In his new budget Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is proposing to increase state education grants to 52 cities and towns with struggling schools by about $230 million, but it will be up to the municipalities to determine whether to actually spend it on their schools – or use it to close their own local budget shortfalls or make up for other state budget cuts.
Luke Bronin
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.
Posted inMoney, Politics
With an eye on legislature, Bronin makes pitch to suburbs
It wasn’t necessarily the way Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin wanted to start a conversation with the suburbs about what it would mean to the region if the capital city goes broke. But the Metropolitan District Commission’s unexpected levy on its member communities for a reserve fund in case Hartford cannot pay its bills is getting Bronin invitations to the suburbs to talk about the city’s challenges.
Posted inMoney
Hartford’s Bronin seeks ally in push for municipal finance reform
With surging debt costs driving huge deficits in coming years, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin urged a state advisory panel Thursday to help him convince legislators to reform the municipal finance system. He also said he may ask state officials to advance the city millions of dollars in education grants to help stem worsening cash-flow issues.
Posted inJustice
National unrest sharpens CT’s focus on police-community trust
Despite enacting some of the country’s most progressive police reforms, Connecticut still faces the same questions other states do about whether police are doing enough to enforce the law effectively without infringing on the civil rights of minorities, and if they are doing enough to build trust with their communities.
Posted inNews
Stadium fiasco threatens novel renewal idea
The controversial delays and added costs at Hartford’s new minor league baseball stadium not only put the 2016 Hartford Yard Goats baseball season on life support, it threatens what could be the city’s boldest renewal effort since the Front Street project began in the 1990s.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy says it’s foolish to believe Trump on guns
WASHINGTON — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Tuesday “you’d have to be a fool” to believe what presidential hopeful Donald Trump says on gun control or any other subject. The governor made his comments during an all-day White House summit on gun safety.
Posted inPolitics
In Hartford, mayor and unions step back from the brink
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and the city’s labor unions, its council and its legislative delegation took steps Thursday toward defusing a fight that threatened to politically isolate the new mayor as he tries to keep Connecticut’s capital city out of bankruptcy.
Posted inPolitics
A HUD secretary touts a new promise to a poor city
HARTFORD — President Obama’s secretary of housing and urban development, Julián Castro, dropped in Friday on 06120, one of the poorest zip codes in the United States, a place where the latest federal anti-poverty programs go to be road-tested. So it is with the North Hartford Promise Zone, a designation granted in April to about three square miles of unrealized promise.
Posted inNews
Bronin names Howard Rifkin as legal counsel
Hartford Mayor-elect Luke Bronin named Howard Rifkin, a top adviser to Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, as his legal counsel Thursday.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Something must be done to boost CT’s low voter turnout
What will it take before a majority of Connecticut voters demand remedies to low voter turnout such as happened Nov. 3? Something must be done to energize the voting process. Even in presidential election years like 2016, more voters, especially young adults, must believe that their votes count.
Posted inPolitics
Bronin wins in Hartford, warns ‘no easy answers’ lie ahead
Hartford voters Tuesday, in an election that was largely a formality, selected Luke A. Bronin as their next mayor. Bronin used his victory speech at Real Art Ways in Hartford to thank his supporters and lay out the problems he plans to tackle during his four-year term.
Posted inPolitics
Tale of two mayors: Finch to sue; Segarra goes gently
Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra ruled out an independent campaign Tuesday and endorsed Luke Bronin, winner of last week’s Democratic primary. Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, finding himself knocked off the ballot, vowed to fight on in court.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy congratulates Bronin, pleads for time on Ganim
With an appeal for Democratic unity in Hartford, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy followed a time-honored script Thursday for things to say and do after a primary. He celebrated Luke Bronin’s capture of the mayoral nomination and praised the loser, Mayor Pedro Segarra. Joe Ganim’s win in Bridgeport was another matter.
Posted inPolitics
A bad night for Democratic mayoral incumbents
Democrats decided it was a night for change in mayoral primaries in Hartford and Bridgeport, endorsing newcomer Luke Bronin in Hartford and Joe Ganim, the former mayor and felon, in Bridgeport, where Mayor Bill Finch pledged to continue his campaign as a third-party candidate.