CT Sen. Richard Blumenthal is pushing a bill to ensure the Coast Guard gets the same protections as other military branches amid a shutdown.
Coast Guard
Posted inPolitics
Relief program for Coast Guard members off to slow start
WASHINGTON — Few have taken advantage of a Connecticut program that provides thousands of dollars for Coast Guard employees.
Posted inMoney
End to federal shutdown elusive, impact will grow in CT
Terence Ward has worked for the U.S. Justice Department for 28 years and plans to continue to do so, but after next Friday, he and all 22 employees of the federal public defender’s office in the state will work without pay if the government shutdown continues. Ward is one of about 1,500 federal employees in the state affected by the shutdown, which isn’t likely to end soon and whose impact in Connecticut will grow with time.
Posted inPolitics
As positions harden, likelihood of quick end to federal shutdown dims
WASHINGTON – Efforts to end a partial government shutdown failed Saturday as Congress put off the issue until after Christmas, meaning there’s no quick end to closures that will affect about 1,500 government workers in Connecticut and those who need certain services.
Posted inMoney
CT would feel aftershocks of federal government shutdown
WASHINGTON – A looming federal shutdown will affect some 1,500 federal employees in Connecticut and impact state residents seeking certain services – but it won’t be felt like the 2013 shutdown that shuttered Head Start centers and provoked the state’s defense contractors to prepare to furlough employees.
Posted inNews
Coast Guard strained by budget constraints
WASHINGTON — When the USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship off the coast of Japan last month, resulting in the deaths of seven American sailors, the U.S. Coast Guard was dispatched to investigate the incident. That’s an example of the service’s widening mission, which has not been matched by an increase in personnel or resources, leaving its leaders to question whether they can fully accomplish their missions.
Posted inPolitics
Courtney to Malloy: Use HUD funds to help fix crumbling foundations
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s budget would eliminate a housing grant program that pays for projects in nearly two dozen Connecticut towns – and Rep. Joe Courtney wants the Malloy administration to also use it to help residents with crumbling foundations before the money disappears.
Posted inPolitics
House bill would charge for Coast Guard patrols at private events
When the Belle Haven Club wanted to put on fireworks over Long Island Sound near Greenwich last June, the U.S. Coast Guard was required to establish a safety perimeter to keep boaters away from the event, an operation that was paid for by U.S. taxpayers. But Congress may soon require the club and others who tap the resources of the Coast Guard for private parties and events to pay for those services.
Posted inPolitics
House approves Homeland Security funding
WASHINGTON – An impasse over funding of the Department of Homeland Security that threatened the paychecks of nearly 1,500 agency employees in Connecticut ended Tuesday as the House approved a bill that does not include riders to block President Obama’s immigration policies.
Posted inPolitics
In CT, 1,500 Homeland Security employees spared shutdown, for now
WASHINGTON – With a last-minute vote, Congress averted a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, extending its funding by seven days and at least temporarily sparing 1,500 agency employees in Connecticut their paychecks.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Malloy releases $3 million Walk Bridge repair plan
Gov. Dannel Malloy on Thursday released a $3 million plan to make emergency repairs on the crippled Walk Railroad Bridge over the Norwalk River.
Posted inNews
Feds to send team to inspect Walk Bridge
WASHINGTON – The Federal Railroad Administration is sending a team of inspectors to Connecticut next week to assess the conditions of all of the state’s five movable railroad bridges, including the Norwalk River’s Walk Bridge, whose recent malfunctions have snarled commuter traffic.
Posted inPolitics
Private parties on Long Island Sound tax U.S. Coast Guard
The U.S. Coast Guard unit stationed in New Haven has the job of patrolling Long Island Sound for drug smugglers and terrorists. But it also is deployed to enforce safety perimeters around dozens of private parties every year, many of which include fireworks displays over the water.