House Passes War Bill, Adds Funds for Education

In a late night House vote, Connecticut Democrats supported an unsuccessful effort to put new demands on the Obama Administration as it executes its Afghanistan war strategy. The House passed an approximately $80 billion war and domestic spending bill without those strings attached, but the final tally on several anti-war amendments demonstrated the increasing unease […]

In a last-minute turnabout, Gov. M. Jodi Rell is considering jettisoning Connecticut’s plan to set up its own new health insurance program for people with serious health problems and instead letting the federal government run the program. On the day the program was supposed to begin taking applications, Rell instead told top state officials to […]

Former state Transportation Commissioner Joseph F. Marie and Gov. M. Jodi Rell continued to dodge key questions Thursday in separate interviews regarding Marie’s abrupt departure from his post. Marie said in a telephone interview that he wasn’t pressured to quit. Asked if there was any conflict at DOT headquarters that may have precipitated his departure, […]

Candidates for state office hit a critical milestone this week–the end of the second quarter reporting period for campaign contributions–and many face an even more important deadline for public financing in two weeks. By July 10, candidates will have to report their fundraising through the end of June, and that will say  lot about who […]

Republican Oz Griebel has a long way to go in his quest to become governor, but already he’s mastered one skill: irking state legislators. Griebel says the state has to change the way it provides benefits to retirees, starting with elected and appointed officials-particularly members of the part-time General Assembly. “If you want to throw […]

State Comptroller Nancy Wyman projected this afternoon that state government will have a $242.9 million surplus when it closes the books on the fiscal year that ended Wednesday. That’s $76 million higher than the surplus the comptroller reported in her monthly assessment on June 1, and $103.6 million above the $139.3 million mark Gov. M. […]

WASHINGTON–The federal government announced Wednesday that Connecticut and more than two dozen other states will get millions of dollars over the next three years to create a new health insurance program for people who have been shut out of the insurance market because of serious health problems. But Connecticut isn’t ready to start accepting applications […]

In normal circumstances, Mary Howley would agree, children who repeatedly hit their parents should be arrested and charged with a crime. But her two foster children have mental disabilities and a history of enduring abuse in their previous living situations. So when she called police to her home during family altercations, it wasn’t to get […]

Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s administration remained largely quiet Wednesday over the abrupt departure of Transportation Commissioner Joseph F. Marie, who left the job Tuesday afternoon, but will continue to earn his nearly $170,000-per-year salary for four more weeks. Marie submitted a two-sentence letter of resignation following a meeting at the Office of Policy and Management […]

WASHINGTON–A spending stalemate in Congress could create a multi-million dollar budget gap in Connecticut. And it could have a devastating impact on state residents, who have already started to feel the toll of the financial tussle in Washington. At issue are several spending bills now stalled in Congress, including emergency Medicaid funds to preserve that […]

State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph F. Marie resigned today, and will be replaced by Deputy Commissioner Jeffrey Parker, Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced this morning. In a written statement, the governor’s office indicated Marie resigned “to pursue long-term employment opportunities and spend more time with his family.” “I thank Joe Marie for his service […]

Let it not be said that Connecticut Democrats and Republicans can’t agree on anything. It took about five minutes for the three Republicans and two Democrats running for governor to agree during Tuesday’s debate that Connecticut is a poor place in which to do business. And about the only thing harder than trying to grow […]

WASHINGTON–Connecticut lawmakers say that Gen. David Petraeus, tapped by President Barack Obama last week to be the new Afghanistan war commander, is the best possible choice to execute the Administration’s strategy in the nine-year-old war. But whether that strategy is a good one, they are not so sure. Petraeus was on Capitol Hill Tuesday for […]

Connecticut is one of seven states that will run out of money to pay state employee pensions over the next decade, coming up short in 2019 due to poor savings habits and generous guaranteed benefit levels, according to a recent study by Northwestern University. And Connecticut’s pension fund could become insolvent sooner than that, according […]

As the 2010 gubernatorial candidates squared off in Connecticut’s wealthy southwestern corner this afternoon, the debate quickly focused on taxes, an oppressive business climate and a congested transportation network. “We’re doing business pretty much the same way now as we did” two decades ago, Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont said in the five-candidate debate sponsored by […]