Shoreline resiliency against sea level rise and flooding in Connecticut is largely in the hands of local governments. But with money tight and local budgets reliant on the taxes shoreline properties generate, efforts to protect coastal communities from climate change have been slow and underfunded. Some communities, however, are making more progress than others.
New Haven
Posted inMoney
Bill to limit Hartford bailout faces opposition — from other cities
A compromise measure to effectively end the state’s fiscal bailout of Hartford after five years has stalled in the House — because of opposition from Bridgeport and New Haven.
Posted inHealth
CT opioid lawsuits advancing in face of settlement effort
WASHINGTON — Nearly two dozen Connecticut cities and towns are scheduled to soon confront Purdue Phama and other opioid makers in court over what they say are the pharmaceuticals’ deceptive practices. Meanwhile, there is an effort by a federal judge in Ohio to negotiate a massive settlement for the hundreds of federal lawsuits across the nation targeting the opioid makers for their marketing practices.
Posted inJustice
CT lawmakers ask Sessions if policing money delayed by ‘sanctuary’ policy
WASHINGTON — Connecticut’s lawmakers on Tuesday asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions why the state has not received about $2.6 million in 2017 federal policing grants, suggesting the delay may be the result of “Connecticut’s immigration laws and policies.” “If true, this delay would be illogical and potentially illegal,” the delegation letter said.
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
DeLauro fights political winds with book making case for social safety net
WASHINGTON — Three years ago, veteran Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro felt compelled to do one of the few things she had never done before – write a book. The result is “The Least Among Us: Waging the Battle for the Vulnerable,” a smooth read about her fight to protect the social safety net and her battles with both Republicans and Democrats who disagreed with her position or her approach. We talk to her about it in this week’s Sunday conversation.
Posted inPolitics
CT a likely target of Trump’s new immigration policy
Washington – With its policy of not turning over all undocumented aliens requested by federal officials, Connecticut is likely to be in the cross hairs of President Donald Trump’s new immigration policy, outlined in twin executive orders issued Wednesday.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CCM tries to increase fall campaigns’ focus on urban poverty
Connecticut’s urban centers are shackled by unemployment, homelessness and other poverty indicators that dwarf those of surrounding suburbs, the state’s chief municipal lobbying group wrote Monday in a bulletin to state legislative candidates.
Posted inEducation, Money
Moody’s: School funding reform would boost cities’ credit standing
A major Wall Street credit rating agency weighed in on Connecticut’s school funding crisis this week, saying an overhaul would improve the credit standing of the state’s poorest cities.
Posted inNews
After two decades, it’s New Haven’s SoHo
Conceived in the 1980s and completed in the mid-1990s, there were no more daring or comprehensive preservation projects in Connecticut than Ninth Square in New Haven. Now, two decades after its completion, Ninth Square is a vibrant urban neighborhood, a place for art, food, tech start-ups and street fun.
Posted inTransportation
CT split on rail overhaul; Malloy says repairs should come first
WASHINGTON — There is split opinion in Connecticut on ambitious proposals to overhaul rail service in the Northeast Corridor, with some preferring to put resources into a coastal route to Boston and others backing an inland route that runs through Hartford with a new stop near Storrs.
Posted inHealth
16 overdoses, two dead in six hours in New Haven
A toxic batch of heroin laced with fentanyl appears to have hit New Haven, with firefighters and cops rushing to rescue 16 different people who overdosed on drugs — at least two of them fatally — between 3:30 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday.
Posted inEducation, Money
One bill to tax Yale moves forward, another dies
The legislature’s tax-writing committee Thursday approved a bill that would allow New Haven to begin taxing commercial property owned by Yale, but let die a controversial bill backed by the leader of the state Senate that would have allowed the state to tax the earnings of the Ivy League university’s multi-billion-dollar endowment. Yale has opposed both bills.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Feds say CT cities had little economic growth in 2014
WASHINGTON – How healthy is the state’s economy? It’s a tale of two Connecticuts, and the subject of widely different viewpoints. But a recent federal report shows Connecticut’s big cities lag most others in the nation when it comes to economic growth.
Posted inPolitics
New report: CT traffic is bad — and likely to get worse
WASHINGTON — Connecticut has some of the worst traffic in the nation, with snarls that cost drivers about 20 gallons of wasted fuel and dozens of hours of lost time each year – and things are likely to get worse, a new report says.