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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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: […]

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 […]

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 […]

With nearly 170,000 Connecticut residents struggling to find employment, a state legislative panel has endorsed new restrictions on when businesses can research individuals’ credit and criminal backgrounds. “Nearly half of the employers in this country go into workers’ credit history during the hiring process,” said Rep. Matthew Lesser, D-Middletown, co-sponsor of the bill restricting credit background checks. […]

The General Assembly’s labor committee today narrowly approved legislation that would require businesses with more than 50 employees to offer up to five paid sick days. The committee voted 6-4 for a bill praised by the Working Families Party as a matter of social justice and detested by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association as […]

A coalition of 15 moderate Democratic state legislators sent a letter to their leadership urging immediate action to close the $518.4 million deficit for the current fiscal year without borrowing. The letter, signed by four senators and 11 representatives, also expressed concerns about more than $4.6 billion worth of deficits projected in total for the […]

FARMINGTON — Gov. M. Jodi Rell and a coalition of regional hospitals announced today they are backing a $236 million investment in a new hospital at the financially troubled University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington. Key to the plan is a new healthcare network involving former critics of efforts to rebuild the state’s flagship […]

Democrat Dannel P. Malloy said today he will formally become a candidate for governor at noon on Wednesday, while Republican Larry DeNardis is making it official Thursday. Malloy is keeping things informal, holding a press conference outside the State Elections Enforcement Commission after he files his paperwork. DeNardis is announcing at 10:30 a.m Thursday at […]

The familiar battle-lines were drawn Monday: Package store owners from border towns complained they lose money because they can’t open on Sundays, while a broader-based liquor retailers’ association said ending Connecticut’s Sunday sales ban would drive mom-and-pop shops out of business. Still, about 100 people filled the Program Review and Investigations Committee hearing room for […]