In his first budget forecast of the new fiscal year, Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo warned Tuesday that the $126 million projected budget surplus isn’t all good news.
Lembo urges caution despite $126M budget surplus
Posted inPolitics
DeLauro key player in NAFTA 2.0 talks with White House
DeLauro is part of a team of House Democrats negotiating with the White House over a new trade pact with Canada and Mexico that would replace the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
Posted inJustice
‘Empathy Tour’ seeks to give formerly incarcerated their lives back
The “Empathy Tour” last week in Bridgeport was sponsored by Cut 50, a group working to cut crime and the country’s prison population in half. There will be another roundtable tonight in Hartford, at Thirman L. Milner School from 6 to 8 p.m.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
First ‘transcons’ used buses, trains, Trimotors
Today you can fly non-stop from New York to Los Angeles in six hours, with one-way transit often costing less than $200. But in the 1930s, the pioneers of commercial air service would use planes, trains and buses to get from coast-to-coast in 48 hours – for a mere $5,200.
Posted inPolitics
Lamont readies a transportation reboot
The kids are back in school. Can the governor and his chief of staff lure back lawmakers for a special session on transportation?
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Visionary leadership on solid waste sorely needed
Connecticut urgently needs strong leadership for solid waste management. A first step should be creation of a state commission of stakeholders and non-conflicted researchers whose planning will consider all realistic short- and long-term options, based both in well-documented best practices and a sense of environmental justice.
Posted inEducation
Charter schools in some cities enroll few students mid-year. Here’s why that matters.
A report released by the Center for American Progress looks at the extent to which charter schools accept students during the school year.
Posted inHealth
Whites In Midsize Cities Report Poor Health Compared To Counterparts In Urban Centers
An analysis of the recent DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey found that residents in a number of midsize, blue-collar cities reported lower health ratings than residents of the state’s largest cities.
Posted inHealth
Lawyers for state say school-level vaccination data won’t be released until October
School officials have until Sept. 6 to report immunization data from 2018-19 to the health department. After that, the health department will process and sort the data, which is expected to take weeks.
Posted inJustice
Federal ruling on conditions of confinement leaves state unsure of next step
State officials are not saying yet whether they intend to appeal a ruling that the state holds former death row inmates in cruel and unusual conditions.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Fear mongering has no place in CT toll debate
It’s fear mongering to claim highway tolls are needed because without more money state bridges might collapse. The Federal Highway Administration designates some bridges “structurally deficient,” but this is an industry term meaning the bridge will require more maintenance – not that it is in danger of collapsing.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Raise eligibility age to fix Social Security
Fixing Social Security requires raising the “early in” eligible age from 62 to 64 years and increasing the age for both full and partial benefits, and tying this to some number below the average lifespan. That way, as average lifespan increases, so does the age at which one becomes eligible for full or partial Social Security benefits.
Posted inEducation
Lawmakers balk at OKing executive pay, budget for education partnership — via mail
The Partnership for CT board was asked to unanimously approve a tentative budget, nearly $250,000 in executive compensation, and various operating procedures before it has even met.
Posted inNews
Religious exemptions to vaccines rose by 25 percent in one year
The increase is the largest single-year jump in religious exemptions since the department began tracking the data a decade ago.
Posted inPolitics
Q-poll: Voters want feds to take action on climate change, guns
The national poll found that 67% of voters believe the U.S. isn’t doing enough to address climate change, a new high since the question was first asked by Quinnipiac pollsters in 2015.