Connecticut’s cities and towns could see small cost savings in future election cycles if lawmakers approve a bill that would allow town registrars to reduce the number of polling places in primaries. It has substantial support, but not everyone thinks it’s a good idea.
Dannel P. Malloy
Posted inMoney, Politics, Transportation
A displeased Malloy to push back with a new budget of his own
After watching his fellow Democrats in the legislature unveil a budget that undermined — or even rejected — some of his biggest objectives, including the need to avoid tax hikes, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will take an unconventional step next week to refocus his party. The governor, who traditionally begins the annual fiscal debate in early February with his own spending and revenue plan, will submit a second budget next week.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy to get JFK ‘Profile in Courage’ for refugee stand
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will be awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his decision to welcome a Syrian refugee family to Connecticut after the governor of Indiana opposed a plan to relocate them to his state. The same honor went to a predecessor, Lowell P. Weicker Jr., in 1992.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Battle over CT’s credit card heats up as Malloy raises limit again
The partisan debate over Connecticut’s credit card intensified Thursday as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy boosted state government’s self-imposed borrowing limit by $200 million.
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
Decision on widening I-95 key step in transportation master plan
State transportation officials want to widen I-95 and introduce congestion or time-of-day tolling on it, to both reduce congestion and raise revenue for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s massive 30-year transportation plan. But there’s plenty of opposition to the widening, and if it can’t be resolved, the increasingly daunting challenge of funding the program could become that much more difficult.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Hospitals say state puts them between a rock and a hard place
As hospital officials describe it, state policy is pushing them in two opposing directions. Higher state taxes and funding cuts have added to the factors pushing independent community hospitals to join larger health systems, they say. But at the same time, legislators concerned about the growth of large health systems have been pushing for new restrictions on changes in hospital ownership, which hospital officials say makes it harder for them to adapt.
Posted inHealth
Senate approves bill to fight opioid abuse that would offer CT help — within limits
WASHINGTON – Senate approval of a bill to fight the nation’s opioid epidemic is still likely to leave states like Connecticut on the front lines of the crisis – and to leave them short of all the help they need to prevent the destroyed lives that result from the abuse of pain killers and heroin.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy says layoffs, facility closings are unavoidable
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy jousted Wednesday night with state employees angry over his plans to shrink the state workforce and citizens frightened of what a smaller government will mean for disabled relatives dependent on state services. The governor offered little solace to either at his fourth town hall forum of the year.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Why isn’t media asking presidential candidates about education?
It is difficult to believe as a life-long educator that the media has yet to ask any of the presidential candidates about their views on K-12 public education. It is a well known fact the public education in Connecticut and across the nation has suffered immensely as an outgrowth of the policies of the George W. Bush administration with its No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program. Likewise, public education continued its downward spiral as a result of President Barack Obama’s appointment of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who ushered in the disastrous Race to the Top along with the Common Core State Standards.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Schaghticoke hire Lieberman to help sue state over casino law
The Schaghicoke Tribal Nation has hired former Sen. Joe Lieberman – who once fought against the tribe’s efforts to win federal recognition — to help them sue the state over a gambling law that allows only the state’s two gaming tribes to open a new casino. In their legal challenge, the Schaghticokes’ have joined forces with MGM, which has also been blocked from building a casino in Connecticut.
Posted inMoney
Sharkey, Malloy clash over UConn deal, hospital cuts
House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, and the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy engaged in an extraordinary exchange of criticism Friday over two fiscal controversies, ratcheting up intra-party tensions over how to resolve a worsening budget shortfall.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Malloy suspends $140 million in payments to CT hospitals
Responding to shrinking tax revenues, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration suspended about $140 million in payments to Connecticut’s acute-care hospitals this week. The decision drew angry responses from the Connecticut Hospital Association and the legislature’s Republican minority.
Posted inMoney
Malloy cancels raises for almost 2,000 managers, appointees
The 3 percent pay raises that nearly 2,000 non-union state managers and appointed staff were expecting to begin receiving Friday have been canceled, the Malloy administration told state agency leaders Monday afternoon.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Malloy orders review of health care oversight, delaying Yale-L+M decision
Updated 8:30 p.m.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has ordered the state Department of Public Health to postpone until next year any final decisions on certain hospital transactions – or reject them if state law requires a quicker decision – while a newly created task force examines the state’s oversight process for transactions and other major changes involving hospitals.
Posted inJustice
A lesson on crime, redemption and trees at Yale
It’s all a bit movie-of-the-weekish, mixing ex-cons, the Ivy League, and a goal of reforesting a city famously hit hard by Dutch elm disease. But it’s been working for a half dozen years now, boasting a high survival rate for the trees and low recidivism for the guys.
