A vice president and economist with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, Peter Gioia has spent the past 18 years with the state’s chief business lobby, managing its research department and tracking Connecticut’s economy through a quarterly survey. In this week’s Sunday Conversation he talks about the recently approved, bipartisan state budget; the long struggle to adopt it, and its impact on Connecticut’s business community.
Sunday Q&A
Posted inEducation
Irene Kish: She’s mother to 105 children
Already the parents of three adopted children, Irene Kish and her husband decided to become foster parents after reading a story in a local newspaper about homeless children living under a bridge near her home. Twenty-two years later, she has taken in 105 children in crisis to live with her family. Most have severe mental health or medical conditions. In this week’s Sunday conversation, she tells her story.
Posted inEducation
She helps Latina moms be more involved in their children’s education
In a state where the gap in achievement between Hispanic students and their white peers is among the largest in the country, Yoellie Iglesias is on a mission to get more Latina mothers in Waterbury more involved in their children’s education.
Posted inJustice
A conversation with Scott Wilson, a voice for gun owners
Scott Wilson helped what is now the state’s largest gun group, the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, not long after Barack Obama became president in January 2009. A soft-spoken logistics specialist at a trucking company, he has emerged as a leading voice of gun owners in Connecticut, home of some of the toughest gun controls in the U.S.
Posted inJustice
‘To focus on young adults who are in prison is very cutting edge’
Our Q&A with Alexandra Frank of the Vera Institute of Justice about her organization’s partnership with the Connecticut Department of Corrections to reimagine prison. Her project is the new special unit at Cheshire Correctional to deal with the most disruptive demographic in prisons: young adults ages 18 to 25.
Posted inHealth
Kevin Counihan on the ACA: ‘Whatever happens, Trump is going to own this’
Kevin Counihan used to run the health insurance exchanges that serve most of the United States. Now he’s a customer. He talked to The Mirror about efforts to replace the Affordable Care Act, why the health law has gotten more popular since Barack Obama left office, how to keep insurance companies from fleeing exchanges, and what can be done to make it easier to buy coverage.
Posted inCities & Towns, Money, Transportation
Griebel on the business climate: ‘Confidence must be restored’
R. Nelson “Oz” Griebel, longtime chief executive officer of the MetroHartford Alliance, has been active in state, regional and city public policy for nearly two decades. He chaired the state Transportation Strategy Board and ran, unsuccessfully, for governor in 2010. Now, as the governor and General Assembly resume debate on the state budget and massively under-funded retirement benefit programs that threaten Connecticut’s fiscal future, Griebel sat down to talk with The Mirror.