively. An affiliate of the Connecticut State Employees Association/Service Employees International Union sent out letters last week to about 2,500 non-union managers reminding […]

Republican Linda McMahon’s first advertising attack on Democrat Richard Blumenthal in the U.S. Senate race is a mailer that casts his admitted misstatements about his Vietnam-era service as calculated lies. The mass mailing began arriving Tuesday, as Blumenthal and McMahon skipped a debate and left Republicans Rob Simmons and Peter Schiff to gently confront each […]

Connecticut’s failure to qualify for a coveted federal education grant could delay the effort to reform the state’s public schools but will not end it, officials pledged Tuesday. Educators and lawmakers expressed disappointment when U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan did not include Connecticut among a list of finalists for millions of dollars under Race […]

Connecticut’s transportation network is facing its own perfect storm of aging infrastructure, heavy usage and harsh weather conditions – all compounded by a slumping economy and shrinking government funding, according to a draft report from the state’s Transportation Strategy Board. The position paper outlining transportation needs, the first of four components that will ultimately comprise […]

Richard Blumenthal and Linda McMahon were no-shows, leaving Rob Simmons and Peter Schiff to debate each other and two minor-party candidates tonight. Simmons arguably made news for uttering a simple, declarative sentence: “I am running for the U.S. Senate.” Once the Republican front runner, Simmons suspended his campaign after the GOP convention, only to resume […]

A Superior Court judge Tuesday rejected Michael Jarjura’s effort to block Kevin Lembo from using public financing in their Democratic contest for state comptroller. The terse order by Judge James T. Graham frees Lembo to begin spending the $375,000 awarded to him last week for his Aug. 10 primary with Jarjura, the mayor of Waterbury. […]

Superior Court Judge James T. Graham said he will rule by 5 p.m. today on a request by Waterbury Mayor Michael Jarjura for an injunction blocking his opponent in the comptroller’s race, Kevin Lembo, from spending $375,000 in public financing. Jarjura said he will not appeal if Graham rejects his request, which was the subject […]

WASHINGTON-Connecticut is out of the running for a coveted federal education grant that state officials had said was vital to implementing the sweeping new school reforms passed in May. Connecticut did not make the list of finalists for the Race to the Top grants, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced today. Eighteen other states–including New York, […]

Democratic gubernatorial candidates Dan Malloy and Ned Lamont will hold telephone town halls tonight, taking calls from voters on an evening when they were invited to debate in New London. Maybe they can call each other. Malloy intends to first hold a press conference outside the Garde Arts Center, where The Day of New London […]

A court challenge by Michael Jarjura will keep Kevin Lembo’s public financing tied up until at least late this afternoon in the race for the Democratic nomination for comptroller. A Hartford Superior Court judge heard testimony until Monday evening on Jarjura’s complaint that Lembo was improperly awarded $375,000 in public financing. Testimony resumed today. “It’s […]

As the governor’s office prepares to commit $260 million for the planned New Haven-to-Springfield rail project, two key state lawmakers say they want to know how that will affect other efforts to maintain and upgrade an aging, congested transportation network. Sen. Donald J. DeFronzo, D-New Britain, and Rep. Tony Guerrera, D-Rocky Hill, co-chairmen of the […]

WASHINGTON–Parents and teachers don’t like it. For many students, it has failed to produce the promised benefits. And experts agree it urgently needs to be fixed. But that doesn’t mean Congress is ready to revamp No Child Left Behind, the education reform law pushed by President George W. Bush with bipartisan Congressional support in 2001. As […]

A court challenge by Michael Jarjura will tie up Kevin Lembo’s public financing for least another day in the race for the Democratic nomination for comptroller. Superior Court Judge James T. Graham adjourned at 6 p.m. today without concluding a hearing into Jarjura’s complaint that the State Elections Enforcement Commission improperly granted Lembo $375,000 in […]

At the request of Gov. M. Jodi Rell, Connecticut State University System trustees Monday reduced the size of raises granted this month to Chancellor David G. Carter and the presidents of CSU’s four campuses. The officials were allowed to keep 5 percent cost-of-living increases, but the Board of Trustees Executive Committee rescinded an additional raise […]

In a WNPR radio debate of the two Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor today, the first question posed by a listener: Does Connecticut really need a governor in waiting? For the record, Nancy Wyman and Mary Glassman believe the job they are seeking is necessary, though each conceded that lieutenant governors often have had little […]