The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is often described as a cap-and-trade program. It’s not. This first-in-the-nation regional effort to lower carbon emissions from power plants is actually a cap-and-invest program.
Power plant emissions down 47% under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
Posted inPolitics
Lack of witnesses prompt Blumenthal, Murphy to call Trump impeachment trial a ‘cover-up’
The GOP defeated a Democratic attempt to call witnesses at the impeachment trial and Trump’s acquittal is expected — but not until next week.
Posted inTransportation
Democrats promise passage of truck tolls in two weeks
After cancelling a special session slated for Monday, Democratic legislative leaders assured Gov. Ned Lamont that they have the votes to pass his transportation funding plan the week of Feb. 10.
Posted inPolitics
Some Senate Democrats still publicly hedge on tolls
We asked the seven Senate Democrats whose votes on truck tolls have been in question. Here’s what they said.
Posted inGovernment, Money
Nonprofits reframe their big ask, seek a share of future budget windfalls
Rebuffed in their bid last year to capture $100 million of the state’s growing reserves, Connecticut’s nonprofit social service agencies now want a share of future projected budget surpluses.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
‘Good faith’ and community college consolidation
In December 2017, as the Connecticut State College and University system office was preparing its “Students First” consolidation plan, the system’s Faculty Advisory Committee presented an extended critique of the proposal. It was not supportive, recommended other paths, and contained the following warning:
“We believe that there is a risk, which is greater than zero, that the effort to work through the transition will result in such dysfunction and cost overruns that, several years from now, we will be tasked with putting the 12 institutions back together again.” Two years later, we are now watching this excruciating and expensive possibility play out.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Calling the bluff on Duff
According to State Senator Bob Duff’s December 9 announcement, the State has approved — despite Connecticut’s financial woes and Gov. Ned Lamont’s debt diet – a new $200 million Norwalk high school to be completed as early as 2023 with 80% state reimbursement, instead of our usual less than 35%. Unfortunately, information has now surfaced that indicates that this announcement was premature. In fact, the project is so tentative, it was unethical for our state senator to make such a promise and unwise for our local elected officials — our mayor, Common Council and Board of Education — to rush to action.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Lamont’s new toll proposal is more of the same
Having failed to convince the good people of Connecticut to allow tolls for cars, Gov. Ned Lamont and the Democrats are hoping to sucker us into believing that if we allow toll gantries on 12 bridges just for Class 8 trucks (tractor trailers and large dump trucks); we will no longer be harassed for more money. But their actual goal is simply to get these gantries in place because with just a software change, tolls can be imposed later on smaller trucks, cars, motorcycles or any moving object attached to a taxpayer. Let’s look at some of the details:
Posted inJustice
Criminal Justice Commission taps Richard Colangelo as chief state’s attorney
The appointment came after a daylong series of interviews of four finalists, who grappled with prosecutors’ role in high rates of incarceration nationwide.
Posted inTransportation
House-Senate deadlock prompts postponement of tolls vote
A House and Senate deadlock is forcing the postponement of a vote on the governor’s transportation infrastructure plan.
Posted inEducation
Public schools receive report cards from state
The majority of the state’s public schools earned a better grade on the Next Generation rating system than last year.
Posted inEconomic Development
Lamont offers two new job incentive programs
Gov. Ned Lamont unveiled his first legislative proposals Wednesday for 2020: a new incentive program for businesses to expand or relocate jobs to Connecticut and a revised small business assistance initiative.
Posted inHealth
CT rejects Trump’s Medicaid block grant proposal
‘This is an ill-conceived and unnecessary change that could fundamentally degrade a critical public health program,’ said DSS Commissioner Deidre Gifford.
Posted inJustice
Dulos, money bail and an ongoing conversation about bond reform
The day Fotis Dulos originally posted a $6 million bail, 438 people were locked up pretrial on bonds of less than $20,000.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
VW, Dieselgate and Connecticut’s electric buses
The new year will bring some big changes at Greater Bridgeport Transit (GBT): the introduction of two new, all-electric buses to the fleet. GBT current runs 57 buses, 35 of them diesel-powered and 22 of them hybrids. The diesels get 3.2 mpg and the hybrids just 4.5 mpg, which means the busy transit agency must buy over a half-million gallons of diesel fuel a year.