WASHINGTON – Congress approved a new farm bill Wednesday that rejects President Donald Trump’s plan to impose work requirements on food stamp recipients, allocates billions of dollars in subsidies to American farmers, and provides new help to Connecticut’s vulnerable dairy industry.
Puerto Rico
Posted inPolitics
Feds give Connecticut $10.6 million for districts with displaced students
The United States Department of Education has announced it will allocate Connecticut $10.6 million for school districts that took in displaced students from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands after Hurricane Maria wreaked widespread devastation last fall.
Posted inHealth
Study pegs Hurricane Maria deaths at 4,645. Gov’t count: 64
Federal lawmakers and advocates in Connecticut are calling for action after a new study’s results indicate that the official death count of 64 in Puerto Rico “is a substantial underestimate of the true burden of mortality after Hurricane Maria.”The study’s death count: 4,645.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Feds providing CT schools with money for new students from Puerto Rico
WASHINGTON — After months of fighting over aid to last summer’s hurricane-hit communities, Congress finally approved a compromise budget bill earlier this month that will provide millions of dollars to help schools care for displaced students.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Budget deal has plenty for Connecticut
WASHINGTON – In rare bipartisan agreement, Congress on Friday approved a massive budget deal that will increase federal spending in Connecticut, providing big boosts for the state’s defense industry and health care programs and even helping schools educate displaced students from Puerto Rico. Every member of Connecticut’s congressional delegation, all Democrats, voted for the package.
Posted inHealth, Money, News, Politics
Shutdown impact on CT would depend on how long it lasts
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House approved a short-term spending bill late Thursday, but the legislation that would avert a government shutdown is expected to face a tough time in the Senate. A shutdown’s impact on Connecticut would depend on how long it lasts.
Posted inJustice, News
Months after Maria, relief center helps more than 1,000 arrivals
More than three months after Hurricane Maria left widespread devastation and wiped out power across Puerto Rico, Connecticut is still seeing displaced evacuees arriving from the island in search of aid and stability. MaryAnne Pascone is managing director and the director of community education at Capitol Region Education Councils Relief Center. In this Sunday Conversation she spoke about the challenges and conditions facing the islanders seeking the center’s help.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CT senators vow to fight for more aid for Puerto Rico
WASHINGTON – Congress is about to resume a bitter dispute about how much more federal help to provide Puerto Rico, where many residents are still without electricity or functioning schools or hospitals more than a hundred days after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, who just visited the island, said they are committed to sharply increasing aid to Puerto Rico.
Posted inPolitics
As Trump signs disaster bill, CT senators say more is needed for Puerto Rico
WASHINGTON – Late Thursday, President Donald Trump signed into law a $36.5 billion hurricane relief bill that has touched off concerns that U.S. commitments to Puerto Rico will require significantly more funding. Connecticut’s Democratic senators are among those who say a lot more help is needed.
Posted inNews
Leaving Puerto Rico was hard, but Milagros Dávila has faith
Milagros Dávila and her husband Eddie Taveras didn’t want to abandon their lives in Salinas, Puerto Rico. But after Hurricane Maria destroyed the island, they were left, as were most Puerto Ricans, without clean drinking water, electricity, food or jobs. In this Sunday conversation she talks about leaving the place she was born for Connecticut and says she has faith she will return. She just doesn’t know when.
Posted inPolitics
Competing with Trump, a social worker speaks for Puerto Rico
Hurricane Maria announced its landfall near Yabucoa, P.R., with a terrible wailing. Sustained winds of 155 miles per hour shredded the electric grid, flattened trees, scoured gardens and ruined the back of the sturdy cement home of a retired Hartford school social worker, Janette Hernandez. “I still hear that sound in my head,” she said. Hernandez is back in Connecticut, giving voice to the stories of people she left behind.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal: U.S. in danger of ‘failing’ Puerto Rico
WASHINGTON — After a weekend trip to the island, Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Monday said the United States is in danger of “failing” Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria-struck residents and said hundreds of storm victims already are arriving in Connecticut to reunite with family.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal to review Trump response to Maria in Puerto Rico
WASHINGTON — Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a critic of the Trump administration’s response to the devastation in Puerto Rico caused by Hurricane Maria, will travel to the island on Saturday to get a firsthand look.
Posted inNews
Report: Maria death toll in Puerto Rico higher than official count
Fatalities related to circumstances created by the hurricane are still mounting, and official numbers are not counting patients who are not receiving dialysis, oxygen and other essential services, according to Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Reporting.
Posted inPolitics
CT Guard joins Pentagon ramp up in Puerto Rico
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon beefed up its presence in storm-ravaged Puerto Rico Thursday and shifted its mission from search and rescue to relief – providing vital supplies of food and water. But a Connecticut lawmaker says that’s not enough and wants as many as 50,000 troops sent to the island.