A major Wall Street credit-rating agency, Moody’s Financial Services, has upgraded Hartford’s bond rating in response to a new state plan to retire the capital city’s bonded debt.
Hartford
Posted inMoney
Debt assistance could cost Hartford other state aid
A new state plan to pay off nearly $550 million of Hartford’s bonded debt led some legislators Wednesday to consider reducing other forms of aid to the capital city.
Posted inHealth
Fentanyl continues to drive deadly overdose epidemic
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner recorded more than 1,000 accidental overdose deaths for the first time in the last six years, and overall drug deaths in the state have nearly tripled in that time.
Posted inEducation, Health, News
West Hartford teenager hopes to bring dental exams to schools
One teenager from West Hartford hopes to help more school-aged kids receive dental exams during these uncertain times. Months ago, Marwa Abdinoor, 17, decided to study the relationship between socioeconomic status and oral health for her senior research project. As part of her project, Abdinoor plans to offer free dental exams at at least two public schools in Hartford.
Posted inHealth
Congress’s inaction threatening community health center funding
Federal money for community health centers in Connecticut and across the nation remains in limbo, causing center officials to create contingency plans that include layoffs and cuts to services.
Posted inMoney
Market analysts: Hartford bankruptcy could have ‘contagion’ effect
As the prospect of a Hartford bankruptcy looms large, an independent bond market analysis firm warned this week that it could have “a contagion” effect, lowering bond ratings and raising borrowing costs for other communities and the state as a whole.
Posted inJustice
CT questions Sessions over ‘sanctuary city’ policing grant ban
Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen on Tuesday asked U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to clarify new rules requiring that those seeking federal policing money certify they are cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy also have written Sessions over his policy of cracking down on “sanctuary” cities and states by withholding federal law enforcement funds.
Posted inNews
With UConn’s campus now open, Hartford asks, ‘What’s next?’
While plenty of smaller projects are still underway, the grand opening of the University of Connecticut’s new Hartford branch campus means for the first time in more than a decade there is a lull in major redevelopment downtown.
Posted inEducation, Politics
As UConn returns, a chapter in Hartford’s history is completed
HARTFORD — For nearly a half-century, the University of Connecticut has had no place to call its own in the state’s capital city. Today that changes as Connecticut’s flagship university opens the doors of its new $140-million downtown branch campus on Prospect Street.
Posted inMoney
Hartford teeters as the state struggles for a budget
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy stood on a windswept lawn outside a branch library in Hartford’s North End for the second of five public events on his schedule Wednesday, a routinely busy day for a lame-duck governor whose to-do list includes stabilizing the state’s finances and saving its capital city from bankruptcy.
Posted inCities & Towns, Money, Politics
Bronin: CT must do more than avert insolvency in Hartford
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin’s new $613 million city budget needs at least $49 million in extra state and private-sector aid to stave off ugly choices that could include bankruptcy.
Posted inPolitics
Sessions threat on immigration could cost CT millions in federal grants
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday threatened to strip states and cities that do not cooperate completely with a federal immigration law of Justice Department local law enforcement grants, which could put millions of dollars received by Connecticut and several cities in the state at risk.
Posted inJustice, Politics
Hartford, East Haven listed in first DHS report of cities limiting cooperation with ICE
WASHINGTON — Connecticut is hardly mentioned in the Department of Homeland Security’s first list of law enforcement agencies that fail to hold jailed immigrants beyond their release dates for federal authorities. But the DHS did list Hartford and East Haven as cities which limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Posted inHealth
The health care that happens outside the doctor’s office
A few years ago, Nadia Lugo went door-to-door in Hartford’s North End with a list of names and a mission: Find people who were going to the emergency room frequently. Figure out what was keeping them from staying healthy or getting the right kind of care. And try to help. It was the kind of work many in health policy now view as key toward improving the outcomes of high-need patients. But incorporating it into the health care system remains a challenge.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal: Stripping federal funds from sanctuary cities would be ‘illegal’
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Friday it would be “illegal” for President Donald J. Trump’s administration to cut off federal funding to sanctuary cities under an executive order issued Wednesday.